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.”