“Are you a hybrid?” a very large She-liger asked, standing behind Livy.

“No.”

Gwen stood in front of Livy, looked her over. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You trying out tonight?”

“To be on your derby team?” Livy smirked. “You don’t want that.”

“Is it because you’re a hybrid?” one of the other girls asked. “Because we have lots of those on this team.”

“I’m not a hybrid. And you don’t want me on your team.”

Gwen shrugged. “We’re always looking for potential jammers.”

“She’s not a jammer, O’Neill.” The She-liger shook her head. “She’s a blocker.”

“Her?” Gwen sized Livy up again. “She’s smaller than me.”

“But she’s mighty.” The liger handed Livy a helmet and gestured to a row of quad skates. “Let’s just find out how mighty she is.”

They had food delivered to their room and ate it while lying in bed wearing nothing more than a sheet.

It was wonderfully decadent.

“You seem much better,” Ricky observed before licking the cream sauce from his chicken off his thumb.

Toni shrugged and speared another roasted potato onto her fork. “I finally have a handle on what’s going on, my siblings have been texting me considerably less, and Bo texted that he’s about to finalize a schedule.”

Ricky blinked. “The man hasn’t finalized a schedule yet?”

“The man has moved into our house. With Blayne. My father is completely freaked out. But Bo’s getting the job done. And he’s getting it done without me.”

“Is that the only reason you’re feeling better?”

“Yes.”

Ricky leaned in closer. “You sure?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

That’s when the wolf moved, knocking their plates off the bed and tackling Toni back.

“The maids are going to hate us!” Toni complained through giggles as she weakly struggled against him.

“We’ll tip them.”

“That’s not the point! Ricky!”

“Would you stop squealing and let me work on this delicious neck.”

“No! I will not stop squealing. And I wasn’t done eating, either.”

“There’s more food on the table. I got us enough to last the whole night.”

“Not if you keep tossing it on the floor!”

Ricky, pinning her to the bed with his body, gazed into her face. “Are you going to keep complaining or are you going to kiss me?”

“Actually, what I’m going to do is thank you.”

“Well, yes, I am good in bed.”

“Not for that, you cretin.” She laughed. “For taking such good care of me while we’ve been here and for getting me torelax. I know I can be kind of uptight sometimes.”

“When did you have time to be uptight? Every time I saw you, you were busy taking care of a bunch of cranky prodigies. So I would not label you as uptight.”

“Everyone else does.”

“That’s ’cause they don’t understand you.”

“But you do.”

“I find you fascinating.” He raked his gaze down her body, his hand pulling the sheet away from her. “And beautiful.” He tossed the sheet down by her feet and kissed her cheek. “And sexy.” Kissed her jaw. “And smart.” Kissed her throat.

“Please don’t say sassy.” She hated that term to describe women. It was like they were talking about a housecat that brought dead birds home for the family.

“I’d only say that to you if I wanted you not to have sex with me.”

Toni put her arms around Ricky’s neck, grinning widely into his handsome face. “Okay. You do know me well.”

“Told ya.”

Gwen O’Neill reached over and grabbed Blayne, yanking her close so that she didn’t get hit with their leopard teammate who’d just been tossed off the track like so much trash.

“Cherry was right,” Gwen admitted.

“She’s always right.”

“I thought the little bitch was just full of bullshit. You know, all talk. But she is as mean as a snake.”

“I know.”

“She’ll be great.”

Blayne frowned.

“What, Blayne?”

“Don’t you think she’s a little cruel?”

“Cruel? Babe, the Marquis de Sade was cruel. This chick is a class-A cunt. I think she’d cut her own mother if the woman got in her way.”

“Then why—”

“Because I like to win.”

Blayne sighed. “God, you and Bo.”

“I still don’t know what you see in that man, but I do admire his focus.”

A big arm slipped around Gwen’s waist and a nose nuzzled the back of her neck.

Smiling, she turned and leaped into the arms of her mate and fiancé.

Lock MacRyrie hugged Gwen and kissed her. She knew he’d come right from his workshop because she could smell the different types of wood he’d worked with that day. Lock had been able to work full-time on his woodworking business for about a year. It had been a scary transition for him. He liked the security of his software business, but he hated the work. Now he did what he loved and he was like a different bear. Gwen loved seeing him happy, although his desire to up the budget on their wedding was setting her teeth on edge. She knew what was motivating him, too. Not only the extra money he was bringing in from his business, but his uncles, who were goading him into making “the biggest MacRyrie wedding ever!” Something she’d been trying to avoid. Desperately.