Melly looked up at her relatives. “What are you all staring at? I’m not talking to any of you,” she snarled.
Niles “Van” Van Holtz kissed his sleeping mate on the cheek before slipping out of bed. He pulled on sweatpants and left the room, carefully closing the door behind him so as not to disturb his wife.
Yawning, he headed down to his big kitchen, prepared to make breakfast for his family and any of his Pack who wanted to join in, before he headed off to his restaurant to prepare for that evening’s dinner service.
He opened the refrigerator and studied the contents. Waffles were his first thought, but wolves always ate waffles. Vacations among his Pack had actually been cancelled in the past when it was discovered the resort they were going to didn’t serve waffles for breakfast.
“Maybe French toast.” Van did love cinnamon.
Deciding on French toast and sausage, he grabbed several gallons of milk and turned away from the refrigerator.
That’s when Van screamed and jumped back because Dee-Ann Smith was standing behind him like the angel of death.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle ya.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Yeah. I did. But I have some questions for ya, and I didn’t want you to have a bunch of time to organize your lies.”
Van walked around her to place the milk he hadn’t dropped on the floor onto the counter. “What are you talking about?”
“You had us back off the Whitlan case . . . why?”
“What?”
“I know you heard me.”
Yeah. He had.
Van picked up the gallon of milk he’d dropped on the floor and placed it with the others.
“You knew about Damon Kowalski, didn’t you?”
Facing the She-wolf, Van folded his arms over his chest. “Some of us were . . . aware of the turn of events.”
“Turn of events? Is that what you call it?”
“That’s what it was.”
The She-wolf gave a short laugh. “I see. You knew what the honey badgers would do once they found out one of their own had been hunted and stuffed.”
“We knew that they had a good chance of drawing out Whitlan, and the ones protecting him. The badgers function with fewer rules than the rest of us.”
“So you put Livy up for the slaughter?”
Van dropped his hands. “Oh, come on, Dee-Ann. Do you really think any of us had any idea that they’d attack Livy that way? Right there in the Sports Center?”
“I see. Y’all expected warnings and such.”
“I guess we did.”
“They took sixteen bullets out of that little girl.”
“And I’m very sorry about that.”
“It’s gonna get nasty now,” Dee-Ann needlessly told him. “Those were bears that came after her. Bears that we cleaned up.” When Van didn’t say anything, Dee-Ann smirked. “You’re going to let them deal with it on their own.”
“Honey badgers have always functioned separately. They have never wanted to be part of us.”
She walked up to him, stood barely three inches from him. Van was slightly taller than his favorite cousin’s mate, but Dee-Ann was built like a linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks.
And behind Dee-Ann, Van saw his eldest child and only daughter, Ulva, ease out from the pantry, her claws unleashed.
“Well, you can go on being a politician, Niles Van Holtz, but if they need help from me or Malone, they’re gonna get it. Do we understand each other?”
“We always understand each other, Dee-Ann.”
“That’s good.” Dee-Ann held up one finger and said to Van’s daughter while still staring at Van, “And you still ain’t ready to take me on, little girl.”
Shocked Dee-Ann had so easily sensed her, Ulva stopped in her tracks, her claws instantly retracting.
The She-wolf left as silently as she’d come into his home, and his daughter was immediately at his side, her arms around his waist.
“How can I be Alpha of the Pack, Daddy, when that female scares the life from me?”
“You’ll be Alpha because you’re already smart enough to know who to challenge and who not. And trust me, baby, when I tell you, I don’t want you challenging Dee-Ann Smith or her father at any point in your life.”
His daughter, as brilliant and beautiful as her full-human mother, nodded. “Okay.”
CHAPTER 32
The private jet landed at the small New Jersey airport. Dee-Ann said her good-byes to the pilot and flight attendant and went into the tiny terminal. Malone was supposed to pick her up alone, so Dee-Ann was surprised when she saw Ric with her. In fact, she was kind of grateful.
