Blayne crouched in front of her. “You need to calm down,” Blayne slowly explained as if she were talking to a child. “Vic is in the audience.”
Livy blinked and wiped blood from her nose. “So?”
“You don’t want him to see you doing something that will completely freak him out. When I saw Bo for the first time, I was positive the man was a serial killer. It took quite a while to figure out he wasn’t. He’s just a tough player. Like you. But men are less patient than women. He may not hang around to find out the true you. Is that what you want?”
That was when Livy pushed Blayne to the ground. Not too hard, but hard enough to get her point across.
“What was that for?” Blayne demanded.
“Your face was irritating me.”
“Okay.” Gwen motioned the wolfdog away. “Enough.”
“I was just trying to help!” Blayne snarled before skating off.
Gwen sat down next to Livy and handed her a wet cloth. “Clean your face,” she ordered.
“You all right?” Gwen asked when Livy was done.
Livy readjusted her nose until she felt certain all the broken pieces were close enough so that when her nose healed it wouldn’t look hideous, then replied, “Yes.”
“Good. Now let this go.”
“It was after the whistle—”
“Let it go. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Gwen stood. “You rest, we’ll bring you in for the jam when we’re ready.”
Livy nodded, spit blood to clear out her mouth, and waited.
“I don’t understand why they don’t use her more,” Novikov said about Livy. “They keep holding her back, only using her for some bouts . . . I don’t get it.”
Halfway through a foot-long hot dog, MacRyrie noted, “We had a honey badger on the hockey team a few years back.”
“Yeah?”
“He’s doing fifteen to life in Sing Sing after an unfortunate post-game situation that took place in front of full-humans.”
“Yeah, but was he good at hockey?”
MacRyrie glanced at Vic before replying to Novikov, “Not as good as you’d think.”
“See, but Livy’s good,” Novikov went on, oblivious. “I wish she could ice-skate.” He leaned forward so that he could see Vic. “Does she ice-skate?”
“How should I know?”
“How can you not know? Blayne says you’re hot for her.”
MacRyrie rolled his eyes. “I think you were supposed to keep that to yourself, brain trust.”
“Did Blayne say that?” Vic asked.
“Yes, but I stopped listening as soon as I realized it was about someone else’s love life. Someone I don’t even really like.” Novikov looked at Vic. “Not Livy. She’s cool. It’s you I don’t really like. Don’t know why, though. But you do irritate me.”
“Shut up.”
“Did you,” MacRyrie cut in, “stop listening to the conversation because you were busy trying to figure out how to get Livy on our team?”
“Someone has to worry about the welfare of this goddamn team. You and that overrated cook certainly don’t.”
“Overrated cook? Do you mean your boss?”
“Whoever. I’m the only one doing the work.”
While the two males bickered, Vic turned to Shen. “How do they know about me and Livy?”
“Everybody knows about you and Livy. Even the twelve-year-old knows. He said something about creating a sculpture of you two that glorifies the wonders of love as well as a paper on the damaging psychological effects of romance on the creative psyche.” Shen ate some popcorn, a needed change from his bamboo, before adding, “That kid’s weird. He freaks me out. He is cute, though.”
Vic, tired of all the idiots, looked back at the track. Livy was skating out for the next jam. So was the She-lion who had struck her.
“This won’t end well,” Shen muttered.
Vic had to agree. Especially when the lioness looked back and grinned at Livy. The honey badger’s lack of response worried him more than if she’d lunged at the woman.
The whistle blew and the pack took off, Gwen and a jammer from the opposing team waiting to start their part of the game play.
As the two teams jostled for position, Livy moved through the players until she was able to cut in front of the She-lion. Livy didn’t ram into her as Vic expected, but she did drag her leg a bit so that the lioness tripped and fell to the ground. The two teams passed by, but Livy skated back and grabbed her opponent by her foot. Then, with strength Vic had been unaware she had, Livy yanked the woman up and spun. Once, twice . . . like the male partner in an ice-dancing team. On the third spin, he noticed that Livy had moved closer to one of the foundation pillars that helped keep the entire Sports Center upright.
