CHAPTER 26

D ee walked into the kitchen from the back door. She had sand between her toes and in her bathing suit and she couldn’t wait to rinse it all off. But she immediately stopped and watched the wild dog females and Blayne busy cleaning up a battered Stein.

“What happened?” she asked, wondering if Ric had met up with those hyenas again. Hannah had gone with him and was now quietly making dough— why is she making dough?— in a small corner in the kitchen while the rest of the females fawned over Stein.

“Nothing,” Stein lied. “Everything is cool.”

“Where’s Ric?”

“Went upstairs to get more bandages.” He glanced around at the other females. “I should go to the bathroom. Ric will have a fit if I get blood on his kitchen floor.” Dee-Ann headed out into the hall and to the stairs. Ric was coming down with a first aid kit and they met at the last step.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He kissed her cheek and she smelled gun powder on him. “But glad I’m home.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Just Stein’s past catching up to him. Don’t worry.” He smiled and she didn’t believe it for a second. “I handled it and his debt’s taken care of. They won’t be bothering him anymore.” He headed toward his kitchen. “Let me get the kid out of my kitchen and patched up and I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Sounds good.”

Dee went upstairs to the bedroom she shared with Ric and tracked down the gun he’d used. It was a tacky, gold-plated one that Van Holtz would never buy on his own. She returned the weapon to its hiding place and took a quick shower to get all that sand off. Slipping on the bikini she’d told Ric about and a pair of cutoff shorts as well, she headed back downstairs. Stopping briefly to gape at a first-floor bathroom filled with females—now including her cousins and Ronnie Lee—and one young Van Holtz, all trying to wipe up a little blood and put ice on a few bruises, Dee returned to the kitchen. Ric was busy at the sink with his back turned to Dee, so Dee paused briefly and gazed at Hannah until the sub-adult female looked up from what she was doing. Once Dee had her attention, she left the kitchen, went out the back, and over to the far side of the house out of Ric’s line of vision from the kitchen windows.

She found a bench to sit on and waited—she was very good at waiting—until Hannah found her and sat down beside her.

“Well?”

Hannah’s flour-covered hands twisted in her lap, flecks of biscuit dough still clinging to the tips of her fingers. She also wore one of Ric’s bandanas wrapped around her dark brown hair with the black tips.

“We got back to the SUV after shopping and Stein was gone. Ric sent me and Abby back to the farmer’s market.” Abby appeared in front of them,sitting back on her haunches and patiently watching them. “I remembered what you said about not helping and he’d been pleasant enough to me without all that pressure to be happy I get from Blayne.” She took a breath. “So Abby and I followed from the roofs.

And we saw that Stein had been grabbed by some bears. Polars, I think.” She shrugged. “I’m still learning all the breeds and everything. The people who raised me before I was snatched are full-human.” She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. “Ric handled himself really well. Really put a hurt on those guys. Shot one in the kneecaps when he wouldn’t talk. I didn’t think he would. He was so polite the whole time.”

Dee kept her smile to herself, real proud of Ric at this moment, and waited for Hannah to continue.

“There was something about Stein owing them money. I didn’t understand much of that. But someone bought out the debt and then paid more so that they’d hurt Ric. Hurt him bad.”

“Kill him?”

“No. Just hurt him. A lot.”

Dee nodded, understanding. “Anything else?”

“No.”

Abby barked and Hannah added, “Well, Ric said something to Stein about his father.” Dee turned her head away, briefly closed her eyes.

“I’m not sure I understood all that, either. And he seemed so calm or whatever. I don’t know how true it was.”

“Thank you, Hannah. I appreciate you telling me.”

“Like I said, Ric’s been nice to me without the pressure.” Dee did smile at that. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“I thought he’d tell you all this himself, though. You two seem kind of . . . close, or whatever.”

“We are, but Ric didn’t want me to use one of my father’s favorite expressions. ‘Time to start the killin’.’ ”

Hannah nodded. “Yeah. I don’t see Mr. Van Holtz being much of a ‘killin’ ’ type of guy. He was so polite during the whole thing. Never once raised his voice.”

“Yeah. That’s Ric.” She motioned Hannah back to the house. “Go on now. And no one needs to know about this conversation. Understand?”

“Yeah. Sure.” She walked off and Dee looked at Abby. “Get me a phone, would you, Abby?” Abby barked and ran off. A few minutes later she returned with a phone, dropping it into Dee’s lap. Dee quickly punched in a number and waited for the connection.

After what became a brunch had been devoured and the guests went off to do their own things until dinner time, Ric went back to his kitchen and got to work on the just-delivered meats. Stein stayed out of his way, mostly working outside getting the industrial-grade equipment scrubbed clean and set up for the next bout of summer grilling.