Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,70
been doing so well.”
Max winced a little, glancing at Zé. “Yes, let’s tell the world our sister’s in therapy.”
Stevie stopped searching for Will’s number in Max’s phone to glare at her. “I’m in therapy. Are you embarrassed by that, too?”
“I’m not embarrassed by you or her being in therapy, but perhaps she doesn’t want the world to know.”
“That sounds like shame.”
“That is not shame.”
“I’ve been in therapy a few times,” Zé suddenly announced and both sisters looked at him. He shrugged. “PTSD. When I was a Marine. You know . . . being shot at. Things blowing up around me. It takes its toll.”
“See?” Stevie said, again searching for Will’s number. “He has no shame.”
“I’m not asham—”
Max stopped what was about to turn into a tirade. She wasn’t going to let her father and sister get under her skin. Not today!
“I’m going upstairs to take a shower and then buy him”—she pointed at Zé—“a new phone.”
“Did I ask you what you were going to do?” Stevie demanded. “Because I don’t really care what you’re going to do!”
* * *
It took all of thirty seconds but the sisters went from general sadness about having such a weirdly irritating father to screaming at each other. So much screaming that Zé couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
He thought about stepping in before the two could come to blows but that seemed like a bad idea. Zé had already seen Max’s fangs. He didn’t need to see them again.
Behind them, though, standing outside the window in the yard, stood Shen. He waved at Zé, urging him to come over.
Zé looked at the sisters, then back at Shen, but Shen motioned again. He walked through the house and out the back door to meet Shen.
“Morning,” Shen greeted.
“Hey. You needed me?”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell me to come outside?”
“Oh, because you don’t want to get in the middle of a MacKilligan sister fight. For a second there, you looked like you might.”
Zé glanced back at the house and nodded. “You know, I sensed that wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Instincts, man. You’ve lived this long because of your instincts. Trust them. Besides, it always gets like that when their father comes around. Especially if Charlie’s not there for them to focus on instead.”
“They’re trying to keep it from Charlie.”
“Probably a good idea. She really hates her father.”
“I’ve only met him once, but I get that.”
“Anyway, it’s better if you stay out here with me.” Shen held up what he had been holding in his hand. “Bamboo?”
Zé shook his head, forcing himself to not look disgusted about a man offering him what seemed to him to be nothing more than a piece of a cheap chair, and simply replied, “No, thanks.”
Shen motioned behind him. “Wanna climb a tree with me? ”
At that point, Zé couldn’t do anything but look as confused as he felt. “Why the hell, as an actual adult, would I want to climb a tree with another man?”
Shen simply looked at the tree and so did Zé. It was a good-sized tree with a wide trunk. The branches were extremely thick and covered in lush leaves.
“Oh, my God,” Zé gasped out. “I want to climb that tree.”
“At this time of day, it’s best to do it as human. But at night . . . all bets are off.”
“Pandas climb trees?”
“I don’t really climb,” Shen admitted. “I just hang from the lower branch and eat my bamboo.”
“And that makes you happy?”
“Stevie makes me happy. Hanging from a tree limb and eating bamboo . . . ? That’s just an enhancement to my happy.”
chapter THIRTEEN
Max watched her sister disconnect the call with Uncle Will. Their father had ripped off the Scottish side of the MacKilligans for one-hundred-million Sterling. One of the dumbest things that anyone could do. Honey badgers were not exactly known for their forgiving nature, but they were known for their love of money. They liked the security it provided, and if they had to break the law to ensure they had cash, they were willing to do that. Mostly because they were good at it.
They could break into—and out of—almost anything and had no problem working with full-humans. In fact, most badgers lived their entire existence among full-humans, avoiding the shifter world outside their own families.
When Max asked her mother why their kind did that, why they didn’t happily join in to all the things the shifter world offered—the restaurants, the sports, the shopping and, most importantly, the protection—she’d only smiled and said,