Wolf With Benefits

  For instance, she already had figured out how she was going to end the argument, but Cherise suddenly charged past her on the stairs. “I’ll handle it,” the twenty-year-old cellist promised as she ran by. “I’ll handle it!”

  Although she probably wouldn’t handle it well. Cherise, the sweetest of their brood, was also the most sensitive next to Freddy. As it was, she was a borderline agoraphobic. Getting her out of the house was an unbelievable task. Funny thing was, those who booked her into concert halls all over the world thought her reluctance to travel was a negotiation tactic. It wasn’t, but her agoraphobia at the very least paid well.

  Still, if Cherise wanted to try managing their siblings, Toni wouldn’t stop her. The way to learn was to do. Toni knew getting everyone handled today with little to no drama would not be easy, but she was ready and alert.

  “Morning, sis,” Coop said as he fell into step beside her.

  “Hey, Coop. Did you get any sleep?”

  “A little. Jet lag is kicking my butt. But you know me. I do love a nap, so I’ll just sleep later.”

  “Great rooms, though, right?” Toni asked. “I love my bed.”

  Together they headed down the second-floor hallway to the last set of stairs.

  “Me, too. But I have to admit,” Coop continued, “I expected to find Livy asleep under my bed last night. I think I was a little disappointed when she wasn’t.”

  Toni stopped in the middle of the hallway and focused on her brother. “Why would Livy be under your bed?”

  It wasn’t a question Toni asked because she was concerned that her best friend, Olivia Kowalski, was found under her brother’s bed. Livy was nearly as close to Coop as she was to Toni. So Toni didn’t care if Livy was asleep under Coop’s bed or hers or Cherise’s. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. No. That wasn’t why Toni was asking the question.

  “Is that little bitch in Manhattan?” Toni demanded.

  “You know,” Coop said, turning to face her, “she’d probably be more likely to keep you up to date on her current locations if you didn’t call her ‘that little bitch.’ ”

  “I only call her that when she’s clearly avoiding me. I texted her last night and told her what was going on. She didn’t even call me back.”

  “Livy hates talking on the phone. You know she’s not good at it.”

  “Of course I know that. I know all of her quirks and foibles better than anyone else. But if she’s in Manhattan—”

  “She won’t tell you that if you’re just going to yell at her for not having an actual place to live while she’s here.”

  Toni stamped her foot. Three times. “It is not okay to just crash at someone’s house because they make the mistake of leaving the window cracked when they leave for a vacation. Who does that?”

  “Livy does that. Livy’s mother does that. Livy’s entire family does that. All of Livy’s kind does that. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, sis, it’s that her people are not like our people. So instead of ranting about it—”

  “Oh, forget it! I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Toni pushed past her brother and continued down the hallway. Coop, taller than Toni, quickly caught up.

  “Are you pissed at me now?” he asked.

  “I’m pissed at the world right now. I should be back in Washington, starting a boring office job while I worry about what temporarily abandoned home my best friend has recently placed her camera bag in. I should not be stuck in Manhattan hoping to beg a job off the cousin off my mother’s best friend’s mate.”

  “Come on now, you know Ulrich loves you.”

  “Shut up, Coop.”

  Her brother laughed and the sound of it made Toni smile despite the fact she didn’t really want to.

  “Speaking of which, did you see Mom and Dad yet?” she asked him.

  “Nope. They were sleeping by the time I went to bed.”

  “I haven’t seen Mom since before I took Freddy to Aunt Irene’s hotel room yesterday . . . which makes me nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “Don’t know. Just feels like she’s up to something. She wanted me out of the house for a reason last night. I mean, she’d normally take Freddy over to see Aunt Irene herself.”

  “You have a point.” Hearing the latest argument from their siblings, Coop’s head cocked to the side as they hit the top of those last stairs and started down. “Kyle and Oriana?”

  “Of course. But Cherise is going to handle it.”

  “She is?”

  “She needs to try,” Toni reminded him.

