Wolf with Benefits

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Dee-Ann unlocked the front door and walked into the rental house the jackals were living in. She made it halfway down the hall before any adult jackal came out. It was Jackie Jean-Louis. She nodded at Dee as she rushed by and headed up the stairs.

“Morning, Dee,” she called down from the top stairs. “There’s Danish in the kitchen and dining room if you’re hungry.”

“Thank you kindly,” Dee called back, disturbed that no one seemed to notice a near-stranger in their home. No wonder shady government types were wandering around the house, undetected.

Dee walked a few more feet, and that’s when Cooper came out of the dining room. Like his mother, he appeared completely distracted as he walked, ate a raspberry-filled Danish, and stared down at the floor.

“Mornin’ to you, Cooper.”

The jackal stopped, blinked several times as if trying to bring her into focus. “Oh. Morning, Dee-Ann.”

“Everything all right here?”

“Define all right?”

“Pardon?”

The swinging kitchen door at the end of the hallway flew open and Dee and Cooper came face to face with Jeff Stewart, a security specialist who worked at Bobby Ray’s company, and a lion male currently covered in flour. Seemed kind of pissed off, too.

“We have a problem,” the feline announced.

“What problem?”

“We thought we were protecting older kids, Smith. No one said anything about toddlers.”

“What? You can’t handle a few toddlers?”

“I’m a lion male.”

“You feelin’ the need to kill the toddlers so that their mother will go back in heat?”

Gold eyes narrowed. “No. But I’m a professional. I don’t handle toddlers.”

“How bad can they be?”

Stewart turned, a shower of flour hitting Dee and Cooper in the face.

Coughing and brushing the flour aside, they followed Stewart back to the kitchen.

Flour, ground coffee, coffee beans, sugar, cocoa, and gobs of peanut butter were everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.

Dee shook her head, disgusted. “You couldn’t get control of two little girls before they did all this?”

“They’re not little girls,” Stewart snapped back. “They’re demon spawn!” He pointed at the two girls. They calmly sat on the counter, both clean except for their hands, which had lots of peanut butter . . . oh, and jelly. Their little feet swung back and forth, kicking the wood doors of the counter with their heels.

“Bonne journée,” said one.

“Guten tag,” said the other.

Then they both smiled.

“I’m out of here,” the lion told them.

Cooper raised his hand. “Wait. I’m sure we can figure out something so you don’t have to worry about them.” When the lion’s eyes narrowed . . . “I promise.”

The lion pushed the swinging kitchen door open. “Whatever.”

“I love cats.” Dee smiled at the shocked expression on Cooper’s face. “They’re all so dang moody.”

Facing the twins, Cooper demanded, “What did I tell you two?”

“Du hast gesagt—”

“In English, Zia.”

The two girls took each other’s peanut butter–covered hands and began simultaneously in English, “Stay with us—”

“And do not quote The Shining. You know people freak out when you two do that.”

Their smiles suggested that yes, they did know that freaked people out.

“Have y’all thought about getting these two a nanny?”

“Nanny?” Coop repeated, as if he’d never heard the word before.

“Yeah. A nanny. Rich people have ’em all the time.”

“But we’re jackals.”

“Your family is also damn weird. If you’re freakin’ out the king of the jungle, you might need special care. Or, at the very least, someone with a high tolerance for weird.”

They both looked at the twins, and in response the girls pursed their lips and made smacking sounds. Air kisses. It was cute and terrifying all at the same time because they did it in unison.

“A very high tolerance for weird.”

Cooper shook his head. “Toni’s going to freak out about this. Shit.” He pulled out his cell phone. “When does she get home again?”

“Shit,” one of the twins repeated, smiling.

“Shit,” her sister parroted.

“Merde.”

“Hovno.”

“Stront.”

“Merda.”

“Mierda.”

Dee stared at the three-year-old twins. “Lord . . . how many languages do y’all know?” Then she frowned and focused on their brother when she realized something else. “And how the heck do they know about The Shining?”

“Why are you looking at me? It was probably Kyle who let them watch it.”

“Kyle’s eleven.”

“Physically, maybe.” He held up his phone. “Found the text. She should be back tonight.”

“Good thing. Y’all run wild when she ain’t here.”

A kiss on her forehead woke Toni up, her cheek resting against his chest while Ricky held her.

“We’re almost home, darlin’,” he whispered. “Time to put your seat belt on.”