Dee-Ann went into his open arms and hugged her mate tight.
“How did it go?” he asked, not bothering to complain that she’d gone to see his cousin without a word to him.
“Me and Malone were right.” She stepped back. “Can’t speak for BPC, but The Group and KZS knew, at the very least, about Damon Kowalski.”
“They knew the badgers would bring whoever was protecting Whitlan out in the open.” Ric’s handsome face turned angry. “And put Livy at risk.”
“Don’t think your uncle knew it would get that bad that quickly, but—”
Dee-Ann blinked, her words stopping abruptly after a fist slammed into her face.
Of course, the blow didn’t hurt her as much as startle her. Too bad the one swinging that fist couldn’t say the same.
Toni Jean-Louis Parker, looking exhausted and angry and surrounded by extremely large bears and Ricky Lee, held her fist and yelped from the pain.
“Good to see you, too, Antonella.”
“Don’t talk to me, pit bull. I know you did this. I know what you did to Blayne that time, and now you set up poor Olivia!”
“Hey!” Malone cut in. “This isn’t Dee-Ann’s fault.”
“How would you know?”
“I know!”
Ricky Lee raised his hands, attempting to placate, which he was usually good at. “Why don’t we all just calm down.”
“I don’t want to calm down,” Toni snapped. “I want her beaten horribly!” She pointed at Dee-Ann. “Get her, Ivan!”
The seven-foot-plus bear stared at Toni. “Get who?”
“Dee-Ann.”
“Smith? You want me to beat up Dee-Ann Smith?”
“Yes.”
The bear glanced at the other bears surrounding him. “Uh . . . we don’t believe in beating up women.”
“She’s barely female.”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, Ulrich. I know she’s your mate, but—”
“Come on, Ivan.” Dee-Ann grinned. “Give us your best shot.”
The bear took a step back. “No thank you.”
“Wait, wait.” Ric stepped in front of Dee-Ann. “Stop goading.”
“Didn’t realize I was.”
“Yes, you did,” Malone muttered.
Okay. She did know. But Dee-Ann actually felt horrible. Unlike with Toy Poodle Blayne, Dee-Ann liked Livy. She didn’t talk more than was necessary. She tolerated Reece Lee better than most. And she found Blayne as annoying as Dee-Ann did. What was there not to like about the girl? So this whole thing didn’t sit right with Dee-Ann at all.
Dee-Ann’s time in the military meant that she’d been shot quite a few times, but never sixteen . . . at one time. One shot hurt enough; she couldn’t imagine that many shots over and over, believing the whole time you were about to die. No one should go through that. Especially when all the girl wanted was the man who’d hunted and killed her daddy.
Which meant, at least to Dee-Ann, that a little fight with big ol’ bears might make her feel a bit better. At least in the moment.
Ric smiled at her. He could read Dee-Ann without her saying a word.
“Listen, Toni,” Ric began, turning to face the jackal, “we’ll . . .”
Ric stopped, looked around, and finally ask
ed Ricky Lee, “Where’s Antonella?”
Ricky Lee Reed glanced at the suddenly smug-looking bears and shrugged. “Got me.”
Vic walked into the bedroom he’d set Livy up in and found her desperately rubbing her back against the bathroom doorway.
“What are you doing?”
“My back is so itchy.”
Closing the bedroom door, Vic went to Livy and turned her around. He lifted the sweatshirt she had on.
“Sex? Now?”
Vic chuckled. “I’m looking to see if any of your wounds are infected, silly.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Carefully studying the multiple wounds that Livy had received, Vic was glad to see that there was no obvious infection. Instead, it looked like the wounds were healing so fast, her body was itching because of that.
“They all look pretty clean. But I think we should put some anti-itch stuff on your back.”
“Do we have that?”
“Novikov has first-aid kits in nearly every room of this house and first-aid trunks out by the rink and derby track. I can’t tell if he’s just super-prepared or if Blayne is that clumsy.”
