Grinning, Ric smiled at Bren. “Brendon Shaw. Nice to see you again.”

“Ulrich.”

“Did you get the payout from the Board for the territory encroachment and the attack on your sister?”

Uh-oh.

Bren’s eyes grew wide in panic and Mitch asked, “Someone attacked Marissa?”

“Uh…”

“No,” Ric answered, probably trying to be helpful. Maybe. “Gwen. And Blayne. By the McNelly Pack out of Staten Island.” It was a toss-up of who Mitch would go after first—but he went with Brendon.

“My sister was attacked on your territory, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I can explain—”

“My baby sister!” Mitch threw his arm around Gwen’s shoulders and pulled her into his side. So tight, she was positive bones were breaking. “The most important woman in my life—”

“Hey!” Sissy snapped.

“—and you don’t tell me this?”

“Ronnie said not to.”

Outraged, Ronnie snapped, “No you didn’t just toss me under the bus!”

“I was going to call him from the medical center, but you said not to.”

“Medical center?” Mitch glared at Gwen. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you’d been attacked?”

“I was too weak…you know, with dying and all.”

“What?”

“I’m kidding, Mitch. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Like hell it wasn’t! And what exactly did you or Blayne do to start this fight?”

Gwen pushed away from her brother. “Blayne and I didn’t do a goddamn thing! It was an assault!”

“Yeah. Right. You and Blayne—the innocents. When did that happen? Did hell freeze over, too?”

“You are an asshole. And you know what else?” she hissed “You’re getting split ends!”

Mitch gasped and stepped back while Sissy shook her head and said, “Low blow, Gwenie. Low blow.”

Lock leaned in, studying Mitch’s hair. “Kind of accurate, though.”

Eyes narrowed to slits, Mitch scowled at the bear. Lock leaned back, shaking his silver-tipped hair out of his face. “I’ve never had that problem. It must be genetic.” He glanced at Brendon. “On your father’s side.”

Gwen snorted before quickly covering her mouth, which was around the same time Lock’s sister, Iona, came out of the kitchen, three children behind her. She stopped and stared at Gwen. “Why are you here?”

But before Gwen could reply with an adequate lie, Alla burst from the kitchen, her arms wide.

“Gwendolyn!”

Shocked, Gwen stumbled back, but Lock stood behind her, keeping her from panicking and running. Alla smothered her in a warm hug, the embrace only lasting a few seconds, but Gwen could feel the strength running through Alla and she had toadmit—it humbled her.

“Hello, Alla.”

“You’re late,” she said with a wink, “but that’s okay.” Gwen smiled at the She-bear, adoring her for eternity in that instant. “And who do we have here, dear?”

“This is Mitch, Brendon, Sissy, and Ronnie.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Baranova-MacRyrie.”

“Doctor?” Mitch asked, raising his brows to his sister.

“A Ph.D.,” Gwen happily tossed back, as if she’d spend more than two seconds with an actual butcher.

“And this is my daughter, Iona, my husband, Brody. You all know my wonderful son Lock, his friend, Ric, and the always-emaciated Judy.”

That’s when they all noticed the weak-looking sow sitting at the table.

Glaring at Alla, her mouth briefly twisting in hatred, the too-thin She-bear said, “Nice to meet you all.

I’m Lock’s date.”

Alla’s mouth dropped open and Iona’s blinked wide in confusion while the silence in the room grew oppressive as everyone waited for Lock’s response. But he was too busy staring out the window. Then, as if he’d suddenly heard her, Lock glanced down at Judy. “Since when?”

“Oh, Lock,” she giggled and Gwen thought about strangling the bitch. “I’m sure Iona told you I was here to be your date.”

“Not that I remember.”

What kind of answer was that? And if she was lying, why wasn’t he livid? Gwen was used to men who got livid over not having enough maple syrup for their pancakes, much less some heifer lying about being their date while standing in front of their date for the following day.

Lock shook his head, “I’m pretty sure I’d remember that conversation with my sister.”

“Oh, my God!” Gwen suddenly burst out, startling the bears in the room, which made the rest of the predators nervous. She grabbed Lock’s arm in order to drag him outside so she could slap some sense into his big bear head, but he didn’t actually move when she tugged, pulled, and yanked. He simply kept looking at her with those big, innocent bear eyes.

His mother tapped Lock’s shoulder. “Son, remember when I taught you how to give the smaller, weaker ones the illusion they’re dragging you places? This is one of those times.”

“Oh. Right.” He smiled and let Gwen drag him out to the backyard.

“She’s your date?”

Lock stared at Gwen, wondering what she was going on about. Why was she here? Why were her brothers here? Why did his mother and Ric seem to know what was going on? When had Judy Bennington lost her mind and started thinking they were dating? And how could Gwen be even prettier than the last time he saw her? Not a spot of makeup, wearing only jeans, a T-shirt, jacket, and sneakers—and she easily outshined all the overpaid Judys of the world.