Green-Eyed Envy by Kasey Mackenzie Page A

of Harper and Penn’s “closest” family members had gathered for the hastily arranged engagement party. That none of the Cats or Hounds had yet killed each other was a very good thing. That I was about to let nerves and Rage get the better of me and kill several Cats myself was most certainly a bad thing.
    Though it sure would have made me feel better.
    “That old man looks down your shirt one more time and I’m coming in there.” Scott’s voice groused through the wireless earpiece that connected me to Trinity on the far side of the room and to Scott and Cass in an undercover van down the street. We’d decided that, for this first operation, it would be best to keep the risk of bloodshed down by having Scott sit out rather than mingle as one of the groomsmen. Especially in light of the room full of uptight Banoubs already itching for a fight they couldn’t (so far) indulge in. The two boys also had a bird’s-eye view of whatever I saw thanks to the camera disguised as a brooch pinned to my suit jacket.
    My lips twitched from the urge to laugh at Scott’s comment, though Uncle Number 2 (or was he 3?) wouldn’t appreciate the humor. I turned the threatened laugh into a cough. “Excuse me.” I batted my eyelashes and edged away. “Frog in my throat and I really need to visit the ladies’ room.” Before I Fury out and shove a frog down your throat. Don Juan wannabes my ass—more like Don Lotharios.
    Trinity cut me off as I made my way toward the high-end powder room, otherwise known as the ladies’ room. “You trying to make a run for it already?” she asked with a smile.
    “Ha. Don’t I wish?” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder toward Don Juan Lothario. “I figured it wouldn’t exactly be diplomatic for me to rip apart one of Harper’s uncles.”
    “Hmm.” She pretended to consider that for a moment. “You’re probably right. Then again, it might liven up this joint.”
    Trinity did have a point. It was dullsville at the moment. Hounds were sticking with Hounds on one end of the room while Cats stuck with Cats on the other end, and never the twain did meet. Then again, considering that the two races had been at war for countless millennia, that might not have been such a bad thing. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of someone I really didn’t want to talk to headed our way. I held out hope until she made direct eye contact and nodded. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
    “What’s wrong?” Scott asked in my ear at the same time Trinity looked around and said, “What’s up?”
    “Don’t look now, Trin, but Mama Hound coming our way at ten o’clock.”
    Needless to say, Trinity looked. Mama Hound in this instance referred to Neema Banoub, famed matriarch of the Banoub clan. She also happened to be Scott’s maternal grandmother and a right royal bitch to boot. I’d been unlucky enough to encounter her a handful of times before this and only spoken with her on one of those occasions. Of course, she didn’t even know that I was me . She thought that I was the Double-D Diva herself, Sierra Nieves, Wedding Planner to the Stars.
    Gods, I can’t even think that with a straight face. I can’t believe they actually thought that was a good pseudonym to run with.
    Though I did have to give them bonus points for snappiness. Sierra Nieves did sound like a name someone would pick if they were going to work for the stars—or in a strip club. We had wanted to craft a cover that would appeal to both the Cats and the Hounds. Most of Harper’s family members were Latin Americans, as was the persona I currently wore, and she also had the benefit of being half-Hound and half-mortal, which would give me a good excuse to hang out with Scott more than might otherwise be seemly and give me something in common with Penn’s family—even if they did tend to sneer at “half-breeds.”
    Of course, what would appeal most to the Hounds in the crowd was that she had worked with