Blayne looked at herself in her bathroom mirror, her electric toothbrush “wurrring” away in her mouth. Was Bo Novikov a friend of hers? Seriously? She had to think on that a moment. She didn’t take in friends lightly. She may have a lot of them, but they had all proved themselves to be good, reliable human beings.

Was Bo Novikov a good, reliable human being? Well . . . he was reliable. Like the watch he wore, that man was extremely reliable. A good human being, though . . . ? Okay, first off, he wasn’t a bad human being. So that was something right there. But really, he had to be a good human being if he was spending an hour every morning with her. He hadn’t made a move on her, hadn’t acted inappropriately, and although she still did find him staring at her occasionally, he didn’t make her feel like running for the exits anymore.

In fact, if she were to be honest with herself—and at five thirty in the morning, she could be nothing but honest—she kind of liked when he stared at her.

Which in Blayne’s Big Book of Logic added up to Bo Novikov being a friend. She chuckled. Who knew that would happen?

Smiling, she went back to dutifully brushing her teeth.

She’d just spit out her toothpaste when her cell phone rang. She ran into the bedroom, tripping over a box she’d left out with old tax papers in it and slamming into a chair she’d moved the night before when she’d gone on a search for a magazine she wanted to read. Limping now, she went to her bed and ended up pulling off all the bedding until she found her cell phone. The ringing stopped but started again a few seconds later because her close friends knew she could never find her phone.

“Hello?” The phone rang in her ear and Blayne realized she hadn’t actually connected the call.

“Hello?” she said again once the call had been connected.

“Hi, Blayne? It’s Jess.”

“Hey, Jess. Whasup?”

“We have a little emergency and could really use your help.”

“I’ll be right there.” Blayne disconnected the call and dashed around the room trying to find clean clothes. She hadn’t asked what Jess’s problem was because she knew the wild dogs wouldn’t bother her unless it was something important. They were a very self-contained group and usually handled stuff themselves. Besides, it was probably a plumbing problem and she didn’t want to waste time. If she hurried, she’d be at their house, help them out, and still make it to the training on time with Novikov. Easy-peasy.

At least that’s what she thought until she stood in the Kuznetsov Pack’s frozen backyard.

“How long has she been doing that?”

“Since Dee brought her here about an hour ago. When she wouldn’t stop, we panicked.”

Blayne could see why. “She hasn’t stopped atall?”

“Not once.”

Blayne motioned the Kuznetsov Pack’s Top Five, as she liked to call them, back into the house. The Top Five included Jess, Sabina, May, Phil, and Danny. The first members of the Kuznetsov Pack and, as Blayne liked to joke, the power behind the throne.

“Explain to me again why Dee’s bringing new kids over to your house?”

“Dee says the pup needed some place to stay and would we mind.”

And of course, they didn’t. The Pack’s oldest pup was Kristan, a wolfdog. Because of her, the Kuznetsovs were much more sympathetic to the wolfdogs than most, something Blayne was quite grateful for.

“Poor thing’s been living on the streets,” May said. “Before that with full-humans in some foster home.”

“She needs mental hospital,” Sabina said, and based on everyone’s reaction, she’d been saying it all morning. “Or drugs.”

“No,” Blayne said. “No drugs, unless you really want to see her flip her shit.”

“So what do we do?”

Blayne grabbed Jess’s arm and looked at the humongous watch she always had on. This was probably the kind of watch Novikov wished Blayne had, but the damn thing looked like it weighed a ton. How is that comfortable?

“Okay. I have some time.”

“Time for what?”

Blayne shifted, shook off her clothes, and ran to the back door. Danny opened it for her and she shot down the stairs and into the backyard. She ran around the pup until she’d caught her attention. The younger dog stumbled to a stop and watched Blayne. That’s when Blayne jumped over her, landed on the opposite side, and went into a play bow. Confused, the pup watched her but didn’t move. At first. But after Blayne pounced back and forth in front of her a few times, the pup jumped forward, then back, then forward again. By the time they were chasing each other around the backyard, a good portion of the Pack had come out of the house to join them.

Bobby Ray Smith, or Smitty to his friends and the entire U.S. Navy, handed Dee a cup of fresh-brewed coffee while they continued to watch the wild dog Pack play with their newest resident. “See?” he asked between sips. “Told ya Blayne would know what to do.”

“Are you telling me all that girl needed was some playtime?”

“Looks that way.”

“She won’t shift to human. At least she hasn’t since I’ve had her.”

“Your daddy don’t like to shift to human, so I don’t know why you have that judgmental tone.”

Dee-Ann gave a shrug, and Smitty knew that would be the only answer he’d get on that particular topic.

“Sure you don’t mind me leaving her here?”