Laughing, Ricky stepped back and allowed the pair to walk through. He started to follow, but saw one of the females from his Pack. She was on the phone and clearly looking for someone. On the tips of her toes, trying to look over everyone’s head.

“Good Lord,” Ricky muttered, “she’s sent out scouts.”

He instinctively crouched, the She-jackal taking that moment to look back. She stopped, turned, and gazed down at him. “Really?” she asked.

“One day I’ll explain it to you. I’m sure you’d understand.”

“Somehow I doubt it, but whatever.”

The little boy shook his head. “I’m glad you’re not my daddy.”

“That’s very wise, Freddy,” the She-jackal said in agreement. “Let’s be glad he’s not your daddy.”

Ricky saw that his Packmate was getting closer.

“I’d make a great daddy for any child, but I can’t discuss it now.”

“Because you’re running away?”

“Wolves always know when to run, darlin’.” And that’s exactly what Ricky Lee did. Released the door, eased away from it, and took off toward his truck.

The hotel door opened and Toni smirked at the full-human who answered. She began to chastise, “That took you long en—”

“Freddy!” Giving a very rare smile, Irene Conridge Van Holtz leaned down and picked up Toni’s seven-year-old brother. “How is my favorite brilliant boy?”

“My ulcer’s acting up.”

“You don’t have an ulcer,” Toni reminded him as she stepped past her mother’s best friend and walked into the four-room suite Irene Conridge shared with her mate, Niles Van Holtz, Alpha of the Van Holtz Pack.

“Based on recent research, there’s a seventy-three-percent chance I will,” Freddy informed her.

“Only if you keep worrying about getting one.”

Irene carried Freddy into the living room, closing the door with her foot.

“Where’s Uncle Van?” Toni asked, using Niles’s nickname.

“At Ric’s restaurant showing off.”

“That man does love to cook.”

“Although I normally don’t believe that sort of thing can be passed down, I must say the Van Holtz bloodline seems to prove me wrong.”

“You’re going to miss him while he’s gone.”

Irene sat down on one of the couches with Freddy beside her. Showing a rare moment of affection, Irene put her arm over Freddy’s shoulder. Irene must be in a good mood. Because even though she’d known seven-year-old Freddy since hours after his conception, she wasn’t known for her loving warmth.

To be honest, it was something that used to worry Toni. That Freddy would end up equally as uptight as Irene. Not a surprising worry. The reason the pair was so close was because they both loved science, andthey were both prodigies. Irene had met their mother at a summer camp for gifted children. That was the same summer that her mother experienced her first shift. A sometimes harrowing event that could have exposed Jackie to the world if she’d been seen by the wrong people. Although most full-humans were considered “the wrong people,” Irene had turned out to be anything but. Instead, she’d been fascinated by the process of shifting and that there were others like Jackie. She’d kept her friend’s secret then and now, so it was no surprise Irene had found love with another shifter.

That fact was so very important to Toni. Because although to most of the world Irene Conridge Van Holtz seemed a cold, indifferent bitch—and most of the time she was—she had another side to her. The side that loved Niles Van Holtz. The rich and talented wolf had caught her heart and managed to hold on to it for more than two decades. Uncle Van loved Irene despite her flaws, and that showed Toni there was hope for her little Freddy.

If he had friends and love, he’d be okay. She just had to make sure to keep him out of trouble now. Not easy. The more brilliant Freddy turned out to be, the more issues seemed to arise that concerned her. It didn’t concern anyone else in the family. “He’s only seven!” they’d say. Or “He’s brilliant! Of course he’s being a little weird!” Toni’s concerns were often dismissed as those of an overprotective jackal sibling, but she knew better.

So when one of the bedroom doors opened and her brother’s little face lit up, Toni felt good.

“Miki!” he crowed, then charged off the couch, across the room, and right into the open arms of Miki Kendrick. Onetime mentee of Irene, brilliant scientist, another full-human mated to a wolf, mother to a beautiful little girl pup, and a still-off-the-grid secret hacker stalked by scary government types.

“There’s my handsome boy!” Miki hugged Freddy tight, giving him a smacking kiss on his cheek that had him giggling. “Did you have fun in today’s master class with us?”

“Yes. Although I realized you dumbed it down for the laymen.”

“We had to. Average nuclear scientists can’t always grasp what we’re talking about.”

“I liked when Aunt Irene made that one man cry.”

Toni quickly looked at her aunt, who stared blankly back at her.

“What?” Irene asked. “He started it.”

“There was mucus coming from his nose.” Freddy giggled.

“I thought I told you not to be a bad influence on my brother,” Toni reminded her aunt.

“I said I would not mock people in front of Freddy for merely being idiots. For instance, I didn’t say a word about the fact that the man wore black pants, black shoes, and white sweat socks. But I refused to simply ignore his opinion on the elements of—”