Wolf with Benefits
Page 83
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Youre an idiot, Oriana sighed. Just a big-headed idiot.
And youre an uptight little
Thats it, Bo cut in, impressing Blayne with his no-nonsense approach to children cursing at each other. Enough of this.
You might as well forget it, Novikov, Kyle said, rocking back on sneakers that lit up when he walked, reminding Blayne that this confident little kid was only eleven. The workmen have already gone. So the marble stays put.
Bo snorted. Really?
Walking over to the enormous piece of beautiful marble that Blayne assumed Kyle was planning to whittle down into a statue, Bo gazed at it a moment. He moved around it. Then he grasped the marble from behind and, with a grunt, dragged it across the floor like he was moving a filled refrigerator.
Blayne covered her mouth with her hands when she saw that Bo was leaving deep gouges in the hardwood floor.
Once across the room, Bo released the marble and came back over to the kids. They were gawking at him, fear mixed with envy mixed with admiration.
Do not bring any more giant pieces of marble in here, Kyle. Understand?
Do you know how much that weighed? Kyle asked, still gazing.
In fact, he told all three, no more trying to claim this room for yourselves. Im taking it over for now. I need more space than the library.
It took ten full-humans to move that, Troy added. Ten.
Full-humans are naturally weak. You shouldnt hold that against them.
Were not, Oriana muttered. Youre just freaking us out.
Then you better not piss me off. Bo looked at each child before asking, Understand?
All three nodded.
Good. Now, Im hungry. Lets feed. He walked out, winking at Blayne as he passed by.
The two boys followed after him, Kyle noting that Bo was Magnificent.
Oriana stopped by Blayne. I know, she said about her brother. I know.
Well . . . Bo is magnificent. Shed just never expected an eleven-year-old boy to be comfortable enough to say that out loud.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By the third day, Toni truly thought her head might explode. For three days shed been forced to sit in this room. For three days, shed been forced to wait for hours until someone came in to tell her to try again tomorrow. And for three days shed been forced to keep her temper under control.
Although Toni hadnt realized she had a temper quite like this. The more they made her wait, the worse it was getting. What made it even worse were the two males she was stuck with.
She looked across the room. First at Vic Barinov. He was reading abook on the Teutonic knights and their battles.
Really? Really? Was reading about Teutonic knights seriously that important? When her entire life was falling apart around her?
Knowing she was moments away from biting the mans nose off, Toni turned her gaze to the wolf. Unlike the hybrid, he wasnt reading anything. He was just sitting there, placidly staring at the wall. How did he do that? How did anyone do that who was not already in some sort of catatonic state?
This whole situation was insane! And making her absolutely crazy. Even worse were the regular texts from her family. Text after text after text with just enough information to have Toni seriously worried for their collective safety.
And did any of that concern the bears? Well, she had no idea because she hadnt spoken to any of them. Instead, a bear led her into The Room as she now called it, left her there for hours, and then another bear led her out.
Well you know what? Today was going to be different. Today she was going to stand up and say, Ive had enough!
But before she could, the door opened and some bear looked at her and said, You can go now.
With a yip that made the black bear stumble away from the doorway, Toni got to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and stormed out of the room. She didnt look back to see if the two males with her were following, because she no longer cared. She no longer cared about them. Or this job. Or these bears. Or anything else in the universe. She was fed up with everyone and everything.
Toni reached the car first and tapped her foot while the two males ambled up. Barinov remotely unlocked the doors and Toni got inside. She tossed her bag to the floor, pulled her legs up on the seat, and wrapped her arms around her calves. She worked to control her breathing because she knew a panic attack was coming on. Yes. Like Freddy and Cherise, Toni did get panic attacks, but shed worked hard over the years to control the problem since she couldnt afford to have panic attacks while her siblings were.
And just a few days around bigoted bears seemed to have ruined all the good work her therapist had done. This was unacceptable!
How ya doin, darlin? the wolf asked her from the front passenger seat.
Toni dug her fingernails into her hands and lied, Fine.
Ricky turned on the TV in his room, then quickly turned it off again. He didnt know Russian, wasnt about to start learning it now, and there was just something upsetting about watching a John Wayne movie dubbed into any other language but good ol American. Or, as his sister liked to correct him, You mean English, dumb ass?
So Ricky grabbed his laptop and fired up one of the movies he had on his hard drive. He was just getting into the original Oceans Eleven when Vic knocked on his door.
