Bite Me

CHAPTER 18

Toni stepped away from the Russian bargaining table and walked out into the hallway before answering her phone. It was Livy, which was strange. Livy wasn’t really a fan of talking on phones. She’d been known to text when necessary, but that was about it.

“Hey, Livy.”

“Hey.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I need to ask a favor, though.”

“A favor?” Toni frowned. “You?”

“I’ve asked for favors before.”

“Yeah. I guess. Can’t really remember one, though.”

“Can I ask a favor or not?”

“Okay, okay. No need to get testy. What do you need?”

There was a pause, then Livy asked, “I need to borrow the brownstone.”

“The brownstone?” Toni wasn’t quite sure what Livy was talking about. “What brownstone?”

“The one your parents rent from the wild dogs.”

“Oh! You mean the wild dog house.” At least that’s what Toni’s family called it. It was a beautiful piece of real estate that the wild dogs could sell for a fortune but instead chose to rent out for an insane amount of money. Of course, Toni had thought her family was only renting it for that one summer when Toni’s mother was “stalking” the Alpha Female’s adopted son, Johnny. Not literal stalking. Her mother, thankfully, was not interested in Johnny as anything but a music student. A prodigy training a prodigy. But the wild dogs were as protective of their pups as jackals, so it had required a lot more work. Still, Toni thought her parents would stop renting the house once that summer was over and they’d returned to their lives on the West Coast. But her parents were still renting the place, whether they were in it or not, with the logic that they could crash there anytime they were in Manhattan. The wild dogs loved this plan, as well, because they still received their rental payments without having to worry about out-of-control neighbors or squatters.

“Yeah. Sure. But are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”

“Nothing you have to worry about. A family thing. But I swear, any damage done to the place, I’ll make sure it’s fixed and perfect before you get back to the States. Okay?”

Toni was annoyed Livy had even felt she had to say that to her. Livy had always watched out for Toni’s stuff like she was protecting her own. Even more so.

But that was the least of Toni’s worries from what Livy had said. “A family thing? What family thing?”

“My family thing. Nothing you have to worry about.”

“I know which family you meant, Olivia. But you only deal with my family. So I’m sorry if I’m questioning—”

“Antonella?”

“What?”

“Can I have the place or not?”

“Of course you can. It’ll be completely empty. Coop and Cherise are still in Europe on tour. But make sure you use the keys! No breaking and entering and no damn holes, Olivia. I mean it. But, look, that’s not the real issue—”

“Have a good time with the bears!” Livy cheered. “Love you more than soap!”

The call ended and Toni stamped her foot and wondered how long it would take her to get to New York if she left right now.

“Hey, little doggie,” an excessively thick Russian accent barked from inside the room. “You have work! Or did you forget?”

Toni pushed the door open and stared at the table filled with Russian bears. She’d long ago stopped feeling any fear at being around so many bears once she realized that the only bear she had to worry about at the moment was Ivan Zubachev, the Russian hockey team owner, who ruled with an iron paw.

She hated that he still insisted on calling her “little doggie” although everyone and their mother knew he adored her. Why? Because she had made him lots of money. The game between the Carnivores and Zubachev’s team had been a huge event, bringing in a lot of money not only to the two teams but to the Siberian shifter-run towns that had played host.

Now, it was time to bring the Russians to America, and Toni was on deck to make it happen. That was when she realized she couldn’t walk away from this. She couldn’t tell Zubachev that she had to go check on her friend but she’d be back in a week or two to finalize the deal. The Russians had hard and fast rules for negotiations, and Toni’s need to protect her friends and family from themselves wasn’t really part of that.

Toni looked down at her phone. No. She’d have to trust that Livy could take care of herself. Even if her family was involved, Toni was sure that it was probably just an issue with Melly or something. An issue that could easily be handled by violating that woman’s parole and putting her right back in a cell.

“She’ll call me if she needs me,” Toni reminded herself. “She’ll call.”

Clinging to that belief, Toni walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. “All right, gentlemen, let’s get back to work. And no, we will not force Bo Novikov to shift to his animal form and put him on display in a gilded cage at the Sports Center so that the world can see what a true freak he is. And stop asking if you can!”