Yawning, Toni sat up and pushed off the blanket covering her. She put on her seat belt and glanced over at the seats on the other side of the aisle.

“Why is he here?” she asked again. She’d asked when Barinov had checked in with them at the airport in Russia, but Ricky had given her some vague bullshit answer she didn’t buy. Yet she hadn’t bothered to push for an answer then. She was too far away to do anything if something had gone wrong at home, and she didn’t want to start freaking out on the flight. So she’d waited. But with their plane descending, she wanted answers.

Ricky seemed to understand that when he replied, “There was a break-in at your rental house. Everyone’s fine. The kids weren’t home.”

Toni nodded. “Okay.”

“I talked to Dee-Ann before we got on the plane. Your honey badger friend apparently went into action as soon as this happened. She pulled in my company and your aunt Irene called in Dee-Ann.”

“Whatever for?”

“Irene seems to think the government was involved. Whoever it was tried to make it look like no one had been there, and if we weren’t shifters, we wouldn’t have known they had been.”

“But everyone’s safe?”

“Very safe. Darlin’, you can’t get safer than when Dee-Ann’s involved. Unless you’re on the wrong side of her.”

“Good.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but—”

“No, no. I understand. I would have just spent the whole flight freaking out, and that’s how jackals end up on shifter no-fly lists. I can’t afford that.” She studied him. “But any other time . . . don’t hide anything from me about my family.”

“I know.” She could tell from his expression he took her warning seriously. “Trust me.”

And she did. At least about this.

“You’re exhausted,” he murmured, brushing her hair off her face.

“I am. But so are you.”

“I’ll get you home and then we’ll figure it out from there. Okay? No decisions when we’re this tired.”

“Fair enough.”

He kissed her then, and Toni began to wonder what would happen when they were fully awake and over their jet lag. Because this simple kiss had her toes curling inside her boots.

“I’m sorry,” one of the flight attendants said, a smile on her feline face. “You need to put your seats up. We’re cleared to land.”

Nodding, Toni brought her seat up. Once the flight attendant walked away to check on the rest of the passengers, Ricky leaned over and whispered, “You keep kissing me like that, darlin’, and we won’t be figuring out anything except which side of the bed you like to sleep on.”

It wasn’t even seven a.m. when Oriana sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of hot oatmeal and a bottle of cold water. She’d been up since five thirty so she could get warmed up for the day’s classes. Plus there was a competition coming up that she was excited about because it could lead to huge possibilities for her career.

Her career. That’s all Oriana really ever thought about. Dancing and her career as a dancer. She knew that most girls her age were spending their summers hanging out with friends, going to movies, listening to music, and trying to get the cutest guys to notice them. But Oriana knew she wasn’t “most girls.” She’d been given a gift and she wasn’t going to waste it on shitty music, annoying frenemies, and some guy who would end up sleeping with her best friend or something. Besides, Oriana had her family and with them she didn’t have to make excuses for why she couldn’t go out or why she didn’t care about the latest blockbuster movie.

Honestly, all she cared about was getting her turns perfect, her extensions long, and her position as a world-famous prima ballerina secure.

Anything else didn’t mean much to her.

As Oriana worked her way through her oatmeal, her siblings came to the table. Five-year-old Dennis and the twins would be staying with their father for the day while the rest of them had classes all over the city. Well . . . all except Delilah, but she never really figured in their family plans. If Oriana was to be honest, Delilah never seemed part of the family at all. As horrible as Oriana, Kyle, and Troy could be to anyone who got in their way, Delilah was definitely worse. Like a dangerously unstable visiting relative rather than an immediate member of the family they were all forced to tolerate.

And while the rest of the kids tore into the breakfast their mother had made, Delilah silently slipped out the back door, probably not to be seen again until much later tonight.

Involuntarily shuddering, still seeing that blade perilously close to her eyes, Oriana went back to focusing on eating her breakfast when she saw Freddy’s head snap up. He sniffed the air again, his little face twisting as he tried to make sense of what he was smelling. But then his eyes grew wide, his face flushing with excitement, and he jumped off his chair and took off running.

When their mother and father grinned at each other and pushed away from the table, Oriana knew that Toni was home. The rest of the kids followed their parents except for Oriana, Kyle, and Troy.

“I guess she’s back then,” Kyle muttered into his plate of eggs and bacon.

Troy pushed his food away. “Finally. Thought she was planning to stay in Russia, she took so long.”

