Nik turned his head toward the male voice trying to soothe him.
“Man, you’re huge. It’s going to cost us a fortune to feed you, huh?”
Nik closed his eyes. He couldn’t look at the man anymore. Not because of the man, but because of the shirt he wore. The shirt with “Northport Zoo” etched over the front pocket in bright orange.
Those crazy bitches put me in a zoo.
Angie looked at her phone, but realized she’d heard a knock at the door. Her frustration mounted as the day moved on. She couldn’t find any of Nik’s kin. None of his siblings answered at the numbers Nik programmed into her phone in case of emergency.
She didn’t want to panic. Because with her, panic would lead to anger. And the last thing she wanted to do right now was stab her friend in the face.
“Yeah?”
Zach stuck his head in. “You okay, Ang?”
She nodded and motioned him in with a wave of her hand. “The question is, are you?”
He shrugged as he leaned against the wall. Angie could see how much Sara’s anger hurt him. True, the pair seemed to argue all the time, but always with a smile or a grope. But Sara had no teasing smile now. No soft caresses on the back of his neck. Nope. Sara was really and truly pissed off.
“I’m okay,” he lied.
“She’ll get over this, Zach.”
He winced. “You sure?”
“I know the crazy bitch. Whatever she’s got going on, she’s gotten it out of her system. We both have.”
“And who knew Miki could be all adult?”
For the first time in hours, Angie smiled. “She has her moments. They’re rare. But they happen. Especially when she realizes Sara and I won’t be.”
“Look, Ang, just so you know. She and Miki were really broken up when we got the call from Marrec. And Marrec was fucking devastated.”
Her birth parents may have forgotten her birthday completely but that didn’t mean she didn’t have family. Even if she did want to kill both her “sisters” at the moment.
“Yeah, we talked. He’s okay now.” Angie glanced at the man who loved her friend. His shoulders slumped in defeat, his eyes staring at a rather boring carpet. Poor guy. Could he be more depressed? “And thanks, Zach.”
“For what?”
“For taking your sweet-ass time coming for me. I know it cost you.”
He gave a little smile, probably his first in several days. “Oh, noticed that did ya?”
“Yeah. And I really appreciate it.”
“So, tell me…was my sister right? Did you fall for him?”
Angie sighed and looked out the window.
Zach opened the door, muttering under his breath, “Great. Now we’re gonna have a cat in the family.”
Finally, after two hours, the drugs wore off and Nik was back to his old self. He could shift back to human at any time. His only problem now?
They’d put his ass on display.
I hate those women.
He didn’t even know them, and he hated them.
A small establishment near the Canadian border, the Northport Zoo was a place where Angie’s friends apparently had lots of clout. From what he could overhear, the zoo officials would never release him among the other tigers for several months. But, it seemed, their “benefactor” had insisted. Against the department head’s recommendations, they went ahead and placed Nik in a display behind unbreakable glass.
The full tigers watched him silently. All females. Thankfully. He would be less than happy if he had to take on some territorial male.
Well, this little adventure was only going to last through today. As soon as night came, he would get his furry ass out of here. Even if he had to scare some poor security guard to death. Then he would be heading to California. He had some dog butt to kick.
Sighing, Nik looked up to find a small child staring at him. A small child busy picking his nose.
Could this get any worse?
The females stirred restlessly near him and he caught the scent they had.
Oh no. Please. Not that.
They stood in front of him, completely unaware of his presence and arguing like two ten-year-olds.
Nik didn’t bother searching for a way out. There was no way out. Those two evil witches trapped him. Trapped him in hell.
Throwing up his hands in anger, Alek turned away from Ban, facing the tiger display. Alek’s gold eyes stared at Nik for a moment, a frown of confusion pulling his brows down. Then he smiled. And then he just became plain hysterical.
Bastard! This wasn’t and never would be funny!
Ban stared at Alek for several confused moments before catching sight of Nik.
As his brothers literally rolled on the ground laughing hysterically—and freaking out all the zoo visitors—Nik seethed. At this point, he needed to know only one thing, and one thing only.
When Angie sent him off the night before, did she know her friends were waiting for him?
Angie found Sara outside petting that ugly freakin’ dog.
“I can’t believe Zach hasn’t found a way to get rid of him.”
Sara didn’t look up, just kept petting the ugly beast. Long strokes from the top of his head all the way down to his tail. He let her, too, sensing her need.
“I don’t understand how anyone can hate Roscoe T,” she murmured.
Angie reached over and stroked Roscoe’s head. “True. He’s ugly, but he’s loveable.”
With a half-smile, “You mean, kind of like me?”
Angie rolled her eyes. “Don’t even try it, Morrighan.”
Finally, Sara laughed. “Oh, come on. That was a perfect pity-me moment.”
“I don’t pity you for one goddamn second.”
“Well, I tried.” Sara pulled the dog over until he was on his back. She rubbed his belly with one hand while petting his head with the other. “And before you ask, I’m not going to tell you where he is.”
“I know. I wasn’t going to ask. You’re such a stubborn bitch, why bother?”
“Good point.” Sara tickled the ugly beast under the chin. “Isn’t there something else you want to talk to me about, Santiago?”
