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Evan ignored her fingers, and instead pulled the program from where she’d tucked it beside her hip.

He stared intently at the small brochure while she fought to get her pounding heart under control.

A set of lights on the right side of the room clicked on, the unexpected brightness drawing everyone’s attention. An usher rushed forward, slipping out the side door. A moment later, everything was restored to normal.

Until a flash struck on the left as lights clicked on there. The musicians didn’t falter, but the audience was distracted as, one after the other, banks of lights all over the auditorium flashed on and were hurriedly turned off.

A low beeping sound began. This time the base cellist turned her head toward the side of the stage.

An Energizer Bunny toy appeared, its little furry arms pounding in steady repetition on an oversized drum, the turning wheels of the toy bringing it toward where the quartet was seated.

A murmur rose, and fingers pointed toward the stage. At her side Evan was no longer in a relaxed slouch but seated upright, raptly watching the action. She thought a low curse rose from his lips.

Suddenly, from behind the curtain and the sides of the stage, more toys appeared. A wild assortment this time, not just bunnies, but leaping frogs and mooing cows. Battery-operated devices of every kind poured onto the platform with a whirling pandemonium of noise and disorder.

The performers gave up all attempts at continuing, the final notes dying off into a melodic dissonance that mixed in a strange way with the clattering toys.

She had never seen such a thing before in her life.

Evan had his head cradled in his hand. Amy dropped an arm around him in concern. “Are you okay?”

He cleared his throat. “I think we should leave.”

There wasn’t much reason to stay. Everywhere around them, people were abandoning their seats and heading back to the foyer. Up on the stage, one of the performers had retreated to the top of her chair as hundreds of wind-up and battery-operated toys milled around them, the volume increasing all the time.

Amy pointed to a side exit. “We can get out that way.”

Evan caught her by the hand as they briefly fought people moving in the opposite direction. They pushed through the door, and Evan jerked her to a stop.

At least a dozen wolves were waiting, huge grins on their faces, all of them Takhini.

Understanding hit, and this time Amy was the one who swore. She pushed past Evan. “You’re responsible for this?”

Lance sneered at her.

She was going to rip him apart.

Before she could take a swing, though, Evan had come between her and her target. “I don’t know why you thought this was a good idea, but it wasn’t. Get your asses back to the Takhini pack house. I’ll deal with you there.”

Evan continued to block her path, and before she could get past him, the group had vanished as silently as they had come in the first place.

“Those little shits. What the hell did they think they were doing?” Amy was a second away from punching a wall since she couldn’t punch the miscreants.

“They probably thought they were being entertaining.” Evan dragged a hand through his hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with them.”

She was furious again, but maybe this was the final straw needed to make Evan see reason. “Let me come to the Takhini pack house with you, and we’ll deal with them. That will help with this whole joining-the-packs issue. You and me, working together. Facing their concerns as a team.”

He shook his head. “They’re just feeling their oats. I’m sure they thought it was funny.”

“It wasn’t funny.”

Evan wrinkled his nose. “Well, it kinda was, if you think about it. I mean it was wrong of them, and I will totally rake them over the coals for it, but you have to admit it was rather hysterical when that first bunny showed up.”

This was a perfect example of what she’d talked about earlier. Another of those moments where it wasn’t worth making her point because he obviously wasn’t on the same page as her. Amy jerked past him, not even caring if he followed her or not. “Fine. Do it your way. But if they try something like that again, I will have something to say about it.”

“Of course you will, and rightly so,” Evan soothed her. “Let me drive you home.”

She already had her hands on the exit-door release. “Don’t bother. I’ll get a cab. You have some brats waiting for you at home to discipline.”

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Evan asked.

Slamming the door was the only answer she gave him.

Chapter Sixteen

The morning after the symphony had been disrupted, Amy’s staff looked far too amused. She hesitated before heading up to her office. “Do I want to know?”

Tom and Caden exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

Which only meant she had to know. “Okay. Tell me.”

They pushed a printout toward her. She picked it up to read an energy bill.

“What’s this?” She rapidly scanned the page until she spotted something out of the norm. “Damn. You guys are a bunch of turkeys.”

Tom shrugged. “An eye for an eye. We didn’t do anything to the Takhini pack members who weren’t involved. Just the select group who need to learn a few manners.”

Amy shook her head. “It’s not funny, and I don’t want you to do anything like this again, do you hear me?”

“Is that a direct order?” Caden asked.

“Do I have to make it one?” Amy watched them for a moment, and when they slunk away, she left it.

She’d barely sat down when her phone rang. “Hi, Evan.”

He was in a vile mood. “I thought you promised you were done messing with my finances.”

“Don’t look at me this time. Couple of my pack decided to be smart-asses. What happened to you?” She paused for a moment, confused. “Hang on, they did something to you? That doesn’t make sense. They told me they only went after the jerks who screwed up last night.”

“Well, it looks as if they’re blaming me as well. Some of the pack have bills from the electric department for three months’ back payments. Others got shipments of rabbit traps delivered to their door COD this morning.”

“And yours?”

Evan sighed. “My cell phone bill just got delivered. It’s for over thirty-two thousand dollars.”

Poetic justice in a way. “They seem to be making the punishment fit the crime.”

There was silence for a moment before Evan spoke. “Okay, I get the electric bill and the bunny traps, but why my cell phone?”

“As head of the pranksters, they probably figured you should be in better communication with them.”

A low growl came over the phone, and not the one that made her heart rate pick up. This one was sheer annoyance. “What are you going to do about it?”

That was polite. Not. “I’ve already spoken to them.”

“I mean, can they get the charges reversed? I’m going to spend all day on the phone with customer service trying get this straightened out.”

“Poor baby.” Her snarky response snuck out before she could help herself.

“Amy. It’s not funny.”

Vengeance was sweet. “I don’t know. It’s actually kind of funny, if you think about it. I mean, I can just imagine what your face must have looked like when you opened that bill.”

He must have accidentally dropped the phone, the clatter in her ear extremely loud.