And that was probably why Livy used it, angling the She-lion so that the woman’s knee cracked against the hard and unforgiving concrete.
The triumphant roar Livy let out when the knee made direct and brutal contact with the pillar managed to silence the entire stadium.
Silence until Bo Novikov stood and applauded. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
Livy looked up at their section and performed a very princess-like curtsy.
The fact that the She-lion was just a few feet from her, sobbing in pain, was a tad . . . off-putting, though.
The ref skated toward Livy, but she raised a forefinger, waved it. “No need,” she said to him. “I’m leaving.”
“Oh, come on!” Novikov yelled at the ref. “That was a totally righteous move! You’re an idiot!”
MacRyrie sighed. “Now he’s arguing with the refs of sports completely unrelated to hockey.”
Shen jabbed his elbow into Vic’s side.
“What?”
“You better go check on your girlfriend.”
“I never said Livy was my girlfriend.”
“But you knew who I was talking about.”
“He’s right,” MacRyrie agreed. “That was kind of a giveaway.”
Vic briefly closed his eyes. “And to think I could have stayed at home with the weird kid . . .”
Livy made her way down to the locker room and found Vic waiting for her. Probably because she’d stopped several times to sign autographs for the few honey badgers who actually came to these bouts. They were her biggest fans. Okay. They were her only fans.
She skated up to him.
“Hi.”
Toe tapping, arms crossed over his chest, he seemed unable to look at her. And this was why she hadn’t invited him to any of her bouts. Because she kind of knew he wouldn’t be okay with the way she played. Sportsmanship was not a word she’d been taught as a child. Winning at all costs no matter who one destroys in the process had been her parents’ belief system, and it had been the one thing she’d agreed with, of course with the caveat that cheating wasn’t allowed unless it was a life-and-death situation. This had made family Monopoly night a little strained when she kept winning despite her parents’ stealing money and moving things around on the board when she wasn’t looking.
But the way she’d been raised had not been how Victor Barinov, son of Russian shifter diplomats, had been raised.
She decided to let him off the hook.
“Look, Vic—”
Livy’s words were cut off when a snarling Vic suddenly picked her up and shoved his tongue in her mouth.
Hitting his chest, Livy forced Vic to set her down on the floor.
Panting, they glared at each other until Livy asked, “This is the feline side of you right now, isn’t it?”
Vic cracked his neck and spit out between clenched fangs, “Probably.”
Livy reached up and grabbed Vic’s leather jacket. “Now we’re gettin’ kinky!” she cheered and shoved him into the team’s locker room.
Blayne waited anxiously until Gwen skated back to the infield.
“Well?” Blayne asked, sorry she’d ever asked Livy to play in tonight’s bout. It was such
a mistake. She’d just wanted Vic to see her looking sexy in her derby outfit and how well she could play. But she hadn’t counted on a cheap shot by a She-lion with a grudge. No. She hadn’t counted on that at all.
Gwen stopped in front of Blayne, and the rest of the team surrounded her while they waited for the next jam to be called.
“Well?” Blayne asked again.
“She’s fine. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“What do you mean, she’s fine? Fine okay? Or fine as in she’s resigned to a life of loneliness without Vic?”
“Uh . . . well . . .” Gwen looked at her feet, bit her lip.
“Gwenie?”
The tigon cleared her throat. “Vic’s with her.”
“Oh! Good. Are they talking?”
“Talking? No. They’re not talking.”
“They’re not?” Blayne winced. “That’s not good.”
“I wouldn’t say that, either.”
Blayne studied her friend. “What are you trying to say?”
“Yeah,” one of their teammates asked, “what are you trying to say?”
“I’ll just say this,” Gwen teased, “they were in the bathroom annnnnd . . . skates-up, ladies. Skates-up!”
Blayne knew she was blushing even while the rest of her team laughed and applauded, but she couldn’t help it. “In the bathroom, dude?”
