The cubs laughed. “Do it, Uncle Dimitri.”
Dimitri glanced at Addie and actually blushed. “C-can’t be s-stripping down in front of Addie.”
“Addie can turn around,” Brett said. “Come on, Uncle Dimitri.”
Addie rose. “I’ll go inside. Just be careful.”
All three boys cheered. They started chanting Big Bad Wolf, Big Bad Wolf.
Addie closed the front door, shutting herself into the dim interior. A few moments later, she heard vicious snarls, and quickly opened the door again.
A huge wolf stood on the porch. Its coat was not the gray or black she expected but a deep shade of red-brown. Dimitri had lowered himself to his belly, and was stalking the cubs, his ears flat, growls coming from his mouth. The boys were pretending to be afraid—Brett and Zane had become tiger cubs, but Robbie remained a boy, scrambling out of the way to come around behind Dimitri and pull his tail.
Dimitri howled in feigned outrage, saw Addie watching, and winked at her.
Addie bit back a laugh and decided to leave them to it.
She left the living room for the back, to make sure the cubs’ room had been put to rights this morning. As she entered the hall, she saw Jaycee just going into the bedroom Addie was more or less sharing with Kendrick.
Addie hurried in behind her. Jaycee had halted in the middle of the room and was looking around with her quick eyes.
“Hey,” Addie said before the other woman could speak. “I’ve heard Shifters have a thing about territory. Well, this is mine.”
Jaycee turned around and gave her a big, false smile. “And that’s fine. I’m just getting the lay of the land. But Kendrick can’t stay in here with you. Not safe.”
“I think that’s Kendrick’s choice,” Addie said stiffly.
“You’re wrong about that.” Jaycee looked her over. “We’re Kendrick’s seconds, his trackers, his bodyguards. He doesn’t need human scent all over him. If he wants a quick release with you, that’s okay, but unless he’s crazy enough to mate-claim a human—and we’d do our best to talk him out of it—he can’t cozy up to you. Too dangerous. Trust me, I’ve been keeping our guy out of danger for years.”
“I see. How about when your compound was destroyed?” Addie said, angry.
Jaycee’s condescending but tolerant look vanished. She zipped across the room before Addie could blink, grabbed Addie by the throat, and pinned her against the nearest wall.
“How do you know about that?”
“Kendrick told me,” Addie said, or tried to say. Hard to talk with a hand squeezing her windpipe.
“He didn’t tell you the whole of it—he never will. We were taken by surprise, we fought like hell, and then we followed protocol. We laid low until he summoned us. Well, now he’s called us, and we take care of him, honey. Get that through your pretty head.”
Jaycee shook Addie, not enough to hurt, but enough to tap her head against the wall. Jaycee released her, strode back to the dresser, and resumed pulling Kendrick’s clothes out of the drawer.
Addie rubbed her throat. “You don’t have to bother with that. I’ll take mine out, instead.”
Jaycee, her hands full of Kendrick’s T-shirts, stopped, nodded, and put the shirts back into the drawer—neatly.
“That’s a better solution. Find a small bedroom away from the rest of us. Don’t worry, sweetie, I don’t sleep with Kendrick without his permission. If he wants you, he’ll come to you.”
Addie fetched the small tote bag she’d bought in San Antonio, stepped past Jaycee, and started putting her new clothes into it. She didn’t say a word, because she knew she’d only start a knock-down, drag-out girl fight, and she was realistic enough to know she couldn’t win. The strength in Jaycee’s hand around Addie’s throat, even with the woman holding back, had told Addie that.