Wolf with Benefits

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Toni rolled over in her bed and stretched.

“Morning,” she heard Vic Barinov say.

Yanking the sheet up to her chin, Toni sat up in bed and yelled out, “Ricky!”

Ricky walked out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower, a towel around his waist, shaving cream on one side of his face, and a razor in his hand. Honestly, if Toni hadn’t been so freaked out to find Barinov skulking around her bedroom, she would have enjoyed the delicious view. The man looked damn good.

“What the holy hell, Vic?”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. We have a problem, though.”

“A problem?”

Barinov looked at Toni. “It’s the twins.”

Livy watched her best friend pace back and forth in the ballroom while the EMT guys did what they had to do. She knew that Toni wouldn’t handle this well. Nope. Not well at all.

“What were you thinking?” Toni bellowed. “I just don’t understand!” She leaned down so that she could shake her finger right in the faces of Zoe and Zia. “You were bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!”

The EMTs were shifters from a shifter hospital, and when one of them said, “Brace yourselves,” Livy instinctively cringed even before she heard them snap that lion male’s bone back into place.

Paul rushed into the ballroom with his pet dog by his side. “Why is there an ambulance out . . . oh.” He briefly watched the EMTs secure Jeff Stewart to a gurney built with bears in mind.

As they wheeled him out, he screamed at Ricky Reed, “I expect disability for this, Reed! You understand me? Tell Llewellyn I want disability!”

Paul walked up to Livy. “What the hell happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Livy admitted. “I heard him scream and came running in to find him on the floor with a broken leg and the girls sitting there eating Danish.”

“Tell me that’s raspberry on their face.”

“It’s not blood.”

“That’s something.” Paul let out a breath. “Did you ask Stewart?”

“I did. He wouldn’t tell me anything, just kept saying ‘This goddamn job isn’t worth it.’ Over and over again.”

Toni walked away from her sisters, past Ricky Lee, and over to Livy and Paul.

“I seriously can’t leave for a night!” she complained.

“The girls didn’t do anything physical to him. I think they just messed with his head. He did the rest to himself.”

Paul walked toward his twin daughters. “Toni, I’ll handle this. You go to work.”

“But, Dad—”

“No buts. I can handle my own children.”

“Fine.” She kissed her father on the cheek, crouched down, kissed her sisters, then shook her finger at them again. “Bad, bad, bad!”

Livy followed Ricky and Toni out into the hall. As they walked, Ricky said, “I’ll get on the phone with Rory and find someone to replace Stewart.”

“Someone better,” Toni snarled. “No more lion males if they can’t handle a couple of bratty three-year-olds.”

Bratty three-year-olds the twins might be, but that didn’t mean they were any less dangerous. But Livy wasn’t about to say that to her best friend. Not when she was this angry.

They reached the front door and Toni faced Ricky. “I know your brother handled this job, but I want you to evaluate all the personnel involved directly with my siblings. You understand them, Reece doesn’t.”

“Done.”

Smart wolf. He knew better than to argue with Toni when it was about her siblings. Because there would be no winning that fight. Only lonely nights.

“Good.” Toni grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door open. Her limo driver reared back.

“Oh,” he said. “I was just coming to—”

“Just go already!” she yelled at him.

“What are you screaming at me for?” the feline demanded. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Shut up and drive, you idiot!”

Bickering, the pair stormed out of the house. Ricky looked at Livy, sighed, shook his head, and followed.

Livy did not follow. She knew better.

It took Ricky nearly half a day to get his brother on the phone. Rory had been in client meetings and other than texting him to “stop bothering me,” he’d been pretty quiet. But now that Ricky had him on the phone, he was forcing Rory to go through each team member he’d brought onto the Jean-Louis Parker job and which kid that team member was attached to. His brother wasn’t happy about this—he never liked it when anyone questioned him but especially when it was Reece or Ricky. But with Stewart stuck in the hospital in the throes of an ugly fever while his leg healed, Rory knew he had no choice.

