Niles “Van” Van Holtz kissed his sleeping mate on the cheek before slipping out of bed. He pulled on sweatpants and left the room, carefully closing the door behind him so as not to disturb his wife.

Yawning, he headed down to his big kitchen, prepared to make breakfast for his family and any of his Pack who wanted to join in, before he headed off to his restaurant to prepare for that evening’s dinner service.

He opened the refrigerator and studied the contents. Waffles were his first thought, but wolves always ate waffles. Vacations among his Pack had actually been cancelled in the past when it was discovered the resort they were going to didn’t serve waffles for breakfast.

“Maybe French toast.” Van did love cinnamon.

Deciding on French toast and sausage, he grabbed several gallons of milk and turned away from the refrigerator.

That’s when Van screamed and jumped back because Dee-Ann Smith was standing behind him like the angel of death.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle ya.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Yeah. I did. But I have some questions for ya, and I didn’t want you to have a bunch of time to organize your lies.”

Van walked around her to place the milk he hadn’t dropped on the floor onto the counter. “What are you talking about?”

“You had us back off the Whitlan case . . . why?”

“What?”

“I know you heard me.”

Yeah. He had.

Van picked up the gallon of milk he’d dropped on the floor and placed it with the others.

“You knew about Damon Kowalski, didn’t you?”

Facing the She-wolf, Van folded his arms over his chest. “Some of us were . . . aware of the turn of events.”

“Turn of events? Is that what you call it?”

“That’s what it was.”

The She-wolf gave a short laugh. “I see. You knew what the honey badgers would do once they found out one of their own had been hunted and stuffed.”

“We knew that they had a good chance of drawing out Whitlan, and the ones protecting him. The badgers function with fewer rules than the rest of us.”

“So you put Livy up for the slaughter?”

Van dropped his hands. “Oh, come on, Dee-Ann. Do you really think any of us had any idea that they’d attack Livy that way? Right there in the Sports Center?”

“I see. Y’all expected warnings and such.”

“I guess we did.”

“They took sixteen bullets out of that little girl.”

“And I’m very sorry about that.”

“It’s gonna get nasty now,” Dee-Ann needlessly told him. “Those were bears that came after her. Bears that we cleaned up.” When Van didn’t say anything,Dee-Ann smirked. “You’re going to let them deal with it on their own.”

“Honey badgers have always functioned separately. They have never wanted to be part of us.”

She walked up to him, stood barely three inches from him. Van was slightly taller than his favorite cousin’s mate, but Dee-Ann was built like a linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks.

And behind Dee-Ann, Van saw his eldest child and only daughter, Ulva, ease out from the pantry, her claws unleashed.

“Well, you can go on being a politician, Niles Van Holtz, but if they need help from me or Malone, they’re gonna get it. Do we understand each other?”

“We always understand each other, Dee-Ann.”

“That’s good.” Dee-Ann held up one finger and said to Van’s daughter while still staring at Van, “And you still ain’t ready to take me on, little girl.”

Shocked Dee-Ann had so easily sensed her, Ulva stopped in her tracks, her claws instantly retracting.

The She-wolf left as silently as she’d come into his home, and his daughter was immediately at his side, her arms around his waist.

“How can I be Alpha of the Pack, Daddy, when that female scares the life from me?”

“You’ll be Alpha because you’re already smart enough to know who to challenge and who not. And trust me, baby, when I tell you, I don’t want you challenging Dee-Ann Smith or her father at any point in your life.”

His daughter, as brilliant and beautiful as her full-human mother, nodded. “Okay.”

CHAPTER 32

The private jet landed at the small New Jersey airport. Dee-Ann said her good-byes to the pilot and flight attendant and went into the tiny terminal. Malone was supposed to pick her up alone, so Dee-Ann was surprised when she saw Ric with her. In fact, she was kind of grateful.

Dee-Ann went into his open arms and hugged her mate tight.

“How did it go?” he asked, not bothering to complain that she’d gone to see his cousin without a word to him.

“Me and Malone were right.” She stepped back. “Can’t speak for BPC, but The Group and KZS knew, at the very least, about Damon Kowalski.”

“They knew the badgers would bring whoever was protecting Whitlan out in the open.” Ric’s handsome face turned angry. “And put Livy at risk.”

“Don’t think your uncle knew it would get that bad that quickly, but—”

Dee-Ann blinked, her words stopping abruptly after a fist slammed into her face.

Of course, the blow didn’t hurt her as much as startle her. Too bad the one swinging that fist couldn’t say the same.

Toni Jean-Louis Parker, looking exhausted and angry and surrounded by extremely large bears and Ricky Lee, held her fist and yelped from the pain.