“What’s up, Cherise?” he asked her.

“We need Toni.”

“No,” he said gently but firmly. “We don’t need Toni. We can handle this without her.”

“She should be home by now,” Cherise insisted. “We need Toni.”

Knowing one of Cherise’s “loops” when he heard one—her “loops” being when she kept saying the same thing over and over until she passed out—Paul just walked on ahead, Coop and Cherise behind him. He stepped into the ballroom, stopping right at the entrance as a pink ballet slipper flew by and collided with Kyle’s head. Tragically for Kyle, it was one of Oriana’s pointe shoes, and the hard tip clocked the kid right in the eye.

“You talentless hack!” Kyle screamed, one hand over his eye. “I should rip out your Achilles tendon with my teeth!”

“Try that, you little weasel, and I’m chopping off both your hands!”

Coop glanced at Paul. “Cherise is right . . . we need Toni.”

Toni stepped out of the limo she’d hired to transport her, Ricky, and Bert to the airport.

Newark was one of the airports she knew really well. Almost as well as LaGuardia and she had lots of connections here. She knew she could get a staff escort directly to the gate for Bert. And she might be allowed to go with him herself even though she didn’t have a ticket. She wasn’t sure, however, that she could get the wolf access, too. But she assumed he wouldn’t mind waiting.

“Uh . . . Toni?”

Toni turned and smiled at the wolf. “Yes?”

He motioned to the limo with a jerk of his head. That’s when Toni saw the claws sticking up through the roof of the vehicle. Toni rushed over and crouched down. Bert had his black bear claws dug into the roof and his powerful legs spread and braced on either side of the door.

“Bert?”

“I’m not going,” he panted out desperately. “I’m not going. I’m not going. I’m not going.”

Toni stood. “I think he’s frightened of flying.”

“What gave you that idea?”

“I don’t need sarcasm right now, country boy,” she snapped. Toni took a breath. “I’m going to see if I can talk him out.”

“Make it fast. After a while, even people in Jersey are gonna notice bear claws through a limo roof.”

Deciding not to comment on the wolf being Mr. Obvious, Toni leaned into the limo.

“Hey, Bert,” she said, keeping her voice soft and soothing, like when she had to talk Cherise down from the roof of the house where she’d gone after panicking because the FedEx guy asked her to sign for a package. “Hey. It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I’m not going. Youcan’t make me go.”

“No problem.” She slowly, carefully leaned over, her hand stretching out to gently take his. “I just need you to retract those—oh, my God! Not the face! Not the face!”

Ricky didn’t manage to catch Toni when she fell back out of the limo door, but he did stop her head from hitting the pavement. He took that as a win.

“Are you all right?”

“Do I still have my nose?”

“Yep. Not even a scratch.”

“Then I’m fine. Help me up.” He did, easily lifting her to her feet. The She-jackals sure were small. Compared to She-wolves anyway.

Toni wiped off the back of her jeans, her focus on the bear in the limo, which allowed Ricky to take a nice long look at her cute little rear.

“Stop staring at my ass, freak.”

“Hey!” The limo driver stormed around the vehicle. “What the hell? What’s he doing to my car?”

“Don’t panic.”

“Panic? Who’s going to pay for this?”

“Can we worry about that later?” Toni demanded as she tossed off her sling, grabbed hold of the bear’s leg, and began to pull.

“We can’t worry about this later! I’m responsible for this car!” The driver crouched down and glared at the bear. “I knew I shouldn’t let a bear into my car. Tacky, flea-bitten, honey-obsessed bastard!” The mountain lion driver hissed at the bear, and Bert roared back.

That’s when the cops took notice of what was going on. “We need to go,” Ricky pushed.

“I said I’d get him on that plane. I’m going to—”

Ricky shoved the She-jackal into the car, hoping she’d be okay since she landed face-first on Bert’s chest. He slammed the door closed and caught hold of the mountain lion by the back of his neck.

The cat hissed as Ricky walked him back to the driver’s side of the car. “Get in and drive, tabby.”

Ricky slammed that door shut, then walked around the front of the vehicle, waving casually at the cops coming closer. He opened the front passenger door and slipped inside. By the time he closed the door, the cat pulled into traffic and headed off.

“So where are we going?” the cat demanded. “And who’s paying for my car?”

By now Toni had crawled forward until she could knock on the glass between the front seats and the back of the limo. The cat lowered the window and Toni leaned in. She gave the cat an address Ricky didn’t recognize.

“He’s not getting on a plane,” Ricky reminded her.

“I’ll figure out something.”

“And my car?” the cat screeched, making Ricky bark at him, which made the cat hiss back and Bert roar.