“Maybe she should have.” Oriana scratched the back of her neck.

“Yeah,” Troy agreed. “Because we don’t need her.”

“Right.” Kyle nodded. “We don’t need her.” He briefly toyed with his bacon before adding, “And we should tell her that to her face.”

Agreeing, the three of them jumped up from the table and headed for the front door. To tell their sister how they didn’t need her. At all.

Toni had just put Freddy back on the floor after hugging the little bugger off his little feet and she was reaching for Dennis when she was tackled by three insolent bastards. She would have hit the floor, too, if Ricky hadn’t been standing behind her. He kept her standing as Oriana, Kyle, and Troy all hugged her tight.

Shocked, Toni immediately looked at Coop. He was no help, though, laughing and turning away from her.

“How dare you!” Oriana snarled. “How dare you leave us alone with that . . . that . . .”

“Neanderthal!” Troy filled in.

“He got you guys a workable schedule, didn’t he?” Toni asked, awkwardly patting the backs of Oriana and Troy while Kyle hugged her waist.

“That’s not the point!” Troy argued.

But Toni knew what the point was. While Bo could organize anything, he wouldn’t be nice about it. He wouldn’t take sensitivities into account the way Toni would. Of course, she’d known that when Ricky had suggested him . . . and that was the main reason she’d eventually agreed. Because someone nice would only get run over by the Jean-Louis Parker Family Train.

As Toni’s dad always said, “When dealing with ancient Romans, you really need a Hannibal the Great to kick their ass.”

Her father was a bit of a Roman history buff.

“You all seemed to survive,” she reminded her siblings.

“Barely,” Troy muttered.

Toni watched her own Hannibal the Great stomp down the stairs of her family’s rental house with his duffel bag. Behind him was . . . somebody.

“You’re back,” Bo said when he stood in front of her.

“I am. Do you want an update on what hap—”

“Later. I need ice time.”

“Well, thank you for—”

“Whatever. I need ice time.”

“Okay.”

The hybrid stared down at her and Toni stared back, not sure what he wanted.

“I need ice time,” he repeated.

“Yes. I know.”

“But you’re in my way.”

“Oh. Right.” Toni quickly stepped out of the way of the door, pulling her siblings with her. But while she wrangled her sisters and brothers, she’d abandoned Ricky and Vic Barinov, whom she couldn’t seem to shake since they’d landed in the States.

“Hi, Toni!” said the somebody with Bo.

“Oh. Hi. Um . . .”

The somebody’s face fell. “Blayne.”

“Right! Right.” Toni nodded. “Hi.”

“Are you gonna move?” Bo asked Ricky.

“Sure. What do you want to see? The Cabbage Patch?” And then the crazed wolf began to do the goddamn Cabbage Patch. Right there. In her hallway, with her family watching, and at Bo Novikov.

Pushing Oriana and Kyle behind her, Toni reached over and grabbed Ricky Lee’s forearm, using all her strength to yank him to her side.

Which left Bo Novikov staring down Vic Barinov.

And it was intense. Like something out of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom intense. Two bear males squaring off over a deer carcass intense.

Lips pulled back over fangs that extended out of gums, saliva pouring onto the floor as forehead rammed against forehead, and then there was the roaring. Good God! The roaring! It was so instantaneous and rage-filled that Toni was sure they knew each other.

Toni immediately looked to her parents, but they were already moving, the twins in her father’s arms—both girls fighting their father because they wanted to see the bloodshed—her mother holding the hands of Freddy and Dennis. They disappeared down the hallway, knowing Toni would take care of the older kids. Yet even though Toni was willing to put herself between danger and the others, she knew she wouldn’t have to. Kyle and Oriana would never risk any harm that could stop them from doing what they loved. Cherise was already easing away. Coop was pretty fast when he wanted to be and he’d take care of Troy. Delilah wasn’t even there and Toni never worried about her anyway.

Contingency plans, however, were unnecessary once Dee-Ann Smith ambled down the hallway. To Toni’s eternal surprise, Livy was right behind her. Surprise because Toni really thought Livy would have ditched her family by now. Not permanently or anything, Livy just wasn’t for staying in one place for very long.

Of course the fact that she had stayed said the break-in was probably more serious than Ricky had let on. So, without letting anyone know what she was doing, Toni opened up her senses to everything around her while still managing to focus on the male idiocy going on right in front of her face.