“Like you haven’t gone skates-up in the bathroom with Novikov.”
“I didn’t say that, either . . .” Laughing, Blayne covered her face and Gwen dropped her elbow on Blayne’s shoulder.
“Good work, crazy girl,” Gwen whispered. “Another perfect Blayne match.”
“Oh, shut up.”
CHAPTER 27
About, a felony assault, and a good fuck in the Sports Center bathroom while she had her skates on, and Livy was ready to go home. But no one had asked her what she wanted. Instead, her team, the Babes, had preyed on poor, defenseless Vic. He’d worked the feline out of him by fucking her. Once the cat was gone, all that was left was a weak-willed grizzly who couldn’t stand up to a few perky broads.
So, where was she now? A bar. Something else she wouldn’t mind. A good felony was always nicely topped off with a stiff drink. But this wasn’t just a bar . . . it was a karaoke bar in the Village. A group of the wild dogs who lived across the street from the brownstone were in attendance. Not all of them, though. The wild dogs split up their activities so there was always a group with the pups. It seemed nice, but Livy wasn’t sure she could deal with that many people in her life, all day, every day. She barely tolerated having to deal with herself, much less a crowd.
“I don’t believe it,” Vic muttered with a snarl.
Livy looked up from her untouched shot of vodka, her nose twitching as it continued to heal. “What?”
“It’s your cousins.”
Uh-oh.
“I’ll make sure they don’t start anything with—”
“That’s not what’s bothering me. Jake is with them. I told him to stay and protect the Jean-Louis Parkers.”
Livy waved that off. “Coop, Cherise, and Kyle are with the wild dogs across the street. Coop wants Kyle to be around other children. Normal children. Or as normal as wild dogs can be . . . which, when you think about it, is a hell of a lot more normal than any of the Jean-Louis Parkers. Coop texted me, and I made him promise to stay with the Packs until we get back tonight.”
“The Packs?”
“Some of the Smiths are there. They never leave the wild dogs on their own now that Jess Ward’s hillbilly spouse has a spawn.”
Vic smiled. “That was so romantic.”
“I’m all about true love.”
Then she laughed. Although even Livy had to admit it sounded a bit sinister.
“Hey, cousin,” Jake said as he sat down in their booth. “And her giant boy toy.”
Jake took Livy’s vodka and swallowed it in one gulp. He stuck his tongue out, disgusted. “You call that vodka?”
“I tried to tell her,” Vic complained.
“What are you two . . . friends now?”
They didn’t answer. Vic just pushed his vodka over to Jake. Her cousin took it, drank it, and grinned.
“You really should listen to this man.”
“I am Russian,” Vic said in a thick accent. “Vodka I know.”
“I hate you,” Livy admitted, “because you sound really hot when you do that accent.”
Vic leaned in and murmured in that damn accent, “I can do it more . . . just for you.”
“Stop it. We’re stuck here ’cause of you.”
“Who can turn Blayne down? There were tears.”
“With Blayne there’s always tears! And it works on every one of you pathetic males.”
“You’re the one doing her wedding,” Vic reminded her.
“For a fuck-load of money, hybrid.”
Jake smiled. “You two make a cute couple.”
“Shut up,” Livy shot back.
Having been told to shut up lots of times by Livy, Jake was more interested in what was happening on the stage.
“What the hell am I listening to?”
“Someone’s really bad version of ‘The Safety Dance.’ ” She stared at Jake and said it again. ” ‘The Safety Dance.’ ”
Jake patted Livy’s shoulder and stood. “Now, now. No need to get homicidal. Jake is here to handle everything.”
Vic watched Jake make his way to the stage. “What did he mean? What’s he going to handle?”
Feeling surprisingly playful, Livy stared at Vic and said with deep meaning, “You don’t want to know, baby. You don’t want to know.”
Jess giggled and pressed her face into Bobby Ray Smith’s neck.
