“My God, Brittany, what happened?”

“She attacked me!”

Vic and Shen looked around the room, but didn’t see anyone else.

“Who attacked you?”

She yanked the towel from his hand and pointed at the cabinets. “Her!”

Now really confused, Vic walked to the cabinets over his stainless-steel refrigerator and opened one of the wood doors. Opened it and stared.

A naked Livy Kowalski, comfortably curled up inside his cabinet, held out an open jar and softly asked, “African honey?”

Vic wanted to be angry. She’d broken into his home, eaten his honey, and attacked his neighbor. And yet . . .

Closing the cabinet door, Vic faced a raging Brittany.

“Brittany,” he began, “I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“Well, I don’t allow her out of that cabinet without my permission.” Vic forced himself to keep his focus on a now-horrified Brittany because of Shen and what he was sure was his reaction, but Shen was smart enough to turn away from them all.

“Your permission?” Brittany growled. “You keep a woman in your food cabinets?”

“It would be cruel to make her stay under the sink. She’s not that small.”

“Do you really expect me to believe that, Victor Barinov?”

Uh-oh. She was seeing through his lie, which meant he’d never get rid of her. Yeah, yeah, Brittany was really pretty and probably gave a guy a wild ride in bed. But Vic wasn’t nineteen anymore. He really hated waking up in the morning with a woman he had nothing to say to. And he had absolutely nothing to say to Brittany.

But before Vic could either spill his guts—“I have no idea why a honey badger is in my cabinet!”—or lie more—“And she’s my cousin! That’s double wrong!”—his older sister suddenly stormed into his kitchen, Vic’s six-year-old nephew hanging off her hip.

“Well, I’ve left him!” Irina, called Ira by the family, announced to the room.

“Again?” Shen asked.

Which got him the quick Ira-response of, “Shut it, Shen.”

Vic focused on his sister. “She doesn’t believe me.”

Ira blinked. “Who doesn’t believe you?”

“Brittany.”

Ira and Brittany sized each other up as only She-predators could. Like Vic, Ira was half bear, but the Siberian tigress side of her didn’t much like this other cat in territory Ira felt the need to protect, at least until Vic found a mate of his own.

“Doesn’t believe you about what?” Ira asked.

“About my little Livy.”

His sister glanced around, her eyes settling on the cabinet. The first time Vic had found out that Livy was breaking into hishouse was when his sister had opened a cabinet and found the honey badger sound asleep, her fingers and face still sticky from the honey she’d devoured. Although Ira hadn’t reacted nearly as violently as Brittany. Instead, she’d quietly closed the cabinet, tiptoed out of the room, and told Vic, “There’s a naked woman in your cabinet . . . and she’s eaten all the honey.”

After a moment of silence, Ira suddenly announced, “Well, not everyone is comfortable with that sort of relationship in this society.” She smiled at Brittany. “But Livy does have her benefits. When he’s out of town, she comes over to do my laundry and clean my house. But I insist she put on clothes first! I have a child to think of.”

Brittany threw up her hands. “I’m leaving!” she announced, her expression disgusted. “And I’m taking my cake with—”

When her words abruptly ended, Vic and his sister looked down. Shen was sitting at the kitchen table and had a handful of cake, his mouth covered in the buttercream frosting.

He swallowed and said, “Really good cake. And I’m not even a lemon guy.”

Maybe if Shen had cut the cake, Brittany would have still taken it. But seeing that his hands had been in it . . .

Definitely something bears could overlook, but not a feline. And Brittany was all feline.

Spinning on her heel, she stormed out, slamming the front door behind her.

After a moment of silence, Ira asked, “So Livy’s naked in your cabinets again?”

Vic shrugged. “Yeah.”

Livy was reaching for another jar of honey when the cabinet doors opened. She winced at the bright light from the kitchen windows.

“What are you doing?” Vic demanded. “Why do you keep breaking into my house?”

“As much as I protect you from these pathetic females, you’d think you’d appreciate my presence.”

“I don’t.” He frowned. “And why are you always naked when I find you?” Vic folded his arms over his chest. “Tell me you didn’t eat your way into my house again.”

“Of course not.” Livy licked honey off her thumb. “I burrowed my way into your house. There’s a difference.”

“Dammit, Livy!”

Vic went in search of the hole Livy had created as his sister placed her son on the ground and tapped his butt. “Go watch TV, Igor.”

“But I want to see naked Livy!”

“Igor . . .”

The little boy ran off before his mother could get really terse, and Ira Barinov walked over to the cabinet. She was shorter than her brother by nearly a foot but that still made her over six feet tall. Ira held her arms up. “Come on, cranky badger.”