With keys in hand, Livy walked up the stairs to the front door. She looked at the keys and back at the door. No. She had to do this. She had no choice.

Livy had the key in the lock when she stopped. “Are you going to keep shadowing me?”

“Yes.”

Sighing, Livy turned but ended up with her face buried in his stomach. She pushed and pointed at the street. “Down,” she ordered. “Down.”

Vic went down the stairs, and now she could almost look him directly in the eyes.

With space between them, Livy could be clear and concise and inform Vic that she would be doing this on her own. She didn’t need him or his help. She appreciated it and all, but she didn’t need it.

Livy started to speak, but thought she was too far from him. So she walked down a couple of steps, bringing her closer, but now he was taller again. She hated the thought of yelling up to him that she didn’t need him or his help. That seemed tacky.

She motioned him closer with her hand. Vic leaned down. “What, Livy?”

“Well, what I don’t . . .”

“What you don’t . . . what?” Vic frowned when she didn’t answer. “Livy?”

That’s when Livy grabbed the back of Vic’s neck, pulled him closer, and kissed him. She didn’t know why she kissed the man. She had no idea. Maybe it was those damn lips. He had the nicest lips. And such a handsome face.

Even worse . . . Vic kissed her back. His arms going around her waist, he lifted Livy up and walked forward until Livy was pressed against the front door. Their kiss was desperate and demanding and completely unreasonable. Unreasonable because this hadn’t been Livy’s plan. She was supposed to send him off, for no other reason than to keep him safe. Getting involved with her family was dangerous. Unbelievably dangerous. And she didn’t want to be the reason anything happened to Vic.

But when he pulled away from her, his eyes locked on her mouth, his breathing hard, Livy knew she wouldn’t be able to “shoo” him away.

“I’ll get us some clothes,” he said, slowly removing his hands from her waist. “And Shen. He’ll be good help for this. Okay?”

Livy nodded, instinctively licking her lips, which she immediately stopped doing when Vic started growling at her.

With a hearty snort, Vic turned and started off toward his SUV. But he abruptly stopped, glared at Livy over his shoulder. “Don’t make me come look for you,” he ordered.

“What if I do?”

“Olivia.”

“Kidding. I’m kidding. I’ll be here.”

“Good.”

Livy watched Vic until he reached his SUV and drove off. She blew out a confused breath. Her heart had raced from that kiss. Her heart didn’t race from much of anything. Maybe good sex but just a kiss? What exactly was happening to her? Because she didn’t like it.

Deciding not to worry about this on top of everything else, Livy went back to the door, unlocked it, and stepped into the house.

Surprised to find the lights on, Livy walked down the marble-floored hallway, which reminded her of a very small Versailles, and past the living room by the stairs, where she heard what sounded like an episode of Dr. Phil coming from the large-screen TV . . .

Livy stopped walking, freezing right in the middle of the arched entrance, her gaze locked onto the twelve-year-old boy watching that large-screened TV from the couch.

“Kyle?” she snarled.

Eyes wide, Kyle Jean-Louis Parker slowly looked over at Livy. “Uh . . . Livy? Wow. Uh . . . hi?”

“Why aren’t you in Italy?” Livy demanded.

Kyle was an artistic prodigy, sculpting and painting his greatest strengths. He was so amazing, he’d been accepted into a prestigious Italian art school at the age of eleven while getting tutored in the basics like math and science so he wasn’t left behind scholastically.

Yet he was supposed to be in Italy receiving all that great education, not here in the middle of his parents’ rental home. And he especially wasn’t supposed to be in his parents’ rental home without his parents.

“Does Toni know you’re here?”

Kyle stared at Livy a moment before replying, “Sure.”

“You are the worst liar, Kyle Jean-Louis Parker,” Livy complained as she pulled out her cell phone to call Toni. There were just some lines Livy never crossed when it came to Antonella, and all those lines involved Toni’s siblings. And the kids knew that. So Livy had no qualms about ratting out Kyle to Toni, even if that meant Toni would be flying back from Russia on the wings of her rage.

