“So scary.”
“What are you two making googly eyes over now? Eat some damn food. You’re gonna need all your brain cells today, Teddy Bear. Nothin’ better to start the hunt for Russian motherfluffers than a good breakfast.” Nina shoved the plate of eggs at her, popping a piece of bacon in her own mouth as she did.
The heavy weight of her confession, one she’d practiced over and over in her head, began to blur and swim in her brain. Taking the eggs, she put some on her plate, listlessly poking at them with her fork.
“Hey, you’d better call your brothers huh?” Marty suggested, batting her eyelashes. “They’re probably wondering why you didn’t bring your life mate home.”
As pretty as the day before, Marty had let her hair down this morning. It fell in beachy waves around her beautiful face, artfully made up to enhance the deep blue of her eyes. She wore a cute pair of denim leggings and knee-high boots with a thigh-length cable-knit sweater in purple.
Looking down at her freshly laundered torn clothes, Teddy suddenly found herself feeling quite small. When she’d reached the age where clothes and makeup became important to her, her mother was already gone.
Her brothers had raised her from that point on, and they knew zero about clothes and all things girl, especially as young as they’d been when they’d taken the reins from their mother. They knew horses and running a ranch and a business. They’d done their best to give her everything she needed, and she loved and appreciated them more than they’d ever know, but sometimes…
Sometimes, she wished for a female influence—someone to tell her what color sweater made her eyes stand out or how she should wear her hair.
Instead, she pulled her own wavy hair up in a ponytail or braided it—because it was practical when working with the animals she loved so much.
“Teddy, honey?” Wanda leaned over the table and patted her arm. “Your brothers? Shouldn’t you call them?”
The last thing she wanted to do was call Vadim and Viktor with the kind of news she would impart. She’d lost a lot of cash…
She shrugged and swallowed. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be okay with it. But I guess I should, if you all don’t mind.”
Wanda tugged the end of Teddy’s braid and smiled. Just as perfectly made up as Marty, she was also equally as beautiful. “I’m sorry. I was pretty grumpy yesterday, wasn’t I?”
Hah. Just you wait, Wanda.
Teddy shrugged again, almost afraid to say anything. “It was a tense situation. I understand.”
But Wanda shook her head, smoothing back her updo with elegant fingers and a grin. “I was a bear, if you’ll pardon the pun. But I’d been listening to Marty and Nina argue with each other for four days while we tried to figure out Cormac’s exact location. Our directions were pretty vague. As you can imagine, the twins had drained me of my energy by the time we found him.”
Wanda was their peacemaker—that was as clear as the day was long. She was the leader of the pack whether she acknowledged it or not, this pack they’d created out of necessity, and the burden of keeping Marty and Nina from killing each other had to be on par with wrestling alligators every single day.
“I take it it’s been hard on you with this change for Nina?”
Wanda sighed as she sipped her coffee, the gesture forlorn. “It’s been hard for all of us, but Marty’s taking it the hardest. Maybe even harder than Nina. Nina seems to be just fine as long as she has food. But fear not, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, go call your brothers and let them know you’re safe. I’ll feel better and so will you.” Patting her arm once more, Wanda turned back to the conversation Nina and Cormac were having about the Giants and the Steelers.
Giving her permission to call her brothers was like giving her permission to attend her own funeral.
Pushing the spindled chair out, Teddy reluctantly rose and made her way back to the great room where it was quiet.
She took a seat on the very couch she’d sat on last night, by the fire where it was warm, and pulled her phone from her pocket, turning it on.
There were tons of texts from both Vadim and Viktor. They began pretty lighthearted. “Hey, you okay?” and “Little sister, where you at?”
But they began to go sour after the first four or five. “You’re freaking us out, Teddy Bear!” and “If you don’t check in soon, we’re comin’ for you!”
The worst was, “Don’t do this shit to us, Teds! Not after last year. Get in touch now!”
She typically kept in pretty close contact with them whenever she was on a job. The total silence had them in a panic, and with good reason, after what had happened last year. Yet, she had no choice but to relieve their worries.