Here Kitty, Kitty!

Chapter Nine

One more shower and a fresh round of underwear and clothes later, Angelina walked into Nik’s kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. Her long legs were crossed and she had the paper open to the business section.

Without looking up, “I certainly hope I didn’t embarrass you too much, my dear.”

“No, no,” Angie lied. “Not at all.” She reached into one of the cabinets, grabbed a mug and poured herself a cup of coffee.

“I received a rather interesting call this morning,” Nik’s mother continued.

Angie debated whether she should repaint her toenails. Something not so dark. “Oh?”

“From Vicki Löwe.”

“Really?” Although, pink didn’t look too good against her skin. So, maybe she should stick with the dark reds. Also she really needed to check on Sara’s party plans. Just because she’d been kidnapped and Miki attacked on campus, didn’t mean that Sara’s goddamn birthday party wouldn’t go off without a hitch.

“She thought maybe I had information on the past, but I really don’t because that would require me to care.”

So the question became, did she want to go with closed-toe or open-toe shoes for the party?

“I don’t like worrying myself with everybody else’s crap.”

Angie finally turned and looked at Nik’s mother. Nik really did look like her. “Is that right?”

“I have enough things to worry about, wouldn’t you say? And back then I spent most of my time avoiding Boris. But I do know someone who understands that knowledge is power. And the woman does like power. You should meet her. Preferably now while I’m still in the mood.”

Angie sipped her coffee. She really didn’t feel like getting dressed. Again. But this truce idea had her intrigued. What if she could get Sara and Löwe together for a truce? Would that make Miki’s baby any safer? Maybe calm Sara the fuck down a bit. Really, it was worth looking at a little more.

She still sighed out her answer, though. “Fine. I’ll go.”

“Now, darlin’. I know I’m pulling you away from playing grab ass with my oldest boy on his nice hardwood floor…” Angie barely stopped herself from spitting out her mouthful of coffee. “…but if he’s anything like his daddy, trust me, he’ll still be here when you get back.”

Nik pulled on his T-shirt as he checked Angie’s room. Nope. She wasn’t there either. His mother and her Jeep were gone. So where exactly did his little hellcat go?

It wasn’t until he looked around the entire kitchen that he found her note tacked to the refrigerator.

Off with your mother. I’m looking forward to bearskin rug stories.

–Angie

The smile spread across his face as he stared at her note. She is such a cutie.

Angie stared at the shack Nik’s grandmother, Broyna Vorislav, lived in. “My God, he lets her live here?”

“She won’t move. Trust me, Nik’s tried.”

After a moment, Angie understood why. She could feel it sliding through her feet and up through her legs. This was a place of power.

“She lives on a burial ground.” Angie shuddered at the thought. Her grandmother, a witch of some power, would never desecrate a place of the dead. But she’d told Angie lots of stories about many witches who would.

Seemed Nik’s grandmother was one of those.

Natalia looked at her in surprise. “How did you know that?”

“God, woman. Can’t you feel it?”

“Not really.”

The screen door opened and what had to be, Angie guessed, the oldest living woman on the planet limped out onto the porch.

“What you want?” The woman glared at Nik’s mother like she carried the plague.

“I’ve brought someone to see you,” Natalia yelled.

“I ain’t deaf.”

“Of course you’re not,” she continued to yell. Angie knew immediately Natalia was fucking with the woman. “Now this young lady has a few questions for you!”

The old woman let loose a roar that shook the surrounding woods.

“I think she wants me to leave, Angelina. Will you be all right?”

Angie looked at the older woman. She had a small hump on her back, gnarled hands, and a black patch over one eye. Good God. That’s why Natalia kept calling her O-E-G. One-Eyed Grandma.

Sara’s furry ass really better be worth this bullshit.

“Sure. I’ll be fine.”

“Great. I’ll come back for you in a bit.” She looked back at the old woman. “Talk to you soon, Mother Vorislav!”

She turned away, giving Angie a big wink, and left her alone with the scariest being Angie had ever met.

She looked up at the woman. The big cat stared at her for several long seconds, then she nodded toward her shack.

“Well, you might as well come on in.”

Since his mother must have taken her shopping in town, like either of those women needed more clothes, Nik decided to get some work done. He grabbed his laptop, his cell phone, and sat out on his porch with a pitcher of sweet tea Kisa had left for him. He answered messages, sent out emails, bought an apartment building in Paris and a resort in the Cayman Islands. He was just contemplating a nap or some fresh elk, when his phone rang.

“This is Nik.”

“It’s Zach.”

Nik frowned. “Who?”

“Zach Sheridan.”

