Still gripping Miki by the neck, the pair walked around the corner into the enormous room, separated into eight big dressing rooms. Busy trying to figure out which room to grab, Angie slammed right into a woman.

Dianne Leucrotta stepped back with a curse. They looked at each other and Angie almost winced at what she saw. A deep jagged gash slashed across the woman’s face. From one temple, across and under her lip. And unlike Nik’s wounds from the toilet and even her own, Leucrotta still hadn’t really healed. And Angie wondered if she ever would.

“Wow, I totally fucked up your face.” Then Angie punched her. Leucrotta grabbed her nose and stumbled back away from them. Angie pushed Miki back and punched Leucrotta again.

“Jesus, Angie!”

“Get Sara!” She grabbed the hyena by the hair and slammed her face first into one of the dressing rooms.

***

It wasn’t until someone kicked his legs that Nik woke up. Alek, snoring beside him, his head resting on his shoulder. Ban snoring on the other couch, the noise rivaled only by the dog.

He looked into the impossibly cranky face of Zach Sheridan. “Y’all get food?”

“We had a full refrigerator before you three got here.”

“Where I come from, we don’t let the refrigerator get empty.”

“Where you come from, you marry your sister.”

Before Nik could rip the man’s head off—literally—Alek snapped awake. “Your sister’s here?”

Snarling like a rabid dog, the wolf stomped off.

Alek winked, gave an evil chuckle, and stood up to head to the kitchen.

He really did have the best family.

***

“You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here, Ms. Leucrotta. You’re exactly what I needed to make this day perfect.”

As she threw Leucrotta to the floor, Sara and Victoria stormed in. Miki right behind them. They stopped and stared at the bleeding Leucrotta on the floor.

“Jesus, Angie, I thought you worked this out in therapy…and what is that smell?”

Victoria’s head tilted to the side, “Hyena.”

Sara growled. “This is her? The one that came after you?”

“Yes. Notice the Louis Vuitton–damaged face.”

Miki grinned, “Nice, Santiago.”

Leucrotta tried to push herself up off the floor, so Angie slammed her back down with her foot. She really did like how these shoes looked on her.

“I was thinking instead of the two of you coming up with a truce…maybe we could involve all three.”

Angie felt the air change, the tension build, and she knew Leucrotta was shifting right under her feet.

Miki, snatching the .45 out of its holster and pulling the slide back, “You shift, bitch, and it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Leucrotta let out abreath and the air surrounding them returned to normal. She’d stopped the process.

Victoria looked at Sara, “I am really starting to like your friends.”

***

The male wolves watched as the tigers proceeded to eat and eat and eat, clearing out most of the new groceries they’d brought into the house.

Few were ever ready to see tigers feed when they were truly hungry. And the Vorislav boys were mighty hungry.

Conall watched Ban finish off a plate of fried chicken legs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as disturbing as what I just witnessed. And I’ve seen Miki dance.” He looked at Zach. “If they stay for Sara’s party, we’re going to need another cow for the barbeque.”

***

Sara crouched down beside Leucrotta. “You’re probably wondering why we haven’t killed you yet.”

“Although we’re sorely tempted,” Victoria added. She’d taken over Angie’s spot after dispatching her females along with Sara’s She-wolves to go deal with any lurking hyenas. And she seemed to really enjoy having her foot in the back of the woman’s neck. Much more pressure and she might snap the bone.

“See, this is the deal. We could kill you, but then this would keep going on. And we’re tired.”

“But you can’t be trusted.”

“Exactly, Victoria. A stereotype, true. But we have no choice but to note past behavior. And this past behavior forced us to turn to each other to create a truce.” Sara stood up and preceded to move around the room. “See, before, you guys could keep having all that fun at our expense because we were killing each other anyway.”

“But we’ve created a truce that applies to the Cat Nation…”

“And most of the Packs…although, if I were you, I wouldn’t approach the Víga-Feilans. Even though they’re not our friends, they’re really mean on principle.”

Sara stood over Dianne Leucrotta now, staring down at her. “And do you wanna know what this truce means to you?”

“Ooh! Let me tell her.”

“Oh, Victoria, please be my guest.”

Still not moving that well-placed foot, Victoria crouched down. She dug her hand into Leucrotta’s brownish-gold locks, brutally yanking her head back. “It’s simple. You fuck with us…any of us…and you’ll have every cat, every canine within the U.S. and Canada coming after your hyena ass.”

Sara crouched down again. “But the beauty part…we’ll make sure to take out a few Clans on our way to you. And when they find out this is all your fault, those hyenas will turn on you. And there’ll be no place safe for you. No place safe for your family, friends, any of ‘em.”