“All right, who’s hungry?” Addie asked, pretending she was neatly dressed and coiffed. “Charlie and I are making lots of pancakes today.”
“Woo-hoo!” Brett yelled, jumping straight from Dimitri’s arm to the porch floor. “Addie makes great pancakes. Can I have pie too?”
Without waiting for the answer, he raced inside, followed by Zane, who scrambled down from Dimitri, and then Robbie.
Jaycee put her hand on one hip. She wore a tight red tank top, equally tight black bicycle pants, and sneakers, as though she’d been jogging when called to meet up with Kendrick.
Jaycee looked Addie up and down but spoke to Kendrick. “Is she for real? What did you do, Kendrick, hire a Mary Sue human housekeeper? And why?”
Dimitri lost his infectious grin. “Hey now, she looks f-fine to me.”
Addie decided she needed to stand her ground right away. “Watch who you’re calling a Mary Sue, sweetie.”
Kendrick’s reaction was to rise slowly to his feet, face Jaycee, fix her with his green stare, and snarl. His nose wrinkled with the rumbling, his body stiff, eyes full of anger.
Jaycee’s hand came off her hip, her face went pale, and she jerked back as though she’d been slapped. “Kendrick, I was just . . .”
Kendrick let out a full-throated roar, and Jaycee’s tawny-brown eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry.”
“You sh-should be apologizing to her, not him,” Dimitri said.
Jaycee flicked her gaze to Addie, the misery in it so great Addie’s irritation turned to sympathy. “Sorry,” Jaycee said, her voice sharp.
Addie waved her hand and spoke lightly. “Forget it. Come on in and have breakfast.”
Jaycee drew a long breath, which pushed her ample bosom high. “Sure. You have meat?”
“Sausage and bacon. Plenty for carnivores.” Addie turned away and went into the house, breathing a sigh of relief at the cool interior. The porch had heated up in more ways than one.
A touch on her arm stopped her, and Addie looked into Dimitri’s handsome face. He had very nice eyes, dark gray and full of depth.
“D-don’t mind Jaycee. She’s just intense.”
“I see that.” Addie led the way to the big table in the front room. “Since you’re first in, you get to pick where to sit.”
Dimitri’s grin returned. “Next to you, sweet babe.”
No stammering at all that time. His look was warm, his interest apparent.
“I see what she means about a hose,” Addie said. “Sit down over there.” She pointed. “You can make sure the cubs don’t spill anything.”
* * *
Breakfast commenced without much problem. Kendrick disappeared into the bedroom, then reappeared in human form, dressed. He squeezed the shoulders of Jaycee and Dimitri as he passed them, and both Shifters visibly relaxed.
They need him, Addie realized. The way they have to keep looking at him—it’s like they’ve been incomplete without him.
She wasn’t sure how the two new Shifters would view her. Jaycee was already wary, angry that Kendrick had brought Addie into the fold. Dimitri, whose last name was Kashnikov, seemed friendly enough, but even he kept a cautious eye on Addison and Charlie.
The cubs were oblivious to any tension and ate heartily. Jaycee and Dimitri put away plenty of food, Jaycee making no secret of her vast appetite. As much as Addie knew she’d have problems with Jaycee, it was nice to share a table with a woman who didn’t say, No, I shouldn’t eat that, it goes right to my hips; or Nothing for me, I’ll be fine while staring hungrily at the two bites of lettuce on her plate.