Nik searched his brain for who this was, but he’d always been lousy with names of people he didn’t give a damn about.

“You have our female and our families almost killed each other at my sister’s college graduation.”

“Oh.” The dog. “Hey.”

Nik felt his entire body clench. They couldn’t be coming for her this soon, could they? The thought of giving Angie up to anyone put Nik into an almost full-blown rage.

“How is she?” the dog asked.

“She’s great. She’s with my mother.”

“Your mother? What’s next? Thanksgiving dinner at your house?”

“Why are you calling?”

The wolf chuckled. “Christ, she’s right.”

“Who’s right? About what?”

“I got a call from my sister last night. She seems to think I should leave Angie with you as long as I can manage.”

Alek. What his fascination with this man’s she-wolf sister may be, Nik would never understand. But damn if he didn’t appreciate it at the moment.

“And how long is that?”

“Three days, tops, redneck. To be honest, we could use the extra time. But my female has stopped speaking to anyone, including the psychopath. Which is making us all very nervous.”

Nik bit his flip remark back about dogs not being able to control their bitches. As tempted as he was to mess with the pooch, Nik couldn’t afford pissing him off. Not when Zach was giving him exactly what he wanted. More time with Angie.

“So, you’ve got three days. But on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“Keep your hillbilly brother away from my sister.”

If Alek wanted her, he’d have her. No matter what Nik did or didn’t do. But he wasn’t above lying to a dog.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“You do that, hick.”

Exactly how the old crone roped Angie into helping cook dinner was beyond her. In less than ten minutes of entering her house, the woman had her seated at her kitchen table and working. She snapped the green beans while Broyna fried up a shitload of chicken and rolled out some biscuits. Clearly she expected more company or she really thought Angie could pack it away.

“So you’re with my Nikky.”

Angie almost choked on her iced tea. “No. I’m staying with him temporarily.”

“In his bed?”

Angie put down her glass. “No.” She wasn’t lying. At least, at the moment, she wasn’t.

“But ya wanna be. In his bed.”

Angie simply didn’t have the patience of Sara when it came to old women. Her grandmother had been a saint. A lovely woman who raised Angie even during those really dark high school years when all that pent up rage toward her parents found an outlet in random acts of violence. To this day, it still cut Angie how much her violent years hurt her grandmother.

But other than that, she didn’t buy into the whole respecting one’s elders thing. Of course she blamed that on Sara’s grandmother. The whole town still talked about the time Angie decked Lynette Redwolf when she found the woman hitting Sara with a broom. If it hadn’t been for Miki and Sara holding her back, she probably would have killed the old bitch.

“Look, old woman, what I do or don’t do with your adult grandson is my own goddamn business.”

“You’re an ornery, big-boned gal, ain’t ya?”

“And you’re a cranky old bitch. So I guess that makes us like sisters.”

Chuckling, the old woman turned back to her chicken. “Well, my Nik’s in for a time with you.”

She moved the pieces of chicken around a bit, put the top on, and limped over to the table. She sat down heavily, a sigh easing from her thin lips.

“So what do you wanna know?”

Finally. “The war between the Magnus Pack and the Withell Pride. Know anything about that?”

“Sure.”

She said that awfully quick. “Maybe I should re-phrase. Do you know anything I’ll actually find interesting?”

The old woman leaned across the table toward Angie. It took all of Angie’s ice-like demeanor not to shy away from her. “Did ya know that those two bitches were friends?”

“What two bitches?”

“Annie Withell and Kylie Redwolf?”

No. She didn’t know that. And Sara definitely didn’t know that.

Grinning at her like she knew Angie would taste good with ketchup, Broyna took the bowl of beans and motioned to the section of the table where she’d already started the biscuits. “Go finish up them biscuits and I’ll tell ya some interesting things about them stuck-up lions and crotch-licking dogs.”

Angie rolled her eyes. Tricky goddamn cats.

Nik sat on his front porch, his feet up on the railing, a copy of The Portable Mark Twain on his lap. He watched his brothers drive up toward his house in Alek’s Chevy pickup. One of the few vehicles both men could comfortably fit in together. Behind the truck, his sister and cousin were in Reena’s Porsche.

They pulled to a stop in front of him. Ban stuck his head out the window.

“You better come on. We gotta rescue your girl.”

Nik swung his feet off the banister, a low growl emanating from his chest. “What the hell are you talking about?” Already his mind tore through all the different horrible scenarios.

“Momma left her alone—with One-Eyed Grandma.”

“Shi-it!” Nik jumped over the railing and dived into the cab of Alek’s truck.

It was worse than he thought.