Angie took in a deep breath. “Zach told you.”
“He didn’t have much choice. Besides, it was the perfect opportunity. I’m not speaking to him so I was forced to listen.”
“Smart man.” Angie scratched her head. “So, are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I found out my mother was kind of a power-hungry scumbag like her mother, which means I will be, too. So why wouldn’t I be fine?”
Angie frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Sara let out a soul-deep sigh and Roscoe licked her arm. “I thought if my mom was sane, then I’d be sane. But she was just like her. She was just like that bitch. And I’m going to be just like her, too. I’m going to destroy everything I love and care about ’cause I got the Redwolf crazy gene.”
“That’s a load of shit, Sara. And you know it. We all know it.”
Fifty feet away, Miki suddenly stumbled out of some bushes, pulling her short skirt down. She walked toward her friends on shaky legs.
Angie raised one eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Angie leaned back, her palms flat on the grass, her long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. “Then why do you look guilty?”
“Fuck you, I do not.”
Sara shook her head. “I smell Conall all over you.”
“I really need you to stop saying stuff like that to me,” Miki growled. “It’s freakin’ me the fuck out.”
Miki sat down across from her friends, rubbing her hands across Roscoe’s flank. “So what are we talking about?”
“My mother.”
“Oh, you mean the Don Corleone of the Magnus Pack?”
Angie sat up straight, as Sara, her face stricken, looked at Miki in horror. The Sara Angie remembered when Sara’s grandmother still breathed suddenly re-surface
d with only a few words. It really didn’t take much for close friends or family to put you back in that place you hoped you’d sprung out of.
She knew she had to do something quick or she’d lose Sara to the quagmire of her obsessive mind. “No, honey. Look at me. Don’t look at her.” Angie snapped her fingers in Sara’s face to regain her attention. “Focus on me and not the crazy bitch sitting across from us.”
“Hey!”
“Quiet, Kendrick.” Angie focused on Sara. “I need you to hear what I’m saying to you, Sara. Are you listening to me?” Sara nodded. “Good. Look, I’ve never met your mother, and she may have been a Mafia princess in training, but she had friends. People who would kill for her and die for her. Your grandmother had nobody.”
Angie took Sara’s hand off Roscoe and gripped it tightly. She wanted to make sure her friend heard her loud and clear. “But in the end, none of that matters. None of it. Because you’re not like either of them. You’re Sara. The coolest chick I’ve ever met in my life. You’ve got a seriously hot man who thinks you walk on water, a pack of people who respect and fear you, and the entire shifter universe completely convinced you and your friends are dangerous psychopaths.” Sara laughed at that. “And this whole Nik thing simply solidifies that. So, if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about you becoming some power hungry bitch. Do you know why?”
Wearing that gorgeous Sara smile, “No. Tell me, O’wise one.”
“’Cause, my dear, you are too fuckin’ lazy. If taking over the world requires you to get your fat ass up off the couch during football season—no one has anything to worry about.”
“Do you really think my ass is fat?”
“Well, honey, it ain’t small.”
“I think we better be careful throwing stones from that glass house, Santiago.”
“I can’t believe you called me a crazy bitch,” Miki cut in.
Angie dropped Sara’s hand and turned on Miki. “‘The Don Corleone of the Magnus Pack?’ What exactly is wrong with you?”
“Don’t yell at me!”
Angie turned away from Miki, her hand up and in front of Miki’s face. “We’re done.”
Miki growled, slapping Angie’s hand out of her face. But instead of ripping into her, as Angie expected, Miki focused on Sara. “Don’t worry, Sara. You’re sane. Weird, but sane.”
Smiling, Sara asked, “How the hell do you know?”
“Hey, dude. I’ve done the research. I’ve lived every day worrying that I’d cross that line between brilliance and madness.”
“Brilliance?”
“Shut up, Santiago. Anyway, I know all the signs, I’ve taken all the tests. You’re a freak, Morrighan, but you’re not an insane one.”
“Good to know, Kendrick.”
Miki grinned like she’d deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
But Angie did feel like she’d leaped her first big hurdle. Getting Sara to deal with the truth about her mother. Not easy, but Angie had done it. Next step…the truce. But this wasn’t the time or place for that conversation. No, she’d have to ease Sara into that one. But Angie was determined to do it. And she had just the idea to help her start her stubborn friend down the path.
“I was thinking, once Nik is safe back in North Carolina and desperately trying to forget me—”
Both her friends snorted at that and rolled their eyes, but she ground her teeth together and barreled on, “I thought we could go shopping.”
Sara, confused by the suggestion, stared at Angie “Why?”
“Because that’s what girlfriends do.”
“Normal girlfriends. I can shift into a completely different species. And she’s…” Sara glanced at Miki, “She’s crazy.”
“I am not. I took the test. I thought we just had this discussion.”
“I know, Momma. I know.” Nik covered the mouthpiece of the phone and motioned to Ban. “Call me,” he whispered fiercely.
Ban, laughing, leaned back. “Nik. I need you.”
With a grateful nod, he returned to his mother’s rant about how she wanted all “dogs” put down for their insolence.