But before Livy could complete the call, an arm reached around her and took the phone. Startled, she spun around, fangs unleashed, which had Cooper Jean-Louis Parker immediately crossing his arms over his chest, tucking his hands under his armpits, and barking, “Not my hands! Not my hands!”

Livy retracted her fangs and gazed at the eldest male sibling of the Jean-Louis Parkers. “Not your hands? Most people tell me not to touch their face.”

“I can play without my eyes,” he said, now grinning. “Can’t play without my hands.” He held those hands up. “These babies are insured for a reason.”

Cooper was a pianist who’d been playing for massive audiences since he was five or so. Of all Toni’s siblings, he was the most normal. At least as normal as any child prodigy could be, she guessed.

“What’s going on?” Livy asked.

“We’re giving Kyle and all of Italy a break.”

Livy’s head tipped down as she studied the handsome jackal she thought of as her own brother. “Really?”

“They’re trying to control me!” Kyle yelled from the couch. “Control my brilliance! They have yet to realize they can’t control me! Their narrow, noncreative minds simply don’t understand what I’m trying to do! They can’t conceive—”

“Stop it, Kyle,” Livy cut in calmly.

“Whatever,” the boy muttered. “They don’t deserve me.”

Coop shook his head. “How do you do that?”

Livy was one of the few people Kyle ever listened to, but Livy had no idea why. Although if she had to guess . . . “He may have seen what I did to that squirrel who got between me and that beehive in your parents’ backyard. You know how cranky I get when the squirrels fight back.”

Coop chuckled and handed the phone back to Livy. Together they slowly walked down the hallway toward the kitchen. When they were out of earshot of Kyle, Coop said softly, “Don’t call Toni.”

“I don’t get between you guys and Toni, Coop. You know that.”

“I do know. But there’s no reason for her to come back right now. Cherise and I have control of the situation, and my parents know what’s going on.”

“What is going on?”

Coop smirked, shrugged. “He’s been fighting with all the teachers, making the other students homicidal and suicidal.”

“Aren’t these all adult students?”

“Oh yeah, they are.”

“Then why doesn’t the school just get rid of him?”

“The school doesn’t want to lose him. You should see the piece he made for his midterm project.” Shaking his head, mouth open a bit, Coop searched for the right words. “It was . . . breathtaking.”

If Coop thought it was breathtaking and he was willing to admit it out loud . . . Livy couldn’t wait to see it.

“So it was decided to give everyone involved a break. And since Cherise and I have a concert coming up in Manhattan, Mom and Dad thought a little winter break here would help Kyle.”

“Why not send him to Washington to be with your parents?”

“I think they were hoping a little Kyle-only time would be to his benefit. It’s a bit harder to make that happen when you’ve got five other kids to manage.”

Livy understood that. In all honesty, she’d never figured out how the family managed to do as well as they did. Eleven pups, ten of them prodigies, one of those prodigies a definite sociopath—it shocked many to find out that wasn’t Kyle—how could the family not fall apart? Yet they never did. Instead each of the children thrived in their own way.

The problem with Kyle, though, was that he wasn’t just an artist. He was also kind of a twisted psychologist-in-training. With a few choice words, he could destroy a person’s self-confidence and will to live. And although most of his siblings were so used to Kyle and so certain of their own brilliance, they could handle him, it still made for lots of fights. Fights that could get on anyone’s nerves eventually.

So letting Cooper and Cherise—the two oldest when Toni wasn’t around—manage him for a little while was most likely a good idea.

Unfortunately, it changed everything for Livy.

“Well, as long as you make sure Toni doesn’t get mad at me when she comes back,” she said to Coop.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.”

“Good. Thanks.” Livy walked around Coop to leave through the front door, but Coop caught hold of her arm, held her.

“Wait. Why are you here?” He raised a brow. “And why are you coming through the front door? You know . . . I don’t think I’ve seen you do that in a decade. Maybe longer.”

“It’s nothing.” She tried to walk away, but Coop gently tugged her back.

“Livy?”

“What?”

“Do you think only Toni can read you? What’s wrong? Why are you here?”

Livy lifted her free hand and dropped it. “It’s . . . it’s been a long week.”

Coop frowned. “And I’ve been tasked with taking care of Kyle. We all have problems, so just tell me.”

