The Mane Squeeze (8 page)

“But we are checking up on him.”

“Yes. But we don’t need to say that out loud, now do we?”

“No, ma’am. We don’t.”

“Good. And I appreciate this.”

“No problem. It’ll get me out of the house for a few hours.”

“Sounds like you’ve been working too hard again.”

“Eh.”

“If you went back to school and got your master’s, you could be doing something you actually enjoy doing.”

Lock frowned. “Which is…what exactly?”

“Teaching at university level.”

Lock’s eyes crossed. “Yeah. And I get along so well with kids, too.”

“You’d make a great professor. I don’t know why you insist on sticking with this ridiculous course.”

“Because it pays well.”

“First the Marines, now computers. All that intelligence going to waste.”

He must still be half-asleep, because he could usually steer his mother off this deadly topic long before she ever got there. Besides, he didn’t need any reminders of his parents’ disappointment with where his life was headed. And he didn’t look forward to the day they found out that creating software was only so he could earn money, retire, and finally do what he
really
wanted to do.

“Are you afraid to ask us for help? Is that it?”

“Mom.”

“I don’t know why you think we wouldn’t help you if you needed it.”

It was too early in the morning for this conversation. He hadn’t had his coffee or his honey bun yet. “Mom, can we talk about this later? Or do you want me getting to the house closer to four?”

“No, no. Lunch would be better. Who knows what damage that man will do by four? We’ll talk more later.”

“Great.” They both disconnected without saying good-bye—not because they were angry, but because his mother considered it a waste of words—and Lock got ready to face the day…and his dad.

Sissy and Ronnie headed down the hallway back to the suite Sissy shared with Mitch and, apparently now, his sister. Thankfully, there were four bedrooms in the suite, and like the cat she was, Gwen stayed mostly to herself, so Sissy doubted it would be too bad.

As they paused outside the suite door, Ronnie and Sissy stared at each other a long moment before Sissy unlocked the door with her keycard and pushed it open. She paused briefly in the doorway, shocked at what she was seeing, before she marched right across that room and got between Mitch and Gwen.

Not an easy task with Gwen standing up on the table so she could tower over her brother while she screamed in his face and Mitch screamed back. Plus there was finger-pointing going on, Gwen’s looking much more lethal because they had those excessively long and painted nails. Sissy had never seen the siblings act like this toward each other before. She hadn’t known it was possible.

“
Y’all stop this right now!
” she screamed over their yelling.

“Stay out of this, Sissy!”

“Yeah, ho-billy, stay out of it!”

“
Hey!
” Mitch bellowed. “Watch how you talk to her!”

“Fine! Then I’ll tell
you
to kiss my motherfucking—”

“Hey!” Sissy tried to cut in, but it was too late. It had turned into an embarrassing spectacle of a slap-fight. Horrified that one of her Pack could see this display from Sissy’s mate, Sissy again got between the two, shoving Mitch back. “C
ut it out!”

Panting rapidly, the siblings glared at each other over Sissy’s head.

“Is this any way for a brother and sister to act toward each other?” she demanded.

Mitch’s brow went up as he looked down at Sissy. “I can’t believe that
you’re
throwing that particular argument at my feet. Or do I need to get out the football helmet you keep mounted on our bedroom wall as a reminder?”

“Let me rephrase. Is this any way for a brother and sister who
like each other
to act? Now I want y’all to stop this foolishness right now before someone—”
most likely me
“—gets hurt.”

“Fine.” Gwen said first. “I’ve gotta get to work anyway.”

For some reason that made Mitch snarl, but Sissy had no idea why. “That’s fine, Gwen,” she said while glaring at her mate. “Y’all can talk about this later. Right, Mitchell?”

“No! It’s not—”

“Mitchell. Shaw.”

The cat flinched. “Fine. It’ll wait.”

“Good. Thank you.” Sissy stepped away from them and took a breath. Lord, this mediator thing was a hell of a lot of work and she was glad she didn’t have to do it too often. As Alpha Female it was all about keeping
her
calm and appeased. Much easier.

“Hey, Sissy,” Ronnie said as she walked closer. “Why don’t I leave y’all—”

It happened so fast that if Sissy still hadn’t been looking in the feline’s direction she never would have seen it. But as soon as Gwen heard Ronnie’s voice, her entire body went airborne like a suddenly uncoiled spring, her claws unleashing on both her hands and bare feet, as she flipped off the table and away from Ronnie. She caught hold of the drapes and, to Sissy’s horror, Gwen’s head snapped around about 180 degrees so that her nose aligned with her spine.

Then she hissed at Ronnie like a terrified house cat.

She kept hissing, too, until Mitch finally walked over, grabbed Gwen by the waist, and pulled her free of the drapes. It wasn’t easy and she shredded up the drapes something awful, but he finally managed it and took her to one of the bedrooms. He tossed her inside and closed the door.

With her hand to her own throat, Sissy asked, “That thing she does with her neck—”

“She’s a hybrid,” Mitch snapped. “We don’t ask those questions.” He turned to Ronnie. “Did anything happen between you and my sister while we were gone?”

Ronnie glanced between Mitch and Sissy, her eyes wide. She shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

The smile Blayne had on her face faded as Gwen stormed into their tiny, one-room office. And she cringed when Gwen’s backpack hit the floor and then Gwen dropped into her office chair as if it had physically harmed her.

Blayne placed the printed job sheet back on her desk. “What’s wrong?”

It took Gwen a minute to answer as she seethed, but Blayne could only cringe when she did. “Mitch is home.”

