Sara, confused by the suggestion, frowned at Angie. “What? Why?”

“Because that’s what girlfriends do.”

“Normal girlfriends. I can shift into a completely different species. And she’s…,” she glanced at Miki, “She’s crazy.”

“I am not. I took the test. I thought we just had this discussion.”

***

“I know, momma. I know.” Nik covered the mouthpiece of the phone and motioned to Ban. “Call me,” he whispered fiercely.

Ban, laughing, leaned back. “Nik. I need you.”

With a grateful nod, he returned to his mother’s rant about how she wanted all “dogs” put down for their insolence.

“Momma, I gotta go. Ban needs me.”

“But you’re okay, right?”

“Momma, I’m fine. Really. I’ll call ya later.”

“All right, darlin’. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Nik clicked off his phone.

“Love you, momma,” his brothers sang to him.

Growling, Nik chucked one of the pillows at them. His brothers, after a moment of staring at him, threw pillows back. They’d been hoarding, waiting for this moment. Nik slammed pillows back at them as fast as he could. They took cover behind seats and cried “incoming.”

They kept it up a good five minutes before the captain came out of the cockpit and stared at them.

“I thought we had this discussion, Mr. Vorislav.”

Nik sighed, “Yes, we did.”

“No playing when the plane is in the air.”

“Yeah, but…,” Ban began, but the captain cut him off with one look.

“No playing when the plane is in the air. Do you understand me?”

The men nodded.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

“Good.”

The captain returned to his cockpit.

“That is the last time we hire Marines for that position.”

“No shit. He’s downright surly that one.”

Nik sat back in his seat as his brothers lambasted another man’s good sense.

Unlike the captain, though, Nik knew exactly what his brothers were doing. Trying to get his mind off Angie. At least for the moment. They’d never say it, but they both felt guilty. By taking Angie they brought the wrath of the Magnus Pack’s crazy Alpha bitch down on his head.

She could have killed him. Or, at least tried. But this revenge was much more eloquent. And proof to the cats that they trifled with her at their own risk. If it hadn’t been his butt waking up in the zoo, he would have thought the whole thing pretty damn funny. His brothers definitely did, once they knew he was basically okay. Apparently someone called Ban and told him exactly where to find Nik.

Ban swore it wasn’t Angie. He said he’d know that sexy voice anywhere. So it must have been one of her friends. They’d made their point, so the rest wasgravy.

Of course, none of that mattered. Nothing mattered until he knew the truth about Angie and her involvement in all this.

And definitely not until he fucked her again.

***

“Here. Try this.” Angie took the lip brush and put a dark red lip gloss on Miki’s bottom lip. She leaned back. “Nope. That’s not working. It’s too dark.”

Angie wiped the lip gloss off Miki with a tissue. She needed to do something to distract herself from her current situation. Sara still wasn’t telling her where she’d put Nik, Derek still hadn’t phoned her back, and Nik’s family still hadn’t contacted her. She could imagine how angry his mother would be. And she couldn’t quite get One-Eyed Grandma out of her head either. She’d have to call one of her great aunts back in Brazil. See if she could do a protection spell for the entire Pack.

“Wow.”

Angie stood and went to her makeup case. “What’s wrong?”

Miki looked up from the laptop she’d been studying for the past hour. “Having a baby is frikin’ expensive.”

Angie glanced at her. Talk about coming to the party late. “Yeah. They’re expensive.”

Miki let out a deep sigh and went back to her computer. But before Angie could ask her what her problem was, Conall muttering “hey” to one of the other wolves outside the door spurred Miki to sudden and swift action. She jumped up and began pulling her skirt off.

“What in hell are you doing?”

“I love this skirt.”

“What?”

Conall walked in, looked at Miki, one eyebrow quirking up.

“Don’t you dare, Viking! I love this skirt.”

He sauntered toward her, “You couldn’t love it that much. Remember the rules?”

“Stay!” And he did.

Wow, Nik was right. That does work on dogs.

Conall smiled and Angie watched her best friend melt.

“Come on, Miki-baby. We’re going to pick up dinner. I think you need a break from this house.”

“Cool.” Miki charged off the bed, throwing her entire body at Conall.

Christ, the man is a two-hundred-year-old oak. Because he didn’t move a bit when she slammed into him. He grabbed her around the waist, her ankles locking at the base of his spine.

“Wanna come, Angie?”

“No, thanks. But bring me back something, would ya?”

“Sure.”

She followed her friends out into the hall, then returned to her own bedroom. She closed her door, and headed to the bathroom for a shower. As she washed the day off, she wondered if Nik had made it home yet. She wondered if she’d ever hear from him again. Would she hear from any of the Vorislavs? She didn’t realize until now how much the whole family had come to mean to her. But especially Nik. He’d come to mean more to her than she could possibly realize…until he was gone.