Vic placed his hands on Grigori’s shoulders. “Referring to a fellow wolf as a dog does not help anyone, Grigori Volkov.” Vic stepped closer to his friend. “But giving a fellow wolf assistance in this matter . . . would reward you, old friend, with a powerful ally.”

“More powerful than me?”

“In this country? Yes.”

Grigori turned away, and Vic knew the old wolf was turning over the possibilities of an alliance in his head. Like a true Alpha wolf, Grigori only appeared to be led by emotion, when in fact, wolves were a cold, calculating species, often loving only to those they considered part of their Pack.

“To help you in your decision-making,” Vic said, “I have something for you. From my father.”

Vic placed the briefcase his father had given him on the table and opened it.

Grigori glanced at it, quickly looked away, then slowly back. “That is for my Pack?”

“The gold bricks are. The cash is for any last-minute issues that might come up. A sign of goodwill.”

“Your parents,” Grigori said, smiling, “never fail to surprise me, Victor Barinov.”

“Are you in?”

“To help an old friend?” Grigori held his arms open wide and happily bellowed, “How could I not?”

CHAPTER 34

Vic drove down the Rhode Island street. His errands had taken longer than he’d wanted, but still . . . things seemed to be working out.

Shen tapped his arm. “Hey, Vic?”

“Huh?”

“Are those cars heading down the road to Novikov’s house?”

Vic sighed. “It’s my fault really. I left Blayne Thorpe alone in a house full of badgers. It was like I was asking for it.”

Sure enough, they pulled into the long, curved driveway in front of Novikov’s house and saw all the cars parked there, the doors and windows of Novikov’s house wide open, music blasting from inside.

“I’d have to say,” Shen remarked, “this is not discreet.”

Shaking his head, Vic stepped out of his SUV. He stopped to grab a shopping bag from the backseat and then followed Shen into the house. It wasn’t too late, but the party was already going strong, Novikov’s house filled with wolves, wild dogs, bears, and felines, as well as the honey badgers who’d already been staying there.

“Do me a favor,” Vic said to Shen. “Check on Melly.”

“Because she’s smelly?” He laughed at his joke.

“Shen—”

“I’ve got it,” he said, heading for the stairs. “I’ve got it.”

Vic walked through the house, greeting those he knew, nodding at those he didn’t but who looked like they might come over to talk to him if he didn’t nod.

He’d never been a fan of crowds. Small dinner parties were more his speed. Quiet discourse over good food. But this sort of thing just made Vic nervous. He’d been caught in too many out-of-control crowd situations during his time in the military.

And something told him that—for different reasons—Livy felt the same.

“Vic! Vic!”

Vic turned and saw Toni making her way through the crush of bodies. Once she reached him, she placed her hand on his arm, and Vic leaned over so she could say into his ear, “You know where to find her, Vic.”

He stared at Toni a moment, then smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Vic cut through the crowd and headed into the kitchen.

“Vic!” the badgers cheered, bottles of snake poison–infused vodka spread out on the island along with what he was guessing was snake jerky.

“Hi.”

“Vodka?” Balt offered.

“Nyet.”

The badgers laughed at his quick use of Russian, not realizing he always fell back on the first language he’d learned when he was particularly stressed out.

Vic walked to the high cabinet where he and Livy had stashed their favorite honeys, out of easy reach of her family. He opened the door and Livy—thankfully fully dressed this time—glared at him until she recognized Vic.

“Where the holy fuck have you been?”

Vic didn’t answer; he just put down the bag he carried and reached in for Livy. He pulled her out of the cabinet, dropped her over his shoulder, retrieved the bag, and escaped out the sliding kitchen doors.

Livy didn’t complain that she’d been tossed over a man’s shoulder like some sort of deer trophy. She was just glad to be out of that house with so many goddamn people.

What happened to the small party Blayne had talked about? “Just a few friends,” she’d said. Lying wolfdog!

Livy loathed crowds unless she had her camera. Her camera gave her a wonderful feeling of apart-ness that nothing else did. She felt safe with a camera in front of her. But her camera was in pieces in a trash can. So she’d ended up feeling completely naked with everyone talking to her, trying to hug her, trying to show affection. Yeah, yeah, they were happy to see her alive. That was great. That did not mean they had to touch her.

Toni had tried to help her stay at the party, but eventually her friend came to the same conclusion that Livy had—without a camera, all Livy wanted to do was start killing people. Eventually Toni had distracted everyone by giving Blayne a sugar-filled drink but telling her it was sugar-free. By the time the wolfdog was doing backflips across the living room floor, Livy was able to slip into the cabinet and away from everyone.