Page 7 of Bears Behaving Badly
“I was gonna pay. But then I saw Caro was in trouble so I ran out to help her.”
“Somehow forgetting to drop the several pounds of liquid detergent in your arms.”
“I was in a rush.”
“And how do you even know Caro?”
“She’s my sister. I told that David guy when he grabbed me. Hey, are you guys going out?”
“What? No.” Dev was in on the dating conspiracy?Focus, woman!Much more intriguing, Dev had been the one to ID Caro Daniels? Annette blinked, shook her head. She knew which families each of her lambs was with. And Caro was only in the system as of last night. “No, Caro’s not your fos-sister. I’d know if she were.”
“No, I mean myrealsister.”
No. Werefoxes were not blood relations to werewolves. It was a paralogical impossibility. “Dev, what pile of nonsense are you trying to feed me now?”
“It’snotnonsense.” The smirk had faded, and now he just looked upset and vulnerable. The cuffs swallowing his small hands didn’t help, nor the overlarge jacket he was wearing. Annette steeled herself. It would take more than Dev’s big green eyes and pleading expression to get her to relent. This time. Probably. “Can I see her?”
“Not just now, Dev. Can Caro speak? Have you ever heard her talk?”
“Shecan, she just won’t.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“No. And I really need to see her. She needs me.”
“Why?”
He gave her theAre you stupid or just deranged?look unique to teenagers. “Because we’re family.”
“How so?”
“And she’s scared and doesn’t feel safe.”
“Understandable. She’s in custody.”
“No, I mean she’s scared of him.”
“She’sscared? Not the werewolf she attacked?”
Dev made a face like he’d bitten into something rotten. “He wasn’t a werewolf, he was a monster. Besides, she had to go for that guy.”
“That guy?”
An eye roll. “Yeah, the guy she had to pounce.”
“It was a little more than a pounce. She could have killed him.”
“She should have. He’s been trying to kill her for two years.”
And, as was often the case when talking with Dev, Annette was left speechless.
Chapter 3
David Auberon lurched past the intake gang, the guards, rando juvies, caseworkers, lawyers, stressed parents, and a UPS gal, all on his way to that which was dearest to him
“Oh, God…”
the elixir he needed as he did oxygen