And youre an uptight little
Thats it, Bo cut in, impressing Blayne with his no-nonsense approach to children cursing at each other. Enough of this.
You might as well forget it, Novikov, Kyle said, rocking back on sneakers that lit up when he walked, reminding Blayne that this confident little kid was only eleven. The workmen have already gone. So the marble stays put.
Bo snorted. Really?
Walking over to the enormous piece of beautiful marble that Blayne assumed Kyle was planning to whittle down into a statue, Bo gazed at it a moment. He moved around it. Then he grasped the marble from behind and, with a grunt, dragged it across the floor like he was moving a filled refrigerator.
Blayne covered her mouth with her hands when she saw that Bo was leaving deep gouges in the hardwood floor.
Once across the room, Bo released the marble and came back over to the kids. They were gawking at him, fear mixed with envy mixed with admiration.
Do not bring any more giant pieces of marble in here, Kyle. Understand?
Do you know how much that weighed? Kyle asked, still gazing.
In fact, he told all three, no more trying to claim this room for yourselves. Im taking it over for now. I need more space than the library.
It took ten full-humans to move that, Troy added. Ten.
Full-humans are naturally weak. You shouldnt hold that against them.
Were not, Oriana muttered. Youre just freaking us out.
Then you better not piss me off. Bo looked at each child before asking, Understand?
All three nodded.
Good. Now, Im hungry. Lets feed. He walked out, winking at Blayne as he passed by.
The two boys followed after him, Kyle noting that Bo was Magnificent.
Oriana stopped by Blayne. I know, she said about her brother. I know.
Well . . . Bo is magnificent. Shed just never expected an eleven-year-old boy to be comfortable enough to say that out loud.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By the third day, Toni truly thought her head might explode. For three days shed been forced to sit in this room. For three days, shed been forced to wait for hours until someone came in to tell her to try again tomorrow. And for three days shed been forced to keep her temper under control.
Although Toni hadnt realized she had a temper quite like this. The more they made her wait, the worse it was getting. What made it even worse were the two males she was stuck with.
She looked across the room. First at Vic Barinov. He was reading abook on the Teutonic knights and their battles.
Really? Really? Was reading about Teutonic knights seriously that important? When her entire life was falling apart around her?
Knowing she was moments away from biting the mans nose off, Toni turned her gaze to the wolf. Unlike the hybrid, he wasnt reading anything. He was just sitting there, placidly staring at the wall. How did he do that? How did anyone do that who was not already in some sort of catatonic state?
This whole situation was insane! And making her absolutely crazy. Even worse were the regular texts from her family. Text after text after text with just enough information to have Toni seriously worried for their collective safety.
And did any of that concern the bears? Well, she had no idea because she hadnt spoken to any of them. Instead, a bear led her into The Room as she now called it, left her there for hours, and then another bear led her out.
Well you know what? Today was going to be different. Today she was going to stand up and say, Ive had enough!
But before she could, the door opened and some bear looked at her and said, You can go now.
With a yip that made the black bear stumble away from the doorway, Toni got to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and stormed out of the room. She didnt look back to see if the two males with her were following, because she no longer cared. She no longer cared about them. Or this job. Or these bears. Or anything else in the universe. She was fed up with everyone and everything.
Toni reached the car first and tapped her foot while the two males ambled up. Barinov remotely unlocked the doors and Toni got inside. She tossed her bag to the floor, pulled her legs up on the seat, and wrapped her arms around her calves. She worked to control her breathing because she knew a panic attack was coming on. Yes. Like Freddy and Cherise, Toni did get panic attacks, but shed worked hard over the years to control the problem since she couldnt afford to have panic attacks while her siblings were.
And just a few days around bigoted bears seemed to have ruined all the good work her therapist had done. This was unacceptable!
How ya doin, darlin? the wolf asked her from the front passenger seat.
Toni dug her fingernails into her hands and lied, Fine.
Ricky turned on the TV in his room, then quickly turned it off again. He didnt know Russian, wasnt about to start learning it now, and there was just something upsetting about watching a John Wayne movie dubbed into any other language but good ol American. Or, as his sister liked to correct him, You mean English, dumb ass?
So Ricky grabbed his laptop and fired up one of the movies he had on his hard drive. He was just getting into the original Oceans Eleven when Vic knocked on his door.
