Toni stomped her foot, most likely ready to argue the point until she “accidentally” missed her plane. At least Vic was sure that was her subconscious plan.

“Vic—”

“Forget it, Toni,” Vic cut in, unwilling to continue this argument. Instead, he patted Toni’s head. His hand was big, so he pretty much covered her entire head and a good portion of her face. “It’s all right, little canine. I’ll take care of your friend for you.”

Toni slapped off Vic’s hand. “It’s not that easy, you know.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Vic said as he walked away, choosing to ignore what he secretly called her “dog yapping.” He had to; the feline in him wanted to start clawing at things when her voice got so unbearably yippy. And absolutely no one wanted him to unleash his claws.

Toni continued to yell at him as he walked away, but he still refused to listen. He’d take care of the problem. What more could the damn woman want?

But once he was in the elevator, Toni’s hand slammed against the open door to keep it from closing. “You can’t just walk away,” she told him.

Vic pulled out a box of bamboo sticks that he always kept on him in case Shen ran out. The container resembled a pack of cigarettes but the marketing read “Bamboo for the Giant Panda on the GO!”

“Now,” Toni went on. “What you’ll need to do is—”

Vic tossed the box a few feet away. Toni stopped talking, looked at the box, and back at Vic, her eyes narrowing in warning. “I’m a jackal, Barinov,” she snarled. “I’m not some stupid Labrador retriev—”

A blur dashed by them, dove at the box, rolled a few feet away, bounced back to relatively small feet, and held the box up, triumphant.

“You dropped this!” said the pretty wolfdog as she bounced over to them. She held the box out to Vic and he took it, raising his brows at Toni.

The jackal closed her eyes, let out a breath.

“Hi, Toni!” the wolfdog chirped.

After a moment, Toni replied, “Hi, Blonde.”

Blayne’s smile vanished and her lip curled. “It’s Blayne!”

“Whatever.”

Blayne focused on Vic, her smile quickly returning. “So what’s going on?” she asked.

“Livy got picked up by the cops,” Vic told her, hoping one of Blayne’s overreactions to any situation that had nothing to do with her would distract Toni long enough for Vic to get away.

“Oh no!” Blayne’s hands briefly covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “I was afraid that would happen after the way she reacted this morning at the meeting.”

“What are you talking about?” Toni asked.

“She came to our meeting about the wedding and she went after Mrs. Malone like arabid squirrel. And in case you weren’t aware, squirrels are way meaner than any predator I’ve ever met.”

“Why would Livy be at a meeting about your wedding?” Toni briefly closed her eyes before asking, “You didn’t ask her to be one of your bridesmaids again, did you?”

“Not after she threw that locker at me.”

Vic raised his hand. “I’m sorry. I need clarification on that one. Livy threw a locker at you? A locker?”

“Yeah. We were in the locker room after a derby bout. I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids—assuming she’d take it as the compliment it was—but she didn’t say anything. Instead she just walked over to the lockers, pried one off, and wham! Next thing I knew, I was dodging a locker.” She grinned. “Good thing I’m spry!”

Vic nodded. “Good thing.”

“So I didn’t ask her to be a bridesmaid.”

“Good,” Toni said.

“Instead, I asked her to be my wedding photographer!”

Vic stepped out of the elevator and grabbed hold of Toni before she could get her hands around Blayne’s throat, sweeping her up in his arms and holding the snarling, snapping jackal against his body.

Blayne stumbled back. “What the hell?”

“You,” Toni spit out. “You asked one of the great photographers of our time to be your wedding photographer?”

“I intend to pay her!”

“That’s not the point! Would you ask Ansel Adams to photograph your baby shower? Or Renoir to paint your bedroom?”

“Well . . . if they were alive today and available for that sort of—” Blayne leaned back as jackal claws nearly slashed her face off. “You’re being unreasonable!”

Vic moved back to pull Toni farther out of claw range, and he nearly walked into Ricky Lee.

“What’cha doin’ with my woman, hoss?” the wolf asked calmly.

“Keeping her from killing Blayne.”

“Who’d wanna kill Blayne?”

“Blayne asked Livy to be her wedding photographer.”

Ricky Lee shook his head. “My Toni gets real protective of her family’s talents. And she considers Livy family. Blayne’s lucky you were around. I’m not nearly as speedy as you. Now, why don’t I take her.” Ricky Lee put his arms out and Vic transferred the jackal over. “And I’ll get us both on that plane to Russia. You handle Livy.”

“Will do.”

Now safely in Ricky Lee’s arms, Toni pursed her lips and glared at both men. “This is ridiculous. Put me down, Ricky.”

“Nah.” He leaned in, kissed her cheek. “Let’s get you to the airport, darlin’.”