“I don’t care,” Toni cut in. Mostly because she knew that whatever her aunt was about to say, she probably wouldn’t understand. “Just don’t turn Freddy into Kyle, Part two.”

“How can I? Even my level of arrogance doesn’t quite reach Kyle’s. Although,” Irene added with that serious tone, “I think Mussolini’s did.”

“He’d make an interesting dictator,” Miki added.

And they both looked at Toni as if that information should somehow make her feel better.

Ricky knocked on the bulletproof glass of the thick security door and grinned down at the pup staring at him. “Hello, darlin’. Is Bobby Ray home?”

The pup stared at him a moment longer before turning and screeching, “Mooooooom! Wolf at the door!”

The pup’s mother didn’t show up at the door but the Alpha of the Kuznetsov Pack did. A wide smile on her face, Jessie Ann Ward unlocked and opened the door. “Hey, Ricky Lee.”

“Hey, Jessie Ann. Your mate home?”

“Upstairs in his lair. I think he’s avoiding the kids. They’ve been in overdrive all day now that school’s out. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Just avoiding my sister and Sissy Mae.”

That made Jessie laugh. “Something I understand completely. Don’t worry. If they call or stop by . . . I haven’t seen you.”

“Thanks, darlin’.” He stepped inside and headed down the hall. “I see you’ve finally rented that place across the street.”

“Mhmm,” Jessie Ann grunted.

“Somethin’ wrong?” He leaned in and whispered, “You want me to go over there and give ’em a Smith welcome?”

Jessie laughed. “Don’t you dare, Ricky Lee Reed. They’re paying a fortune. I mean a fortune, just to stay there for the summer. But I think they have motives.”

“Something illegal?”

“No. Nothing that interesting.”

“Then it must involve Johnny.” The young wolf, Johnny DeSerio, was Jessie’s adopted son. An eighteen-year-old kid with a gift for the fiddle. Could play a mean “Devil Went Down to Georgia” while Jessie Ann sang. But a strong, street-smart boy, so Ricky didn’t know why Jessie Ann worried about him so.

“It does, but I don’t want to discuss it.” She glanced into the living room and giggling pups ducked behind the couch. “Too many big ears around here.”

“Not a problem.”

He kissed her cheek and headed up the stairs to the third floor, where the Pack had given Bobby Ray his own office, and there were bedrooms for visiting wolves.

The door to Bobby Ray’s office wasn’t closed, and Ricky walked in to find the strong, powerful Alpha Male ofhis Pack tickling the ribs of his baby daughter and blowing raspberries on her belly while the little darling just laughed and laughed.

“Well, hello, Daddy!” Ricky cheered from the door.

Bobby Ray froze in mid-raspberry, but Ricky Lee was dang impressed when Bobby Ray’s baby girl angrily barked at him for the interruption.

“Now is that any way to talk to your godfather, brat?” Of course, she might not remember he was her godfather—the girl had six of them. Smith males believing their all-important daughters could never have enough protection.

Bobby Ray stood, lifting his daughter with him. “Where’s her momma?”

“Downstairs.”

With that, Bobby Ray tossed the child to Ricky Lee, who easily caught her. Not surprisingly, Jessie hated when they did that, but the tomboyish little girl adored it. Laughing, she clung to Ricky’s neck.

“How’s my favorite girl? How’s my little vampire?”

“Stop calling her that.”

“Hey. It wasn’t my idea to name her after Dracula’s first wife.”

Bobby dropped into his chair. “It’s the price I pay for love . . . I married a geek. And,” he added, annoyed, “these dogs may run around calling her Elisabeta all day long, but to me she’s just my Lissy Ann.”

“I wouldn’t worry.” Ricky sat at the desk across from Bobby. “She’s a hearty little gal. Look at these little legs. Sturdy. She’ll be out huntin’ and campin’ with the rest of us before you know it. Won’t need any fancy tents or generators with her.”

Bobby shuddered a little, most likely remembering that joint Pack camping trip they’d taken with the wild dogs in Alaska. It had not gone well. No. Not well at all.

Putting his big feet up on his desk, Bobby studied Ricky a moment before stating, “So . . . guess you heard about Laura Jane.”

Miki sat on the couch, but unlike Irene and Freddy, she sort of flopped on it, her bare feet landing dangerously close to Irene’s thigh. How these two had become friends, Toni didn’t know, because although equally brilliant and both full-humans mated to wolves, they were still quite different as women.

“So what brings you here?” Miki asked, unaware of the way Irene moved away from her extremely tiny feet. Irene was not a big fan of feet . . . or of being touched by anyone but her children and Uncle Van.

“Freddy wanted to see you before you two left tomorrow.”

Irene’s head tilted to the side, her brain working. She said, “I thought you guys were leaving tonight, too.”

Toni kept her face blank and, after a moment, Irene sighed. “Don’t tell me that woman has decided to stay here.”