  “I wish her luck.”

  “Look, it could be worse—” Toni began as she and Coop reached the last step, but Toni’s words were cut off when she saw her mother. Dressed comfortably in loose jeans, a B-52s T-shirt that was older than Toni, and her favorite battered “rehearsal” tennis shoes, Jackie headed toward the front door. Normally this was nothing for Toni to notice or remotely worry about . . . normally. But now Toni understood why her mother had avoided her and Coop last night—because her mother wasn’t alone.

  “Mom?”

  Still walking, but not turning around, Jackie said, “I know what you’re thinking, Antonella.”

  “You have no idea what I’m thinking or you’d probably pop me in the mouth.”

  “Trust me. I have a plan.”

  Of course she had a plan. Jackie Jean-Louis always had a plan. She was a plotting little jackal who was always up to something as long as it benefited her career or her children. But unlike some musicians, who could be downright psychotic about their careers, Jackie was just sneaky. She never did anything to take someone else down. Jackie didn’t have to because she had full confidence in her skills as a musician. Ever since she had picked up her first violin at the age of three, Jackie knew that she was unbelievably talented and no one would ever be able to bump her out of the spot she’d earned as one of the world’s finest violinists. No one.

  But Jackie wanted to take that next step. She wanted to be the mentor of the next “world’s finest.” She’d had lots of students over the years, many of whom had gone on to wonderfully successful careers. But none that were quite in her league. They’d never be quite as successful as she. Quite as well-known. She wanted that student who would turn her into The Great Master.

  And that, Toni knew, explained the dog walking beside her mother. Not a shifter but an actual dog. The family hadn’t had a pet since the feral cat they’d found under their home that kept hissing at them. They’d give it food and, after a few years, it wandered away. It was the perfect pet for the Jean-Louis Parkers because they only paid attention to it when they felt like it. It didn’t need to be walked or taken to the vet or dealt with in any way except to toss it some food and gaze at it for a few minutes when one of the kids needed “inspiration.”

  But real dogs needed lots of things that no one in Toni’s family was capable of providing at the moment, including her and especially her mother.

  Yes. Her mother. Who opened the front door and told the dog, “Go take your walk, sweetie. When you’re done, come back and scratch on the door. I’ll let you in.”

  The adult dog, appearing to Toni’s eyes to be a rescue her mother had picked up somewhere, saw that open door as a bid for freedom. It bolted and Toni’s jackal ears immediately picked up the early-morning traffic barreling down the street.

  Running purely on instinct, Toni jumped off the last step and bolted out of the house, following that dog right into the street. Moving fast, she tackled the dog, wrapping her arms around its slim body, and made a wild leap for the opposite sidewalk.

  Toni had almost made it, but the truck speeding down the street still clipped her with its fender, sending Toni flipping over the hood of a parked car to land hard on her back in front of a stoop.

  When she finally got her breath back, Toni opened her eyes and saw the wolf she’d met yesterday staring down at her. He was holding a coffee mug. With an annoying amoun
t of calm, he sipped his drink and remarked, “Darlin’, at this point, I’m startin’ to think you’re sweet on me.”

  The She-jackal’s eyes narrowed dangerously but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a little “yip” sound. Ricky quickly rested his coffee cup on the wide stone handrail and rushed down the stairs to the prone female.

  “Darlin’, I’m sorry to waste time teasing ya. I’ll call an ambulance.”

  She shook her head no, but when she tried to take his hand, she cringed something awful and put her hand right back down.

  That’s when two jackals came running over from across the street. One was an older female. Her momma, Ricky would guess. They had the same eyes. And a male, close to the She-jackal’s age.

  “Toni!” the older female barked. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  There went those eyes dangerously narrowing again.

  “Mom,” the male warned, and that’s when Ricky realized this was Toni’s brother. He ignored the sense of relief he felt. “Not now.”

  “This isn’t my fault,” the older She-jackal argued. “It isn’t.”

