“Should we get a hotel tonight and wait before we meet with the bears?”

“They’re expecting us tonight, I think. Plus, I’m afraid what she’ll do if we try to stretch this out the tiniest bit.”

The males arrived at the row of glass doors where people came and went. Toni stood on the other side—screaming.

“Are you two coming or what?”

Ricky glanced at Barinov. “Maybe a good night’s sleep is what she needs.”

“Or some puppy Prozac.”

“Stop.”

The helicopter flew them to a small full-human city just an hour or two outside a little-known and never discussed shifter-only territory.

“I have a car waiting,” Barinov told them. He carried a small bag in his hand and led the way to a Range Rover that looked as if it could handle all sorts of terrain.

Ricky held the door open for Toni and she got inside, leaning back into the comfortable seats and resting her bag next to her.

“How are you holding up?” the wolf asked her.

Toni texted Kyle back, informing him that it was definitely illegal to put anything in anyone’s food that “might make them, ya know . . . kinda sick.”

Making someone “kinda sick” was not okay!

She reminded Kyle, once again, that if he ever went to jail for anything, no one in the family would pay to have him bonded out. No one.

Hitting SEND, she finally looked up at the wolf and asked, “What?”

“I said how are you holding up?”

“How do I look like I’m holding up?” she snapped, because it was such a fucking stupid question. “I’m exhausted. I’m stressed out. And I just want to get this stupid trip over with.”

“All right then.” He gestured out the front window. “Vic here tells me we’re almost at the hotel.”

“Hotel? Why are we going to the hotel first? I thought we were going straight to meet with the bears.”

“Nah. Not tonight. It’s way too late. A good night’s sleep and—”

“You’re not listening to me,” she told the wolf. “I want to see the bears. I want to see the bears tonight!”

Ricky stared into the backseat at the She-jackal he was beginning to believe was losing her dang mind. And whether she was or she wasn’t, for safety reasons, there was no way he could let Toni meet up with those bears tonight. It would have to be tomorrow after she had a shower, some sleep, and maybe some valium if he could get his hands on any.

“That’s not in your or the team’s best interest, Antonella.”

Toni dropped her phone in her lap so she could ball her hands into fists. “I want to see the bears now. Now! Do you hear me? Now!”

“Not going to happen, so you might as well just suck it up.”

“I hate you!”

“Well, I’m not liking you much right now either, darlin’, so that only seems fair.”

Frustrated, Toni tried to roll down her window by pushing on the button. Ricky didn’t know what was going on, but the window didn’t go down. That’s when she started punching the window with her fists.

“Hey,” Barinov said low. “Reed.”

“What?”

“You know what’s going on here, don’t you?”

“No,” Ricky quickly shot back. “That is not what’s going on here.”

“Are you kidding? What else could it be?”

Ricky shook his head. “It’s something else. Exhaustion or sudden onset of mental illness. That’s it.”

“You’re serious?”

“I’m very serious. I’m telling you, it’s not . . . that.”

Ricky glanced into the backseat to see Toni pawing at the window with her hands because she still couldn’t get it to open.

“I’m trapped,” she snarled at the air. “Trapped!”

“Nope,” Barinov muttered. “It couldn’t possibly be that.”

They reached a large hotel that straddled the border between full-human and shifter territory.

Toni stepped out of the vehicle and looked up at the building. “Here?” she asked. “We come halfway ’round the world and you bring us to a chain hotel? We might as well have met them on the Jersey Turnpike.”

Ricky looked at Barinov. “Could you get us checked in?”

“Sure.”

Once the hybrid had gone inside the hotel, Ricky faced her. “Look, darlin’, I’m tryin’ desperately not to get real cranky with you. But you are pushing my last redneck nerve.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means we’re in a foreign country and in a hostile part of said foreign country, at least where our kind is concerned. My whole goal is to get you home safe and sound. Your father made it clear that he would accept nothing less. And getting you home safely means that you don’t piss off bears. And the way you’re acting right now . . . you’re gonna piss them off.”

“Fine.”

Ricky frowned. “Fine?”

“Fine.”

Maybe she was being a little . . . terse. Toni was willing to admit that. She probably just needed some sleep. It had been an excruciatingly long trip and dealing with the texts from her siblings hadn’t helped.

Ricky nodded. “Then let’s go.”

They entered the hotel and Toni was pleasantly surprised to find that the interior had a wonderful look and feel to it. Like a hip, sixties apartment, but nothing felt dated or old. It actually felt quite modern and European. She loved it.