Wolf with Benefits

CHAPTER THIRTY

By the time they reached the house, Dee-Ann was sitting on the stone banister, her long legs stretched out in front of her. To someone passing by, Toni would guess she looked innocuous enough in her ancient jeans, worn Led Zeppelin T-shirt, and black baseball cap with absolutely no logo on it.

But Toni knew better. She knew that Dee-Ann simply sitting and waiting was one of the most dangerous things in the world.

With Freddy in her arms, Toni walked up the stairs. She stopped by Dee-Ann, and the She-wolf tugged on Freddy’s T-shirt. “Hey, little man.”

“Hi, Dee-Ann.”

“Heard you were brave today.”

“Brave?”

“Yeah.” Dee leaned in and whispered, “And Ricky Lee Reed don’t say that about just anybody, ya know? So you must have been amazing.”

A little embarrassed and overwhelmed, Freddy smiled and buried his head against Toni’s neck.

“Go on and take him inside,” Dee-Ann coaxed. “Me and the boys will be right in.”

Toni nodded and continued on up the stairs. As she reached the top step, the front door opened and her mother stood there. She’d been crying, but she was trying to hide it. She opened her arms and Toni handed Freddy off. Jackie held on to her son with one arm and reached for Toni with the other, hugging her daughter tight.

“It’s going to be okay, Mom,” she assured her. “It’s going to be okay.”

The front door closed and Dee focused on Ricky Lee.

“You’ve got blood on ya.”

He looked down. “Oh. Yeah.”

“Any cleanup necessary?”

“They took him away. He was alive last I saw him but doubt it’ll last unless they get him to a hospital. Something tells me they won’t.”

“Why would they want the boy?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I thought for sure it was Irene they wanted.”

“Use him for leverage?”

“Maybe.”

“But that don’t sound right, does it?”

“No. The kid is brilliant on his own, Dee. We picked him up from a university class. He’s seven. When we were driving back, he said the teacher hated him because he corrected his equations or somethin’.”

Dee looked around Ricky and nodded her head at the big buck standing behind him. “Barinov.”

“Dee-Ann.”

“You got any thoughts?” The feline-bear shrugged, which meant he did. She hated when he was evasive. She didn’t like chatty men, but she wasn’t much for shy ones, either. And that was his problem, though he hid it well. “Say it now before my patience wanes.”

“If they just wanted to take the kid,” Vic finally said, “why didn’t they just take him from the beginning? Why bother breaking into the house first?” He folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think it’s the kid they really want.”

Dee thought on that a brief moment, then slipped off the banister.

“Where are you going?” Ricky asked.

“To find out what they could possibly want.”

Jackie waited until Toni had sent Freddy upstairs to get his homework done before she talked to the rest of the kids. She knew that what she was about to tell them would not make them happy, but that was too bad.

She walked into the living room. They were all waiting for her except the twins and Dennis. Those three were still at the age where they’d go anywhere they were told. But the rest of this group . . .

There was, of course, one missing. Delilah. But she was rarely home these days. She’d turned eighteen and realized her parents had no legal way to get her to come home, so she didn’t bother. Then again, Jackie didn’t worry about her daughter like she did the others. She simply didn’t have to.

“What’s going on, Mom?” Oriana demanded. She had several pairs of toe shoes spread out in front of her, sewing on the ribbons that wrapped around her ankles. “You’re crying. Aunt Irene is trying to get in touch with Uncle Van. And there seems to be a growth of hillbilly wolves in our house.”

“Hey,” Toni warned, standing next to Jackie. “Be nice.”

“What? You’re dating a hillbilly, so now we all have to tolerate them?”

“Yes,” Toni shot back at her sister. “You do!”

“Both of you stop it.” Taking in a breath, Jackie announced, “We’re returning to Washington. Tonight.”

Troy turned to Kyle. “Now what did you do?”

“Shut up.”

“Kyle didn’t do anything,” Jackie cut in before there could be an argument. “This is about Freddy.”

Oriana sighed. “Oh, God. What did he burn down now?” “Or steal,” Troy tossed in.

“He didn’t do any of that. My God, what is wrong with you people?”

Kyle snorted. “Perhaps one should look to the upbringing of troubled children.”

“You’re not troubled, Kyle. You’re troubling.”

“Stop it,” Toni ordered. “All of you. For once, this isn’t all about you. It’s about family.”

“How is Freddy burning someone’s house down our problem?”