  The male tried to take the dog that Toni still held with one arm, but the animal lay flat against her, its entire body shaking.

  “Poor thing.” The male sighed. “It’s terrified.”

  “Also not my fault.”

  The glass and metal security door behind Ricky opened, and several adult wild dogs rushed down the stairs and surrounded the jackal.

  “Are you all right, hon?”

  “Been better,” Toni squeaked out.

  “Not my fault,” the She-jackal pushed.

  “Grit your teeth,” Ricky told Toni as he slipped his arms under her. “I’ll take you back to your house.”

  “Oh,” the older She-jackal said, suddenly looking around. “That’s such a long trip . . . can’t we just bring her inside here?” She smiled sweetly at the wild dogs. “You guys don’t mind, do you?”

  The wild dogs might not have minded, but from the way the She-jackal’s two children gawked at her, Ricky felt certain they did mind. A lot.

  Toni knew her mother was sneaky, but holy hell, this was some hinky shit!

  Using her own daughter’s brush with death to ease her way into the wild dogs’ home was beneath even Jackie’s usual depths. Maybe even Kyle’s!

  The wolf easily carried her inside the wild dogs’ home and down the hallway until he reached an enormous kitchen.

  Why the wolf was here at all, Toni didn’t know. Maybe she didn’t want to know. All Toni did know was that her life was getting weird.

  The wolf placed Toni’s butt on the stainless steel kitchen island so that she was sitting up. “So what hurts the worst?” he asked.

  “Shoulder.”

  “That’s what I thought. Because it’s not really in its socket.”

  Toni sighed. “Great.”

  “The dog is doing well, though,” one of the wild dogs pointed out.

  “And that’s what’s important!” Jackie cheered, but when both her children gawked at her again, she quickly added, “You’re a hero! My daughter, the hero!”

  A blond female wild dog pushed her way closer through the other dogs until she stood in front of Toni.

  “Wolf is right,” she said in a thick Russian accent, “about this shoulder. But we can fix. Hold her, wolf.”

  “Now wait a—” Toni protested.

  The wolf scrambled up behind her, both legs around her hips, hanging well past her own long legs, and his arms around her waist, holding her tight.

  “Got her!” he announced

  The wild dog pulled her fist back. “I make this quick, jackal.”

  “Hey! I don’t want you—owwwwwwwwwwwwww! You Russian cow!”

  “See?” the Russian noted. “She’s better already. Who knew jackals were so tough?”

  Coop leaned in, her brother cringing in sympathy. “Are you okay?”

  “No!” Toni snarled.

  “Make her sling,” the Russian ordered the others. She looked at Toni. “You’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m impressed you don’t cry like sniveling cat.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to.”

  “All that matters is that you don’t. I loathe weakness. Like I loathe cats.” Then without another word, the wild dog walked out of the room.

  “I’m weirdly freaked out,” Coop muttered, “and turned on all at the same time.”

  Toni nodded. “I know.” Glancing down, Toni said, “Why are you still holding me?” she asked the wolf.

  “I’m giving you my invaluable support, and my immense charm.”

  “More like your immense bullshit.”

  “Now, now, darlin’,” he teased, annoying her more. “No need to get so nasty just because you’re confused by your feelings for me.”

  “I do not have feelings for you, other than pity for your mental illness.”

  The wolf laughed while Coop suddenly raised his brows at her, and Toni shook her head at her brother. Tragically, she recognized that expression. Recognized it all too well.

  “Don’t even—” Toni began.

  “I’m Cooper,” Coop announced to the wolf, grinning at him. “The younger brother. Brother. Not boyfriend.”

  Horrified, Toni snapped, “Cooper, stop it!”

  “How y’all doin’? I’m Ricky Lee Reed. So glad you’re her brother. I’d hate to have to fight you for her.”

  “No worries there,” Coop volunteered. “My big sis is very single and not even thirty yet.”

  “That is nice to hear.”

