In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,18

charging into the room and over to Stevie. He leaped up and wrapped his front legs around the lower half of Stevie—all that Charlie could see at this point since the other half had already made its way into the second floor—and yanked.

Charlie turned her body away as part of the ceiling came down with the two hybrids and poor Max.

“Max!” she yelled, making her way through the debris. “Max!”

By now, a raging Stevie had gotten to her paws and was squaring off with the tusk guy. The real problem, though, was the screaming human she had caught between her jaws and didn’t seem in the mood to give up anytime soon.

But Charlie would have to worry about that after she found out whether Max was dead from having part of a building fall on her.

Pushing aside the ceiling that was now on the floor, Charlie desperately dug. She was so focused on her task, it took her several seconds to realize that Shen was right next to her. Helping.

Brave panda.

“Got her!” Shen suddenly announced while pulling. He dragged Max out from under a giant chunk of plaster. There was blood on her face and she was covered in dust and debris, but with a sudden headshake, her eyes opened and she smiled.

“That was awesome,” she laughed, still being held up by Shen.

Charlie started to laugh with her until something hit her in the side and she went flying—

* * *

Shen pulled Max into his arms and scrambled back. He wanted to get to Charlie but first he had to get out of the way of the two raging hybrids.

Charlie almost hit the far wall when Novikov’s big ass slammed into her, but her baby sister’s very long tail reached out and caught Charlie before she could. Then she tossed her toward Shen, and he had to tuck Max under one arm so he could use the other to catch Charlie.

With both women in his arms, he jumped to the left, trying to get out of the way of the ongoing battle. He wished he could get to poor Blayne, but he didn’t see how he could without being crushed in the melee. Even if he shifted, he still would be no match for these two.

At least three tons of raging hybrid fighting over a wolfdog that just wanted to get out and away.

Honestly, he’d laugh if the whole thing wasn’t so terrifying.

Max pulled his arm off her waist and dropped to the ground. Then she lifted her big sister’s head by the chin. Charlie was unconscious, so Max slapped her. Charlie responded by slapping her back, and Shen let out a relieved sigh, knowing that at least these two weren’t dead.

Charlie tapped his arm and motioned for him to let her go. When she touched the ground, she rubbed the side that Novikov had hit and winced from the pain. Shen was guessing that something had been broken, but he knew that wouldn’t keep Charlie from stopping her baby sister’s rampage.

“What are we going to do?” he asked, raising his voice to a shout in order to be heard over all the roaring.

“Any chance you have a tranq gun?” Max asked.

“I don’t work for a zoo so . . . no.”

“We need to get Stevie to drop her prey,” Charlie reasoned. “Once we get that woman back to that thing with the tusks—”

“Really?” Shen couldn’t help but ask. “Both of you are judging my man’s tusks?”

“—we’ll be able to calm her down,” Charlie went on.

“Or we could startle her out of this,” Max suddenly interjected.

“Startling her was what got us into this,” Shen felt the need to point out.

“And startling her again might just get her out.” Max gestured to the ruined entryway. “And that woman is the one who can do it.”

Charlie turned and her frown was deep. “My God, what is she doing here?”

Shen looked to see what had the sisters so concerned and was surprised to see Kyle’s mother standing in the entryway. She appeared horrified, which seemed the proper response considering what was going on. So he couldn’t understand what the two women were talking about until Kyle’s mother took a step back, revealing her best friend, Dr. Irene Conridge.

The famed full-human scientist walked farther into the room. She surveyed the damage and then the two battling hybrids with cold blue eyes.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited. For what, Shen didn’t know.

Charlie grabbed his arm and started to pull him. He knew she