not happy.”
“I am aware.” Kyle moved away from his younger brother and headed toward his eldest, Cooper. He was standing by the refrigerator, a bottle of soda in his hand; chatting with one of the adult wild dogs.
“Excuse me,” Kyle interrupted. “Can I speak to my brother for a moment?”
“Sure!” the wild dog cheered. Then he stood there. Smiling.
Kyle took a breath. “So go away.”
“Okay!”
Coop chuckled as the wild dog went outside. “Why can’t you be nice?”
“I don’t even understand what that means. Now, have you seen Aunt Irene today? She texted me earlier. Is she still here?”
“I think she’s upstairs with Mom. Why?”
“I need her—”
The rest of Kyle’s words became lodged in his throat when he glanced out one of the windows that overlooked the yard. While Freddy did his best to shepherd the annoying wild dog pups and the adults back to their own home, Kyle saw who stood by one of the tables, his eldest daughter leaning beside him, wearing a hockey jersey six sizes too big for the girl. Although Kyle had no doubt that one day, that “little girl” would grow up to be a very large and dangerous female. Just like her father.
Her father. Bo Novikov. Homicidal hockey player and great organizer.
And if Bo Novikov was here with his kids that meant . . .
“Where is she?” Kyle demanded of his stunned brother, grabbing him by his T-shirt and yanking him close. “Where is she, Coop?”
* * *
Wow! That had to be the best soda in the world! The Jean-Louis Parker twins had told her it was when they handed her the bottle. Even though the soda was caffeine and sugar free, it tasted so great! She couldn’t believe how great it tasted!
Blayne continued to backflip her way down the hallway. She didn’t know why she felt the need to backflip down the hallway of the Jean-Louis Parker home, but she did! And it felt awesome! Look how in shape she was. Even after giving birth to several giant children, but her shit was still tight, as they say! She should have gone into gymnastics. She would be a great Olympian! A totally positive representative of the United States of America! Why? Because Blayne loved everyone!
She loved animals! She loved shoes! She loved tiny furniture that people put into fancy dollhouses! She loved everybody! She loved the world! The world!
Blayne’s legs slammed into something and she wouldn’t have thought much of it except that she heard an “Oooof!” that surprised her. She landed on her feet and turned to see Shen Li holding his head.
She knew Shen! She loved Shen! He was a giant panda! How cool must it be to be a giant panda? Pretty cool, Blayne bet.
“What are you doing?” Shen asked, rubbing the entire left side of his face and glaring at her.
“Backflips!” Blayne told him. “I love backflips!”
With his hand still pressed against his face, the panda stared at her, eyes narrow. “Are you okay, Blayne?” he asked.
“I’m great!” Blayne turned and spotted someone standing alone in the massive ballroom entrance. She immediately felt bad for that person. They were so small and alone. But they weren’t really alone! Because Blayne was here!
Grinning, Blayne charged over to the stranger and threw her arms around the woman’s shoulders, squeezing her tight from behind.
“Hi! I’m—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh-hhhhhhhhhh!”
* * *
Shen’s head was still throbbing from where Blayne’s feet had hit him, but in the haze of his pain he knew something was wrong with the always pleasant wolfdog. Her energy level was off the charts, which was saying a lot because Blayne always had a high energy drive.
Still, he wasn’t exactly surprised when she suddenly caught sight of a very quiet Stevie, gazing forlornly into the ballroom. He—sadly—also wasn’t surprised when Blayne ran up behind her and threw her arms around Stevie to give her a big hug. Blayne had become known for her attack hugs. And Shen definitely wasn’t surprised when Stevie’s response to that hug was to scream hysterically.
The girl panicked at squirrels. Squirrels. Non-attacking squirrels too.
So getting grabbed by some random stranger would make her panic, but Shen never, in a million years, ever expected what happened right after Stevie began screaming.
With Blayne on her back—and still screaming—Stevie abruptly turned, her eyes wild and panicked . . . and she began to shift.
But she shifted into something Shen had never seen before. Not ever.
The fangs came first, bursting out of her gums. He’d thought the ones he’d seen in the cabinet were