Facing the twins, Cooper demanded, “What did I tell you two?”

“Du hast gesagt—”

“In English, Zia.”

The two girls took each other’s peanut butter–covered hands and began simultaneously in English, “Stay with us—”

“And do not quote The Shining. You know people freak out when you two do that.”

Their smiles suggested that yes, they did know that freaked people out.

“Have y’all thought about getting these two a nanny?”

“Nanny?” Coop repeated, as if he’d never heard the word before.

“Yeah. A nanny. Rich people have ’em all the time.”

“But we’re jackals.”

“Your family is also damn weird. If you’re freakin’ out the king of the jungle, you might need special care. Or, at the very least, someone with a high tolerance for weird.”

They both looked at the twins, and in response the girls pursed their lips and made smacking sounds. Air kisses. It was cute and terrifying all at the same time because they did it in unison.

“A very high tolerance for weird.”

Cooper shook his head. “Toni’s going to freak out about this. Shit.” He pulled out his cell phone. “When does she get home again?”

“Shit,” one of the twins repeated, smiling.

“Shit,” her sister parroted.

“Merde.”

“Hovno.”

“Stront.”

“Merda.”

“Mierda.”

Dee stared at the three-year-old twins. “Lord . . . how many languages do y’all know?” Then she frowned and focused on their brother when she realized something else. “And how the heck do they know about The Shining?”

“Why are you looking at me? It was probably Kyle who let them watch it.”

“Kyle’s eleven.”

“Physically, maybe.” He held up his phone. “Found the text. She should be back tonight.”

“Good thing. Y’all run wild when she ain’t here.”

A kiss on her forehead woke Toni up, her cheek resting against his chest while Ricky held her.

“We’re almost home, darlin’,” he whispered. “Time to put your seat belt on.”

Yawning, Toni sat up and pushed off the blanket covering her. She put on her seat belt and glanced over at the seats on the other side of the aisle.

“Why is he here?” she asked again. She’d asked when Barinov had checked in with them at the airport in Russia, but Ricky had given her some vague bullshit answer she didn’t buy. Yet she hadn’t bothered to push for an answer then. She was too far away to do anything if something had gone wrong at home, and she didn’t want to start freaking out on the flight. So she’d waited. But with their plane descending, she wanted answers.

Ricky seemed to understand that when he replied, “There was a break-in at your rental house. Everyone’s fine. The kids weren’t home.”

Toni nodded.“Okay.”

“I talked to Dee-Ann before we got on the plane. Your honey badger friend apparently went into action as soon as this happened. She pulled in my company and your aunt Irene called in Dee-Ann.”

“Whatever for?”

“Irene seems to think the government was involved. Whoever it was tried to make it look like no one had been there, and if we weren’t shifters, we wouldn’t have known they had been.”

“But everyone’s safe?”

“Very safe. Darlin’, you can’t get safer than when Dee-Ann’s involved. Unless you’re on the wrong side of her.”

“Good.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but—”

“No, no. I understand. I would have just spent the whole flight freaking out, and that’s how jackals end up on shifter no-fly lists. I can’t afford that.” She studied him. “But any other time . . . don’t hide anything from me about my family.”

“I know.” She could tell from his expression he took her warning seriously. “Trust me.”

And she did. At least about this.

“You’re exhausted,” he murmured, brushing her hair off her face.

“I am. But so are you.”

“I’ll get you home and then we’ll figure it out from there. Okay? No decisions when we’re this tired.”

“Fair enough.”

He kissed her then, and Toni began to wonder what would happen when they were fully awake and over their jet lag. Because this simple kiss had her toes curling inside her boots.

“I’m sorry,” one of the flight attendants said, a smile on her feline face. “You need to put your seats up. We’re cleared to land.”

Nodding, Toni brought her seat up. Once the flight attendant walked away to check on the rest of the passengers, Ricky leaned over and whispered, “You keep kissing me like that, darlin’, and we won’t be figuring out anything except which side of the bed you like to sleep on.”

It wasn’t even seven a.m. when Oriana sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of hot oatmeal and a bottle of cold water. She’d been up since five thirty so she could get warmed up for the day’s classes. Plus there was a competition coming up that she was excited about because it could lead to huge possibilities for her career.

Her career. That’s all Oriana really ever thought about. Dancing and her career as a dancer. She knew that most girls her age were spending their summers hanging out with friends, going to movies, listening to music, and trying to get the cutest guys to notice them. But Oriana knew she wasn’t “most girls.” She’d been given a gift and she wasn’t going to waste it on shitty music, annoying frenemies, and some guy who would end up sleeping with her best friend or something. Besides, Oriana had her family and with them she didn’t have to make excuses for why she couldn’t go out or why she didn’t care about the latest blockbuster movie.