“It’s complicated. And I don’t have time to really tell you. I need to find a place to—”

“You can stay here.”

“It’s not just me, Coop. It’s my family. And with Kyle and Cherise here, I can’t bring them—”

“Your family is coming here?” a voice from the doorway eagerly asked.

Livy snarled. “Kyle—”

“Honey badgers? Honey badgers are coming to stay with us?”

“Kyle—”

Kyle clapped his hands together and turned in a goofy circle. “I’m so excited!” he cheered. “Honey badgers! Honey badgers! Honey badgers!”

Livy looked at Coop, but he could only shrug in confusion.

“Kyle, what are you going on about?” Livy demanded.

“Tell me your mother’s coming. Please! You think this time she’ll sit for me? I promise not to ask her to do it naked this time. But she has to wear red. She looks so amazing in red. She has those razor-sharp cheekbones.” Kyle stopped crowing long enough to look Livy over and add, “Guess you get your looks from your father, huh?”

Coop grabbed Livy’s arm again before she could go over there and throttle the kid.

“Honey badgers are coming!” Kyle yelled again. “Honey badgers!” He charged down the hallway and to the stairs. “I need to get my pencils and pad! Because honey badgers are coming!”

Livy and Coop stared at each other for several long seconds until Coop admitted what they were both thinking. “I really never saw that coming.”

Jessica Ann Ward-Smith, Alpha Female of the Kuznetsov wild dog Pack and wife and mate of the Alpha Male of the New York Smith Pack Bobby Ray Smith, was trying to get her daughter into the little T-shirt she’d purchased for her, but somehow that attempt had turned into a tugging match. A tugging match the little wolfdog was winning.

“Give it to me, Lissy!”

Laughing hysterically, her daughter dug her little feet into the kitchen table and kept pulling.

“Lissy, come on. Mommy has to go.”

But her daughter was in what Blayne called the “wolfdog zone,” where she became hyper-obsessed with just one thing. And that one thing, at the moment, seemed to be playing tug with her goddamn T-shirt.

“Auntie Jessie?” one of the other pups asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“Yes?” she growled out, still trying to snatch the T-shirt back.

He climbed up on a chair and reached across the table to grab an apple. “There’s a bunch of limos outside the house across the street.”

“Yes. Some of the Jean-Louis Parkers are coming to stay.”

“I remember them. But the ones outside don’t look like Jean-Louis Parkers.” He bit into the apple, chewed. “They’re . . . wider.”

“Tall and wide?”

“No. Just wide. Like short linebackers.”

Confused, Jess stared at the boy. The Jean-Louis Parkers were jackals, a lean breed of canine like the wild dogs. Actually, all the smaller breeds were relatively lean. The foxes, the cougars. She could only think of one small shifter breed that one would consider wide and that was connected with the Jean-Louis Parkers, and that breed was . . .

Jess gasped, her hands going to her mouth—which meant her daughter, who was still desperately pulling on the T-shirt, went flying back.

“Lissy!” Jess ran around the kitchen table. “Are you okay?”

Lissy got to her feet, threw the T-shirt at Jess. “Tug!”

Sighing, Jess turned away from her daughter and quickly

walked to the front of the house. By the time she was stepping outside, the majority of her wild dog Pack was already out on the stoop.

A few of the pups came outside, as well, but Jess snarled and the children ran right back inside.

“I do not like,” Sabina growled beside Jess, her Russian accent always getting thicker the more uncomfortable she became.

“Is Cherise still with Johnny?” Jess’s adopted son, a brilliant young violinist, always found time to perform with the musical Jean-Louis Parkers.

Sabina nodded and ran into the house. A few minutes later, she returned with Cherise and Johnny.

“What’s going on?” Johnny asked.

“Back in the house.”

Johnny, now nineteen, sighed. “I think we both have to admit I’m a little too old to—”

“Inside!”

Johnny threw up his hands. “I hate when you get like this.” But at least he said it while going back into the house.

“Do you know them?” Jess asked Cherise.

She studied the good number of shifters getting out of luxury cars and limos—double-parking on the street like it was somehow legal—and entering the wild dogs’ rental home across the street.

