“Attacked you? Or attacked those cats and the politically correct Group?”
“This is bullshit. Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”
“And what truth is that?”
“What you want with Whitlan.”
“Who says I want—”
“I like how you didn’t ask who he is. Just went into your denials.” Gray began to wake up and without even looking away from Baissier, Crush slammed his fist in his brother’s head, knocking him out again. “You haven’t fuckin’ changed a bit. Have you, Mom? That is what you told us all to call you, right? Mom?”
“You always were an ungrateful little fuck.”
“And don’t forget disloyal.” Crush stood. “Send all the meat puppets you want. Come after me all you want. But if you worked with Whitlan on anything, for any reason, I will nail you to the cross.”
“It’s always a pleasure to see you again, Lou.”
“Yeah,” he said, walking out, “fuck you, too.”
Holding an ice pack to his head, Chazz settled down across from his foster mother. He’d be honest here ... he didn’t really know what was going on. But he knew Peg could get rather ... fixed on things. And right now she was fixed on his brother. It didn’t help that the idiot couldn’t play along, for just a bit. He always had to be such a hard-ass.
“Now what?”
Peg Baissier sat back in her chair, her hands steepled under her chin. “I’ll tell the families the boys died in the line of duty.”
“And Lou?” Peg slowly raised her gaze and Chazz shook his head. “Can’t we just let it go? He can’t hurt us.”
“You know I would never hurt your brother.” Right. Of course, she wouldn’t. Still ...
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“That you blew his cover?”
“From what I understand, that was an accident and had nothing to do with me. And those who slipped up were reprimanded.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Chazz, honey, I would never hurt your brother. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s still my foster son. That means something to me.”
“Okay. But don’t hurt his dog, either.”
“Oh, my God! I would never hurt his dog.” She shook her head. “Honestly, stop listening to Lou’s craziness. I wouldn’t hurt his dog, I’m not going to hurt him. But I do not want this thing to snowball, either. This is how wars start, and we can’t afford that right now. Understand?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll handle it.”
“Excellent.” Peg focused on her computer screen and Chazz stood, reaching down to grab his unconscious brother’s arm. “Come on, idiot. Let’s get you an ice pack.”
Thirty minutes after the last Crushek was dragged from her office, one of Peg’s trusted men walked into her office, closing the door behind him. The black bear sat down and waited until she spoke.
“We need that boy distracted until we find that motherfucker Whitlan and take him out.” They had to take him out. They had to. Peg raised a finger. “But Crushek is to remain unhurt.” Peg knew there’d be no coming back from that among their own.
“Distracted or devastated? Because he’s made some interesting friends lately.”
“I don’t really give a shit, I just want him out of my way.” She simply couldn’t afford to have that boy find Whitlan first. Anyone else, especially one of those dogs or cats, she could easily dismiss as more evidence the other species were out to get her and the rest of the bear community. But among the bears, whether he knew it or not, Lou Crushek was known as an honest cop and bear. If he came out against her, especially after all these years without saying a word one way or the other ...
No, they had to find a way to keep Crushek busy until she finished this.
Peg flicked her hand, dismissing her employee. “Make it happen. Let me know when it’s done.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Crush sat at his desk and Dez, sitting at her desk with her legs up, lifted her sunglasses long enough to take a look at his face. “You didn’t look like that last night, did you?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“I’m running on two hours of sleep. I don’t remember shit.” She pointed at a Starbucks coffee cup on the desk.
“That mine?” he asked.
“You think I’d be fuckin’ pointing at it if it wasn’t for you?” she snapped back.
“Are you going to be like this every fuckin’ morning?”
“Yeah. As a matter of fact I am going to be like this every fuckin’ morning.”
“Hey!” Gentry snapped, standing beside their desks. “What did I say?”
Dez seemed to mull that over for a few seconds before replying, “Don’t annoy you?”
“And what are you doing? You’re annoying me, that’s what you’re doing.” She motioned at the elevator. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
She glared down at Crush. “You’re going wherever the fuck I tell you to go.”
Crush looked down at Gentry’s feet. “Did you know you’re wearing bunny slippers?”
Dez leaned over and again lifted her sunglasses. “And they’re blue.”
“Goddammit.” Their boss stormed back into her office to change out of her adorable and less-than-threatening bunny slippers and into some proper shit-stompers.
“My question,” Crush whispered to Dez, “how did she find bunny slippers in her size?”
“I heard that, you white-haired bastard!”
And when Crush and Dez started laughing, Gentry’s mood did not improve.
The front door to the penthouse opened and Van Holtz, looking exhausted but still extremely handsome, motioned them in.
“Thank you for coming. Chief Gentry should be here in a few minutes.”
Cella kind of expected him to take them to his living room considering the formality of this meeting, but Van Holtz walked right past it and into his kitchen. Like always. At the large table sat Dee-Ann Smith with her feet up on the chair next to her and a Led Zeppelin trucker cap on her head. Walking up to her, Cella remarked, “Where’s your banjo?”“Stuck up your—”
“Dee-Ann,” Van Holtz warned from his stove. “Be nice.”
“The feline started it.”
Yanking the chair out from under Smith’s feet, Cella sat down and smiled at her.
Smith’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you smiling at me?”
“Because it annoys you when I do?”
She shrugged. “That actually makes sense.”
“Please,” Van Holtz sweetly suggested. “Sit. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.”
When Nina and Cosworth only forced fake smiles and still did not sit, Smith snarled out, “He said sit down.”
“Dee-Ann.”
Cella scratched her nose to keep from laughing, then said to her bosses, “He makes the most amazing waffles you’ll ever have.”
When Cosworth sat, Nina had to grudgingly go along.
So there they all sat or cooked. Three cats and two dogs. Cella didn’t think it could get any more awkward. But after a few minutes, the doorbell rang again and Van Holtz walked out to answer it.
That’s when Smith suddenly turned to Cella and said, “You smell like bear.”
Without even looking at her, Cella slammed her fist into Smith’s face, knocking the She-wolf out of her chair and onto the floor. Then, while Smith got back in her seat and popped her jaw back into place, Cella tried not to shake out her hand. That girl’s face ... like granite!
Crush and the others followed Van Holtz into his commercial-quality sparkling kitchen. Already seated at the table were Cella, representatives from KZS, and Smith, who was busy moving her jaw around.
He immediately looked at Cella and she gave a small smile and a shrug. But an instant later she frowned and her hand reached up to her own face, her forefinger pointing at her eye. He knew she was silently asking about his black eye and swollen cheek, but what could he say at the moment? So he shook his head and pulled out a seat, dropping into it.
“Thank you all for coming this morning,” Van Holtz said, standing at the head of the table. “I know things took a difficult turn last night, but I wanted to touch base and have a frank discussion regarding how we should move forward on this issue.”
The room full of shifters and one full-human stared at Van Holtz for a solid minute before they all looked at Smith. She shrugged and muttered, “Let’s talk now before we get in a big fight with a bunch of bears.”
“Ohhh,” they all said.
While Van Holtz created one of his brilliant breakfasts and chatted with management, and MacDermot showed Smith the latest cell phone pictures of her adorable son, Cella and Crush wandered into Van Holtz’s living room.
“What happened to your face?” she asked.
He sighed. “Long story.”
“Then you better start talking so you don’t have to finish it over our breakfast.”
“It’s no big deal.”
Cella crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m still waiting.” When he still didn’t answer, she guessed, “Your brothers did this to you, didn’t they?”
“No.” He cleared his throat. “It was six grizzlies.”
“Were they alive when you dumped them?”
“Yes. Think I should tell the others?”