Lock didn’t know when he’d gotten to his feet, but like everyone else in that stadium he was up and cheering, screaming for Gwen to make it as the counter went down.

“Eight! Seven!” Blayne’s voice counted as Gwen flew around the last turn. Her friend’s voice the only thing she was focusing on at the moment. “Six! Five!” She saw where another ref stood, his arm out, marking where Gwen would have to be by zero to win. She wanted to leap for it but knew she couldn’t. So she kept moving. Her eyes focused on the last ref and how close she was getting. “Four! Three!”

Just a little more, baby-girl. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head, coaxing her on like she used to do when she was only five and had put on Gwen’s first pair of skates. I know you can do it.

“Two! One!” Gwen went past the ref, but Blayne’s voice was drowned out by the crowd and she didn’t know if she’d made it in time. Then Blayne was on the track, her arms open. The way they used to do when they played field hockey and had just kneecapped one of the rich girls from the local private school. Gwen dived right at her best friend and threw her arms and legs around Blayne’s body.

Blayne spun her around, screaming,

“You did it, Gwenie! You did it!”

At least that’s what it sounded like she said. Hard to tell with the crowd going crazy. All that roaring, howling, cackling, and foot stomping made it impossible to hear much of anything.

The rest of the team surrounded her and Blayne, hoisting Gwen up, carrying her on their shoulders around the track. The howls, roars, etc., lowered as one chant rose above everything else…

“Tasty! Tasty! Tasty!”

As they passed the section filled with her family and friends, she could see her mother applauding like crazy, tears streaming down her face, the Drs. MacRyrie clapping and waving at her, while Mitch and Brendon pumped their fists in the air and screamed her name like they were at a Bon Jovi concert. Hell, everyone in that section was going a little crazy.

Except for one lone grizzly. He stood there, a center of calm with a wild dog sitting on his shoulders, howling with her Pack, and his best friend beside him calling out “Bravo!” But the bear was breathing, slowly, in and out, until he finally looked up, knowing her eyes were on him and him alone. And then he smiled. A smile filled with pride and love. She only saw it for a moment before her team marched her away to get their trophy, but it was enough.

Hell, it was damn near everything.

CHAPTER 30

What started off as a big multiderby team party at one of the coolest clubs downtown quickly morphed into a Babes and friends–only party at a karaoke bar near wild dog territory.

Lock would be eternally grateful, too. He’d always hated clubs and club people, while a karaoke bar was much more his speed as long as no one tried to make him sing.

Wandering away from the table he pulled out his vibrating cell phone. “Hello?”

“Hey. It’s Dee.”

“Hey. You missed a greatgame.”

“I saw it. It was great.”

“You were there?”

“Sitting three rows behind you. Didn’t you see me?”

No. He hadn’t seen her there because she hadn’t been there, but Lock knew what Dee was doing. “Barely.

I was busy, you know.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“Where are you now?” he asked.

“Roaming.”

“We moved locations, in case you plan on stopping by. We’re at a bar called Caleb’s Corner…or Caleb’s Deck…or Caleb’s something. It’s a karaoke bar.”

The pause was long. “And you expect me to show up?”

“Not really.”

“Smart bear. But I’ll check in with you later.”

“Okay.” Lock disconnected the call and put his phone back in his pocket. He turned around and stared down at the tiny kittens glaring up at him. “What?”

“Who was that on the phone?” Mitch demanded.

“Uh…Dee-Ann.”

“You’re calling other women when you’re hooked up with

my baby sister?”

“But Dee-Ann’s my—”

“I don’t care! You’re with my sister now, scumbag. And I may have promised Sissy I’d back off, but—”

he motioned between him and Brendon “—don’t think for a second we’re going to let you get away with anything when it comes to our baby sister.”

Dee shut off her phone completely and put it back into her front jean pocket. She took another glance around and popped the trunk on the old Ford she’d taken from a junkyard and managed to get running. She pulled the wolf out and placed him over her shoulder. Slamming the trunk closed, she headed to the nondescript door in the middle of the alley. She’d already picked the lock and now she went down the stairs deep into the bowels of the tunnels.

Once she’d traveled as far down as she could, Dee stepped away from the stairs and lowered the body onto the floor. She crouched beside him.

The wolf opened his eyes, glared up at her.

“Names,” she said. The last one she’d said that to, the bar owner, he’d given her names of the dealers he got his product from. Of the ten names he listed, only one had been shifter. Only one had been Dee’s concern.

The rest would be handled by others.

Funny, this hadn’t been how this was supposed to go down, but in her line of work it was all about rolling with the unexpected. Like Lock MacRyrie. She’d been surprised when the road to Ross had led to one of the best friends she’d had in the military. For a brief moment, she’d thought about bringing him back into this life. They’d always been an excellent team. But, no. That wouldn’t do for the bear. He’d done his service to his country and his kind. Now he deserved exactly what he wanted: a deadly feline who liked to skate.