Hungry Wolf - Aidy Award Page 0,48
Man, having a fake werewolf boyfriend is so much work.”
“Fake?” Key asked.
“Long story. Anyway, he's mine now and I'm keeping him. Tell us where to find them.” For being wolves and shit, these Troikas were the settin'-around-est bunch of old fogies she'd ever met.
Key shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno know. That's all I got.”
Baby Jesus Christ on a cracker. She was going to have to solve this problem herself, just like she did every other damn thing in her life. Except this time she didn't have a chance in hell. Her knowledge of supernatural stuff was spotty at best. She was about to turn and walk right out of that dining room, when Heli grabbed her by the wrist.
“Don't go. You don't have to do anything alone anymore. I know that's your natural response, to take charge and just do everything yourself, but you've got so many people you can ask to help you. You're the one to pull us all together, you're the linchpin, but even the strongest pin still needs a wheel to go anywhere.”
Whoa. “Is this one of your psychic moments?”
“Nope. This is me being your friend and telling you not to put your head in your butt if you want to really go after and get what you want.”
Gulp. Helena hadn't seen that coming. Okay. Geez. She could take a hint. If she was the linchpin, she needed a wheel. With a lot of spokes. She looked around the circle of women and that's where inspiration struck.
“Hey, Kosta, who else at the club is dating a wolf and maybe doesn't know it yet?”
His eyes went wide, but Heli raised her eyebrows like she saw where Helena was going with this. “We're about to out a bunch of the pack, aren't we? It's about frickin' time. I told you, honey.”
Kosta rolled his eyes, but Zara and Galyna were giving similar looks of told-you-so to Max and Niko. Max shook his head, in that way that meant he didn't agree but was doing whatever Gal wanted him to do. Niko frowned and growled.
Zara winked at Helena and sat in Niko's lap. “Now, sweetheart. You've known this was coming for a while. I warned you. Don't get all Tzary on us now. This is the right thing to do even if you aren't ready for it.”
Niko's eyes glowed a brilliant amber gold looking at his Queen...or rather Tzarina. “Not all humans are as open-minded as you are, solnyshkaya. Nor are they as good at keeping secrets. We aren't ready for the whole world to know.”
“No, but we can start with our small part of the world and build from there. Starting with the girls at the Naughty Wolf, oh and that one bouncer.”
The glow in Niko's eyes faded back to his normal bright whites and he nodded.
Heli clapped and jumped up. “Okay, let's call Lanette, Linda, Daphine, Frania, Debbie, Corinne, Susie, Sharon, Danielle, Carrie, Debra, Nicole, Christine, Alida, Jennifer, Angela, Mari, Deonne, Celia, Jennifer, Courtney, Barb, Rosita, Bobbie,” she took a deep breath, “Andrea, Judy, Natalie, Melissa, Connie, Aracelis, Kat, Ally, Shirley, Rebecca, Alicia, Amanda, Betsy, Stephanie, Carina, Katherine, Carol, Christine, Brenda, Liz, Ann, Karen, Larelle, Tracey, Lisa,” she just kept ticking names off of her fingers, “Tamye, Katrena, Nichole, Trina, Kathy, Stacy, Lahudyne, Jessy, Margaret, Jeanette, Alexa, Nita, Lynda, Li, Tamesha, Toni, Sarita, Angie, Kerry, Lisa, Sydney, Michele, Alisa, Michelle, Joyce, Cynthia, Selena, Crystal, Samantha, Lynn, Glenda, Julie, Catherine, Krystyn, Anne, Shiralee, Vi, and,” one more giant breath, “Dale.”
Helena held up her hand. “All those people don't work at the club, I'm the manager, I would know, and how do you remember all those names?”
Heli shrugged. “No, they don't all work at the club, but they are all intimately involved with wolves, which of course, makes them amazeballs. So I make it my business to know. I probably forgot a few and if I did, I'm sorry. They should email me later and I'll add their name to the printed version.”
“I think we're gonna need like a Facebook group or something to get everyone in the loop.” Plus a telephone tree or something.
Selena picked up her phone and waved it in the air. “They've all been invited via my secret code to Wolfspace. But I'd suggest we gather the core girls from the club and start to spread the word from there. What is your plan after that?”
Luckily, Helena had gotten a good solid five minutes to think about that while Heli had been listing off pretty much