The wolfdog immediately stopped and started to walk over to Jess and Ric. Too bad the dizziness got the best of her, though, because she stumbled sideways into another tree and slid down, panting.

Picking up Blayne’s clothes, Jess walked over to her. Blayne had an interesting look to her as wolfdog.

Built like a wolf, with a heavy coat and muscular body, she still had the giant ears and tiny paws of the wild dog along with the coloring that included big splotches of white, brown, blond, black, and red all over her shaggy coat. Not surprisingly, Blayne dyed her human hair one solid color, like most wild dogs. They were the only shifters forced to do so if they hoped to fit in among full-humans.

“I don’t have all day,” Jess said, wondering how hard it would be to raise the one wolfdog she was currently pregnant with, much less the seven girls Smitty believed they were going to eventually have because his “prem’nitions” told him so.

“Sorry,” Blayne said after shifting. She stood and quickly pulled her clothes on. “Got distracted.”

Jess didn’t mention that Blayne seemed to get distracted often.

“Blayne, this is Ric. Ric, Blayne.”

They shook hands and then Ric asked, “So what happened?”

“Well—”

“Don’t ramble,” Jess said quickly, which got her a harsh glare. In answer, Jess tapped her wrist, where her favorite watch usually was, but it had been taken by Smitty and hidden for the weekend. “I’m on a tight schedule here, sweetie.”

“More like a tight leash with a hillbilly at the other end of it.”

Jess gasped in outrage and Ric quickly placed his hand on Jess’s shoulder. “So what happened?” he asked Blayne again.

“It was a hate crime.”

Jess looked at Ric and back at Blayne. “You mean they attacked you because you’re bl—”

“A hybrid. Exactly!”

“Oh.” Jess rubbed her forehead. “All right then.”

“You and your friend are both hybrids?” Ric carefully asked.

“Yup. I’m wolfdog, Gwenie’s tigon. They jumped me, Gwen jumped in, we took off running, Gwen woke up the bear, they went over the mountain. There. That quick enough for ya, Jess?”

Ric’s back snapped straight. “I’m sorry. Um…they went over…wait…what?”

“Not at first. At first, Lock was slapping those wolves around. Then they were going over the mountain.”

“Over the mountain?” Jess shook her head. “Do you mean they rolled down a hill?” She’d lived in Tennessee for two years, she was used to hills.

“Nope. Over the mountain, into the river, down the river.”

“You mean they fell into Macon River from one of the falls?” Ric demanded.

“It was more of a cliff than a fall, but…yeah. I met up with Bren and Ronnie about a mile away. Together we ran down to the mouth of the riverbed, and that’s where we caught up with Lock. He was trying to take Gwen to the medical center, but she was putting up a fight because of the organ thieves.”

Ric stepped back. “The what?”

Jess held her hand up to halt Ric, wanting Blayne to finish before she killed her. “Then what?”

“Then Bren fought the bear, I fought Gwen—”

“Why were you fighting Gwen? Because of the organ thieves?” Wait. Did I just say that out loud?

“Because she wouldn’t tell Bren that the bear helped her and Bren thought the bear was attacking her when he wasn’t.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell Brendon that?”

“Because she was torturing me.”

“All right then.” Jess was done. “This was fun but—”

“No, no, no.” Blayne clutched her hands together nervously or excitedly…to be honest, it was hard to tell.

“There’s something else.”

“You know the Pack who did this?” Ric, so cute when he was trying to maneuver a wolfdog into a nice, logical, straight line. Good luck with that one.

“No,” Blayne said simply. “I have no idea who it was.”

“Then what?” Jess pushed.

“I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’m planning some life changes.”

“Life changes?” What did this have to do with anything?

“Yes. Huge ones, actually. And so lately I’ve been mostly focused on me, you know, kind of obsessing, worried about how I was going to do this and everything and then it hit me!” She grinned, showing all those perfect teeth that had to be the product of excellent dental care and childhood braces. “What a really cute couple Gwen and Lock are!”

Ric laughed as Jess shook her head, turning to walk away. “Oh, my God! You must be joking!”

Blayne jumped in front of her. “I’m serious! You have to see them together. They’re so freaking cute!”

“He’s bear, she’s feline. He lives in New York, she lives in Philly. The list is endless of why this is a bad idea.” Plus this was her Lock! Jess loved Lock. He was the sweetest, kindest, nicest bear ever. And all Jess knew about Gwen was that she threatened Brendon Shaw’s cranky sister with acid during the wedding. Not that Jess blamed her or anything, because Marissa Shaw could be a real bitch, but Lock deserved a lovely sow who loved him, pampered him, and understood his obsession with honey. Not some vicious-tongued cat who’d greeted Jess the last two mornings with, “Hey, Fido. How youse doin’?”