“Wait—”

“I’ll take care of Livy,” Vic promised, knowing that was what was bothering her.

“You can’t just take care of Livy. You have to get her and her cousins out. Trust me when I say, you can’t leave Kowalski cousins in lockup. They don’t like being trapped together. They’ll tear each other apart and end up in actual prison.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this all covered.”

“And,” she went on, “you’ll need to keep Livy away from Melly once you get them out. She’s really cranky when she’s been in jail for a while, and Melly knows every button to push to make Livy snap.”

“I’ll deal with it. Now go before you miss your plane.”

“Vic—”

“Go.”

“She’s erratic when she’s upset,” Toni warned as Ricky Lee walked off with her. “And being asked to be some heifer’s wedding photographer is bound to make her upset!”

Blayne stamped her foot. “You’re still being unreasonable!”

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Melly accused, her eyes locked on Livy across the cell they were sharing with their cousins and several other full-human women Livy didn’t know. “To see me back here. Where you think I belong.”

“Where I think you belong is in rehab or a maximum-security mental hospital.”

“You are such an evil bitch, Livy!”

“I’m evil? You trashed my apartment.”

“I had a little party with family and a few friends. Why are you so uptight?”

“A little party does not involve cobras and puff adders.”

“And black mambas,” Livy’s cousin Jocelyn muttered.

Livy closed her eyes in horror at the thought of one of the deadliest snakes in the world skittering through her defenseless neighbors’ plumbing. “You have to be,” she growled at Melly, “the dumbest twat this side of the universe.”

“I was hungry!” Melly screamed back.

Livy held up her hands. “I can’t with you, right now. I’ve got a lot on my mind and—”

“Boo-hoo,” Melly singsonged, her voice a nasty sneer. “My father died so everybody must pity me.”

Jocelyn’s eyes grew wide. “Wow. She went there,” she said to the other cousins. “I mean . . . she actually went there.”

“Shut up,” Melly snapped at Jocelyn.

“But who the fuck says that to someone who just lost their father?” Joce demanded. “Who?”

“Livy’s always been a bitch. Uncle Damon dying doesn’t change shit about that.”

Livy didn’t say anything. She didn’t move. She didn’t growl, snarl, orhiss. But a true honey badger never actually needed those warning signs to know when a fellow HB was about to go off like a bomb. Quickly, Jocelyn knelt in front of Livy, placing her hands on Livy’s knees. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Livy.” Jocelyn cocked her head to the side. “I can’t let you.”

Studying her cousin, Livy asked, “Because you care if Melly continues breathing? Or because of her talents?”

“Don’t be silly, Liv.” Jocelyn, the oldest and most mature of the Kowalski cousins, reached up and gently petted Livy’s cheek. “If she didn’t have talents, I would have killed her myself before she graduated kindergarten. But this goes beyond our instinctual need to destroy the weakest of our kind. So I can’t let you. Understand?”

Livy let out a breath, nodded. Besides. If she was going to kill her own cousin, she should do it without surveillance cameras and so many witnesses.

Jocelyn, satisfied by Livy’s nonverbal response, smiled and stood. When she turned, Melly was standing there.

“You would have killed me in kindergarten?” When Jocelyn didn’t reply, Melly began to sob.

Jocelyn, disgusted, glanced back at Livy, eyes crossed.

“I can’t believe we share blood,” Jocelyn whispered at Melly before she walked off.

Livy heard someone sniffing, and she looked at the bars she was trapped behind. She recognized the face of the polar bear standing there, sniffing the air. Slowly, dark brown eyes focused on her.

“Olivia.”

“Crushek.”

He gestured to a uniformed cop. The door was opened and Livy stood. “I’ve gotta bring them,” she said, motioning to her cousins.

“Then bring them.”

The bear turned and walked off. With a shrug, Livy and her cousins followed. They were near the elevators when another plainclothes cop ran up to them.

“Hey! Crushek! You can’t just—”

Crushek faced the man, stared down at him.

“I can’t what?” Crushek asked.

The full-human swallowed. “These . . . women . . .”

Crushek blinked. “What about them?”

“They put two of our officers in the hospital.”

Crushek looked down at Livy. “What did you do?”

“They got between me and my cousin, but it wasn’t that big a deal. Couple of busted noses, a few broken fingers, and some bruised egos . . . but everybody’s alive.”

“Don’t do that anymore,” he told her, pointing one, big, blunt finger. “Understand?”

“Yes.”

Crushek looked back at the other cop. “They won’t do that anymore.”