Shelly Laurenston: Wolf with Benefits

Even worse for Toni, because Troy was an important prodigy, he was barely given a slap on the wrist. Not even a recommendation to go into therapy, probably because at the time, he’d been working on some important equation that his school wanted him to solve so they could brag about it in the media, and they didn’t want therapy appointments getting in the way of his busy schedule. So making sure he understood beating someone out of frustration was not a good option was down to Toni. And that responsibility was something she took very seriously when it came to her siblings. Someone had to. God knew, if she didn’t take it seriously, Kyle would wander around the streets asking random strangers for naked sketch time.

“I just don’t see the problem, Toni. So what if I asked Novikov—”

“Shut up, Kyle.”

“Yes, but—”

“Shut. It.”

“This is about my art!” Kyle raged. “Don’t you understand—”

Toni, not wanting to hear this particular speech again—Kyle had lots of speeches for such a young boy—reached for the back of Kyle’s neck, but he scrambled over Oriana and into the seat on the other side of her.

“I’ll let it go,” he quickly promised. “I’ll let it go.”

Releasing a breath, Toni focused on the bobcat receptionist. “Could you let Mr. Van Holtz know the Jean-Louis Parkers are here?”

“Do you have an appointment?” the cat asked, not even looking away from his computer to give her eye contact.

“Yes. Remember? I was just here twenty minutes ago? Having the same conversation with you?”

The bobcat looked at her, shrugged. “And?”

Biting back an annoyed yip, Toni snapped, “As I said, we have an appointment.”

“And your name?”

This was why she hated the smaller cats. Lions and tigers could be annoying but nothing like the little ones. “Antonella Jean-Louis Parker.”

“Don’t you have anything shorter?”

“Just my fist,” she shot back. That’s when Oriana lowered her cell phone and said, “Dude, just get Ulrich before my sister rips your face off.”

The bobcat sighed and picked up the phone to call the wolf they’d come to see.

Oriana re-focused on her cell phone but said to Toni, “That wolf was cute.”

Toni blinked, confused. “What wolf? Ulrich?”

Rolling her eyes, Oriana replied, “No. The one you were talking to outside the skating rink. With the baseball cap.”

“Oh. Him. Yeah. He was cute.” But just a wolf. It wasn’t like wolves were something special or unusual. Their mother was best friends with fellow former-prodigy Irene Conridge Van Holtz. A brilliant scientist and full-human, Aunt Irene was mated to Niles Van Holtz. Alpha Male of the Van Holtz Pack. And because the Jean-Louis Parkers were as close to family as Irene had, that meant that they spent a lot of time around the wolves. A lot of time. Not that Toni minded. Uncle Van and his Pack were fun and most of the direct bloodline Van Holtzes were amazing chefs, which meant the Jean-Louis Parkers always ate well. But bringing more wolves into her existence was not something Toni felt was necessary at this stage in her life.

“Tall,” Oriana continued. “Nice shoulders.”

He’d been unnaturally wide in Toni’s estimation. Shoulders that wide with hips that narrow just didn’t seem right.

“Nice smile.”

All those teeth. Bright white teeth that he kept showing when he constantly smiled at her. Personally, she found his smile oddly threatening. As if every person he met was a potential meal.

Still, although Toni might not be susceptible to most males, she wasn’t blind, either. He was a handsome wolf, but not like the Van Holtz wolves, who always reminded her of European cover models. He was too big. Too wide. Too . . . American. All those muscles and dark brown hair that just reached his massive shoulders. Amber eyes and a flat, wide nose that only barely helped to make the constant smirk on his face a little less annoying.

“Plus,” Oriana went on, “he seemed to not mind your average looks and that uncontrollable mane of yours.”

Slowly Toni looked at her sister. “Thanks, Oriana.”

Her sister smiled without looking up from her phone. “You’re welcome.”

Toni seriously considered ripping that phone out of Oriana’s hand since she had yet to learn the meaning of sarcasm, but Ric Van Holtz walked into the lobby before she could bother.

“Hey, guys. Sorry I couldn’t really meet with you earlier. Last-minute meeting with investors.”

“No problem,” Toni assured him, handing Zia over to him as soon as he stretched out his arms. Ric was great with kids, no matter the breed or species, and he adored the Jean-Louis Parker pups.

“How did it go at the rink?” Ric asked, gently brushing his free hand over Zia’s hair as her head rested on his shoulder.

“Fine.”

“Except for that fight,” Oriana muttered.

Ric’s nose flared. It was a rather narrow nose, but it could flare quite dramatically when he was angry enough. “Did Novikov hurt you? Should I have him killed?”

“That seems extreme.” Toni cut a warning glare at her sister, but with the brat’s attention focused on her phone, there was no guarantee that she’d seen anything. “Mr. Novikov was just fine.”

“He wasn’t fighting with us,” Kyle clarified.

“Oh.” Ric quickly calmed down. “That was probably Reece Reed he was fighting then, since it’s the middle of the day and Reece seems to be the only one who continues to fight that idiot.”

“Novikov signed my shirt, just like you said he would.” Kyle held up the shirt for Ric to see.

“Good. I’m glad he did as I told him to.”

“Yeah,” Oriana said, “it went great until Kyle here asked to see him naked.”

Ric briefly closed his eyes. “Again, Kyle? Again? ”

Horrified, Toni demanded, “Oh, my God, Kyle! Did you ask Ric to—”

“I will not be held back by society’s mores!”

“It’s not society’s mores we’re concerned with, Kyle,” Ric kindly explained. “It’s society’s creeps.”

“So you’re saying that Bo Novikov is—”

“No,” Ric said quickly and firmly. “That’s not what I mean. And although you might be safe with Novikov or with me, that doesn’t mean the rest of the world is a safe bet. You have to be careful.”

Kyle motioned to Toni. “But that’s what I have her for. To protect me from society’s creeps.”

“Really? Is that what I’ve been reduced to?” Toni asked. “Your bodyguard? Is that my life? Is that going to be my life?”

“I wouldn’t worry about you having that job for long,” Oriana told her.

“Why?”

“How good could you be at protecting him with those stick legs of yours?”

Toni looked down at her legs, then quickly realized she was involved in a ridiculous conversation. Again.

“You know what,” Toni said, getting to her tiny stick legs. “As fascinating as this is, we have to go. We’ve got to make that flight.”

Ric blinked. “Make your flight?”

“Yeah. Nothing worse than trying to get this group on the same flight once we’ve missed our original flight. We’re going standard air.” Toni’s term for flights that catered to full-humans.

Yet when Toni looked up at Ric, she saw that he was watching her with a mix of humor and pity. “You haven’t talked to your mother, have you?” he asked.

Toni immediately began rubbing her forehead. “No. Why?”

“I think there might have been a change of plan.”

“No,” Toni said, shaking her head. “No. No change of plan. No wacky, last-minute ideas. No.” She was adamant about it. No!

Toni pulled her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and took a quick look. No calls. From anyone. Her parents would have texted her, right? Called her? Something?