“Momma, I gotta go. Ban needs me.”
“But you’re okay, right?”
“Momma, I’m fine. Really. I’ll call ya later.”
“All right, darlin’. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Nik clicked off his phone.
“Love you, Momma,” his brothers sang to him.
Growling, Nik chucked one of the pillows at them. His brothers, after a moment of staring at him, threw pillows back. They’d been hoarding, waiting for this moment. Nik slammed pillows back at them as fast as he could. They took cover behind seats and cried “incoming”.
They kept it up a good five minutes before the captain came out of the cockpit and stared at them.
“I thought we had this discussion, Mr. Vorislav.”
Nik sighed. “Yes, we did.”
“No playing when the plane is in the air.”
“Yeah, but—” Ban began, but the captain cut him off with one look.
“No playing when the plane is in the air. Do you understand me?”
The men nodded.
“I can’t hear you.”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
“Good.”
The captain returned to his cockpit.
“That is the last time we hire Marines for that position.”
“No shit. He’s downright surly that one.”
Nik sat back in his seat as his brothers lambasted another man’s good sense.
Unlike the captain, though, Nik knew exactly what his brothers were doing. Trying to get his mind off Angie. At least for the moment. They’d never say it, but they both felt guilty. By taking Angie they brought the wrath of the Magnus Pack’s crazy Alpha bitch down on his head.
She could have killed him. Or, at least tried. But this revenge was much more eloquent. Proof to the cats they trifled with her and her kin at their own risk. If it hadn’t been his butt waking up in the zoo, he would have thought the whole thing pretty damn funny. His brothers definitely did, once they knew he was basically okay. Apparently someone called Ban and told him exactly where to find Nik.
Ban swore it wasn’t Angie. He said he’d know that sexy voice anywhere. So it must have been one of her friends. They’d made their point, so the rest was gravy.
Of course, none of that mattered. Nothing mattered until he knew the truth about Angie and her involvement in all this.
And definitely not until he fucked her again.
“Here. Try this.” Angie took the lip brush and put a dark red lip gloss on Miki’s bottom lip. She leaned back. “Nope. That’s not working. It’s too dark.”
Angie wiped the lip gloss off Miki with a tissue. She needed to do something to distract herself from the current situation. Sara still wasn’t telling her where she’d put Nik, Derek still hadn’t phoned her back, and Nik’s family still hadn’t contacted her. She could imagine how angry his mother would be. And she couldn’t quite get One-Eyed Grandma out of her head either. She’d have to call one of her great aunts back in Brazil. See if she could do a protection spell for the entire Pack.
“Wow.”
Angie stood and went to her makeup case. “What’s wrong?”
Miki looked up from the laptop she’d been studying for the past hour. “Having a baby is frikin’ expensive.”
Angie glanced at her. Talk about coming to the party late. “Yeah. They’re expensive.”
Miki let out a deep sigh and went back to her computer. Before Angie could ask her what her problem was, Conall muttering “hey” to one of the other wolves outside the door spurred Miki to sudden and swift action. She jumped up and began pulling her skirt off.
“What in hell are you doing?”
“I love this skirt.”
“What?”
Conall walked in and looked at Miki, one eyebrow quirking up.
“Don’t you dare, Viking! I love this skirt.??
?
He sauntered toward her. “You couldn’t love it that much. Remember the rules?”
“Stay!” she yelped, holding her hand out, palm showing. And the bitch of it? Conall did stay.
Wow, Nik was right. That does work on dogs.
Conall smiled and Angie watched her best friend melt.
“Come on, Miki-baby. We’re going to pick up dinner. I think you need a break from this house.”
“Cool.” Miki charged off the bed, throwing her entire body at Conall.
Christ, the man is a two-hundred-year-old oak. Because he didn’t move a bit when Miki slammed into him. He grabbed her around the waist, her ankles locking at the base of his spine.
“Wanna come, Angie?”
“No, thanks. But bring me back something, would ya?”
“Sure.”
She followed her friends out into the hall, then returned to her own bedroom. She closed her door, and headed to the bathroom for a shower. As she washed the day off, she wondered if Nik had made it home yet. She wondered if she’d ever hear from him again. Would she hear from any of the Vorislavs? She didn’t realize until now how much the whole family had come to mean to her. But especially Nik. He’d come to mean more to her than she could possibly realize…until he was gone.
Angie no longer felt any anger toward Sara and Miki. How could she? Miki had been right. If this had been either Sara or Miki they took, she wouldn’t have been nearly as nice. When she told Zach she wasn’t the nice one of the three, in no way had she been joking.
But she could also understand wanting nothing more to do with her or her crazy friends. Because they were part of the package. Part of her. They were as much family to her as Alek and Ban were family to Nik. Not a lot of people understood that. The Pack learned but Sara didn’t give them much choice. Marrec always knew. But Nik would probably never understand.
Angie shut off the water and stepped out, quickly grabbing a towel and drying off. As she towel dried her hair, she debated whether to try Nik’s sisters one more time. But she wasn’t sure she could handle anymore unanswered phone calls. It was starting to hurt her feelings.