“That’s okay. I just want it back.”

Bo scowled. “So you can have even more crap in your apartment?”

“I want it!” she yelled, making all the bears close by jump and look at her. “For sentimental reasons,” she finished softly.

“It’s broken. What sentimental reasons could it—ow!” He covered his arm where she’d pinched him. “What was that for?”

“For pissing me off.” She pointed at the new watch. “And exactly how much did this one cost? And don’t lie to me.”

“I choose not to say.”

“You choose not to say?”

“Yeah. You don’t want me lying, so I’m not going to tell you.”

She turned to Grigori, and he instantly put up his hands. “Watch me not get in the middle of this.”

“Did it cost more than the other one?” she demanded.

“I’m not saying.”

She stomped her foot, getting frustrated with Bo. “The other one cost too much.”

“It saved our lives. I don’t know about you, but I can’t put a price tag on that.”

“I can’t take this.” She tried to get it off, but the clasp wouldn’t open. She looked up at Bo and he shrugged.

“It’s childproof.”

“It’s what?”

“Only cub sizes will fit you, so I told the jeweler to make sure it was childproof. That way cubs can’t take them off and lose them during the day when they’re out playing with other cubs.”

“I am not a cub.”

“No. You’re not. But still . . . I’m glad I did it.”

She snarled, but Grigori put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s for your protection, Blayne.”

“You might as well have me handcuffed!” she ranted. “I feel trapped! Tagged like a lion in the wild!”

“On that note . . .” Grigori picked up the gift boxes and paper and headed toward the door. “See ya!” Then he was gone.

Blayne held her arms up to the ceiling. “Don’t you understand?” she pleaded. “I’m a wolfdog meant to be free! To roam the hills and roads as I see fit. Not to be held down by your expensive timekeeping devices. I can’t live in this kind of—ooh! Earmuffs.” She walked over to the display and found several really cute pairs that would definitely keep her ears warm. One pair was even made to look like a raccoon head. She put those on first and grinned at Bo. “What do you think?”

When he only let out a frustrated breath and walked away, she shrugged and went back to sorting through the rest.

Bo watched Blayne jog off down the street. He really hoped that running would manage those wildly swinging emotions of hers. True he enjoyed them, but he wasn’t sure every otherbear in a two-hundred-mile radius would.

Taking one last look at the hockey display in the window, Bo forced himself to walk away. He was on a break. A vacation. He didn’t need hockey. He could survive without it. And he would. He walked into the local bookstore and checked out the display, grabbing several things to read. When he realized that only took fifteen minutes of his time, he decided his uncle’s house needed some sorting out.

A lot of sorting out. Plus, the extra clothes and things Blayne had purchased would need to be organized and put away, and the kitchen could do with a good scrubbing. Yep.

See? He didn’t need hockey. Nope. He was fine without it.

Marci slammed down her cup of coffee on the counter. “I don’t believe any of you.”

“It’s true, Marci,” Lorna Harper said, leaning over the counter of her tea and coffee shop and lowering her voice. “They say that girl with Speck killed all those full-humans. With her bare hands.”

“First off, Lorna Harper,” Marci began, trying to control her black bear temper, “stop calling Bold Novikov Speck. And second, trust me when I say that sweet little girl didn’t do anything but nearly get killed. It was Bold who came to her rescue.”

“Everyone knows wolfdogs are crazy, Marci Luntz,” Jezebel Simons, spectacled bear and the town’s bookkeeper, said in that imperious way she had. “And from what we’ve heard, she ain’t no different. Nearly bit poor Fabi Novikov’s face clean off.”

“Actually, it was just his nose,” a voice said behind them, causing the three sows to scream, Marci and Jezebel spinning around with bear claws unleashed.

When Marci saw it was Blayne standing behind them, she quickly put her claws away and bumped Jezebel with her hip. “Blayne, dear. We didn’t know you were there.”

“I saw you through the window and wanted to say ‘hi.’” She pointed at her head. “Do you like my new earmuffs?”

They were bright pink—and bunnies. She had bunnies on either side of her head. They were earmuffs Marci had bought her twin granddaughters . . . who were five.

“Adorable.”

She grinned, looking quite pleased. “Thank you.”

Marci, wanting to give the other sows a moment to catch their breaths and for Lorna to stop popping her jaw in warning, observed, “I see you got yourself a whole new wardrobe.”

“Yes. I like to run and Bo wanted me to have the right clothes so I didn’t”—she made air quotes with her insulated glove–covered hands and lowered her voice—“ ‘freeze that cute but dumb ass off.’”

Marci, recognizing all the Novikov men in that imitation, laughed and was glad to hear Lorna and Jezebel joining in.