“Oh, shut up.”

CHAPTER 27

About, a felony assault, and a good fuck in the Sports Center bathroom while she had her skates on, and Livy was ready to go home. But no one had asked her what she wanted. Instead, her team, the Babes, had preyed on poor, defenseless Vic. He’d worked the feline out of him by fucking her. Once the cat was gone, all that was left was a weak-willed grizzly who couldn’t stand up to a few perky broads.

So, where was she now? A bar. Something else she wouldn’t mind. A good felony was always nicely topped off with a stiff drink. But this wasn’t just a bar . . . it was a karaoke bar in the Village. A group of the wild dogs who lived across the street from the brownstone were in attendance. Not all of them, though. The wild dogs split up their activities so there was always a group with the pups. It seemed nice, but Livy wasn’t sure she could deal with that many people in her life, all day, every day. She barely tolerated having to deal with herself, much less a crowd.

“I don’t believe it,” Vic muttered with a snarl.

Livy looked up from her untouched shot of vodka, her nose twitching as it continued to heal. “What?”

“It’s your cousins.”

Uh-oh.

“I’ll make sure they don’t start anything with—”

“That’s not what’s bothering me. Jake is with them. I told him to stay and protect the Jean-Louis Parkers.”

Livy waved that off. “Coop, Cherise, and Kyle are with the wild dogs across the street. Coop wants Kyle to be around other children. Normal children. Or as normal as wild dogs can be . . . which, when you think about it, is a hell of a lot more normal than any of the Jean-Louis Parkers. Coop texted me, and I made him promise to stay with the Packs until we get back tonight.”

“The Packs?”

“Some of the Smiths are there. They never leave the wild dogs on their own now that Jess Ward’s hillbilly spouse has a spawn.”

Vic smiled. “That was so romantic.”

“I’m all about true love.”

Then she laughed. Although even Livy had to admit it sounded a bit sinister.

“Hey, cousin,” Jake said as he sat down in their booth. “And her giant boy toy.”

Jake took Livy’s vodka and swallowed it in one gulp. He stuck his tongue out, disgusted. “You call that vodka?”

“I tried to tell her,” Vic complained.

“What are you two . . . friends now?”

They didn’t answer. Vic just pushed his vodka over to Jake. Her cousin took it, drank it, and grinned.

“You really should listen to this man.”

“I am Russian,” Vic said in a thick accent. “Vodka I know.”

“I hate you,” Livy admitted, “because you sound really hot when you do that accent.”

Vic leaned in and murmured in that damn accent, “I can do it more . . . just for you.”

“Stop it. We’re stuck here ’cause of you.”

“Who can turn Blayne down? There were tears.”

“With Blayne there’s always tears! And it works on every one of you pathetic males.”

“You’re the one doing her wedding,” Vic reminded her.

“For a fuck-load of money, hybrid.”

Jake smiled. “You two make a cute couple.”

“Shut up,” Livy shot back.

Having been told to shut up lots of times by Livy, Jake was more interested in what was happening on the stage.

“What the hell am I listening to?”

“Someone’s really bad version of ‘The Safety Dance.’ ” She stared at Jake and said it again. ” ‘The Safety Dance.’ ”

Jake patted Livy’s shoulder and stood. “Now, now. No need to get homicidal. Jake is here to handle everything.”

Vic watched Jake make his way to the stage. “What did he mean? What’s he going to handle?”

Feeling surprisingly playful, Livy stared at Vic and said with deep meaning, “You don’t want to know, baby. You don’t want to know.”

Jess giggled and pressed her face into Bobby Ray Smith’s neck.

“That ain’t right, y’all,” he said, laughing. “Callin’ that sort of thing ‘skates-up’ is just wrong.”

“If your skates are resting on his shoulders . . . that’s skates-up,” Gwen explained, her hand wrapped around a bottle of Guinness, her butt on Lock’s lap. “Although the height difference is so huge between the two, they were really resting on his arms.”

Blayne smiled, very happy to be here with her friends and her mate.

“Hey, Gwen.” Jess took a bottle of ice-cold Coke from the waitress. “I heard your dad’s coming in for the wedding.”

“He is.”

Jess’s face dropped. “I thought you’d be happy about that.”

“I am. But he’s bringing his sisters. That means my mother and her sisters against my dad’s sisters. She-lions versus She-tigers. That I do not look forward to.”

“My uncles will attempt to keep them busy,” Lock reminded her. “I believe they are looking forward to it.”

“My father’s sisters will chew them up and spit them out. But I’m relatively certain your uncles will enjoy that while it lasts.”

Mitch came over to the table. Brendon had gone to be with Ronnie Lee and his baby, which Blayne was starting to secretly worry was possessed with a demon of some kind. Or maybe that was just what happened when one combined feline and canine DNA.