And did any of that concern the bears? Well, she had no idea because she hadn’t spoken to any of them. Instead, a bear led her into “The Room” as she now called it, left her there for hours, and then another bear led her out.
Well you know what? Today was going to be different. Today she was going to stand up and say, “I’ve had enough!”
But before she could, the door opened and some bear looked at her and said, “You can go now.”
With a yip that made the black bear stumble away from the doorway, Toni got to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and stormed out of the room. She didn’t look back to see if the two males with her were following, because she no longer cared. She no longer cared about them. Or this job. Or these bears. Or anything else in the universe. She was fed up with everyone and everything.
Toni reached the car first and tapped her foot while the two males ambled up. Barinov remotely unlocked the doors and Toni got inside. She tossed her bag to the floor, pulled her legs up on the seat, and wrapped her arms around her calves. She worked to control her breathing because she knew a panic attack was coming on. Yes. Like Freddy and Cherise, Toni did get panic attacks, but she’d worked hard over the years to control the problem since she couldn’t afford to have panic attacks while her siblings were.
And just a few days around bigoted bears seemed to have ruined all the good work her therapist had done. This was unacceptable!
“How ya doin’, darlin’?” the wolf asked her from the front passenger seat.
Toni dug her fingernails into her hands and lied, “Fine.”
Ricky turned on the TV in his room, then quickly turned it off again. He didn’t know Russian, wasn’t about to start learning it now, and there was just something upsetting about watching a John Wayne movie dubbed into any other language but good ol’ American. Or, as his sister liked to correct him, “You mean English, dumb ass?”
So Ricky grabbed his laptop and fired up one of the movies he had on his hard drive. He was just getting into the original Ocean’s Eleven when Vic knocked on his door.
“We both know you have a key,” Ricky called out.
A few seconds later, the hybrid was in his room. “Of course I have a key, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for me to just walk in without asking. I’m not a housecat, ya know.”
“You’re actually talking about lions, aren’t you?” Ricky took his Titans cap off and dropped it on the side table. “All right, how long is this going to go on?”
“Not sure.”
“Because I’m gonna be honest with ya, Vic. I’m not sure how much longer she’s going to—”
Ricky abruptly stopped, his gaze moving to Vic’s. They moved together, both of them heading for the doors that separated Ricky’s room from Toni’s. Vic opened the first door and Ricky kicked in the second, assuming it would be locked. They went through and immediately stopped.
“Holy shit, Rick.”
“I know.”
It was like a tornado had come through the room. Everything in it had been ripped apart. The comforter, the sheets, the blankets, the pillows, the bed, the dresser, the desk, the TV, the stand the TV had been on. All of it. And it all hadn’t been smashed, or tossed aside in a pouty little girl rage. No. This was dog damage. Claws and a canine body had done all this.
And now . . . that canine was ripping at the bedroom door, trying to scratch and bite her way out. It was as if Toni had forgotten she had thumbs.
“Now can I say it?” Vic asked.
Ricky sighed. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
The hybrid leaned closer. “Separation anxiety, dude.”
Ricky, as a fellow canine—but like Toni, not a dog—was ashamed to say it, but yes. This was clearly separation anxiety. She was having separation anxiety because she was away from her family. And the longer the bears made her wait, the worse it was getting.
“So what are we going to do?” Barinov asked.
“The only thing we can.”
Toni knew she was losing it, but she couldn’t help it. But what surprised her was that Ricky let her continue losing it without actually doing much more than keeping her away from the front door.
When she went for the bed again, digging her way down until she hit springs and wood—he didn’t stop her. Even when she started chewing up the wood and springs and spitting them across the room—he didn’t stop her.
When she began to attack the glass doors that led to the balcony, he didn’t stop her then, either.
But when it got dark later, sometime after eight that evening, the wolf suddenly picked up her jackal body, pushed her into his empty duffel bag, and left the hotel. Maybe they were going home! Maybe the bears had said they refused to meet with some lowly canine. Maybe . . . maybe . . .
Still in that bag, Toni was unceremoniously dropped into the backseat of the car and they began moving. After about forty-five minutes, the car pulled to a stop, the bag with Toni still in it was dragged out of the backseat, unzipped, and turned over.
Toni landed on her back. She gazed up at the wolf.
“According to Vic, we’re now in canine and cat territory. This is your opportunity to run. Run your little heart out. Get it out of your system. Because maybe once you do that, you’ll be able to think straight and get this goddamn job done.” He threw up his hands. “Look what you’ve done to me. Now I’m blaspheming as bad as you!”
Toni turned over and stared into the dark but lush Siberian landscape near Lake Baikal. God, she did want to run. She wanted to run until everything in her hurt.
She started to get to her four feet when a large, bushy tail flicked her snout. Once, twice. Ricky had shifted into his wolf form, and he had his ass in her face. Rude!
Toni jumped to her feet, onto the wolf’s back, and over him. She tossed her tail into his face before she took off running. She glanced back, saw the wolf right behind her.
Laughing, Toni picked up speed and ran her heart out.
Reece was ordered to the main floor of the shifter area so that he could be photographed. He didn’t mind being photographed. Unlike his brothers, he was real photogenic. Still, having to sit here, waiting to be primped and probably oiled up like some porn star did make him a bit uncomfortable. And when Reece was a bit uncomfortable, he started to look for things to do. Things he probably shouldn’t do but couldn’t keep himself from doing because he bored so easy.
It wasn’t his fault, he’d just been born that way. According to his momma, he was like that as a baby, too. “Couldn’t leave you alone for five minutes, Reece Lee Reed,” his momma still said to this day. “Because once I turned my back, you’d find something to get your dumb ass into.”
Yet what many didn’t understand was that Reece didn’t always have to look for trouble. Sometimes trouble found him. Sometimes trouble slinked its way right up next to him and sat down on the bench beside him.
Like now.
“Well, hi, Reece Lee.”
Eating his cheesesteak sandwich, Reece said, “Hey, Laura Jane.”
“Heard your big brother left town.” She pressed her hand against her chest, her tight, white V-neck T-shirt showing off her cleavage. “I hope that’s not because of little ol’ me.”
“Huh . . . Rory left town?”
Laura Jane’s left eye twitched the slightest bit.
Reece knew that Laura Jane had always thought he was stupid. And sometimes he could be. But mostly he just liked to irritate people by being dense. It was one of the main reasons Bo Novikov insisted on beating him up at every opportunity. Honestly, Reece should leave the short-tempered hybrid alone, but he couldn’t help himself. The man was just so uptight!