So far, though, Ricky was fine with the team Rory had assembled to watch the kids—he wasn’t about to blame any male, even a feline, for being freaked out by the Jean-Louis Parker twins. Then Rory told him who he’d put with Freddy.

Sitting in Toni’s office, which was filled with flowers from individual players—especially the ones of Russian and Mongolian descent who would now have a chance to visit distant relatives at team cost—and other Eastern Europe shifter hockey teams who’d clearly heard about Toni through Zubachev, Ricky told his brother flatly, “No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean no. I don’t want Roy with Freddy.”

“Why not?”

“He’s lazy.”

“Dude, come on. How much effort is needed to watch a seven-year-old?”

“I don’t want Roy on this.”

“Who then?”

Ricky thought a moment. “What about Miranda?”

“Miranda? Is she remotely good with kids?”

“I don’t care. And I can promise you Freddy’s sister won’t care. It’s about whether he’ll be safe, and Freddy has a lot of outside classes. So put her on it.”

“Okay. Okay. Lord, you are gettin’ snarly. Startin’ to sound like Daddy.”

“Only because you’re irritating the shit out of me.”

“I said okay! I’ll take care of it. But Miranda’s in Queens today on another job. I can pull her, but it’ll take a bit to get her back to the city, so Roy will have to stick with the kid while he’s at school.”

Ricky looked at his watch. “Yeah. All right.” He’d replace Roy himself but the coyote would wait until Ricky could get there.

“Have her meet us at the Parker house.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Then his brother chuckled. “Parker house. Aren’t those rolls?”

Yep. The Reed family secret—Rory was kind of goofy.

“Does your hot, new girlfriend smell like rolls, too?”

Ricky looked over at his “hot, new girlfriend.”

“Rory?” Ricky said to his big brother.

“Uh-huh?”

“Momma’s in town.”

“Wait. What?”

“Bye!” Ricky disconnected the call and then turned his phone off.

“What’s going on?” Toni asked. She was focused on her computer monitor, her hands flying across the keyboard, and he didn’t think she’d been paying attention.

“Just freaking my brother out.”

“You mentioned Freddy. What’s going on with Freddy?” Damn, the woman was good.

“I’m going to go pick up Freddy from school today.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t trust me with your brother?”

“I don’t trust that he won’t talk you into letting him drown himself in a chocolate sundae as big as your head.” She smirked. “He’s quite persuasive, my baby brother.”

“And I wonder where he learned that from?”

“Quiet, you.”

Freddy Jean-Louis Parker hated school. He hated professors. They always got so mean when he corrected them. How was it his fault when they got it wrong? How was it his fault that they didn’t know as much as they thought they did?

It wasn’t! It wasn’t his fault! And it wasn’t fair to yell at him! He didn’t do anything wrong. And even when he did do wrong things, his parents didn’t yell at him. Even Toni didn’t yell at him and Toni yelled at pretty much everybody. She did slap those matches out of his hand that time, but he didn’t blame her for that. But then she calmed him down. Toni always calmed him down. She was real good at that.

Freddy walked out of the class, the man named “Roy” behind him. Freddy wasn’t so sure about Roy. He kept sighing and seemed really bored. How could anyone be bored by nuclear and particle physics? True, the professor wasn’t as knowledgeable as he thought he was, and that made him a little boring, but the field itself was fascinating! Whenever things got bad for Freddy, whenever he got real tense about something, he focused on the world of science and things got better. Toni and his therapist, Dr. Mathews, had taught him that. Because when things were better, Freddy was less inclined to . . . do things he shouldn’t.

Walking down the hall, Freddy felt really small. Everyone around him was so big . . . and old. But what Toni always told Freddy was that these people might be physically big, but Freddy had something none of these people had besides being smart—he had his family. Even when they were physically apart, even when they were arguing, even when they threatened each other with copyright and trademark lawsuits, they were still family. They would always be family.

Because of that, Freddy kept his head high and walked through that crowd of people with Roy right behind him. They got outside and Roy’s phone rang.

“Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Hold up, kid.”

Freddy stopped on the third step and looked back at Roy.

