Page 33 of Riot

“Just then, Reaper walked out of his bedroom. “Calvin, my man. See you finally made it.”

“Reaper?” Calvin glanced past him. “Drift, is that you?’

Drift, the nosy ass, had stuck his head out of the kitchen entrance.

“Hungry, kid?”

“Any more empanadas?”

A wide grin split Drift’s face, partly covered by his thick beard. “Under strict orders not to let anyone touch them but you.”

“Mayhem, you owe me twenty bucks!” Reaper yelled, though it wasn’t necessary.

Calvin took off toward the kitchen, leaving me standing there.

“Betting on my mate again?” I arched a brow.

“Betting on you.” Reaper chuckled, his laugh dying when Calvin raced back toward them, his face a mask of terror.

“Ack!”

I headed straight for him, ready to disembowel whoever had scared him that badly.

Until the five-month-old German shepherd came bounding down the hallway, tongue hanging out, giving chase.

“A dog!” Calvin grabbed at me, trying to scale my body like a frightened cat. “Why didn’t you warn me you had a killer dog?”

“She’s a puppy,” Reaper said, frowning at Calvin. “She’s still running sideways.”

I bit back the laugh, trying to pull Calvin into my arms, but he refused to release his death grip. “Calvin. It’s okay.”

“It is not okay. That puppy is huge. And has sharp teeth.”

“Noodles!” Spencer shot down the hall, nearly falling on his ass in his slippery socks. He was no bigger than Calvin, and the puppy ran circles around him.

“Gunner!” Crowbar yelled from deeper inside the clubhouse. “Her name is Gunner!”

“I shall never accept that name!” Spencer declared then glanced toward Calvin. “Sorry. She spotted someone new and wanted to become instant buddies. My killer dog is special that way.” He looked down at her. “You scared the poor man, Noodles.”

“Gunner!”

“Ignore Daddy.” Spencer grabbed her collar. “No playmate until you learn manners, young lady. You look ferocious to a lot of people.” He glanced over his shoulder, Noodles/Gunner wiggling to get free. “I’m Spencer, by the way. Welcome to our madhouse.”

My mate still hadn’t released his death-grip on me. “Calvin,” he said. “Pleasure to be invited to your madhouse.”

“I like him.” Spencer pulled the dog back down the hallway.

“Hi, I’m Ollie.” Diesel’s mate waved from around the wall of the common room. “Welcome to insanity, where you might go crazy but you’ll never go hungry.”

“Goddamn right,” Drift said proudly from the kitchen.

I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. The mates were more unhinged than the wolves.

“Calvin,” his mate said. “And you’ve clearly never been to my house.”

That statement hadn’t gone unnoticed. I tucked it away for now.

Once again Calvin walked away but more cautiously this time, head snapping around like he expected the puppy to maul him.