“The shifter-run one on Old Country Road?”

“Yes. I have privileges there, and I already have a call in to Dr. Ford. He’s an arrogant male lion I have thought about beating to death on more than one occasion, but he was a combat doctor for several tours. He would know how to deal with this if it gets bad.”

“Good. But we need to be careful who we involve in this. We don’t know if Chumakov’s men are still around. Whether they know Livy survived or not, and if they do know she survived, if they’re waiting to take another—”

Cella’s words stopped abruptly when the door behind her and Jai opened, and a naked Livy walked out.

“What time is it?” the badger asked.

“What the fuck are you doing up?” Jai snarled.

“Did you get all the bullets out?” Livy asked in her usual calm tone.

“I believe so—”

“Then I’m fine.”

Livy gave a short whistle at one of the badgers on the floor and someone threw her a T-shirt. She pulled it on, then stopped to bend and twist her back. Something cracked into place, and she gave a little head shake. “There we go.” Livy looked around. “Where’s Vic? I thought I heard his voice.”

“Upstairs.”

Livy patted Jai on the shoulder. “Nice work, doctor. Thank you.”

They watched the honey badger confidently step over and around her relatives as she walked through the basement in only a T-shirt. Cella would admit she was no surgeon, but the predator in her knew when another animal was strong and would be too much trouble to attempt to kill unless you were starving—which was what Cella saw when she watched Livy.

“Cella?” Jai asked.

“Huh?”

“I gave that woman enough pain medication to take out an elephant with a strong constitution. I pretty much put her in a short-term coma so her body could heal.”

“Okay.”

“So, it was a really great idea,” Jai softly pointed out, “bringing a dangerous, unstable species to our home where our daughters live. A species that is apparently impossible to kill. Next time you should just bring in a serial killer. Or an atomic bomb!”

“Drink this.”

Vic looked at the cup Novikov held out to him. “What is it?”

“Tea.”

“What kind of tea?”

“Earl Grey.”

“Just Earl Grey?”

“As opposed to . . . ?”

“Some magic tea for hybrids that will calm me down?”

Novikov looked deep into the cup. “I didn’t know there was a magic tea. That’s kind of cool.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Vic said, deciding he was done with the tea conversation.“What if she—”

“Don’t. Don’t do that to yourself. I almost killed my annoying, asshole cousin because I started what-if-ing about Blayne when she was hurt bad once. But Dr. Davis is really good. Let’s just wait and see what she says.”

“Okay.” Vic lifted his tea. “Thanks for this.”

“No problem. Blayne always says hybrids have to stick together. Maybe she’s right.”

They both looked up at the same time, nodded at Livy, and went back to their conversation.

“My parents are coming tomorrow,” Vic said.

“To visit? Or about this?”

“About this before anyone went after Livy.”

“Have you arranged to have them picked up from the airport?”

“I was going to do it—”

“You can’t go now. Give me their information and I’ll arrange a car to pick them up.”

“Thanks, man, that’s really—”

Vic abruptly stopped talking and jerked around. “Olivia?”

She grinned. “Were you really the one who fucked up Smith’s car?” Livy asked. “Because she’s still in the house snarling about—”

Vic shot off the bench, picked Livy up in his arms, and held her against his chest. He needed to feel her. He needed to feel her skin against his, know that she was warm and safe in his arms.

“Now that we’re dealing with awkward emotions,” Novikov muttered, “I’m going . . . away.”

The back door of the house opened and closed, leaving Vic alone with Livy.

Vic, unable to help himself, held her tighter.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, her legs wrapping around his waist, her arms clinging to his neck. “I really am.”

“I thought I lost you,” he admitted against her neck.

“You know my kind is too mean to go out that easy. We make a man work for it.”

“Olivia—”

“Hey.” She pulled back, and urged his head up with her hands, forcing him to look her in those dark eyes. “They failed. They tried to kill me, and they failed. So I’m not going to sit around and think about what was supposed to happen or what could have happened or anything else. I don’t care about any of that.”

“The problem is, I do care. I care about you, Livy. So, pretending this didn’t happen and just—”

“We can’t pretend this didn’t happen, Vic. We won’t.”

“We?”

Livy glanced over, and Vic saw that the once-empty yard was now filled with Livy’s family. They silently stood there, in the brutal cold, watching and waiting. Waiting for Livy.