“I don’t know. It was online.”

“But being a sociopath was such a concern for you that you felt the need to check it out online?”

“Once, but I’m in the clear. So you gonna help me or not?”

He leaned in and said, “Not.”

“So you’re just going to make me have to beat up an old woman?”

Startled, the bear stood tall again. “When did beating up old people come into play? How is that an option?”

“I didn’t say that was an option. She’s just going to make me do it.”

“You’re blaming the potential victim of your elder abuse?”

“First off—”

“Again with the first off?”

“—she’s only ‘elder’ in the strictest sense.”

“You mean by actually being old?”

“And second, I’m the one being abused.”

“And you get there how?”

“Because she’s the one who’s going to challenge me to a bare-knuckle brawl when I refuse to marry my cousin just so she can ruin my relationship with my kid.”

“So if anyone comes up to you and says, ‘I challenge you to a brawl,’ you just have to do it? Is that how this works?”

“No. Of course not.” Jeez. Where did the bear get his crazy ideas? “But if my aunt officially challenges me to a brawl, I have to say yes or lose respect among the Malones.”

The bear placed the palms of his hands against his eyes and again rubbed them. “Why?” he finally asked.

“Because that’s how Malones settle things.”

“But that’s not normal.”

“Define normal.”

“Not you!” He dropped his hands, black eyes scowling. “Your world of brawling with old people is not normal. Verifying from the psychopath checklist that you’re not a psychopath is not normal. Coming to my house on a random Sunday to bribe me to be your boyfriend is not normal!”

“You wouldn’t be my boyfriend, just my pretend boyfriend.”

Roaring, the bear suddenly picked Cella up, tossing her over his shoulder.

“Hey! What the hell?”

Ignoring her, he stalked through his house until he went out on his porch and down his steps. There, on his lawn, is where he dumped her.

Crush walked back into his house and slammed the front door, locking it. Then he stalked back to his kitchen and stood there for a moment to get his raging annoyance under control before he walked back into his dining room.

Dr. Davis still sat at his dining room table, all calm and controlled. He could see the mountain lion side of her, watchful but not panicked.

He sat down across from her. “I’m sorry about—”

“No apologies, please. We did come here uninvited.”

“I just don’t knowhow to ... she’s just so ... my life is usually so ...”

“I get it. Your life is quiet and normal and Cella is anything but.”

“Actually, up until about two weeks ago, my life was kind of a nightmare. Until my recent transfer, I was undercover. Every day that I woke up, I didn’t know if I’d see the end of it. Would they realize I’d tapped their phones? Did they have a cousin that maybe I’d previously arrested? Would they find out I had photographed them dealing? But all that seems less of a challenge compared to her.”

“So in other words when you come home you like peace and quiet?”

“I don’t know. I will say that I’d like to come home and not see someone beating up on the elderly.”

The doctor laughed, gold eyes bright. “I understand that, which is what Cella wants, too. She’d really rather not get into it with her aunt. But Deirdre doesn’t make it easy on her or anyone.”

“This is going to sound really wrong but ...”

“Why am I friends with her?”

“You two couldn’t be more different. Unless I’m missing something.”

“You’re not missing anything. We’re both felines, but when she shifts she’s four hundred pounds and nearly nine feet long from nose to tail. I’m one hundred and fifty pounds and not even seven feet. She’s loud, I’m skulky. She loves to attack from behind. I’m known to pounce from overhead.”

“But you’re friends.”

“Because I know that no matter what happens, Cella Malone always has my back. Always.”

“And you think I’m being a prick.”

“No! Not at all. I mean, from the outside looking in to the world of Malones ... complete and utter craziness.”

“But ... ?”

“But think of it this way. You get a couple of free dinners, your brothers could—accidentally, of course—see you hanging around Cella Malone and maybe the Marauder since she’s the only one on the team who can tolerate being around that man. You’ll get a chance to spend time with Butch Malone, and he does like you.”

“He does? Really?” Then Crush realized what a complete geeky loser he sounded like and lowered his voice several octaves to say, “Oh. Yeah. That’s nice.”

Dr. Davis smiled, but didn’t openly make fun of him. “And what’s most important to me—you can help make a girl’s life a little bit easier for the next four weeks or so.”

“The five-year-old?”

“I promise you Meghan is eighteen as of two-oh-three this morning. She’s an amazing girl who wants to be a doctor and always feels the need to smooth things over between her mother and the Malone aunts. I can assure you the aunts do not make it easy.”