Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,69
his throat, she forced her father to bend backward until she could look him in the eyes.
“You’re going to get out of here and you’re not going to come back. Or I’ll kill you and bury you under the house. We both know I’ll do it. Just test me.”
To make her point, she shoved him down so he landed hard on the floor. But he was up quickly, unleashing his own fangs and stepping into her. They banged their foreheads together and snarled, drool pooling on the hardwood floor, their claws out, ready to slash.
Max had always been able to anger her father in ways that Charlie never could and Stevie never would. Because Max had no issues that he could toy with. She barely had a conscience. To her, taking out her father would be just one more thing she had to hide from her sisters so feelings wouldn’t get hurt. Freddy knew that Max was the biggest threat to his well-being because Max truly did not give a fuck.
She decided in that moment that maybe it was just time to get the loser out but she didn’t have a chance.
Zé suddenly grabbed Freddy by the hair and yanked him up and out, dragging him toward the front of the house. Following them, she watched Zé yank open the front door.
“She told you to leave,” he said, kicking the security door open. “So you should do that.”
He tossed her father out of the house like so much trash, slammed the door, and locked it.
Zé faced her. “What an asshole!”
Max nodded. “Yeah. He is.”
“He didn’t even do anything. But just the sight of him . . .”
“Irritated you.”
“Yes! Just the sight of him irritated me.”
“Yeah. That’s my dad. He does great with full-humans. But shifters aren’t fans . . . except our mothers.”
Zé cringed. “Why?”
“Dude . . . if I knew why, I’d tell you.” Max went to the door, pushing past Zé. She unlocked it and opened it again. Her father was standing in front of the house now and she could tell just by looking at him that he was about to start screaming. Just to get Stevie’s or Charlie’s attention.
She stepped out of the house but didn’t have to go any farther because her saviors were right there.
“Hey, Kapowskis!” she called out to the four grizzly bears about to drive their kids to shifter summer day camp—including the one almost eaten by Zé. “If you want my sister to have those honey buns ready for you when you get back”—she pointed at her father—“he needs to go.”
Those big grizzly heads turned, those cold brown eyes locked on Freddy MacKilligan, and their grizzly humps abruptly grew, giving their already powerful arms and shoulders even more strength.
Freddy glared at his daughter. “You evil little—aaaaaaaaaah-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” he screamed, running from the four bears chasing him down the Queens, New York, street.
With a smile, Max went back inside and closed the front door.
“All done.”
“What about those kids?” Zé asked, pointing at the cubs through the front windows of the sun room. “Should we leave them outside like that?”
“They’ll be fine. Every bear mom in this neighborhood is genetically tuned to the cries of any cub under threat. And one of those kids is the one you tried to eat, so I’m not sure his dad would want him in here . . . with you.”
Zé glared. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, ignoring the sarcasm in his tone. “And thanks for your help.”
Max headed back into the living room and found Stevie standing there in one of Shen’s way-too-big Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirts.
“Dad?” she asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah. Dad. Sor—”
“No. Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything. What did he want anyway?”
“What else? Money.”
She nodded at Zé, who’d followed Max into the room. “Hey, Zé.”
“Hey, Stevie. You okay?”
“I’m going to be fine.” She held her hand out. “Gimme your phone.”
Max let out a sigh. “Dude, don’t give him any money.”
“I’m not. I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago.”
Handing over her phone, Max asked, “What?”
“I’m going to rat him out to Uncle Will. Let his brother deal with him the way he’s always wanted to: brutally.”
Max couldn’t help but be shocked by that response. Well . . . that response from Stevie. No one in the family had ever thought she’d be the one to tell Uncle Will.
“You’re going to call Uncle Will? Are you sure you want to do that?”
“I am not letting our sister’s therapy go to waste. She has