“He didn’t burn anything down!” Jackie roared.

Thankfully, Toni just came out with it. “Someone tried to kidnap Freddy today.”

“What do you mean ‘kidnap’?” Kyle asked.

“I mean they tried to grab your younger brother off the street.”

“Whatever for?” Troy asked. “For slave labor in a foreign country?”

Toni looked at Jackie and then back at her brother. “Really?”

“Why do you sound shocked? That sort of thing happens all the time. And he’s a strong little boy and quite tidy. He’d make a good little worker in a sweatshop.”

“Okay, stop.” Toni took a breath. Tried again. “We’re going back to Washington . . . for safety.”

“No.”

Jackie wished that had come from one of the kids sitting in front of her. Because she’d expected it. But sadly . . . it didn’t.

“Freddy—” she began, but it was too late. Her little boy had heard everything.

Freddy, standing under the archway, shook his head. “We’re not leaving. Not because of me.”

“Freddy.” Toni tried to soothe, walking toward her brother. “I know this is hard to understand—”

“I’m not stupid!”

Oriana stood and Jackie cringed until her fifteen-year-old said, “We’re trying to protect you. This is about family, Fred. All of us. We protect you, you protect us. Even when we think you’re an untalented little bastard,” she added, her gaze moving to Kyle.

Who came back with, “Or a chubby, overbearing witch with huge psychological issues.”

Confused, Freddy asked, “You guys won’t be mad? If we go back? I mean . . . you guys have all your classes and stuff set up.” He pointed at the wall covered in giant Post-it notes with Novikov’s careful handwriting on it. “Our schedules.”

“Our talent goes where we go,” Oriana said, managing to be loving and smug all at the same time. It was a gift she did possess. “Those of us who have talent. In all honesty, I’m not shocked someone’s trying to take you. You are a Jean-Louis Parker, after all. We’ll always be in demand. Right, Mom?”

“Uh . . . yes. Very true.”

“Besides,” Oriana added, “going back is better than if you were actually taken. Because then we’d have to mourn or whatever, and spend our time searching for you.”

“Wow.” Troy sighed. “I hadn’t thought of that. What a nightmare!”

“Exactly.”

Toni put her hands on her hips. “Oriana . . . really?”

“What? I plan to be in the Royal Ballet by the time I’m seventeen. Can’t do that if I’m busy handing out milk cartons with Freddy’s face on them.”

“Oh, my God!”

“Antonella,” Jackie cut in, giving a quick shake of her head, “let’s just go with what we have?”

“Narcissistic children?”

“Yes!” she told her eldest daughter. “That’s what we have. So deal with it.”

“Toni,” Troy asked, “are you going to be coming with us?”

“No,” Oriana answered.

“How the hell do you know?” Toni demanded.

“Because you’ve finally found something you’re good at. And, even more important, you enjoy something you’re good at. You can’t walk away from that.”

“And you know this because . . . ?”

“Because you’ve been getting flowers and gift baskets all day from people. The flowers we put on tables all around the house, but the lion security people ate the meat from the baskets and the bear security people ate all the fruit. I have to admit, I’m not sure that security company pays their people enough, because they seem awfully hungry.”

“The idiot’s right,” Kyle told Toni. “Although I’ve always planned for you to be my personal assistant and business manager . . . it’ll be a few years before I need you full-time. It’s best you get some outside training before I add you to my team.”

“Gee,” Toni said dryly. “Thanks, Kyle.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Look,” Toni said. “We’ll worry about all that later. For now I still plan to head home with you guys. Now, everybody upstairs. Get packed.”

“You’ll need to get movers to transport my marble,” Kyle said.

“Can’t we buy you new marble when we get home?”

“I’ve already started!”

“Kyle!”

Jackie took Kyle by his shoulders and turned him toward the door. “We’ll discuss this with your father later. For now . . . get packing.”

While the kids walked out, Jackie and Toni crouched in front of Freddy.

“You all right?” Toni asked him.

“I thought they’d all be mad at me.”

“Nah. Not for something like this.” Toni kissed her brother on the cheek. “Now go upstairs and get packed. I’ll try to get us out tonight, but if not, definitely tomorrow morning, so be ready. Okay?”

“Okay!” He hugged Toni, then Jackie, before sprinting out of the room and up the stairs.

Toni waited until she heard his little feet hit the second floor before she said, “I’ll make sure I set up an appointment with his therapist for the day after tomorrow and get rid of any matches in the house.”