Dee-Ann stopped about ten feet from the two unbelievably large hybrid males and, after studying them for a long moment, went for that bowie knife of hers that she always had tacked to the back of her jeans or strapped to her thigh. She’d just pulled it free from its sheath when, uh—Blank? Was that her name?—jumped in front of Dee-Ann.

“You can’t!” Blank yelled. “You just can’t!”

That’s when Livy’s eyes crossed and she walked past all of them and right between the two males. Compared to seven-four Bo Novikov and seven-foot-one Vic Barinov, Livy was like a mite on some wolf’s fur. Yet, as always, she never let size stop her from doing whatever she needed to do.

She pushed her way between the two males and rammed her hands against their chests. Then she shoved, forcing both males back a step. Maybe even two steps.

“Cut it the fuck out,” she ordered, not even angry. “Novikov. You were leaving.”

“Yeah. I’m leaving.” He stormed around Livy and Barinov and walked out. Blank stopped long enough to wave at everyone, then pointed at Cherise and Livy. “See you gals tonight!” she cheered.

Toni, unsure what that meant, waved at Bo’s fiancée. “Bye, Blank!”

She stopped, spun around, and snapped, “It’s Blayne.”

“Right. Blayne. Sorry.”

Shrugging, Toni closed the front door and faced Barinov. “Tell me you at least knew Novikov.”

“That was Novikov?” When everyone merely stared at him, he added, “I’m not really a hockey fan. I like football.”

Sighing, realizing how exhausted she was, Toni asked, “You’re not going to continue to hang around, are you?”

“That’s up to her,” he said, pointing at Dee-Ann. “She hired me.”

Knowing there was no point in discussing this any further with Dee-Ann, Toni pushed past Barinov and caught the back of Cherise’s T-shirt before she could escape into another room.

Once she had her sister facing her, she asked, “Why did Bland say ‘see you tonight’? Why are you involving yourself with Bland?”

Cherise tried the evasive maneuver, which never worked on Toni. “I think her name is Blayne.”

“I don’t care.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying her name wrong because you don’t like perky people?”

“I like my assistant. She’s perky. And don’t try to distract me. What did she mean?”

“Cherise and I,” Livy said from behind Toni, “were asked to join the local derby team and we have a practice tonight. With Bland.”

Toni rubbed her temples and finally asked the universe, “Really?”

They sat in the backyard at a long marble picnic table with matching benches. Cherise brought out coffee and freshly purchased muffins from the bakery down the street. Coop brought out a big pitcher of orange juice.

Once he’d placed the pitcher in the middle of the table, Coop went to sit down by Toni, but before he could, the wolf sat down first. He straddled the bench so that he was facing Toni, his knees touching some part of her.

Unable to help himself, Coop glanced at Cherise and Livy.

To stop from giggling, Cherise desperately shoved a muffin into her mouth. An entire, giant muffin. But Livy, not well acquainted with the wolf and naturally distrusting, merely locked narrowed black eyes on the interloper.

Cherise began to choke on her muffin and Toni quickly poured her a glass of OJ while Coop patted his sister’s back until she waved him off.

“All right,” Toni said to them once they’d gotten settled. “Talk to me.”

Cherise wiped her mouth and began. “I’m just going to play one bout. Just to see if I like it.”

Coop saw his eldest sister gaze at Cherise. Toni was clearly exhausted. He saw it in her face, in her body. This wasn’t just jet lag, either. Then again, she hadn’t been on vacation. She’d been negotiating with bears in a foreign country.

“Cherise, I don’t care,” Toni told their sister.

Cherise’s bottom lip jutted out a bit into a sad little pout. “You don’t care at all?”

The wolf squinted at Coop, but he just shook his head. It was the way of his family, wasn’t it?

“Of course I care, Cherise, but you have to make that decision for yourself. I will suggest,” Toni went on, unable to help herself, “that you don’t play a week to two weeks before your concerts. That way if you hurt your arms, wrists, or fingers during a game, you’ll have time to heal. Okay?”

Cherise smiled. “Okay.”

“Where are we at?” Toni asked Livy.

“I went to Ricky Lee’s brother Reece. Had him pull in your company’s team, Ricky.”

“I would have done the same thing,” Ricky said.

“He’s been great. Jackie loves him.”

“He does have a way with the older ladies.”

“What else?” Toni pushed her friend.

“They’ve secured the house.”

“No, Liv. I mean what aren’t you guys telling me?”

