In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,149
and “cleared” the building.
Now, standing outside among the debris, they gazed down at what was left of James Wells.
Finally, Charlie looked up at her sister and grinned. “Breakfast?”
chapter THIRTY-ONE
It was the silence. Such intense silence.
Stevie looked away from her sisters and saw that the agents who’d come here today to rescue her and the others were gawking at her. Some with wide eyes. Others with unleashed fangs and claws. They were disgusted, appalled, and absolutely terrified.
Stevie lowered her head, began to back away. But her sisters had moved in front of her, Charlie’s forefingers tightening on the triggers of her guns. Max stood next to her, her blood-covered hands working the handles of her knives because, Stevie knew, they were sticky and Max hated a sticky grip when she was in a fight.
Stevie didn’t want this, though. She didn’t want her sisters destroying those who’d risked everything protecting all of them because they were a little bit . . . overwhelmed by her.
She’d shift. That would help. She’d shift to human and everyone would calm down.
“Is there a problem?” Blayne Thorpe asked, walking through the group of agents, with Gwen by her side. “I’m not sure why you’re looking at my friend that way, but I have to say that I don’t appreciate it.”
“You’re okay with this?” a jaguar asked, arms folded over his chest. “I mean . . . look at her.”
“Look at her? I do look at her. And you know what I see?”
“The woman who saved our lives?” Gwen asked. “Please say the woman who saved our lives.”
“Of course that’s what I see. But I also see the mighty tiger badger! Ruler of all badgers!”
“Oh, God,” Gwen glanced up at Stevie. “I’m so sorry.”
“What’s happening?” Charlie asked.
“Look, Blayne,” the jaguar said, “I get that you feel beholden to this woman—”
“Tiger badger,” Blayne corrected.
“But, I think we can all agree”—he looked around at the other agents—“that whatever she is, she’s just . . . she’s just . . .”
“She’s just what?” Blayne demanded. “My husband would really like to know.”
The cat glanced over his shoulder, where Bo Novikov was standing behind him, back in his shifted form, while the other agents had silently moved out of the way of the one-ton animal. When she’d first seen him, Stevie had been fascinated by the two big fangs that hung down far past his massive jaw. Like a saber-toothed cat. Yeah. That’s exactly what he reminded her of. A saber-toothed cat of yore!
“Well?” Blayne pushed. “Bo’s waiting.”
The cat shook his head while trying to inch around Bo. Especially when he started huffing.
“You know what?” The jaguar cleared his throat. “I think we are all”—he began to walk backward, away from Bo—“wonderful and interesting in our own ways. And it doesn’t matter if you’re normal . . . like me. Or have freakishly sized tusks.”
“Those are fangs!” Blayne snapped.
“Or are disturbingly large and yet weirdly house cat–like. None of that matters because we’re all one important thing. We’re human.” Stevie glanced at her sisters and all three of them rolled their eyes in disgust. “You. Me.” He looked over at Stevie. “It.”
“Hey!” Charlie snapped.
“We’re all human. And isn’t that what we need to remember when we talk about . . . Oh, my God! Would you stop it with that!”
The group of trained agents faced the sound that had been getting louder and louder as the giant panda in human form walked closer, munching on a bamboo stalk.
“What?” Shen asked, calmly gazing back at the others. “I was hungry.”
“Do you have to make so much noise?” the cat demanded.
In response, Shen bit down on the stalk, and the crunch echoed out in the fresh morning air.
The bears began heading back to the SUVs first. “I can’t with that goddamn noise,” one of them complained. “I just can’t!”
“Don’t you want some?” Shen called after them. “I have more in the car! They’re directly from China,” he finished in a singsong voice.
When no one responded, and everyone simply packed up to go, Shen went back to eating, but he grinned at Stevie around his bamboo, winking at her.
Stevie finally shifted back to human while Charlie held out shorts and a T-shirt for her. But before she put them on, she saw Shen coming toward her. She ran to him, jumped into his arms.
Holding her, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“My DNA eats other DNA for lunch. So I am great! Emotionally and genetically.”
“I don’t know what any of that means,” he admitted.