Funny thing was, the only ones who needed to be at the hospital were the McNellys. Several of their Pack were down, but two males had suffered the most. One with an arm the doctors didn’t think would ever work right again since it had been completely pulled from its socket and broken in sixteen places. And the other who’d been mauled.

And while the McNellys waited at the hospital to see if Donna McNelly’s boyfriend would even survive that mauling, Roxy O’Neill had found out what happened, gotten to New York in record time with her sisters and brothers in tow, and headed right over to confront Sharyn McNelly. The Shaws, Kuznetsovs, and Smiths showed up soon after.

Normally, Blayne would be trying to calm everyone down, but for once she could sit back and watch.

Why? Because of the Van Holtzes! Well…two of them anyway. Ric and his cousin Niles Van Holtz. At the moment, it was down to them and the bear orderlies that kept this whole thing from spiraling out of control. But Blayne was more worried about tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. She couldn’t help herself; it was in her nature to think about the “what ifs.” Like what if Donna McNelly just kept coming for Gwenie and her? What if McNelly never stopped? What if Blayne had to make her stop? And Blayne could make the She-wolf stop—she could make her stop for good.

“There has to be a way we can all resolve this,” Niles Van Holtz said in his low, dreamy voice. Blayne had never been one for older men but yowza! Was the entire Van Holtz Pack this good looking? It was possible if Niles and Ric were only cousins.

“Yeah, there’s a way,” Roxy said simply from her side of the waiting room. “The bitch dies. Right here, right now.”

“Bring it, ya Philly whore!” Sharyn snarled back.

“This isn’t helping,” Niles said over the lion roars of the Shaw brothers.

Munching on Doritos and sipping from her Diet Coke can that she’d purchased from the gift shop, Blayne watched the drama until Ric nudged her with his elbow. She offered him some Doritos and then a sip of her soda. As he handed the can back to her, Roxy held up McNelly’s wig, which she still had a good grip on, and began to shimmy in a circle. Blayne cringed, eternally grateful that Gwen wasn’t here for any of this. She was home safe with her homicidal bear…

wait. She glanced up, trying to figure out if that was a good thing, when Ric sighed and shook his head. She gave him a little smile and looked away just as Kristan rolled past them, still wearing her Babes uniform.

Blayne and Ric watched her roll over to Johnny and hand him his own soda and chips, then Blayne and Ric looked back at each other.

When they both smiled at the same time, Blayne knew things were about to get seriously out of control.

Gwen woke up before her alarm went off. That wasn’t unusual for her, though. Whatwas unusual was to find her mother on the other side of her bed, lifting the bedsheet so she could check out her bear’s naked ass!

“

Ma!” she roared and Roxy instantly dropped the sheet.

“Morning, baby-girl,” she said while trying to pretend she wasn’t doing what Gwen caught her doing.

Lock’s head lifted from the pillow, his voice urgent. “What? What’s wrong?”

Roxy grinned. “Morning, handsome.”

Lock looked over at Roxy. “Uh…morning.”

Roxy pressed her hand to her chest. “I’m Gwendolyn’s mother, Roxy O’Neill. But you can call me Roxy.”

“Morning, Roxy.”

“And you’re Lachlan MacRyrie. I know your uncles.”

“Ma!”

“I said I

know his uncles, baby-girl. I didn’t say I did his uncles.”

“Ma,” Gwen said on a breath “why are you here?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Gwen dropped back on the bed, her arm over her eyes. “Oh, please, Ma. Not this morning. Last night was—”

“I know what happened last night. And I need to talk to you. It’s important, baby-girl.” She smiled at Lock. “It was really nice meeting you.”

“You, too.”

Her mother walked out and Gwen grabbed one of Lock’s Tshirts off the floor and followed after her.

“What’s up?” Gwen asked as she went into Lock’s kitchen. She needed some coffee and she needed it now.

“That young man has a

fine ass, baby-girl.”

“Ma,” Gwen ground out between clenched teeth. “Why are you

here?”

“Well, about last night…”

Gwen snorted. “I guess Mitch the rat told you.”

“Don’t call him that, and he wasn’t the one who told me. I actually heard because—” She stopped speaking and Gwen turned to face her mother. Gwen could never remember a time when her mother couldn’t find the words to express herself. Which is a real nice way of saying she never shut the fuck up. Until today.

And there was only one reason Roxy O’Neill would suddenly be speechless.

“What did you do?”

Her mother chewed her lip before vaguely admitting, “I may have taken things up a notch.”

“You may have…” Then Gwen understood.

“Ma!”

“I know! I know! I’m so sorry, baby-girl! I just couldn’t believe that bitch was taking out our old grudge on my baby-girl!”

“What did you do?”

“Why does that matter?”

“What did you do?”