Page 21 of Raven's Instinct
Itdidbother her that she didn’t consider him a threat.
She ought to.
He’d lied about why he was really at Tiny Paws, and he knew enough about her to dismantle her entire life.
And Kendra, against all reason, stilltrustedhim and wasn’t sure why. Instinct? She prodded her owl, hoping for answers, but only got a cluck of exasperation.Who cares why?
“Hey, baby girl,” she said soothingly, unbuckling Amy and pulling her out of the car seat. “Let’s have a little dinner and sleep in a more comfortable bed.”
“Nah tied!” Amy protested, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning. She’d been asleep for just enough time to mean it could be complicated to get her back down. Kendra crossed her fingers that she’d get lucky this time.
Kendra had only had a protein bar from her glovebox emergency stash since before lunch, busy first at Swiftwater Ranch, then helping not-Ferdinand with his stylish dangle bracelets. She’d given Amy a squeeze yogurt at the laundromat, but her stomach was growling to remind her that she hadn’t had any dinner of her own yet.
“Want a sandwich?” she asked Amy, as they stepped up into the living area of the van.
“No,” Amy said flatly.
“Crackers?”
“No!”
“Yogurt?”
“No!”
“Pickles?”
“No!”
“Deer poop?”
Amy giggled, then declared, “No!”
“What do you want?”
“Sammich!”
Of course.
Kendra made two simple cheese sandwiches on bread that wasn’t quite stale. She gave one to Amy, who promptly pulled it into parts, threw the lettuce on the floor, and licked the mayonnaise off the bread.
“Want to watch a cartoon?”
Kendra didn’t particularly love relying on screen time, but she, the bull, and the secret agent still had business to hash out. She took her tablet just out of reach, set up a cartoon that would last for a while, and left Amy to squash her cheese into her tray.
She was not surprised that Alan had not obeyed her command to stay where he was; he rose from the folded chair she’d put out earlier as he tucked his phone into his pocket. She waved him back down and got another chair from the side storage compartment. Probably, she ought to offer him a sandwich, but Kendra wasn’t feeling very charitable.
Ferdinand loomed in the shadows, his tail swishing.
“How’s the leg?” Kendra asked, around a bite of her sandwich. “Probably feels good to have that weight off.”
The bull bobbed his head, looking as grateful as a bovine could get.
“Have you been a vet very long?” Alan asked.
“We could have a nice chat and make small talk about career paths,” Kendra said wearily, “or you could just fill me in on what’s going on.”
Alan pulled his phone out again and it lit up his face as he turned it on. “I’ve been looking up the previous case we had with a shifter stuck in their animal form. It was nearby, and you’ll be glad to know that wewereable to facilitate a cure.”