  “And you already seem to know my very single sister.”

  “I will kill you,” Toni warned. “I’m not afraid to.”

  “I’m glad to know she’s single,” the wolf said, “but she’s playing hard to get while stalking me all at the same time.”

  “I am not stalking you.”

  “I feel like a little ol’ gazelle calf without its momma.”

  Toni’s eyes crossed at that pathetic visual.

  “Are you interested?” her idiot brother asked. “Because as I said, she’s very single, but she only deserves the best. I won’t hand her off to just anybody.”

  “Hand me off . . . what is wrong with you?” Toni demanded of her sibling.

  “I’m trying to help.”

  “I don’t need help.”

  “I tried to chat her up,” the wolf explained, “but she used y’all’s other siblings to confuse me.”

  “Oh, the ‘are you my daddy’ move? Yeah. She’s been using that one for years.’

  “You both are aware that I’m sitting here, right? In front of you?”

  “She had a bad breakup,” Coop went on. “About a year ago. I was hoping she’d get over it sooner.”

  “I can help with that.”

  “That’s what I thought. I’ve had a few She-lion benefactors over the years, and they all say that wolves are great for that sort of thing. The casual hook-up, I mean.”

  Toni looked around the kitchen. “Am I dreaming? Tell me I’m dreaming this conversation.”

  “We’re real good for that until we find mates of our own,” the wolf explained.

  “See, that’s what I’m thinking. Because her ex . . . not worth all this angst. Our father, who is a really great guy, still calls that man the ‘pimple on the cock of humanity.’ ”

  “Fathers love me. I’ve got this winning smile.” And Toni didn’t have to turn around to know the wolf was showing that smile to her idiot brother. “Perfect Southern manners. I never cuss. I rarely get sloppy drunk and that’s only around my Pack if I do. And I treat my momma right at all times, and not just ’cause I’m afraid of her. Even though I kind of am.”

  “That’s perfect.”

  “Would you two stop it!” Toni, to her horror, started laughing, hating both males for making it happen. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

  “Not a boyfriend, darlin’. A hook-up.”

  “I don’t need that, eith
er from you or anyone else.”

  “But—”

  “Shut up, Cooper!”

  The males fell silent for a few moments until the wolf noted, “You do seem tense, though.”

  Toni’s brother, tall and lanky, stepped away from his sister. “You know what?”

  “Cooper,” the She-jackal practically hissed. “Don’t you dare.”

  “I should check on the kids. They’re probably worried.”

  “About what? I’m sure they’re blissfully unaware anything has happened.”

  “No, no. They could be very concerned. Yeah. I better check.”

  “I’ll go with you,” she said, and tried to slip out of his arms, but Ricky had a real good grip on her and no intention of letting her go. He was just too damn comfortable.

  “Absolutely not! You need that sling the wild dogs are getting you.”

  “A sling? We can make a sling at home.”

  “You’re right! I’ll go get you one!” Then the jackal took off, leaving his sister all alone.

  Yep. Ricky liked that boy.

  “This is a nightmare.”

  “Now, now. Don’t be hard on him. He only cares.”

  “By handing me off to a wolf he doesn’t even know?”

  “He probably has a good sense of things. Besides . . . my charm speaks volumes.”

  “Your charm makes me want to punch you in the nose.”

  That made Ricky chuckle. “I’m not trying to piss you off, darlin’. Just trying to get you to give me a chance.”

  “Why?” she had to ask. “I’m really not that interesting. I’m cute but not stunning. I’m not excessively tall. And sexually, I’m rather vanilla. So then what is it?”

  Ricky decided to be honest with her. “I like your hair.”

  She suddenly went tense. “You don’t have to be mean.”

  “I’m not. I like the curls. If we have sex, can I play with them?”

  “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

  “Just say yes and I’m in.”

  She shook her head. “Look, I really have to go. I have an interview in a few hours.”

  “You need a sling and someone needs to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get the fever.”