“Great. Thanks, baby.”

Toni smiled, as always comfortable in her role as sibling protector. “You’re welcome, Mom.”

Freddy was packing up his suitcase, carefully folding his Batman T-shirt, when Delilah suddenly sat on his bed.

“Hi ya, Del,” he said, smiling at his sister.

“Hi, Freddy.”

“Where have you been?”

“Out with some friends.”

“Did you hear?”

“I did.” Delilah leaned in and whispered, “Actually, Toni sent me.”

Freddy didn’t understand. “Sent you?”

“Yeah. She wants me to take you out of here.”

“No. I’m going with the family.”

“Oh, hon. She doesn’t want you putting them in danger, too.”

“But they said—”

“They were just being nice. For Mom. But you want to do what’s right for the family, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

She smiled. “Then come with me. I’m going to take you someplace safe.”

“Just the two of us?”

“For now. Don’t worry. We’ll have you back with the rest of the family in no time. But you wouldn’t want to risk them, would you? If something happened to them, wouldn’t you feel awful?”

It was the first time Freddy had ever felt this way. It came over him, falling on him like a blanket. He knew the word Toni would use, too . . . instinctual. He instinctually knew Delilah was lying to him. Had been lying to him. Was still lying to him right now.

“Freddy?”

“What do you really want, Del?” he asked her.

“Where’s that notebook, Freddy? The blue composition one you had stashed in your backpack.”

“I got rid of it,” he said.

“You’re lying, Freddy.”

He shook his head. He was, but he knew giving it to Del would be wrong. It would be . . . dangerous. “I’m not going to tell you.”

“But you know what’s in the book by heart, don’t you? You can write down exactly what’s in there, right?”

Toni had always told him to trust his instincts, and Freddy knew what his instincts were telling him to do now. They were telling him to run.

Freddy turned and ran toward the door. Had his hand on the knob when Delilah caught him from behind and put something over his face that smelled funny.

He tried to fight but . . .

Oriana was in the backyard, putting off packing until she could finish this letter to her favorite teacher. She knew how important it was to make a good impression. Maybe one day she could afford to be a demanding diva with others besides her family, but until then, she’d have to do what she could to make sure those who would be helping her career only had good memories of her. So they would not only remember what an amazing dancer she was but how easy she was to work with.

As she struggled over her second paragraph, she heard the back door open, but didn’t bother to raise her head from what she was doing until she heard that Roy guy greeting someone with, “Hey, sweetheart.”

Worried he was hitting on Cherise—who God knew, couldn’t handle the pressure—Oriana looked up to see the big idiot walk into the kitchen and close the door behind him. Then she heard the side gate open and glanced over. It wasn’t Cherise, though—it was Delilah, which Oriana couldn’t care less about. But then Oriana saw that her sister held an unconscious Freddy in her arms . . .

Oriana knew he was passed out because poor little Freddy rarely slept. He especially didn’t sleep at nine o’clock at night. She shot off the bench and went after her sister, using her hands to flip her body up and over the gate since she didn’t want to bother opening it. When she landed on her feet, she charged flat out for Del’s back, ramming into her with her full weight.

But Delilah was surprisingly strong. Other than a small stumble, she didn’t fall. Instead she turned and shoved Oriana off, then continued walking, heading toward a running car on the street.

Oriana charged again. “Give him to me!” she ordered her sister.

With one arm holding on tight to Freddy, Del grabbed Oriana by the back of the head, turned, and using the energy of that, rammed her face-first into the side of the house.

And that was pretty much the last thing Oriana remembered.

Kyle saw Oriana running and disappearing over the side gate in the backyard. He knew his sister. Oriana didn’t run. She didn’t jog. She definitely didn’t flip herself over six-foot-tall fences—unless she really had to. Glancing at Troy—they’d come out here to fight in peace about . . . something, he couldn’t even remember now—Kyle ran after his sister. Unlike Oriana, he had to stop to open the gate, but by the time he made it through, he saw Delilah shove Oriana into the house. Hard. Heard something crack. Saw blood splatter even in the darkness.

“No!”

Kyle ran over to his sister’s side, sliding to a stop on his knees. Troy ran past them to follow Delilah as she got into the waiting car and drove off with Freddy.

Troy yelled after the car, just screamed Freddy’s name.

When Kyle couldn’t wake up Oriana, he leaned his head back and let out a wailing howl until every adult on the street was there.