“Good.”

He stood tall, but kept his hands on Gwen’s jacket so that he pulled her up in the process. Tugging her jacket into place, he said, “Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving, and we can talk at the restaurant. Does that work for you?”

“Well—”

“Good.” Keeping hold of her jacket with one hand, he pulled her along behind him as he stepped off the sidewalk and into traffic.

Lock moved in front of a taxi and the driver hit his brakes, the vehicle’s grille stopping no more than an inch from him. Walking around to the passenger side, Lock opened the door and pushed Gwen inside.

“Fifty-first and Fifth,” he said.

Shaking, the terrified driver pulled back into traffic and Gwen wondered if going out to dinner with her mother and brother would have been that bad an idea after all.

“Okay, okay. Can I have everyone’s attention?” Blayne Thorpe smiled at the room full of people and Bobby Ray Smith, Smitty to nearly everyone who hadn’t grown up in Smithtown, Tennessee, or were related to him by blood or Pack, wondered yet again what he was doing here. “Great. I wanted to thank all of you for coming tonight on such short notice. As you know, we’re all involved in Project: Code Name Bear-Cat. And things seem to be moving along very nicely.”

The audience applauded and Smitty let out a bored breath, which got him a kick from a tiny little wild dog foot under the table.

Blayne pointed at an older bear couple and said, “The MacRyries said the reunion went better than expected and they got a new water heater at cost!” More applause and Smitty debated slamming his head into the table until he blacked out. “And although yesterday’s bout was a bit of a surprise for all involved, it worked out well! So thanks to everyone for all their help and involvement. That being said, we do seem to have two unexpected obstacles to our intended goal. Uh…the first is…uh…Danny, could you?”

Danny tapped on his laptop and an image of a long-haired, air-guitar-playing, eighteen-year-old Mitch Shaw came up on the big TV screen beside Blayne. “Sorry about the oldness of the pic. I don’t have anything more recent of Problem Number One. We’re working on what to do about him, but he’s not an easy one.

Especially when he’s a big, fat tattletale who calls his mother at the slightest provocation!” She let out a breath.

“However, I think we may have some assistance there. Right, Jess?”

“Right!” Smitty’s beautiful, if annoying, mate cheerily replied. Why she was involved in this weirdness, he had no idea. “The Insider. And the Insider is working on our behalf as we speak.”

“Excellent! Now on to our second problem. No pic for that one because, well, he’s sitting right over there.”

Smitty looked around, wondering who Blayne was talking about,and then quickly realized that she was talking about him.

“Me? How am I in the way of something I didn’t even know was going on?”

Jessie Ann slammed her hand down on the table. “You told Mitch what happened at the bout last night!”

“I didn’t know that was a secret.”

“Of course it was!”

“Then you should have made that clear when you told me.”

Jessie’s mouth dropped open and Smitty knew he was in for it, but then that other wolf spoke up.

Just ’cause he liked the man’s Aunt Adelle, didn’t mean he liked him none. Of course, Smitty didn’t know him either, but he still didn’t like him.

“Out of curiosity,” the wolf asked, “what did you say to Mitch Shaw?”

“What Jessie Ann told me. That his baby sister spent the whole night on the bear’s lap. Cuddlin’.”

The wolf laughed, but the wild dogs, the one wolfdog, and the pair of older bears gasped as if he’d called up Satan himself. Even worse, Jessie slapped at his arm. He hated when she did that. Those hands may be little, but they could still cause pain.

“What did I do now?”

“You are such a…why do I…Oh! Never mind!”

“Fine. Does that mean we can go?”

“You sit your ass back down, Bobby Ray Smith!”

Grumbling, he did just that.

Blayne walked over to him and smiled again, but he wasn’t fooled by that smile. Like a weak, two-dollar poodle collar worn by a pitbull that smile did nothing but lull a man into a false sense of security.

“Hi, Smitty.”

“Blayne.”

Still smiling, “You know it would really help us if you kept things about Gwen and Lock that you may hear from Jess to yourself. At least until Project: Code Name Bear-Cat is finalized.”

He had to say it. “That is the dumbest name I’ve ever heard.”

And “snap” went that collar.

Blayne slammed her hands against the table and leaned in. “Now listen up, you Navy-loving son of a bitch! If my friend wants that bear, she’s gonna get that bear. And neither hell nor you nor some big-haired, twenty-hour-sleeping king of the idiots is gonna stop me from making sure she gets that bear!”

Van Holtz took careful hold of Blayne’s shoulders and pulled her back. “Excellent, Blayne. Very effective.”

He gently pushed her back toward the front of the room and faced Smitty. He wasn’t an Alpha, was he?

But he was no one’s Omega, either. Smitty could dismiss him as a Beta, but that didn’t fit this one either. Naw, this wolf was…something else. And as laid-back, nonconfrontational, and fancy-talkin’ as he was, Smitty didn’t trust him for a damn second.