Page 26 of Bears Behaving Badly
To distract herself, she went for a subtle cough
“Grraaakkk-KAW!”
and failed, given how Dev jumped. “Jesus. Are you okay?”
“Don’t swear. Did you have any trouble sleeping?”
He shrugged. “Naw. And that was a huge subject change, y’know. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”
“I also slept well, Annette,” Pat intercepted with poisonous sweetness. “Thank you so much for asking.”
“You’re in a bit of a mood,” she observed.
He sighed and set down the rubber spatula. “Yeah, sorry. It’s… You’re all here because someone’s out to get you.Reallyget you, not ‘I’ll get you for throwing away my yogurt, Bob, you inconsiderate bastard’ get you. And I’m glad you’re all safe.”
“We are, too,” Dev said and smirked.
“But that’s only temporary.”
“Jeez. Way to bring the kitchen down.”
“Dev, hush. Let Pat finish.”
“You’ve got no idea who’s after you or what they’ll do next or how long it’ll take to put this case to bed. So what happens now? Because as much as I like having my very ownsous-chef… Hey!” Dev had taken advantage of Pat’s inattention to covertly dump another half cup of chocolate chips into the bowl. “Ratio, Dev, we talked about ratio!”
“No, you talked about ratio. I couldn’t get a word in.”
Annette, meanwhile, had been giving their predicament some thought. “David, I was thinking the best place to start would be Lund’s apartment.”
“Yeah.”
“And we’ll need to check in with Nadia—we can have her meet us there so you—myGod, you’ve downed half that coffee already.”
“Yeah, well.” David shrugged. “At least now I can see. I’ll text her.”
She turned back to Pat and Dev. “I know it’s stressful. And I promise it’s temporary—by necessity if nothing else. We’ve only got two more days to find Caro, give the judge some answers, and get Dev squared away safely.”
“Iamsquared away safely.”
“I already told you, I don’t care about having these guys hang here, they’re no trouble.” Pat waved the spatula at Dev, who ducked. “I care about the fucko who wants to kill you.”
“You’ll have to narrow that down. And I don’t want you or Dev to worry too much in the meantime.” She really didn’t. Dev’s default when stressed/hurt/furious/hungry was to flee the vicinity and pop up days and miles away. Pat’s was to dig in and bite harder.
“Worry too much? Withhimskulking around?” Dev pointed a drippy whisk at David. “Didja see him last night? I knew he was gonna shift and I almost had a heart attack anyway. As long as I’m staying here, the only thing I need to worry about is a nuclear blast.Maybe.”
Annnnnnd now she was back to thinking about jumping David Auberon with amorous intent. Before last night, she’d never seen David’s other self and it was, to be equal parts blunt and accurate, astounding. She’d never seen anything like it, and she was a bear herself.
God, thesizeof him. Not to mention the confidence, which went nicely with the powerful stealth. And not that she had any intention of challenging him, but she had to wonder which of them would win a fight for dominance. He was bigger, but she thought she might be faster. Even if they never went out as a couple—she could hardly blame him if he was disinclined to make the embarrassing gossip a reality—maybe they could shift and hunt together now and again. Werebears were rare bears.
“Wait ’til the other guys hear about this guy! When it’s all over, I mean,” Dev added hastily. “And we’re all safe again.”
David was topping up his vase of coffee and managed a rueful smile. “God, kid, you act like you’ve never seen a bear before.”
“Uh, you’re downplaying a smidge.”
Annette could understand Dev’s fascination. Werebears weren’t as numerous as werefoxes or werewolves; many Shifters went their entire lives without seeing one in the fur. Her parents were the only one of their kind they’d met, and they were in their twenties when that happened.
Was that part of her reluctance? Or, worse, David’s? Not seeking out the only other bear within five hundred miles because of reverse species-ism? Or would that be actual species-ism?Here’s another werebear! Bang him and also maybe get married because you owe it to your subspecies to propagate.
