“That is enough!” Toni bellowed, silencing all three males.

“Everybody just shut the fuck up right now! And I’ll pay for your goddamn limo, so shut up about it already.”

“Can I get that in writing?” the cat muttered.

Toni’s dark brown eyes locked on the driver. “I will unleash this bear on you,” she warned, her voice low. “So don’t test me.”

Letting out a breath, she turned and dropped into the seat beneath the window.

“You’re not giving up, are you?” Ricky asked her.

“No. I’m not giving up.” She took a deep breath. “But I do wish I was home dealing with the devil I know . . .”

Coop didn’t know how Toni dealt with this on a daily basis. The arguing. The crying. The yelling. The death threats. And those not fighting were instigating. For instance, the twins. Not even four yet, they insisted on tossing out inflammatory suggestions in any language they knew, which turned out to be a lot more languages than Coop had realized.

Cooper had always known his big sister had shielded him from a lot. As always, her concern had been keeping his focus on what he loved. His music. He clearly remembered when he was six, Toni yelling at their house cleaner because she was running the vacuum while he was practicing at the family piano. The housekeeper had never taken Toni very seriously, because all she ever did was follow their dad around and go to a regular school. When the housekeeper had ignored her, Toni had picked up the vacuum and thrown it against the wall. Then she’d screamed, “I said my brother is practicing!”

From that day on, Toni established her position as protector of the family. Their parents provided money, food, love, and support for their kids, but Toni handled the teachers, the schedules, the logistics, the arguments, the neurotic and oftentimes illegal behavior . . .

Cooper always knew it, but it didn’t hit him until he was forced to drag Zia and Zoe off Kyle, their tiny little fists pounding his face, their sharp little puppy teeth trying to chew his nose off. Who knew such adorable little girls could be so angry? So very angry.

As the girls redirected their rage at Cooper’s neck and chin, he looked to see if his father could help, but no. He couldn’t. He was holding Oriana back from throttling Troy.

The yelling and arguing was so bad that finally, Jackie stormed into the room.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded, hands on hips.

“You can’t tell?” Paul asked, Oriana swinging wildly in his arms.

“Well, where’s Toni?”

“She’s at the job interview.”

“She’s not back yet?”

“Do you think this would be going on if she was here? And can you help rather than bark about our daughter?”

“Butwhat is she doing? Having drinks with Ulrich? Enjoying a casual lunch with that other wolf she met earlier? Lounging? I mean, what exactly is my eldest daughter doing that’s more important than helping her siblings?”

Toni got on the pavement, planted her feet on either side of the door, and with a yelled, “Heave!” she pulled on one of Bert’s legs while the driver stood slightly above her and pulled on the other. Ricky was at the opposite door, pushing the black bear from behind.

But nothing worked. They couldn’t move the bear with his claws dug into the roof.

“I’m not going!” Bert screamed. “I’m not going!”

Toni released him and fell back against the pavement.

The driver stormed away. “This is ridiculous!”

“Calm down.” Toni tried to push herself up but her shoulder gave out. No problem, though. The wolf was there, grabbing her under the arms and lifting her up. “Thanks,” she muttered.

“So now what?”

She sighed. “Let me see what I can do.”

“Where are you going?” the driver demanded as she started to walk off.

“Just stay here with Bert. I’ll be back. And yes”—she went on before the mountain lion could complain—“I’m going to pay for your goddamn limo. Just let it go already!”

“Still don’t have it in writing!” he shot back after her, but Toni ignored him, walking into the Long Island airport that very few people knew anything about. It was a small, shifter-run airport with three airlines.

Two of the airlines handled exotic importing. Zebra, gazelle, cape buffalo . . . these all came in through LoupAir and Mercer Shipping. The only difference was that Mercer shipped frozen carcasses while LoupAir shipped live animals for hunting.

It was Madra Airlines that flew shifters anywhere in the world they wanted to go. Owned and operated by the enormous Madra Wild Dog Pack, Madra Airlines, a division of Madra Transportation, had been moving shifters between countries for more than a millennium. First in the boats they stole from the Vikings who raided their lands and, in turn, the wild dogs had killed and dined on, and now in, some of the most modern planes currently available.

The best thing about the Madra planes was that they were built for all shifters. From the tiny foxes who liked to steal—they were booked into seats with alarms that alerted flight attendants anytime they stood up; to the seven-foot polar bears that needed more leg and head room—they were put in remodeled planes that were originally built for military transport of trucks and Humvees; to the very demanding lion males—Madra personnel always made sure to seat them away from any cubs and had ample amounts of food on supply for their feeding needs.