Livy peered at Coop, raised her brows at him.

“Tell her,” he urged, knowing his sister wouldn’t stop until they did.

“Irene called in Dee-Ann.”

Toni leaned back. “And why was that again?”

“Honestly? I think Irene feels guilty.”

“Did she do something?”

“I don’t think so. But your mother won’t let her leave and I think Irene’s worried that if something happens to one of the kids, it’ll be because of her.”

Toni sighed. “I guess that’s why I have that behemoth following me around.”

“Who is he anyway?”

“His name’s Vic Barinov. He was part of my protection detail in Russia along with Ricky.” She looked pointedly at Livy. “What do you think?”

Livy shrugged. “Bringing in Dee-Ann is not my favorite idea.” She glanced at Ricky. “I don’t have anything personal against your friend, but—”

“But you don’t usually call in Dee-Ann Smith unless you want someone to die,” Ricky finished for Livy. “Same thing with her daddy. But we also use Dee-Ann and her daddy when we want to prevent problems. If there’s one person who can get to the bottom of this, quickly and quietly, it’s Dee-Ann Smith.”

Toni nodded. “Then leave it alone. If involving Dee-Ann makes Irene feel better, then let her do it. Besides, I want this done.”

Livy agreed. “Then it’s done.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing urgent,” Cooper said, worried about how tired his sister looked. He really hoped this job of hers was worth all she was going through.

“Okay.” She stood up. “Tell Mom I’ll be back for breakfast in a few. Livy . . . come with.”

She walked off and Livy followed her, the women walking into the house.

Ricky moved around on the bench until he could face both Coop and Cherise.

After a long minute of silence, Ricky said, “Your sister was amazing in Russia.”

Coop was about to answer, “I know,” but Cherise spoke first.

“My sister’s amazing all the time.” Cherise grabbed a muffin and squeezed it until it began to crumble in her hands. “And if you ever forget that and make her cry the way that worthless full-human did, I’m going to make you sorry you ever left Tennessee.” She got to her feet, started to turn away, but then stopped and added, “Which is a lovely state but that’s not the point!”

Coop watched his younger sister march off, leaving a trail of muffin crumbs behind her.

“I sure do like your family,” the wolf said. And Coop looked over at Ricky Lee, saw the smile that told him the man was being completely serious.

“They are great, aren’t they?” Coop agreed.

Toni sat on her bed, pulled off her boots. “Okay.” She looked right at her friend. “What haven’t you told me?”

“I saw Delilah coming out of a church.”

“Great. She’s stealing crosses now?”

“Blayne said it was a cult. They took over the church when the original congregation had to move.”

Toni suddenly laughed, surprising herself. “I wish I could say I was shocked, but . . .”

“I know. I know.” Livy laughed, too. “But when you think about it, she’d fit right in there with the pantheon, wouldn’t she? Charles Manson. David Koresh. Jim Jones. She blends.”

“Not quite. They were monsters, but they were all kind of mentally ill. According to Kyle there’s a difference between personality disorders and mental illness. Del isn’t crazy. She just doesn’t have a soul.”

Livy braced her legs apart, crossed her arms over her chest. “I put security on each of the kids.”

Toni studied her best friend. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It just felt . . .” She searched for the right word. “Necessary.”

“Then it’s necessary.” Livy didn’t do important things on a whim, so Toni didn’t question her decisions.

Yawning, Toni said, “Tell me how much I owe you for all this security because Mom and Dad said they didn’t pay for any . . .” But Livy had already walked out of the room.

“I will pay you back, honey lover!”

“Shut up!”

Toni chuckled as Ricky walked into the room.

“Your mother said breakfast will be ready for us in a bit.”

“Okay.”

He came across the room and dived onto her bed, rolling around until he was on his back. He stopped, gazed at her, then started again.

Toni laughed loud. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m glad to be home.” He turned onto his side, wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah. But I should go check on the kids.”

“The kids are fine. Their parents have managed to take very good care of them.”

“Not appreciating the Southern sarcasm.”

“Come on, darlin’. Let’s cuddle like proper canines.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“That’s a great idea. It’s called relaxing. Taking a break. They’ll call us when breakfast is ready anyway.”

“Well . . .”

But Ricky Lee had already eased her down on the bed until she was cuddled up next to him and at that point she didn’t really feel like saying anything else. Besides, what could a five-minute break hurt anyway?