“Yep. We have visitors, though. Detective MacDermot and Marcella Malone of KZS.”
“Any problems?”
“Don’t think so. They’re in one of the training rooms.”
“Good. Thanks.”
Knowing that Dee-Ann hated to be interrupted during her workout, Ric headed straight for his office. As soon as he stepped inside, he knew that the She-wolf had been there. Her scent still lingered and she’d left a report on his desk, along with a note.
We need to talk.—Dee
Vividly remembering the last twenty minutes of his conversation with Lock: Let’s face it, you’ll never hold on to Dee, so when she dumps you—which will be way sooner than later—just accept it. You’ll be better off and live longer, Ric couldn’t shake the feeling he had, in fact, been dumped. Already. Talk about not giving a guy a chance.
Annoyed and with no intention of listening to the bear’s advice on this particular subject, Ric crumpled up the note and tossed it into the trash can. That’s when he saw little Abby Vega dancing outside his office, her little wolfdog or wolf-coyote—to be honest, they hadn’t been able to tell specifically what she was and no one could get close enough to find out by scent or blood tests—feet prancing.
“Hi, Abby. You okay?” Did she need a walk? God, he hoped not. That would just be beyond the realm of weird.
She barked, ran away, charged back, barked.
He remembered to have patience and decided not to tell her to cut the crap, shift already, and tell him what she wanted him to know. “Do you need me to see something?” he asked, tempted to add “Lassie” to the end of that.
She nodded and started off again.
Ric followed Abby down several hallways until they reached the room with the training ring where Group members practiced hand-to-hand combat.
Unfortunately, Ric couldn’t really see what was going on. It seemed that everyone in the Group had stuffed themselves inside or at the big windows that looked in.
Abby crouched down and crawled on the floor, but Ric wasn’t about to do that. He had his dignity. Instead, he pushed his way in, ignoring the snarls, growls, and nips that followed.
The fist slammed into Dee’s throat and she dropped to her knees. Malone moved on her, swinging at her again, but Dee caught her arm, yanked the She-tiger in, and turned her, dropping her to the mat. She then pushed her knee into Malone’s chest and twisted her arm up and away from her body.
While Dee was trying to get Malone to submit, she heard a soft throat clear and looked up into pretty brown eyes glaring at her from under scowling brows.
Shit.
Her grip loosened on Malone’s arm and the She-tiger brought up her leg and slammed her knee into the upper part of Dee’s back, sending her crashing into the ropes of the ring, which had her flying back and right into Malone’s waiting fist.
That was pretty much the last thing Dee remembered for quite a bit until Malone slapped her and yelled, “Wake up, Smith!”
Dee opened her eyes. “Thank you very much,” she snapped.
“You let that pretty face distract you. Mistake number one.” She handed Dee a damp cloth to wipe the blood off. “Would it make you feel better if I said you almost had me?”
Taking her time, Dee sat up. When she felt stable, she reached out and cuffed the side of Malone’s head.
“Hey!”
“Help me up.”
Malone gripped her arm and yanked Dee to her feet.
“Can you stand on your own?”
“Yeah.”
Malone released her and Dee immediately held up a finger. “Don’t hit me again.”
Malone lowered her fist and grinned. “I’m glad to see you’re still the toughest canine I’ve ever met. Still not feline, though. Ya gotta work on your finesse, Smith.”
“Here’s your finesse,” she offered, raising her middle finger while she searched the thinning crowd now that the fight was over. She didn’t see Ric, so she went between the ropes and jumped down.
“Hey,” Malone called out. “You want me to come along and help you smooth things over with your boss?”
“He’s my supervisor and I can’t blame you for everything if you’re standing right beside me, now can I?”
“Excellent point.” Malone, still in the mood to tussle, held out her arms. “Anybody else up for a little—”
A male tiger leaped into the ring and Malone shook her head. “Forget it.”
“Oh, come on. You and me, let’s go for it.”
Still wiping her face with the cloth, Dee made her way to Ric’s office. She found him behind his desk, seething.
“I know what you’re thinking—” she began.
“What part of ‘make this work’ were you not clear on?” he asked, sitting back in his fancy office chair, fingers interlacing over his flat stomach.
Dee walked up to the desk. “It’s not what you think.”
“You two weren’t beating the hell out of each other in the ring on Group territory?”
“All right, it is what you think, but it wasn’t done viciously or anything. We’re actually getting along. Wouldn’t say we’re friends, but after I fell off that building last night she—”
Ric held his hand up. “You fell off a building?”
“Sorta rolled off the ledge, but I didn’t hit the ground or anything ’cause I had hold of—”
“Stop.” The wolf shook his head. “If I don’t know exactly what you do to get done what you do, I can’t be freaked out by it, now can I?”
“That’s how my momma gets through the day.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Dee frowned. “Is something else wrong?”
“No.” He gazed at her. “Do you think there’s something wrong?”
“Other than you acting weird? No.”
“Then I guess nothing’s wrong.” He focused on his computer and she got the feeling she’d just been dismissed.
Deciding it would be better to talk to Ric when he wasn’t being such a snobby prick about a friendly little brawl in the middle of the office, Dee stepped away from the desk, but she caught sight of a single crumpled paper in the otherwise empty trash can. She reached in and pulled it out when she realized it was the note she’d left for him.
“You’re throwing out my notes now?”
“I have a wonderfully intact mind,” he told her, not looking away from his computer screen. “I would have remembered to discuss whatever issues you may have at a later date. When it was convenient for me.”
Shocked, Dee demanded, “What is your problem, Van Holtz?”
“I don’t have a problem,” he said while typing on his keyboard. “I simply thought we were going to keep personal issues out of the office.”
“Yeah, but I thought you’d want to know right quick if I found your brother trying to break into that big ol’ safe you’ve got in your office.”
Ric spun his chair around to face her. “Wait. What?”
“I caught your brother trying to get into your safe. Since he didn’t seem to have the combination, I’m assuming he was breaking in.”
Van Holtz blinked. “Oh. Oh. Oh!” He sat up, arms on his desk, back straight. “Oh. Right. You’re absolutely right. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near my apartment. In fact, I banned him from there because he insulted Lock. So . . . good job.”
Dee studied him. “That was a lot of ‘ohs,’ Van Holtz.”
“No. Just . . . you know.”
Dee looked at her note, straightening out the crumpled paper. She read it again and raised her eyes to the wolf. She’d never been one to write wordy notes but this one, if taken out of context . . . “Did you think I was—”