“Both.”
Vic went into the bathroom and pulled out cotton balls and a bottle of anti-itch gel that should help Livy get through the worst part of her healing process.
He walked back into the bedroom and stopped in his tracks. Livy was naked and facedown on the bed.
“Uh . . . Livy? What are you doing?”
“Making it easy for you to deal with my wounds.” She looked at him over her shoulder and grinned. “See how helpful I am?”
“You are such a bad influence.”
“I know.”
Vic kicked off his Converse sneakers and sat on the bed beside Livy. Determined to get this done before they did anything else, Vic forced himself to focus on each of Livy’s wounds. First he applied the gel to her back, then rolled Livy to her side and dealt with the ones on her hip. She watched him while he worked, and Vic had to admit having her eyes on him was beyond distracting. He wanted her so badly, but he didn’t want to rush her. Not physically. She might think she was completely okay, but Vic wanted to be sure. Really sure. He didn’t want to do anything that might hurt her more.
“I think that’s it,” he said, pulling his hand back and tossing the used cotton balls away.
“You sure?” Livy asked as she slowly sat up.
“Yeah.”
“Good.” She placed her hand on either side of his jaw and kissed him. Suddenly, the idea of taking it slow or waiting to make sure she was really okay evaporated from his weak, pathetic mind. He kissed her back and began to lower her to the bed when a knock on the door stopped him.
Livy pulled out of their kiss and snarled, “What?”
Jake opened the door enough just to stick his head in. “Decent?”
“Do you mean morally?”
Livy’s cousin rolled his eyes. “Put your clothes back on, ho.”
Growling, Livy tugged on her sweatpants and shirt. She stood. “What is it?”
Jake pushed the door open and stepped in, revealing a tired-looking Toni standing behind him.
The two women stared at each other for a long moment until Toni burst out with, “You bitch!”
That seemed a surprising reaction to Vic, but Livy turning to him, and accusing, “You called her?”
“I did not! But I’m not surprised she found out since Ric Van Holtz had Coop, Kyle, and Cherise sent back to Washington as soon as everything happened.”
“Wait a minute.” Toni stepped farther into the room. “What was Kyle doing here? He was supposed to be in Italy.”
“Do you see what you started?”
Vic reared back at Livy’s accusation. “Me? What did I do?”
“He didn’t call Toni,” Jake cut in. “I did.”
“And why would you do that?” Livy demanded.
“Because,” Toni answered for Jake, “I told him when we were sixteen, if he ever hid anything from me when you got yourself into trouble, I would hunt him down and cut his balls off!”
“And you believed her?” Livy asked her cousin.
“Yes,” Jake answered bluntly. “Yes, I did. When it comes to you two”—he waved a finger between the females—“I don’t get in the way. A rational man never would.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me, Livy!”
“Coop and Cherise were here to watch Kyle, and Coop told me your parents knew everything!”
“I’m not talking about that idiot Kyle. I’m talking about you. How could you not tell me about your father? About being shot? About everything?”
Livy gave a small shrug. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“And you!” Toni snapped at Vic. “How could you not tell me what was going on?”
“Why do I keep getting dragged back into this?”
“Just don’t think for a second that because of your freakish size—”
“Freakish?”
“—and obscenely thick neck—”
“Well, that’s not necessary!”
“—that I won’t hunt you down, too, and cut your balls right off!”
“Hey, Vic,” Jake said calmly, “why don’t we see if anyone left us some honey to eat? Downstairs. Far away from here.”
Deciding it was best to leave before things got any stranger, Vic got up and walked out of the room. When Vic reached the stairs at the end of the hallway, Jake turned to him.
“Are you serious about my cousin?”
Vic didn’t see the point in being vague. “Very.”
“Then a little advice. When it comes to those two, just say, ‘Hey, why don’t I go get us some honey?’ Then leave the room.”
