The Mane Squeeze. Shelly Laurenston

we are checking up on him.”

      “Yes. But we don’t need to say that out loud, now do we?”

      “No, ma’am. We don’t.”

      “Good. And I appreciate this.”

      “No problem. It’ll get me out of the house for a few hours.”

      “Sounds like you’ve been working too hard again.”

      “Eh.”

      “If you went back to school and got your master’s, you could be doing something you actually enjoy doing.”

      Lock frowned. “Which is…what exactly?”

      “Teaching at university level.”

      Lock’s eyes crossed. “Yeah. And I get along so well with kids, too.”

      “You’d make a great professor. I don’t know why you insist on sticking with this ridiculous course.”

      “Because it pays well.”

      “First the Marines, now computers. All that intelligence going to waste.”

      He must still be half-asleep, because he could usually steer his mother off this deadly topic long before she ever got there. Besides, he didn’t need any reminders of his parents’ disappointment with where his life was headed. And he didn’t look forward to the day they found out that creating software was only so he could earn money, retire, and finally do what he really wanted to do.

      “Are you afraid to ask us for help? Is that it?”

      “Mom.”

      “I don’t know why you think we wouldn’t help you if you needed it.”

      It was too early in the morning for this conversation. He hadn’t had his coffee or his honey bun yet. “Mom, can we talk about this later? Or do you want me getting to the house closer to four?”

      “No, no. Lunch would be better. Who knows what damage that man will do by four? We’ll talk more later.”

      “Great.” They both disconnected without saying good-bye—not because they were angry, but because his mother considered it a waste of words—and Lock got ready to face the day…and his dad.

      Sissy and Ronnie headed down the hallway back to the suite Sissy shared with Mitch and, apparently now, his sister. Thankfully, there were four bedrooms in the suite, and like the cat she was, Gwen stayed mostly to herself, so Sissy doubted it would be too bad.

      As they paused outside the suite door, Ronnie and Sissy stared at each other a long moment before Sissy unlocked the door with her keycard and pushed it open. She paused briefly in the doorway, shocked at what she was seeing, before she marched right across that room and got between Mitch and Gwen.

      Not an easy task with Gwen standing up on the table so she could tower over her brother while she screamed in his face and Mitch screamed back. Plus there was finger-pointing going on, Gwen’s looking much more lethal because they had those excessively long and painted nails. Sissy had never seen the siblings act like this toward each other before. She hadn’t known it was possible.

      “Y’all stop this right now!” she screamed over their yelling.

      “Stay out of this, Sissy!”

      “Yeah, ho-billy, stay out of it!”

      “Hey!” Mitch bellowed. “Watch how you talk to her!”

      “Fine! Then I’ll tell you to kiss my motherfucking—”

      “Hey!” Sissy tried to cut in, but it was too late. It had turned into an embarrassing spectacle of a slap-fight. Horrified that one of her Pack could see this display from Sissy’s mate, Sissy again got between the two, shoving Mitch back. “Cut it out!”

      Panting rapidly, the siblings glared at each other over Sissy’s head.

      “Is this any way for a brother and sister to act toward each other?” she demanded.

      Mitch’s brow went up as he looked down at Sissy. “I can’t believe that you’re throwing that particular argument at my feet. Or do I need to get out the football helmet you keep mounted on our bedroom wall as a reminder?”

      “Let me rephrase. Is this any way for a brother and sister who like each other to act? Now I want y’all to stop this foolishness right now before someone—” most likely me “—gets hurt.”

      “Fine.” Gwen said first. “I’ve gotta get to work anyway.”

      For some reason that made Mitch snarl, but Sissy had no idea why. “That’s fine, Gwen,” she said while glaring at her mate. “Y’all can talk about this later. Right, Mitchell?”

      “No! It’s not—”

      “Mitchell. Shaw.”

      The cat flinched. “Fine. It’ll wait.”

      “Good. Thank you.” Sissy stepped away from them and took a breath. Lord, this mediator thing was a hell of a lot of work and she was glad she didn’t have to do it too often. As Alpha Female it was all about keeping her calm and appeased. Much easier.

      “Hey, Sissy,” Ronnie said as she walked closer. “Why don’t I leave y’all—”

      It happened so fast that if Sissy still hadn’t been looking in the feline’s direction she never would have seen it. But as soon as Gwen heard Ronnie’s voice, her entire body went airborne like a suddenly uncoiled spring, her claws unleashing on both her hands and bare feet, as she flipped off the table and away from Ronnie. She caught hold of the drapes and, to Sissy’s horror, Gwen’s head snapped around about 180 degrees so that her nose aligned with her spine.

      Then she hissed at Ronnie like a terrified house cat.

      She kept hissing, too, until Mitch finally walked over, grabbed Gwen by the waist, and pulled her free of the drapes. It wasn’t easy and she shredded up the drapes something awful, but he finally managed it and took her to one of the bedrooms. He tossed her inside and closed the door.

      With her hand to her own throat, Sissy asked, “That thing she does with her neck—”

      “She’s a hybrid,” Mitch snapped. “We don’t ask those questions.” He turned to Ronnie. “Did anything happen between you and my sister while we were gone?”

      Ronnie glanced between Mitch and Sissy, her eyes wide. She shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

      The smile Blayne had on her face faded as Gwen stormed into their tiny, one-room office. And she cringed when Gwen’s backpack hit the floor and then Gwen dropped into her office chair as if it had physically harmed her.

      Blayne placed the printed job sheet back on her desk. “What’s wrong?”

      It took Gwen a minute to answer as she seethed, but Blayne could only cringe when she did. “Mitch is home.”

      “I thought he wasn’t coming back until Christmas.”

      “That’s what I thought,” Gwen spat out between visibly clenched teeth. “But apparently, their plans changed. And now he’s home.”

      “What did he say?”

      Gwen’s expression said it all, and Blayne could only shake her head. “We both knew he wouldn’t take this well. We both knew he was going to be an asshole. That’s what Mitch does when it comes to his baby sister. But this doesn’t change anything, Gwenie. You’re here, contracts are signed, there’s nothing he can do.”

      But instead of Gwen agreeing with her, she only sat up and said, “I need that job information for today.”

      Blayne covered the job order with her hand. “Forget it. You can do it tomorrow or something.”

      “No.