invited to a soccer game at the Sports Center. I can go to that.”
“They invited you because you’re on the team,” Max reminded Stevie. “Remember?”
“Oh. Yeah. I do now. Okay. I can do that.”
“Perfect. Shen, I need you to work with Livy. She asked for you specifically.”
“We’ve worked together before.”
“I’m going to have her hit Wells Pride’s home. Max and I will take the lab. I’ll have the MacKilligans secure the outside.”
“I can do the lab on my own,” Max protested.
“And not kill everyone?” Charlie asked, not even looking at her sister. When Max did not answer, “Yeah, exactly. I’m going with you.”
“The Wells brothers still live with their mother’s Pride.” Stevie scratched her forehead. “If you send Livy in there—”
“We need to get the family all out.”
“How? ”
“I can do that.”
Shen looked down at Kiki. “You can do what?”
“You’re talking about the Wells Pride, right? Jennifer Wells? And her scientist sons? She’s always hitting me up for financial backing for her sons’ work. If she thinks she can meet some connections . . .” She smiled at Shen. “I can do it. Trust me.”
“Are you sure you want to get involved in this?” Stevie asked.
“Are innocent people being hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m in.”
“Great.” Charlie focused on her phone while walking toward the living room. “I have to get changed.” She stopped by Ric, looked up at him. “We’ll do our best to get your friends back.”
“Thank you.”
A brisk nod and Charlie was walking again, barking over her shoulder, “Max! Stevie! Let’s move out!”
Max immediately followed, motioning to the Van Holtz males to follow her back to the front door, but Stevie stopped right outside the kitchen, looked over her shoulder at Shen.
“I love you, too,” she said sweetly, giving him a warm smile. Then she was gone.
Stunned, Shen simply stood there. Staring at where she’d just been.
“That sounded like she was responding to something,” Kiki noted.
“Yeah. It did, didn’t it?”
Zhen, rubbing her nose, asked, “Do you not remember saying anything to her?”
“I . . . don’t.” Shen pressed his palms to his eyes. “She is driving me crazy!”
“Good crazy? Or bad crazy?”
Shen shrugged. “A little of both . . . ?”
chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
Stevie, sitting on the bench, glanced at her watch again. She kept trying not to. She kept trying to focus on the game. But how could she? With everything that was going on at the moment?
Kiki had turned out to be as good as her word. She’d invited the Wells Pride to some art thing in the Village and they had cleared out of their Park Avenue apartment, even leaving their youngest offspring with an adolescent She-lion. Thankfully, she’d taken the kids out for dinner, giving Livy at least an hour to get information from the computers.
Stevie checked her cell phone again, but still no word from her sisters. A few of her cousins and Uncle Will were at the bar when they’d arrived, but she didn’t trust them. Not fully. Especially because none of this had anything to do with the MacKilligans, which meant they would be helping others out of the kindness of their hearts. That was not Uncle Will’s thing.
She heard a roar and realized it was the crowd. It was a surprisingly large one for a friendly amateur game. They didn’t really sell tickets so much as ask for donations. But if you just wanted to wander in for free, you could do that too.
“Stevie?”
Coop was standing in front of her. “Hi, Coop. What’s up?”
“You ready to go in?”
“Um . . . okay.” She put her phone down on the bench, automatically turning off the screen. “Where do you want me?” she asked, standing.
“You wanna play forward?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“There is just one thing, though. On the other team . . .”
“Yeah?”
He pointed and Stevie studied the players on the field.
“What about them?”
“You don’t recognize them?”
“Should I?”
“You just stole the wild dog karaoke trophy from them.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes,” Coop laughed.
“I just can’t get away from the lions today.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You don’t have to play if you don’t want.”
She waved him off. “It’s all right.”
Maybe playing would distract her from all her worries.
* * *
Livy fell out of the overhead vent and landed face-first on the floor.
“Ow,” she moaned.
“You all right?” she heard Shen ask in her ear.
“I’m fine.”
Shen and Livy’s mate Vic were in the communications truck. Sadly, this was not the first time they’d done something like this. Where she’d broken in someplace and Shen and Vic helped from outside. She wasn’t a thief, though. She prided herself