Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,77
on weight, which wouldn’t normally bother her except that she’d also noticed her shifted form had gotten bigger, too . . .
That was starting to freak her out. But instead of focusing on something she definitely had no control over, she decided to focus on her new lab and the ballet. Two very positive things! Her life was currently full of positive things! She was in love with the sweetest panda ever—and, oh, my God! He loved her back—her music was flowing out of her the way it used to when she worked on it daily as a kid, and going through the files she’d found in the lab had been fascinating. As well as terrifying. Her predecessor had been brilliant but he’d also been a sick motherfucker. That’s why she didn’t feel guilty for biting him in half.
Her phone rang and she pulled it out of the back of her jeans pocket. She looked down at the screen and frowned at seeing Mads’s name.
“That’s weird,” she muttered, about to answer the call. But then...
“Stevie? Is that you?”
Stevie turned and saw a honey badger female standing near her back door. A honey badger she didn’t know. With a panicked scream, she flipped herself up and caught hold of the ceiling with her claws.
The honey badger gazed up at her. “Huh. Max never told me you could do that.”
Stevie blinked, retracted her fangs. She might not recognize the face but the voice . . . she’d heard that voice a few times through Max’s cell phone.
“Renny?”
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Stevie now retracted her claws and easily landed on the ground. “Renny? Is that you?”
“I know. A little older. My ass is a little bigger. But it’s me.”
Stevie threw her arms around Renny and hugged her.
“I’m so happy to see you! Have you seen Max yet?”
“No. Not yet. I was hoping she’d be here.”
“She went out, but she’ll be back later.” Stevie stepped away from Max’s mother. “They let you out early? That’s wonderful! I thought you had a few more years to go.”
One side of Renny’s mouth curled up and Stevie saw her sister in that smirk. Then she knew. She knew!
“Oh, Renny . . . you escaped, didn’t you?”
Renny shrugged. “I had to get rid of Devon. He was a threat to my baby.”
“I understand that but . . . I mean . . . wait . . . you’ve already killed someone? How long have you been out?”
“A few days.”
Stevie pressed her fingers to her temples and tried, very hard, to remain calm.
“Renny, you can’t stay here.”
“I’m not leaving until I see my baby.”
“Your baby is a grown woman who could go to prison for harboring a fugitive. Which you are. You’re a fugitive and I’m not letting my sister go to prison for you.”
“Sweetie, I get it. I’m not trying to cause a problem for any of you guys, but—”
“And if Charlie finds you here . . .”
“Charlie loves me.”
“Wow . . . you have been gone for a very long time.”
Stevie heard the front door open and her sister and Shen coming into the house. Shen had gone with Charlie to help deliver all those damn honey buns.
Her sister was heading down the hallway toward the kitchen so Stevie did the only thing she could think of: she shoved Max’s mother down the stairs that led to the back door.
A few seconds later, Charlie walked in with empty foil containers.
“Hey,” she said, tossing the containers into the sink. “Everything okay?”
“Ummm . . .”
Charlie faced her. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Stevie lied, wondering how she was going to tell her overprotective sister that there was a fugitive in their house. But before she had time to say anything, her phone rang. It was Mads again.
“Stevie—”
“Sorry. I have to get this.” She answered the phone but was shocked to hear Zé’s voice on the other end.
“Wait. Slow down, Zé. What’s happened?”
Shen entered the kitchen, and what she was hearing from Zé must have shown on her face because her boyfriend stopped in the doorway and asked, “What’s wrong?”
She held up a finger so she could hear the rest of what Zé had to say.
“Okay,” she finally replied. “Give me your new phone number and I’ll set up an account under it. I’ll send you some cash so you can get a car and meet us there.”
She frowned and repeated, “Max doesn’t want you to tell Charlie?”
Stevie lifted her gaze. Her sister stood right in front of her, only a few inches away.