That was when Livy pushed Blayne to the ground. Not too hard, but hard enough to get her point across.
“What was that for?” Blayne demanded.
“Your face was irritating me.”
“Okay.” Gwen motioned the wolfdog away. “Enough.”
“I was just trying to help!” Blayne snarled before skating off.
Gwen sat down next to Livy and handed her a wet cloth. “Clean your face,” she ordered.
“You all right?” Gwen asked when Livy was done.
Livy readjusted her nose until she felt certain all the broken pieces were close enough so that when her nose healed it wouldn’t look hideous, then replied, “Yes.”
“Good. Now let this go.”
“It was after the whistle—”
“Let it go. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Gwen stood. “You rest, we’ll bring you in for the jam when we’re ready.”
Livy nodded, spit blood to clear out her mouth, and waited.
“I don’t understand why they don’t use her more,” Novikov said about Livy. “They keep holding her back, only using her for some bouts . . . I don’t get it.”
Halfway through a foot-long hot dog, MacRyrie noted, “We had a honey badger on the hockey team a few years back.”
“Yeah?”
“He’s doing fifteen to life in Sing Sing after an unfortunate post-game situation that took place in front of full-humans.”
“Yeah, but was he good at hockey?”
MacRyrie glanced at Vic before replying to Novikov, “Not as good as you’d think.”
“See, but Livy’s good,” Novikov went on, oblivious. “I wish she could ice-skate.” He leaned forward so that he could see Vic. “Does she ice-skate?”
“How should I know?”
“How can you not know? Blayne says you’re hot for her.”
MacRyrie rolled his eyes. “I think you were supposed to keep that to yourself, brain trust.”
“Did Blayne say that?” Vic asked.
“Yes, but I stopped listening as soon as I realized it was about someone else’s love life. Someone I don’t even really like.” Novikov looked at Vic. “Not Livy. She’s cool. It’s you I don’t really like. Don’t know why, though. But you do irritate me.”
“Shut up.”
“Did you,” MacRyrie cut in, “stop listening to the conversation because you were busy trying to figure out how to get Livy on our team?”
“Someone has to worry about the welfare of this goddamn team. You and that overrated cook certainly don’t.”
“Overrated cook? Do you mean your boss?”
“Whoever. I’m the only one doing the work.”
While the two males bickered, Vic turned to Shen. “How do they know about me and Livy?”
“Everybody knows about you and Livy. Even the twelve-year-old knows. He said something about creating a sculpture of you two that glorifies the wonders of love as well as a paper on the damaging psychological effects of romance on the creative psyche.” Shen ate some popcorn, a needed change from his bamboo, before adding, “That kid’s weird. He freaks me out. He is cute, though.”
Vic, tired of all the idiots, looked back at the track. Livy was skating out for the next jam. So was the She-lion who had struck her.
“This won’t end well,” Shen muttered.
Vic had to agree. Especially when the lioness looked back and grinned at Livy. The honey badger’s lack of response worried him more than if she’d lunged at the woman.
The whistle blew and the pack took off, Gwen and a jammer from the opposing team waiting to start their part of the game play.
As the two teams jostled for position, Livy moved through the players until she was able to cut in front of the She-lion. Livy didn’t ram into her as Vic expected, but she did drag her leg a bit so that the lioness tripped and fell to the ground. The two teams passed by, but Livy skated back and grabbed her opponent by her foot. Then, with strength Vic had been unaware she had, Livy yanked the woman up and spun. Once, twice . . . like the male partner in an ice-dancing team. On the third spin, he noticed that Livy had moved closer to one of the foundation pillars that helped keep the entire Sports Center upright.
And that was probably why Livy used it, angling the She-lion so that the woman’s knee cracked against the hard and unforgiving concrete.
The triumphant roar Livy let out when the knee made direct and brutal contact with the pillar managed to silence the entire stadium.
Silence until Bo Novikov stood and applauded. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
Livy looked up at their section and performed a very princess-like curtsy.
The fact that the She-lion was just a few feet from her, sobbing in pain, was a tad . . . off-putting, though.
The ref skated toward Livy, but she raised a forefinger, waved it. “No need,” she said to him. “I’m leaving.”
“Oh, come on!” Novikov yelled at the ref. “That was a totally righteous move! You’re an idiot!”
MacRyrie sighed. “Now he’s arguing with the refs of sports completely unrelated to hockey.”
Shen jabbed his elbow into Vic’s side.
“What?”
“You better go check on your girlfriend.”
“I never said Livy was my girlfriend.”
“But you knew who I was talking about.”
“He’s right,” MacRyrie agreed. “That was kind of a giveaway.”
Vic briefly closed his eyes. “And to think I could have stayed at home with the weird kid . . .”
Livy made her way down to the locker room and found Vic waiting for her. Probably because she’d stopped several times to sign autographs for the few honey badgers who actually came to these bouts. They were her biggest fans. Okay. They were her only fans.
She skated up to him.
“Hi.”
Toe tapping, arms crossed over his chest, he seemed unable to look at her. And this was why she hadn’t invited him to any of her bouts. Because she kind of knew he wouldn’t be okay with the way she played. Sportsmanship was not a word she’d been taught as a child. Winning at all costs no matter who one destroys in the process had been her parents’ belief system, and it had been the one thing she’d agreed with, of course with the caveat that cheating wasn’t allowed unless it was a life-and-death situation. This had made family Monopoly night a little strained when she kept winning despite her parents’ stealing money and moving things around on the board when she wasn’t looking.
But the way she’d been raised had not been how Victor Barinov, son of Russian shifter diplomats, had been raised.
She decided to let him off the hook.
“Look, Vic—”
Livy’s words were cut off when a snarling Vic suddenly picked her up and shoved his tongue in her mouth.
Hitting his chest, Livy forced Vic to set her down on the floor.
Panting, they glared at each other until Livy asked, “This is the feline side of you right now, isn’t it?”
Vic cracked his neck and spit out between clenched fangs, “Probably.”
Livy reached up and grabbed Vic’s leather jacket. “Now we’re gettin’ kinky!” she cheered and shoved him into the team’s locker room.
Blayne waited anxiously until Gwen skated back to the infield.
“Well?” Blayne asked, sorry she’d ever asked Livy to play in tonight’s bout. It was such a mistake. She’d just wanted Vic to see her looking sexy in her derby outfit and how well she could play. But she hadn’t counted on a cheap shot by a She-lion with a grudge. No. She hadn’t counted on that at all.
Gwen stopped in front of Blayne, and the rest of the team surrounded her while they waited for the next jam to be called.