They had left the vet’s office and were making their way down to the world beneath. Of course, that sounded way more dramatic than it actually was. All you had to do was walk down some stairs and pass a couple of shifter security guards who gave a good sniff to make sure you were one of them.
“You want something to eat, baby?” Shay asked Dani, placing the crate with the puppies on a table near the Starbucks.
Tock dropped into a seat and Dani took one of the others.
“No, thank you, Daddy. Just some water.”
Shay had walked into the coffee shop but walked right back out. “You’re not hungry?” he asked, gazing down at his daughter. “What’s wrong? You don’t feel well? Do I need to take you home?”
“Um . . . no. Just wanted some water.”
“When was the last time you ate? Did you eat before we left? What about some fruit? Do you want some fruit? Or cereal? I can get you some cereal.”
“You are freaking her out,” Tock told him. “You know what I’d love? A small coffee. Black. No sugar.” She pushed a ten-dollar bill across the table, but Shay waved it away before looking his daughter over one more time and finally walking into the Starbucks.
“Thanks for coming with us today,” Dani said once her father was gone.
“No problem. Your father is always so cute in his inherent confusion.”
“I think I’m going to stay with him and my uncles until we find homes for the puppies.”
“Probably a good idea. Will your mom be okay with that?” Tock’s mom had become weepy when she spent the night at Streep’s house or Nelle’s mansion. Even now she received regular texts from her mother that basically said the same thing: “I haven’t heard from you in days. Are you dead?” Tock had never wanted a sibling, but she always wondered if her mother would be less clingy if there were another child to distract her.
“My mom has my brothers in football camp, then they will start practice for football at their school, so I won’t be missed. She’ll be busy until after the Super Bowl.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No. My test scores are always higher during football season.”
Tock laughed at that.
Shay returned to their table. After watching the cat stare at the crate of puppies, Tock picked it up and placed it on the ground next to her legs and Princess.
With a grunt that she guessed was a thank-you, Shay put down a large coffee in front of Tock—she’d asked for the small—and a plate with several honey buns, which she hadn’t ordered at all. He put a giant bottle of water in front of his daughter, as well as a bottle of orange juice, and a plate filled with cinnamon buns.
“Here. Eat,” he ordered.
He went back into the coffee shop to bring out his own food.
“I don’t want this,” the kid said.
“How about the honey buns?” Tock loved honey but she wasn’t a honey bun fan. There wasn’t enough honey for her and the bun just felt gummy against her tongue. She’d rather just squeeze the contents of one of those bear-shaped honey containers directly into her mouth.
“No.”
“Well, I’ll take the cinnamon buns.” She loved those. “Orange juice?”
“I really just wanted the water.”
Tock took the juice, opened it, and drank it all in several gulps. She closed the bottle and put it back in front of Dani.
“You drank that,” she said, pointing at the empty bottle.
Shay returned with his own three plates full of pastries, a large coffee, and a large bottle of water.
He sat down, carefully arranged everything around him, and then began to eat. But not before noting, “At least you drank the juice, baby.”
Nodding, eyes wide, Dani replied, “Uh-huh.”
“Here.” Tock pushed her honey buns toward the big cat.
“You don’t like?”
“They’re okay. But I like cinnamon better. I like my honey plain and unfettered by stuff.”
“Whatever that means.”
They ate in silence while the kid pulled out her notebook and began working on her fractions again.
When Shay had finished shoveling food into his mouth with a speed Tock found fascinating, he reached across the table and took Tock’s arm. As he turned it so he could see her watch, she no longer felt the desire to punch him for touching her without permission.
“Okay. I’ve got to get to practice. You ready, baby?”
“Do I have to go?” Dani whined.
“Baby, I can’t leave you here.” Shay gestured at the others sitting at nearby tables. “These are all killers and you’re just a little cub. I can’t leave you alone with any of them.”
Tock dropped her head to hide her smile when she saw all the insulted glares leveled at the back of Shay’s head.
“Um . . .” Tock cleared her throat. “I don’t have practice for a couple of hours. She can hang with me.”
“Oh, please, Daddy! Please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeassssseeeee! Can I stay with Tock?”
“Well—”
“Please!”
“Okay! If you’re really okay with it, Tock.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she said with a shrug. “She’s doing math.”
Dani nodded. “I am.”
“I’ll drop her off just before I go to practice.”
“Okay.” He stood and pointed at Dani. “Be good.” He raised a brow at Tock. “You, too.”
Chapter 13
“You left our baby with a honey badger?”
Shay took a step back from his eldest brother’s sudden burst of rage. “First off, she’s not our baby. She’s my baby. And second, it’s Tock.”
“Yeah,” Finn agreed. “I’d be more worried if it were Max.”
“Exactly.”
“As we speak,” Keane snarled, “she probably has her involved in a heist!”
“They’re doing math.”
“About diamonds?”
“Possibly, but not to steal them. Besides, I trust Tock.” Shay blinked. “Huh. I trust Tock. Didn’t see that coming.”
“Not after she cut your throat,” Keane muttered.
“That was an accident. And she just nicked the artery. Who among us hasn’t lost control of their claws?”
“That’s it. I’m going to find my niece.”
Shay and Finn grabbed Keane and yanked him back.
“Dani is fine,” Shay insisted.
“And Mads will be here in a few hours for basketball practice,” Finn said. “She’ll make sure everything’s fine.”
“What makes you think I trust Mads with my niece any more than I trust Tock?” Keane wanted to know.
“Because Mads is family.”
“Since when?”
Shay grinned. “Since Finn fell in love with her.”
Finn nodded and grinned back at Shay. “Yeah.”
Keane looked from one brother to the other before announcing, “Both of you are idiots.”
*
Dani didn’t know how long she’d been working on her math problems before Tock said, “Let me see your work.”
Annoyed, she snapped, “Oh, come on. It’s been five minutes.”