Stevie as they battled each other across the room. It wasn’t until they were right in front of the windows that Max felt something in the air change. So did Stevie. At the same moment, they released each other and looked up to see Charlie standing in front of the window, fangs peeking out from under her gums, eyes a bright wolf gold. Then she snarled and Stevie yelled what they were all thinking but would never say out loud, “Run for your lives!”
* * *
Charlie watched an entire group of predators disappear deep into the house. The only one still standing there was Berg. But he was laughing so hard, she simply turned away and returned to her spot on the porch steps.
As she rested her elbows on her raised knees and her chin on her fist, she wondered how much more damage one man could do. How could Freddy MacKilligan be that much of a fuck-up? How was it possible?
“And that poor girl,” she sighed out, thinking of Natalie Malone. She rubbed her eyes with both her fists, wishing she could wipe away all of it.
“Excuse me?”
Charlie lowered her fists but didn’t open her eyes. “Sorry. I’m not baking today.”
“Pardon?”
That didn’t sound like the voice of any local bear. It was too polite. So Charlie opened her eyes and spotted a slight older man standing on the other side of her fence. He held a paperback book in his hand and watched her with great caution.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Zé Vargas. I was told he was staying here.”
Charlie leaned back a bit, letting her gaze look the man over. “You’re his grandfather.”
He nodded and Charlie smiled, getting to her feet. She walked over to the gate and unlocked it.
“Hi, Mr. Vargas,” she greeted. “Come on in.”
* * *
“Wait . . . why did we run?” Keane Malone asked.
“Because you’re weak and pathetic?” Zé asked.
Dag gawked at him. “Wow. You went full-cat fast.”
He really had. What was wrong with him? He was the quiet, observant one. That’s how he’d always been described, whether it was playing football in high school or dealing with insurgents in a battle zone. Zé was always “quiet and observant.”
What he’d never really been was snarky and mean. Until now. Until he’d become part of this world.
Even worse . . . he was really enjoying it.
“We should just get Natalie out of here,” Shay said to his brothers.
“You’re not taking our sister anywhere,” Max said and she suddenly had the full attention of the Malone brothers. They locked on her the way those lions locked on that gazelle in the documentary he’d watched.
“She’s not your sister,” Keane snarled.
“She is now. She’s already been through the gauntlet.”
“The gauntlet?” Finn asked.
“Yeah. The Dad-gauntlet. Where he does something so ruthless and shitty that you realize you’re stuck being his child. At least this time he didn’t sell her.”
“Sell her?”
“Yeah. Once he sold me to a family. Indentured servitude, I think it’s called.”
Stevie nodded sadly. “He sold me to lots of people. The most infamous, though, was the Peruvian drug lord.”
“Yeah. Charlie and I dealt with that situation.” That’s when Max smiled. The smile said it all, and Zé knew he was in real trouble with this girl. He was no longer falling . . . he’d fallen. Because she was a nut. And he liked it. He liked her lethal nuttiness.
“Whatever,” Keane finally snapped. “You’re not keeping our sister.”
“You can’t raise her,” Max argued. “You giant house cats don’t know what to do with a honey badger.”
As the two families bickered, Zé saw Natalie roll her eyes and wander off. She studied the trees and the house, then looked into the glass door of the garage and disappeared inside.
* * *
Kyle heard someone come into his studio. He didn’t bother looking to see who it was. If it was Charlie, then food would be left on his desk. The woman constantly worried about his health. If it was Max, she would take a couple of basketballs from the shelves on the far side of the space and go outside to play. And if it was Stevie, she would simply look over his current work, nod her approval, and leave.
He appreciated that the MacKilligan sisters didn’t really bother him while he was working and only occasionally got in his way. Like when he was going to destroy his worst work. He didn’t see what the big deal