“That ain’t right, y’all,” he said, laughing. “Callin’ that sort of thing ‘skates-up’ is just wrong.”
“If your skates are resting on his shoulders . . . that’s skates-up,” Gwen explained, her hand wrapped around a bottle of Guinness, her butt on Lock’s lap. “Although the height difference is so huge between the two, they were really resting on his arms.”
Blayne smiled, very happy to be here with her friends and her mate.
“Hey, Gwen.” Jess took a bottle of ice-cold Coke from the waitress. “I heard your dad’s coming in for the wedding.”
“He is.”
Jess’s face dropped. “I thought you’d be happy about that.”
“I am. But he’s bringing his sisters. That means my mother and her sisters against my dad’s sisters. She-lions versus She-tigers. That I do not look forward to.”
“My uncles will attempt to keep them busy,” Lock reminded her. “I believe they are looking forward to it.”
“My father’s sisters will chew them up and spit them out. But I’m relatively certain your uncles will enjoy that while it lasts.”
Mitch came over to the table. Brendon had gone to be with Ronnie Lee and his baby, which Blayne was starting to secretly worry was possessed with a demon of some kind. Or maybe that was just what happened when one combined feline and canine DNA.
Mitch tried to sit in the booth, but that would mean Bo would have to get out of his way. With Blayne on his lap, Bo didn’t seem inclined to bother.
“Could you move?” Mitch asked.
“I could . . . but I won’t.”
Rolling his eyes, Mitch grabbed a chair from one of the other tables and slammed it down in front of them. “There are honey badgers here,” he announced.
“I thought you liked Livy,” Blayne said, sipping her sugar-free Mountain Dew.
“Not just Livy. There’s a bunch of them now.”
Gwen lifted her head a bit. Nodded. “And one of them is heading for the stage.”
“But I was enjoying the wild dog version of ‘The Safety Dance.’ ”
Bo shook his head at Blayne. “No, you weren’t. Please don’t lie.”
“I was trying to enjoy it. Okay? Happy now?” She crinkled up her nose a bit. “I’m not sure I’m i
n the mood for a song that a honey badger would sing, though.”
“Why not?”
“One time at the Sports Center I saw Livy sitting on the floor, wearing earbuds. I asked her what she was listening to. Turns out it was the Lords of Acid. Tech music with a lot of singing about fucking, which I’m fine with. But what freaked me out was that she was just sitting there. Like she was meditating. Who listens to dance music that talks about fucking and doesn’t move?”
“A honey badger who coldly and brutally crushed the kneecap of a She-lion who pissed her off?” Lock asked.
The male honey badger got on stage. He’d already chosen a song, and it began to play. But when he started to sing without even looking at the words on the screen, Blayne didn’t know if she should be charmed or completely and utterly freaked the fuck out.
“‘The Piña Colada Song?’ ” Mitch asked them, flabbergasted. “Honey badgers like ‘The Piña Colada Song’?”
“No,” Gwen observed, her gaze moving over the crowd. “They love it.”
Obviously, since they’d all moved to the stage to sing along, some raising lighters in the air, others just their arms. They waved and they sang.
But when Livy got up on the stage with that badger, put her arm around his shoulders, and sang along with him, Blayne was sure about one thing . . .
“The world’s about to end!” she announced cheerfully, certain that if the Rapture was coming, she’d done enough good in her life to ensure her passage to Paradise. “Because I’m sure this is a sign of the End of Days.”
Mitch stared at Blayne for a good minute before he agreed, “It’s ‘The Piña Colada Song.’ And honey badgers. It just doesn’t seem right, does it?”
Livy sat back down beside Vic. “ ‘The Piña Colada Song’?” he asked.
“It’s a family favorite. Played at all Kowalski weddings, along with every polka song you can think of.”
Vic scratched his head, stared at Livy, until he finally asked, “Polka?”
It was enough of a shock that the karaoke machine actually had polka music on it. But it was even more startling to see Livy up on the stage with Jake and Jocelyn, singing along . . . in Polish.
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