“But I—”
“No, no. There’s no debating this. This is a standard plan I’ve had in place for years from hard-earned lessons.”
“It’s just that—”
“No, no. You’re still doing that bear thing.”
“Bear thing?”
“Going with logic. There’s no logic when a jackal and a honey badger are friends. In the wild . . . they eat each other’s cubs. In suburban Washington, they watch out for each other’s siblings and violently threaten or attack those they feel may have emotionally harmed their best friend. So I’m telling you, ’cause I like you, and because I can tell how you feel about my cousin . . . next time, just smile and say . . . ?”
Vic stared down at him.
“And say . . . ?” Jake prompted again.
Vic sighed and parroted, “ ‘Hey, why don’t I go get us some honey?’ ”
“Good man.” Jake patted his arm. “There might be hope for you yet.”
“Please don’t cry,” Livy begged as the two women held on to each other. “I’m okay. I promise.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me!”
“You were in Siberia. Not Brooklyn. Siberia.”
Toni pulled back, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “You found out about your dad before I went to Siberia, though. Didn’t you?”
“I didn’t tell anyone about that. Not even Vic. I did, however, yell at my mother.”
“Please tell me she didn’t actually kill the person we put in that grave.”
Livy went to the nightstand and grabbed a tissue from the box. “She swears whoever it was, was already dead. I decided not to push her on it.”
Gently, Livy wiped her friend’s face. “I’ll be honest, Toni. I didn’t know what to do. I never liked my old man, but . . . to see him like that.”
Toni took the tissue, blew her nose. “What did you do?”
“You mean other than getting shot?” Livy shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I beat up Melly, got thrown into jail, and Vic took me to a bear-only town called Honeyville. Then I jousted.”
“You have always wanted to try that.”
“I was really good against the cats. The bears kicked my ass, though.”
Toni sat down on the
bed next to Livy. “Did Vic joust?”
“No. He would have been great, too, but he was too busy yelling at me about how dangerous and stupid it was for me to joust.”
“He yelled at you because he’s in love with you.”
Livy lifted her feet, studied her bare toes. “Did you know Honeyville has over three hundred and seventy types of honey? I think I tried almost all of them.”
“So you’re going to pretend I didn’t just say what I just said?”
“Pretty much.”
“Avoidance is still your friend, I see.”
“How else do you think I’ve managed to survive with this family?”
“You’ll have to face it eventually,” Toni singsonged to her.
“You’re gonna have to shut up,” Livy singsonged back.
Toni put her arm around Livy, and placed her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I’m so very glad you didn’t manage to get yourself killed.”
“That’s the nicest way to blame the victim I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m really good at that. So did Kyle ask Vic to pose naked?”
“Yes. But I can’t blame the kid. The man has amazing cheekbones.”
Jocelyn pushed open the door to her cousin’s bedroom and sighed. “Help me,” she ordered Jake and Shen.
Jake responded immediately, but Shen stopped in the doorway and stared. “Is she dead?”
“No,” Jocelyn said casually as she crouched down. “Just drunk off her ass.”
“Another fight with the boyfriend she stalks?” Jake asked.
“No. He’s the stalked fiancé now.”
“Maybe we should call an ambulance . . . or something.”
“Not necessary.” Jocelyn stood. “Just pick her up, Shen.”
“Pick her up?”
“Pick her up.”
Sighing, Shen reached out and lifted Melly onto his shoulder. She seemed to barely weigh anything, and it was terribly easy. But then Jake said, “If she starts squirming, drop her. She’s about to piss on you.”
“And if she grunts,” Jocelyn added, “throw her. She’s about to shit or projectile vomit.”
Horrified, Shen practically ran to the room they’d set up for Melly. Easels and paints and the brilliant lighting from the above skylight made the room perfect for an artist. But he had a hard time believing the woman over his shoulder was an artist.
Bite Me Page 30