“We need to wait here. Ricky Lee’s coming to pick you up.”

Freddy smiled. “Okay!” He liked Ricky Lee. A lot. He was funny and nice and made Toni laugh. Their dad had started calling him “that bastard wolf ” lately, but Freddy wasn’t fooled. He knew his dad liked Ricky Lee, too. He just didn’t want to admit it.

Roy glanced down at Freddy. “Do you need me to hold that backpack for ya, kid?”

Freddy shook his head and gripped the straps. “No, thank you.”

“Okay. But let me know if it gets too heavy.”

Roy looked around; saw a pack of girls nearby. Grinning, he stepped over, introduced himself, and started talking. Bored, Freddy started to move away.

“Hey,” Roy said, catching Freddy mid-step. “Do not wander off.”

“Okay.”

But Roy was still talking to those girls and Freddy was still bored. He got tired of just standing there, so he moved over to the building wall and leaned back against it.

As he waited, he saw students from the class he’d just been in, as well as the professor. Not wanting to deal with them again right now, he eased around the wall until he could peek at them from the other side.

Those students had laughed when Freddy had corrected the teacher. Then they’d stared at him when they found out he was right. Stared at him like he was a freak.

He wasn’t a freak! Toni said he was smart and amazing! And Toni was never wrong. Not ever!

He hated school.

“Hi,” a female voice said from behind him. Freddy looked over his shoulder. She was old. Like Toni’s age old. But real pretty with dark hair and bright eyes. She was dressed real nice, too. And she had a pretty smile.

“Hi,” Freddy said back.

“Could you help me?”

Freddy faced her. “Help you?”

“I lost my puppy and I was hoping that—”

“Stranger danger!” Freddy screamed, just like Toni had always taught him. Well, he didn’t remember the exact words she’d taught him to say, but the screaming should be enough. “Stranger danger!”

The woman’s pretty face changed. First she looked shocked, then she was angry and she reached for him. So, still screaming, Freddy started swinging his arms and kicking his feet.

The woman squealed when he got her right in the knee, and that’s when he took off running around the building. And the entire time he screamed, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!”

He was looking for Roy, but Freddy saw Toni running right for him. He knew he’d be safe with her, and he dived into her arms. She lifted him up, and Freddy wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist, holding on tight.

“What happened?” Toni demanded, shaking him just a bit. “What happened?”

Freddy pointed at the corner of the building. “A woman. She tried to grab me.”

Toni held him tighter while Ricky Lee and Roy took off running. Another man, he said his name was Vic and he was there to protect Freddy’s sister, stood by them. He looked mean and ready to hurt people. The big students started moving away from them, giving them space.

“Are you all right?” Vic asked. Freddy realized the man wasn’t mean. Not like that lady had been mean. He was concerned. Freddy’s dad got that way sometimes. Like when Cherise panicked when a possum jumped out at her from behind a tree at their house and knocked herself out cold by running into another tree. The rest of them were laughing, but Daddy had looked upset and yelled at her and everyone else. Freddy finally figured out it was because he was worried about her. Worried Cherise had hurt herself bad. That was how Vic looked right now.

And although Freddy knew Vic would protect them, and that he was big enough and strong enough to do it, that didn’t matter. Not to Freddy. Not when he was holding on to his sister and knew without a doubt that he was safe.

Because with Toni, Freddy knew he’d always be safe.

Ricky charged around that corner, catching sight of a long leg seconds before it disappeared inside the passenger side of a car, the door closing behind it.

“Stay with Toni!” he ordered Roy.

“Wait—”

“Just do it!”

Ricky Lee took off after that car, dodging through the vehicles of pissed-off New York drivers as he sped across the street when the car turned a corner.

The car turned again, and Ricky continued to follow, pushing people out of his way and ignoring the rude things they were screaming at him. The car made several more turns until it ended up in an alley.

The engine still running, the vehicle sat there. Moving slow, Ricky eased up to the car until he could look into the windows. It was a late-model Mercedes. Really nice with darkened windows. Leaning in close, Ricky was about to press his nose to the space between the window and the door to see if he could scent anyone inside. But he stopped before his nose could touch anything when the cold barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his neck.

