In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,9
out the bears that were sitting in the kitchen eating sticky buns.”
“Oh. There were other bears here?” He nodded. “Yeah, that’s gonna freak her out. She is only comfortable around you giant pandas and the Dunn triplets.”
“That’s why I got rid of them. But she still wouldn’t get out of the cabinet. And when I went to check on her again, I saw fangs that really shouldn’t belong to . . . anyone on this planet.”
“Fangs?” Kyle frowned. “She flashed her fangs at you?”
“She didn’t flash anything. She tried to take my face off.”
“That’s not good. That’s really not good.”
“I get that, but I’m not exactly sure what we’re supposed to do if she won’t come out.” He shrugged. “I guess we can wait until her sisters get back.”
“I don’t think we should do that.”
“Why not?”
Kyle took hold of Shen’s arm and pulled him into the living room. “We have a slight issue.”
“Kyle, when you say, ‘We have a slight issue,’ I know that you mean we have a big fucking problem. What big fucking problem do we have, Kyle?”
“Um . . . well . . . Stevie has mentioned to me that she’s concerned her meds have not been working lately, which happens sometimes with certain medications. And especially when you’re dealing with a honey badger metabolism.”
“Wait . . . what? What are you talking about?”
“Stevie has a panic disorder. Her meds help her control it. Usually. But she’s a shifter and a hybrid who’s part honey badger. . . so fixing that issue is not as easy as finding an overpriced Manhattan psychiatrist and getting a new prescription. She’s been in contact with her doctor but he’s in Germany and the meds are on their way, but there’s no guarantee they’ll work and—”
“You know,” Shen finally cut in, “this sounds like not my problem. Or my business. So I think I’m just going to go—”
“No, no. We have to do something.”
“I really like you better, Kyle, when you don’t care about anyone.”
“I care about those who are important. And I deemed Stevie important many years ago. What she can do with her brain will make a difference in this world . . . unlike yours.”
“Yes, insulting me will definitely make me more eager to help.”
“I’ll say it again . . . we have to do something. Now.”
“Why?”
Kyle again grabbed Shen’s arm, this time more urgently, and dragged him back into the kitchen. Then he reached up and opened the cabinet door. Shen was ready to jump back in case Stevie tried to bite his face off again. But she didn’t. Instead, all he saw was her cute naked ass bumping and grinding because the other half of her was trying to crawl through a hole she’d dug inside the top of the cabinet. He could hear her claws tearing into the wood, brick, and whatever else she was coming in contact with during her desperate escape out of the now-safe kitchen. He was sure that if she’d hit titanium, she’d tear that out too. She wouldn’t let anything get in her way.
“You see?” the kid pointed out. “She’s burrowing.” He closed the cabinet door. “If we don’t deal with this now, she’ll destroy the entire house within the hour.”
“Where are her sisters?”
“They went out with Berg. So it’s just you and me.”
“And what do you suggest we do?”
The kid was silent for a moment before he asked Shen, “My sister’s paying for long-term disability insurance for you, right?”
* * *
There are bears. There are bears. There are bears. Run away! Run away! Run away!
She heard her rational voice attempt to reason with her irrational brain. You’re fine. The bears are gone. You’re safe. Just calm down!
But she couldn’t calm down. She couldn’t listen to her rational voice. She couldn’t stop herself from tearing into a home that did not belong to her.
All she knew was that she was in great danger and she had to get away. By any means necessary! Oh. Wait. That was from Malcolm X. Was that appropriation? That felt like appropriation. Good God, what was happening to her?
You are spiraling, her rational voice warned her.
And she knew her rational side was right. She was spiraling. But she couldn’t help it. Her system was in overload, her meds had stopped working, and if she didn’t get away, she would shift right inside the house, destroying it and possibly half the neighborhood in the process.
So she kept digging. Nothing would stop her from digging!