“Good to see you, too, Antonella.”

“Don’t talk to me, pit bull. I know you did this. I know what you did to Blayne that time, and now you set up poor Olivia!”

“Hey!” Malone cut in. “This isn’t Dee-Ann’s fault.”

“How would you know?”

“I know!”

Ricky Lee raised his hands, attempting to placate, which he was usually good at. “Why don’t we all just calm down.”

“I don’t want to calm down,” Toni snapped. “I want her beaten horribly!” She pointed at Dee-Ann. “Get her, Ivan!”

The seven-foot-plus bear stared at Toni. “Get who?”

“Dee-Ann.”

“Smith? You want me to beat up Dee-Ann Smith?”

“Yes.”

The bear glanced at the other bears surrounding him. “Uh . . . we don’t believe in beating up women.”

“She’s barely female.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Ulrich. I know she’s your mate, but—”

“Come on, Ivan.” Dee-Ann grinned. “Give us your best shot.”

The bear took a step back. “No thank you.”

“Wait, wait.” Ric stepped in front of Dee-Ann. “Stop goading.”

“Didn’t realize I was.”

“Yes, you did,” Malone muttered.

Okay. She did know. But Dee-Ann actually felt horrible. Unlike with Toy Poodle Blayne, Dee-Ann liked Livy. She didn’t talk more than was necessary. She tolerated Reece Lee better than most. And she found Blayne as annoying as Dee-Ann did. What was there not to like about the girl? So this whole thing didn’t sit right with Dee-Ann at all.

Dee-Ann’s time in the military meant that she’d been shot quite a few times, but never sixteen . . . at one time. One shot hurt enough; she couldn’t imagine that many shots over and over, believing the whole time you were about to die. No one should go through that. Especially when all the girl wanted was the man who’d hunted and killed her daddy.

Which meant, at least to Dee-Ann, that a little fight with big ol’ bears might make her feel a bit better. At least in the moment.

Ric smiled at her. He could read Dee-Ann without her saying a word.

“Listen, Toni,” Ric began, turning to face the jackal, “we’ll . . .”

Ric stopped, looked around, and finally asked Ricky Lee, “Where’s Antonella?”

Ricky Lee Reed glanced at the suddenly smug-looking bears and shrugged. “Got me.”

Vic walked into the bedroom he’d set Livy up in and found her desperately rubbing her back against the bathroom doorway.

“What are you doing?”

“My back is so itchy.”

Closing the bedroomdoor, Vic went to Livy and turned her around. He lifted the sweatshirt she had on.

“Sex? Now?”

Vic chuckled. “I’m looking to see if any of your wounds are infected, silly.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Carefully studying the multiple wounds that Livy had received, Vic was glad to see that there was no obvious infection. Instead, it looked like the wounds were healing so fast, her body was itching because of that.

“They all look pretty clean. But I think we should put some anti-itch stuff on your back.”

“Do we have that?”

“Novikov has first-aid kits in nearly every room of this house and first-aid trunks out by the rink and derby track. I can’t tell if he’s just super-prepared or if Blayne is that clumsy.”

“Both.”

Vic went into the bathroom and pulled out cotton balls and a bottle of anti-itch gel that should help Livy get through the worst part of her healing process.

He walked back into the bedroom and stopped in his tracks. Livy was naked and facedown on the bed.

“Uh . . . Livy? What are you doing?”

“Making it easy for you to deal with my wounds.” She looked at him over her shoulder and grinned. “See how helpful I am?”

“You are such a bad influence.”

“I know.”

Vic kicked off his Converse sneakers and sat on the bed beside Livy. Determined to get this done before they did anything else, Vic forced himself to focus on each of Livy’s wounds. First he applied the gel to her back, then rolled Livy to her side and dealt with the ones on her hip. She watched him while he worked, and Vic had to admit having her eyes on him was beyond distracting. He wanted her so badly, but he didn’t want to rush her. Not physically. She might think she was completely okay, but Vic wanted to be sure. Really sure. He didn’t want to do anything that might hurt her more.

“I think that’s it,” he said, pulling his hand back and tossing the used cotton balls away.

“You sure?” Livy asked as she slowly sat up.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She placed her hand on either side of his jaw and kissed him. Suddenly, the idea of taking it slow or waiting to make sure she was really okay evaporated from his weak, pathetic mind. He kissed her back and began to lower her to the bed when a knock on the door stopped him.

Livy pulled out of their kiss and snarled, “What?”

Jake opened the door enough just to stick his head in. “Decent?”

“Do you mean morally?”

Livy’s cousin rolled his eyes. “Put your clothes back on, ho.”

Growling, Livy tugged on her sweatpants and shirt. She stood. “What is it?”