Page 171 of Mission Shift

“Hey, Murph—there he is! C’mere, buddy.” Conan came in loud, as usual, with Anastasia right behind him.

Murphy yapped like mad and jumped on Conan’s legs until he scooped him up into his arms, laughing and scratching the little dog behind his ears. That was when Handsome padded into view, massive and silent, his eyes locked on Conan, sizing him up.

Conan froze. “Oh, shit! Who opened the gates of hell and let that thing in?”

Atticus and I both cracked up.

Daria didn’t. She stepped toward Conan. “That isHandsome,and he’s not a thing. He’s the best damn dog you’ll ever meet.”

Conan, still holding Murphy in one arm, raised a brow but grinned. His other arm went around Daria’s shoulders without hesitation. “You must be Braxton’s newfriend.”

“Daria,” she said, looking up at him in surprise, taking in all his tattoos.

“Atticus texted me a little while ago,” Conan said. “Told me my brother up and got married but didn’t mention it till he was home. So, as soon as I got off shift, I picked up Angel and came straight here.”

He gave Daria a firm squeeze. “Welcome to the fam, hon.”

Handsome stepped forward, a low growl rumbling in his chest. Daria lifted a hand toward him, and he stopped, sitting on command.

She smirked. “As long as my dog’s welcome, that’s all I care about.”

Conan set Murphy down, keeping his eyes on the beast beside Daria. “Don’t you worry. You and Cujo are more than welcome. I didn’t mean anything by the comment, but you gotta admit—he looks like he walked outta the bowels of Hades.”

Daria rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but he’s better behaved than most people I know.”

We all laughed. Atticus waved everyone toward the kitchen table. “Come on in. We were just about to dive into dessert when Daria dropped a little bombshell.”

Conan glanced from her to me. “Oh? What’s up?”

“It’s a lot,” Atticus said. “You won’t believe what happened to Braxton after those Russian thugs took him. It all started when he met Daria here—”

I shot Atticus a look. “Do we have to go through the entire Russian saga with them before they even sit down?”

Atticus grumbled and headed to the kitchen. The rest of us pitched in, clearing the rest of the dishes and passing out plates. Samantha then dished out homemade apple pie that was pulled straight out of the oven, adding scoops of vanilla ice cream. It didn’t take long before we were all seated at the table together.

Conan took one bite and made a face. “Store-bought ice cream? You’re killing me, Sam. My homemade stuff’s better.”

Anastasia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Of course it is. We all know you could give Ben & Jerry’s a run for their money.”

Samantha grinned and shot Daria a wink. “Hedoesmake a killer strawberry.”

After the last bite was eaten from everyone’s plates, Atticus dropped his fork, leveling his gaze at me. He was clearly done waiting. “Okay, can we get to the part about Viktor Volkov now?”

I hadn’t even finished chewing, but I could see it in his eyes—he was done waiting. Samantha’s apple pie might’ve delayed the interrogation, but not for long.

Angel leaned back in her chair and glanced at Daria. She rattled off something in Russian, rapid-fire, way too fast for me to keep up, though I was pretty sure I caughtzadnitsa—ass—andkomandir—commander. But her tone said it all.

Daria burst into laughter, snorting into her wineglass.

“What’d she say?” Samantha asked, already smirking.

Daria wiped her mouth and shook her head. “She just called your husband Mr. Bossy Pants—but in a much less polite way.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Atticus said flatly.

Angel smiled sweetly. “Exactly.”

Before he could fire back, Samantha stood, grabbed the bottle of wine, and looked at the girls. “I think it’s time for some girl talk and a refill…or maybe two.”

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