In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,26

gestured to Charlie—“and the woman who adopted you two”—she gestured to Max and Stevie—“was brutally murdered in front of all of you. Forcing you three ladies to make a desperate run for your lives, by yourselves, across country, to get to the safety of a wolf Pack that really only tolerated you two.” Again, she gestured to Max and Stevie. “Because of your father, all three of you have had to protect each other, and sometimes—I’m assuming based on the vagueness of your wording, Ms. MacKilligan—you’ve killed people.”

“I never said killed,” Charlie replied.

“Uh-huh.” Dr. Morgan stared at Charlie for nearly a minute before returning to her point. “And even now, all three of you are again in danger because of your father. And despite everything that has been going on—in the past and present—she”—she pointed at Stevie—“is the only one that needs a therapist. Did I get that right?”

“Yes,” Charlie and Max said in unison. When the doctor focused on her, Stevie shrugged.

Dr. Morgan let out a sigh and stood. “Okay.”

Watching the woman stretch so easily toward the ceiling, Stevie started to chant again, but Dr. Morgan’s sharp, “Do not shut your eyes,” made her stop immediately.

She came around the desk and motioned to Charlie. “Please,” she asked nicely, gesturing toward the door.

After reassuringly rubbing Stevie’s shoulder, Charlie stood and headed out the door. Dr. Morgan also gestured to Max, but she just shrugged and said, “Nah. I’m fine.”

The doctor reached over Stevie—and she couldn’t help but cringe away from her—and snatched Max up by the back of her neck. She held the tough extra flesh there that was part of the honey badger’s defenses.

“Hey!”

Dr. Morgan ignored Max and carried her out the door. That’s when Stevie’s chant changed.

“Please don’t eat my sisters. Please don’t eat my sisters. Please don’t eat my sisters.”

* * *

Dr. Kelly Lewis was in the middle of texting her mate a recent shot of her tits when there was a knock on her office door and her business partner walked in. A young, black woman was with her. She sort of smelled like wolf, but then again . . . she also didn’t. It was weird, but Kelly was used to weird. She liked weird.

She was a wolf that liked weird, which was good because the other weird thing was that Becca had a snarling, snapping honey badger dangling from her right hand.

Kelly didn’t know why and she wasn’t about to ask. She liked things to just unfold.

“This is Dr. Kelly Lewis,” Becca said to the young woman she ushered into Kelly’s office. “She’ll be helping you.”

“I don’t need help,” the woman replied.

“Oh, my sweet girl,” Becca laughed. “You so do.”

Then Becca and the violent badger were gone.

Kelly gestured to the free chair across her desk. “Please. Sit.”

“Look,” the woman began without sitting, “I really don’t have time for this and I’m really just here for my baby sister since she’s the one who really needs help . . . not that I don’t need help or whatever . . . I’m sure everyone needs help at some time in life and I’m no different, but I have so much going on and like with my aunt who keeps calling me but I don’t want to deal with that right now, because she’s probably calling me about poor, dead Great-Uncle Pete . . . or maybe she’s calling me for something else, but I can’t imagine why after we kept that polar bear from ruining my cousin’s wedding . . . of course, couldn’t have won that fight without Berg . . . then again we could have but not without killing the polar and his friends, which I’m glad we didn’t have to do because that would have really ruined the wedding and I’m sure Berg wouldn’t have liked that at all, which I would have hated because I really do love him . . . so much . . . and I like and am learning to love his siblings, but they’re triplets and the other two are always around, lurking, and you have no idea how off-putting it is to turn around in your kitchen and find three extremely large grizzlies standing behind you . . . lurking . . . but I guess it could be worse . . . true, the twin aunts no one knew about are trying to kill us, and I’m just waiting to find out how my father has fucked over our lives again with his