“I thought he wasn’t coming back until Christmas.”

“That’s what I thought,” Gwen spat out between visibly clenched teeth. “But apparently, their plans changed. And now he’s home.”

“What did he say?”

Gwen’s expression said it all, and Blayne could only shake her head. “We both knew he wouldn’t take this well. We both knew he was going to be an asshole. That’s what Mitch does when it comes to his
baby
sister. But this doesn’t change anything, Gwenie. You’re here, contracts are signed, there’s nothing he can do.”

But instead of Gwen agreeing with her, she only sat up and said, “I need that job information for today.”

Blayne covered the job order with her hand. “Forget it. You can do it tomorrow or something.”

“No. I’ll do it today.”

“It’s in Jersey.”

“I don’t care.”

“Sweetie, wait until tomorrow. When you’re in a better mood and don’t look so pissed off and you’re maybe wearing a little bit of makeup—”

“Just give me the goddamn job!”

Blayne held the job order out and Gwen snatched it out of her hand. “I’ll see you later,” she said before she picked up her backpack and stormed out of the office.

Waiting until she knew Gwen was definitely gone, Blayne picked up the phone and dialed the in-building number. She waited until she got an answer. “Hey. It’s me. We have a problem.” A six-four, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound, big-haired
problem
.

“So what else haven’t you told me?” Mitch snapped at his brother as they walked down a quiet side street about four blocks from the hotel.

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me. You didn’t tell me Gwenie had moved here. So what else have you been hiding from me?”

“Hiding?”

Mitch stopped and faced his brother. “All right, bruh. You better…”

The brothers blinked at each other and then, slowly, they turned their heads to look down the street. There were seven wild dogs standing on the corner, facing them. Mitch recognized them. He’d had enough karaoke nights with them. They were all from Jess’s Pack.

The brothers looked back at each other and then down the opposite end of the street—where there were more wild dogs from Jess’s Pack.

But before either brother could say anything about it, Jess Ward was there, circling around them and glaring.

“What are they doing?” Bren asked out of the corner of his mouth.

“Trying to scare us,” Mitch replied.

The brothers looked at each other again, and this time they laughed. They laughed and laughed until…

“Long time no see, Mitch.”

“Aaaaaah!” both brothers screamed before Mitch spun around and glared at the pretty little wolfdog smiling up at him. And to say he didn’t trust that smile was an understatement. He and Blayne had always had a strange relationship. She was like his second baby sister. He’d protected her, bailed her out of jail, and loved to make her laugh just like with Gwenie. But he also knew that Blayne was the kind of woman who, if he were writing a horror novel, would always be the one shoving Mitch down the stairs, cutting the brake line to his car, making it look like he’d killed one of his girlfriends, while in the story none of the other characters would believe it was her because she looked so damn innocent, but Mitch would know. And although he knew Blayne would probably never do those things, he also knew, in that deep-in-his-bones way he had that he had to watch Blayne Thorpe closer than he watched those enemies who had actively tried to kill him.

“Blayne,” he said, watching her close—like always.

She nodded at his brother. “Hi, Bren.”

“Hi, Blayne. You startled us.”

“What are you doing here?” Mitch asked her, the hair on the back of his neck rising up.

“Came to see what the fuck you’re up to.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means my best friend was upset and
you
upset her.”

“I wouldn’t have upset her if she were home, in Philly.
Where she belongs
.”

“She belongs right where she is, and who are you to say different?”

“I’m her brother.”

“Barely.”

Mitch gasped. “Blaynie!”

“Oh, don’t give me that Blaynie-shit, O’Neill! You’re going to back off my Gwenie and you’re going to do it right now!”

“Or what?” He stepped into her, his anger making him ignore what eleven years of being around a wolfdog had taught him. “What are you going to do?”

Blayne moved in closer until they were nose to neck. “Gwen is my best friend and I’m going to do what I can to ensure her happiness.”

“And Gwen is my baby sister and I’m going to do what I can to ensure her
safety
. Guess who wins?”

“The one not afraid to set you
on fire?
”

“Okay, okay.” Bren stepped between them. “Everybody just calm down.”

Blayne looked around Bren. “Don’t fuck with me on this, Mitch.”

“Don’t get between me and my sister, Blayne. She’s going back to her Pride.”

“Like hell she is.”

“Both of you stop it,” Bren said again. “You both want the best for Gwen, isn’t that all that matters?”

“Oh, shut up!” Mitch and Blayne yelled together.

Bren stepped back. “Fuck you both then.”

“Look, Unstable Girl,” Mitch said while poking Blayne in the forehead, “you know how far I’ll go to protect my baby sister. Don’t push me.”

“And,” she replied calmly, “I’ll tell you like I told Frankie Caramelli in the tenth grade after he inappropriately touched me in gym class, and while I was bricking him up in the church wall after I bound and gagged him…don’t mess with me.”

Then she punched him in the chest and walked off, the wild dogs disappearing with her.

Rubbing his chest where she’d hit him, Mitch glowered blindly across the street. “She’s up to something. She’s trying to keep Gwen here for some reason.”

“Maybe because they’re best friends and she’d rather Gwen be here than in Philly?”

“Oh, please. Blayne Thorpe has never been that linear. Trust me, it’s not that simple.”

“Uh…” Bren said, “maybe we should let this go anyway.”

Shocked at his brother, Mitch demanded, “Why would we do that?”

“Lots of reasons, but mostly because I don’t want to be bricked up in a wall like Frankie Caramelli.”