At first, Cherise shook her head. “No, I don’t . . . oh. Oh.” She pointed at four Asian women stepping out of a red, late-model Mercedes-Benz. “That’s Livy’s mom and aunts.” She lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “Her mom can be a little . . . strong-willed.”

“Is that nice way of saying ‘bitch’?” Sabina asked.

Cherise thought on that a moment before admitting, “I wouldn’t challenge her.”

“You would not challenge bug.”

“Sabina,” Jess warned. “Be nice.” Thinking a moment, Jess turned to Cherise and said, “I hate saying this, Cherise, but when I rented our place to your parents, I didn’t think I’d have to specify no massive honey badger meetings. We have pups to think about.”

“But I doubt my parents would have meetings that involve any honey badgers other than Livy. I mean, my mom was always very nice to Livy’s mother, but only because it annoyed Livy’s mother so much.” She snapped her fingers and reached into the back of her jeans pocket to pull out her phone. “Let me check with Coop.”

She dialed and was silent for a moment. “Hey,” she finally said into the phone. “I’m over at the Kuznetsov Pack house . . . what’s going on? Why are there honey badgers . . . what?” Cherise suddenly blinked, her hand briefly covering her mouth. “What?” she asked again, her eyes beginning to tear up. “How is she? Is she okay?” Cherise shook her head. “Of course, I won’t cry in front of Livy.” But she was crying now. “It’s just . . . yes, I know she hates that! Fine! I’ll tell them. Okay.”

Cherise disconnected the call and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Cherise? What’s going on?”

“That’s all of Livy’s family going into the house. Your pups will be safe, and the Jean-Louis Parkers will take full responsibility for the house.”

Jess glanced at Sabina, but her friend was as confused as she.

“Is Livy okay?”

“She’s fine. It’s just . . . her dad.”

“Yeah. I heard he passed away.”

“Yes. We’d heard it was some kind of car accident or something. But . . .” She wiped her eyes again. “Livy found his body stuffed and on display in some woman’s apartment. I guess her family’s here to figure out what to do about it.”

Stunned, Jess stared at Cherise. Of all the things she’d expected the jackal to say . . . that was not even a thousand miles close.

“Why don’t you stay here for lunch, Cherise?” Jess asked as more limos showed up across the street. “Maybe even dinner?”

“Shouldn’t I be with Livy?” Cherise choked a bit, seconds before full-on sobbing exploded out of her. “She’s family!”

Jess smirked. “And will you be able to not cry around Livy if we send you back now?”

“Nooooo!”

“Then it’s for the best that you stay here until you can. We’ll let Livy handle this in her own way.”

She hiccupped. “I just feel so bad for her!”

“I know. But the best you can do for her now is let her deal with this herself.”

“But I don’t want you to worry about the house—”

“We’re not worried.” Why would she worry? Honey badgers with a mission had bigger things on their agenda than destroying a house during a drunken spree.

One of Jess’s Pack took a still-sobbing Cherise back into the Pack house and the others followed. Only Sabina stayed behind, the two women staring across the street at the honey badgers entering it.

Jess folded her arms over her chest. “I hope they tear apart whoever did such a thing to Livy’s father.”

“They are Slavs, like me,” Sabina replied. “And the world will bleed for the wrong done to them, my friend. The world will bleed.”

Jess nodded in agreement at her friend’s ominous words and was about to go inside their house when something soft hit her in the back of the head. She looked down and saw a T-shirt, then looked up and saw her daughter standing in the doorway. One chubby little arm pressed against the doorway kept her standing on her stout little legs. With her free hand she pointed at Jess and screeched, “Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug!”

Jess’s fangs were out, but before she could move, Johnny appeared behind her daughter. Still holding his violin and bow, he picked the girl up in his other arm and said, “I’ll play with her. I’ll play with her. No reason for anyone to get hysterical!” And with that he disappeared into the house.

Sabina smirked. “Don’t know why you look like that. You could have nice, boring wild dog with science degree and breed nice, boring wild dog pups. You picked hillbilly wolf with unstable family. Now you have unstable pup. Yet so much shock. Sometimes you make no sense.”

Jess watched her friend go inside and thought about how much she hated it when Sabina was right.