In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,32
would anyone want to have sex with a stuffed toy?”
Stevie blew out a breath. “You’re really not letting that go, are you?”
“That you referred to me as a stuffed toy? No.”
“As cute as a stuffed toy. It was a compliment!”
“I’m not going to let you make me feel bad because I’m super cute. The survival of my species relies on our super cuteness. Do you think the Chinese government would be fighting to protect us if we weren’t so damn cute?”
“Shen’s right,” Dorie said, carefully placing the big bowl of steaming soup onto the table, followed by two smaller, empty bowls. “The Chinese government adores giant pandas. Both shifters and full-bloods. In fact, there’s a port city right outside of Shanghai . . . panda only. No hunting allowed. Or bamboo stealing. Death penalty offense.”
Dorie held up a bowl of rice. “Ready?” she asked.
Shen nodded and Dorie poured the rice onto the soup. The sound of sizzling rice filled the air along with the fragrant scent of the soup.
“My absolute favorite,” Stevie sighed out.
And there went that smile again. And the zing.
That goddamn zing.
* * *
“And that was my morning,” Irene finished with a one-shoulder shrug.
Van blew out a breath. “You know, I really thought being threatened with an actual skinning would be the more interesting story. I was wrong.”
“I have to agree. And she threatened to flay you. That’s the correct terminology.”
He placed his elbow on his desk and rested his chin on his raised fist. “Because that’s the most important part of this conversation.”
“It is.” Irene leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. Van, unable to help himself, growled.
Irene smirked. “Stop that.”
“You started it.” He lowered his arm. “So did you tell my cousin?”
“Ric?” she clarified, since Van had a lot of cousins. “Of course not. Because I knew he’d tell the psychopath.”
“He calls her his wife.”
“The biggest mistake we could make would be to eliminate Dr. Stasiuk-MacKilligan simply because she’s a giant freak of nature that could destroy half this city in record time.”
“But you’re essentially trying to turn her into a honeypot. Is that really any better?”
“Than dying at the paws of Dee-Ann Smith? Yes. And I am not turning her into a honeypot. I didn’t tell her to have intercourse with him.”
“Do you really think Wells will tell her anything?”
“You know all about wolves and bears and cats, but I know male scientists. If he thinks for a second he can impress her, he’ll tell her anything.”
“And if her sisters find out what you’ve talked her into?”
Irene shrugged. “Then we get Dee-Ann and her Irish cat friend involved. But not until we have to. As a last resort.”
She brought her hands to her face, rubbed her forehead. “I’m afraid we will have only one chance at this.”
* * *
After they gorged themselves on some of the best Chinese food Stevie could ever remember eating, they walked down the street to stop at a local ice cream place.
Stevie had been here before. Bears came here a lot but there were lots of full-humans, too, allowing her to feel much safer.
The place was pretty packed on this summer day, but Stevie managed to find them a table near the back. She ordered one of the delicious banana splits and Shen got something called “the Panda Palace.” She didn’t ask, but she was sure bamboo was going to be involved.
Once the waitress had gone to get their orders, Stevie asked, “Can I talk to you about something without you telling my sisters?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“My sisters are concerned about me right now and they’ll ask you questions when we get back or later tonight when they think I’m asleep. They’ll get you when you least expect it, and before you know it, you’ll be telling them everything I said, but I don’t want to have this conversation with them for a reason. It’s something I need to work out for myself, but I need to talk to somebody about it and Kyle’s not here.”
“You do know Kyle’s seventeen, right?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“He’s a child. He should be coming to you for advice.”
“He does come to me. And despite Kyle’s age, he’s a very thoughtful young man. I, personally, believe that he’ll be a philosopher in his later years.”
Shen rolled his eyes and his lip curled in disgust before he let out, “Ech.” He motioned to her. “So what do you want to talk to me, a grown man, about?”