She shrugged. “I…uh…shaved parts of McNelly’s head.”

“Parts?”

“You know…so she looked like a monk.”

“Ma!”

What had she been thinking?

“Don’t be such a drama queen. It’ll grow back.”

“Oh, my God! What is wrong with you? Seriously? Is it a genetic defect that can be passed to me? To my children?”

“Baby-girl—”

“Don’t baby-girl me! You start this shit and you never think about the consequences. Do you know they grabbed one of the wild dog pups to get me away from the party? Do you even care you put a kid in danger?”

“Of course I—”

Gwen held her hands up. “I don’t want to hear it. I just want you to go.”

“You’re throwing me out?”

“I’m throwing you out. I need space right now. Space from

you.” She waved her mother out of Lock’s kitchen and toward his front door. “Go.”

“Well if you’re going to be this way—”

“I’m going to be this way. Now get

out!”

“Fine!” Roxy bellowed before she stormed out.

Gwen heard the front door close, and all she could think about was getting back into her warm bed with Lock and letting him soothe all her troubles away with his four-inch bear claws. But as she headed to the room, she heard the front doorbell.

“If she’s back…” Gwen went back to the front door and snatched it open. She blinked in surprise. “Oh.

Hi, Jess. Uh…”

Gwen stood in Lock’s doorway with a wild dog now hanging off her neck and she had no idea why.

Although she was grateful to see Blayne behind her.

“What is she doing?”

“Thanking you.”

“For?”

Jess answered before Blayne could. “For what you did for Kristan and Johnny.”

Oh, that. She’d completely forgotten about that, but she sensed it wouldn’t be a good idea to say that out loud.

“No problem. It was—” She let out a breath and focused back on Blayne. “Okay, she’s still hugging.”

“You’re part of our Pack now, Gwen,” Jess said fiercely. “You’re one of us.” Jess stepped away from her and she had tears in her eyes. “You ever need us, you ever need

anything. You or Lock…because he protected Johnny, too. My Johnny. My son. You two will always be one of us.”

“Thanks.”

Then she was being hugged again. Gwen stood there, waiting for the wild dog to release her. Blayne finally helped by gently taking Jess’s shoulders and pulling her away. “Why don’t you head on home and let metalk to Gwen? She’s not good with her raw emotions and she needs some time to experience the love you’re giving her.”

Gwen rolled her eyes, but Jess had her back to her and didn’t see.

“No problem.” Jess walked to the door, stopped right outside, and looked straight at Gwen. “I love you, Gwenie.”

Gwen blinked. “Okay.”

Blayne walked to the door and waved at Jess until the elevator doors closed. Once the wild dog was gone, Blayne stepped back into the apartment and closed the door. Then she was on her knees, laughing so hysterically that Gwen walked away, snarling over her shoulder, “I can’t believe you brought that shit here!”

Blayne rolled to her back, kicked her legs. That’s when Gwen went and made coffee. By the time she walked out with two mugs, a grizzly with a sheet around his waist was stumbling out of the bedroom.

She pointed. “Coffee. Kitchen.”

“Love you more and more.”

Blayne was standing now and she dug into her backpack, pulling out a bakery bag. “Honey buns! I brought them for Lock.”

“Smart move.”

Gwen put the mugs down on the coffee table and sat on the couch. “So why are you here? Because it’s not even nine yet, and unlike me, you’re not a morning person.”

“You’re a morning person?”

“Why are you here?”

“Okay, okay.” Blayne dropped on the couch. “As you can tell, there’s been much drama since you and your honey bun left last night.”

Gwen chuckled. “Honey bun.”

“The McNellys are up in arms, mostly about what Lock did to their two—” Gwen shook her head, cutting her off. She didn’t want that shit hanging over Lock’s head and, thankfully, Blayne understood her immediately. “Your mother also arrived.”

“She was just here.”

“Yeah. She got here last night, along with your uncles and aunts.”

Gwen put her coffee down on the table. “Oh, no.”

“They were at the hospital, along with the Smiths, Mitch and Brendon, and the Kuznetsov Pack.”

“Okay,” Gwen said, wanting to cut to it as quickly as possible. “How bad is this?”

“The Smiths are calling for war.”

Gwen held up a hand. “Wait. What?”

“The Smiths are calling for war, and Ric had to put in emergency calls to the Board—which, to be honest, I didn’t know we had a Board—who sent over his cousin Niles, who happened to be in town for some reason, don’t know why. And can I just say…hottie?”

“Ric?”

“Niles.”

“Mated.”