“She’s like my siblings. She’s an amazing artist, but as a human being she needs a little work. But I know how to handle her.”

“Handle her?”

The three females looked over just as the lion finally pried Livy off his head and threw her across the lobby. Livy hit the floor hard, rolled, and slammed into the wall. For anyone else being tossed around by an angry and terrified lion male, Toni would have been on the phone dialing nine-one-one. But this was Livy. She was . . . unique.

After Livy hit the wall, she rolled back and got to her feet. She spun, bared her fangs, and charged, ramming her entire small body into the lion and wrapping her arms and legs around him as she attacked his face with her fangs.

“Get her off me!” the lion screamed, no longer annoyingly smug and condescending, but terrified and in pain. “Get her off me!”

Realizing how stupid she’d been to suggest Livy for this job, Toni tried to repair the damage as best she could with Malone.

“Cella, I’m—”

“She’ll work,” the tigress said.

Toni blinked, shocked. “What?”

“Yeah. Hire her.” She glanced at her watch. “Smith, we better go if we’re gonna meet up with Crush and Dez.”

The pair stepped away from her, but Toni still couldn’t believe . . .

“Are you sure?” she asked Cella’s back.

“Yep. Something tells me that one won’t be running off crying like the last photographer we had.”

The “last photographer” being the guy Malone had beaten up herself, but whatever.

Kind of proud of making her first hire, Toni bellowed, “Livy!”

Livy pulled her sharp fangs out of the lion’s skull and stared at her.

Toni motioned with her hand. “Let’s go.”

Livy unwrapped herself from the lion and dropped to the ground. At only five-one, she was tiny for a shifter, but her size never stopped Livy from accepting a challenge. It had made for entertaining times at school.

Livy spit the lion’s blood out of her mouth and calmly walked around the still screaming cat. She went back into the training rink and came out a few seconds later with her worn backpack.

Once Livy was by her side, Toni gestured at the cat, who now had several people around him trying to help. “Was there a reason you did that?”

She shrugged. “He was rude,” she said flatly. “You know I hate rude.”

Toni didn’t bother trying to get Livy to not attack at the slightest provocation. She’d stopped lecturing her long ago. Her friend would never change, because Livy loved who she was and, if she were to be honest, Toni loved who Livy was, too.

Most importantly, Toni’s entire family adored Livy, although Livy never seemed to understandwhy.

“So what’s going on?” Livy asked after spitting out a bit more blood.

“Got a job for you.”

“Will I be whoring?”

“Not this time. I’m sorry.”

“You know how I love to whore,” Livy stated with that flat tone that freaked people out, because no one ever knew whether she was joking or not. It had caused some awkward times when the police were involved, but Toni could usually talk the cops out of actually arresting them.

“I know.” Toni tugged the sleeve of Livy’s light, black denim jacket. “Let’s go get you cleaned up, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Are you sure?” the She-tiger asked. And like two well-trained monkeys, Lou Crushek and Desiree MacDermot nodded in unison.

Dee took the piece of paper from Malone, studied the mug shot of Whitlan’s former cellmate. “I’ll handle it.”

“No,” all three said in unison.

“You know,” Dee told them. “If I were a sensitive gal, I might be insulted right now.”

“It’s nothing personal, Smith,” Malone told her. “And trust me when I say that you must be there. But . . .” She looked at Desiree.

“You’re our . . .” Desiree thought a moment, “. . . last resort kind of girl.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You’re the one we turn to when all bets are off.”

“I think we should move on this as soon as we can set it up,” Crushek told them. “If Whitlan finds out that we know, trust me when I say he’ll find a way to get to this guy.”

“Fuck,” Malone suddenly hissed. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”’

“I’ve gotta go to Russia. To meet with the coach for the Siberian team.”

Dee sighed. “Now?”

“Yeah. Now. Ric just told me to handle it.”

“Let’s not get in the way of what Cella needs to do for Ric,” Crushek, the hockey fanatic, chastised. “It’s team business.”

“And I can’t go,” Desiree announced.

“Why can’t you go?”

“Cap won’t let me. I’ve had bad experiences with clinically diagnosed sociopaths.”

“Bad experiences?”

Desiree scratched her neck. “I may have shot a couple. Totally in self-defense, of course.”

“But the Captain would prefer answers first,” Crushek kindly explained.

Not understanding the boundaries that the NYPD had to exist under, Dee re-focused her attention on Malone. “Don’t you have an entire staff to help you?”