“You sure are fast, kid,” a male voice said from behind him.

And to prove the man right on that point, Ricky turned fast, caught the man’s wrist with one hand, and rammed his free hand into the man’s elbow.

The bone snapped and ripped the skin apart as it jutted forward.

The man started to scream, so Ricky slapped his hand over the man’s mouth and slammed him against the wall.

“Let him go.” A woman. Another gun.

Then another, as a male voice said, “Now.”

Ricky knew he had one chance at this. If he blew it, he was not leaving this alley alive. Since he had plans for the weekend, he decided that wasn’t an idea he liked much.

So, still moving fast, he ripped the rest of the man’s arm off and used it to slap the woman in the face. She shrieked and ducked as blood blinded her. Then Ricky tossed the screaming man into the other and scrambled up onto a Dumpster, caught the bottom of fire stairs, and headed up.

By the time he was standing on the roof, the woman was trying to wipe all that blood off her face while the man was trying to find Ricky. He didn’t look up, because it never occurred to him that anyone could get up the stairs to the roof that quickly. So these people were definitely not aware they’d become involved with shifters. But, they were definitely government. Which government, Ricky had no idea. Not yet.

Ricky waited until the remaining couple placed the now-one-armed man into the backseat. The woman got in with him, screaming that they had to get to a hospital. But Ricky got the feeling that the other man had no intention of bothering with that as he tossed his partner’s arm into the front seat like he was tossing in an old bag of laundry.

The car pulled out of the alley and sped off, and Ricky took his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans. His eldest brother answered immediately.

“What’s up?” Rory greeted him.

“Track down Dee-Ann for me.”

There was a long pause and then Rory sighed out, “Well, that’s never a good way to start a conversation.”

Nope. It sure wasn’t.

When Ricky arrived back at his truck, he found Toni still holding her brother, flanked by Vic and Roy, who were warning off the full-human students and professors just by being themselves. Ricky could tell that the full-humans wanted to help. But they didn’t, and he knew why. They were terrified of the predator holding the child more than they were of the much larger and scarier-looking predators surrounding her. Because at the moment, Antonella Jean-Louis Parker saw everyone as a threat—and there was nothing more deadly than a predator female who felt one of her own was in danger.

Ricky stepped in front of her to block her glower from the full-humans nearby. “Why don’t you put him in the truck, darlin’?”

“You don’t have a child seat.”

Something told him it wouldn’t matter if he did; she didn’t want to let her brother go.

She held her phone in one hand and raised it. “I didn’t call nine-one-one. I should, though, right? I should do something.”

“We don’t need the cops.” He reached for Freddy but Toni’s grip tightened.

“It’s all right. Give him to me.”

After a moment, she released the boy and Ricky took Freddy from her.

“I want Mommy.”

“I know. And we’re going to get you home right now.” Ricky pulled open the back passenger door and placed him in the seat. While he buckled him up, Ricky told him, “You were so smart, Freddy. The way you handled that. You should be real proud of yourself.”

The little boy gave a brave smile. “Toni taught me what to do.”

“And you listened. Good boy. Now Vic here’s going to sit in the back with you.” He leaned in and whispered, “Ask him to show you his claws. They’re huge.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Isn’t that right, Vic?”

“Enormous.” Vic got into the SUV beside Freddy. “You wanna see?”

“Yeah!”

Ricky closed the door and stepped closer to Toni. She leaned up against the SUV. Her entire body was tense, ready to strike like a cobra.

“We’re gonna take care of this,” Ricky promised her.

“It was them, wasn’t it? The ones who were in our house.”

Ricky nodded. “The scents matched, yeah.”

“Government?”

“Probably. Don’t think they were after Freddy because of what he is, though. They didn’t know what that was.”

“If we hadn’t been watching out for him, Ricky—”

“We were. He’s safe. And we’re gonna keep him safe. Let’s get him home.”

“And then what?”

He took her hand, held it tight. “Then there’ll be hell to pay.”