“Faster than you can say, ‘Dee-Ann . . . what are you doin’ with that gun?’ ” They both laughed, Ric kissing the back of her neck. “What about the July Fourth weekend then?

I’m purposely avoiding the yearly family event since I usually spend the aftermath apologizing for something my father said or did. I’d much rather spend the time with you.”

“Can’t,” she said, rubbing his arm. “If I’m not working, I’ll be dealing with the kin. A few Pack events throughout the year usually keeps ’em off my back the rest of the time and Sissy made it clear she wanted me at this one.” She glanced at him. “But if it makes you feel better, I’d much rather spend that weekend with you, too.”

“That does make me feel better.” He kissed her cheek. “We’ll have to pick another weekend then. I want you to see the new house I bought out on the Island.”

“How much property do you have anyway?”

“Enough so that if I’m ever forced out of the Pack, I’ll have ample places to stay.”

“Your Pack do that a lot to its own?”

“The Pack as a whole . . . no. My father?” He shrugged, not really wanting to talk about him when he was having the time of his life with Dee. Although, he’d never felt safer talking about the man except with Lock.

“Don’t worry,” she teased. “If you ever need a place to stay, there’s this apartment you can share with a lovely family I know. If you don’t mind beady red eyes.” He glared down at her. “That’s not funny, Dee-Ann,” he said while she laughed. “Vermin is never funny.”

CHAPTER 14

“Someone just got laid.”

Dee froze in her tracks, her hand on the plain front door that led into the Group office. Slowly, she turned and faced Malone and Desiree.

“She appears freshly laid to me,” Desiree said, grinning. “It’s the walk.”

“The ‘I just got laid walk.’ ” Malone nodded. “Yep. Saw that, too.” Dee-Ann moved away from the door and over to the two females she was currently forced to work with. “Is there a reason y’all are here?” she asked.

“Avoidance,” Desiree observed. “Must be kind of serious.”

“So are we getting a name, Smith? Or is it just some poor loser wolf from whatever backwoods coughed you up?”

Dee was in Malone’s face, the two snarling at each other, but without fangs since they were on the street in the full view of God and everybody.

“Cut it out,” Desiree sighed. “We’ve got a line on a fight. And I don’t mean you two.” Stepping back, Dee gave one last bark at Malone before focusing on Desiree. “Where and when?” she asked, already looking forward to hurting some people who deserved it. Not that Malone didn’t deserve a good beating, but Dee couldn’t really get away with it at the moment, so beating someone else would have to do . . . fornow.

Ric was busy changing into his black sweats, black T-shirt, and black chef’s coat when his cousin Arden entered the employee locker room.

She smiled at the others getting changed for the dinner service and she walked up to Ric. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he came down a bit so she could whisper in his ear. “Did you know your father’s here?” she asked.

Ric briefly closed his eyes. “No. Did he ask for me?”

“No. Just went to the manager’s office and started going through the papers there. Do you want me to get Adelle?”

“Don’t.” She’d only make it worse in her attempt to protect Ric. “I’ll go see him.”

“Okay. Dell is with him.”

That made Ric snarl. Wendell. Ric’s brother. He liked to be called Dell because he hated his name—which meant that Ric called him Wendell at every given opportunity.

Ric finished changing, wrapped a black bandana around his hair since he felt the same way about chef hats as he felt about chef clogs, and headed to the general manager’s office.

His father sat at the small desk, scanning papers, his small round glasses perched on the end of his nose. At the four-drawer file cabinet stood his older brother, Wendell, searching through all the folders. What they were looking for, Ric could only guess.

“Dad,” Ric said to his father and to his brother, “Wendell.” His brother scowled. “It’s Dell.”

Ric closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “What can I do for you two?” His father glanced at him over his glasses. He was a singularly fussy wolf, with his receding hairline, pinched features, and too-small eyes. Blayne called those eyes beady and she was right.

Among the American Van Holtzes, there were two kinds of wolves: The fussy, smaller East Coast wolves who kept their territories safe by being extremely sneaky and devious with absolutely no regard for what the long-term effects of their actions might be; and the bigger, more direct, but much meaner West Coast wolves that kept their territories by tearing apart anything that tried to take what they believed belonged to the Pack.

Yet Ric represented neither side, taking after his mother who hailed from a small Pack located in the Colorado Rockies. He got what his father referred to as his “pretty girl” looks and “weak nature” from “that side of the bloodline.”

Ric, however, didn’t believe he had a weak nature. Having a soul didn’t make one weak and he felt his father knew this because he only pushed his son but so far. Then again, that could have a lot to do with his Uncle Van. Because Adelle had been right. Niles Van Holtz had always done his best to protect his young cousin from Alder. For every attempt his father made to break Ric down, Uncle Van was right there to build Ric right back up. It had meant a lot to him growing up and both men knew now that if push ever came to shove, Ric’s loyalty would always be with his Uncle Van. Always.