Page 100 of Bears Behaving Badly
“Ate them” was the matter-of-fact reply.
Dev nearly toppled off of his stool. “Ate—you mean killed them.”
“Nope.” At Dev’s stunned expression, he added, “Werebears are opportunistic omnivores. The apex of the apex. Why d’you think there are so few of them? The region can only support so many.”
“But doesn’t that… Is she a cannibal, then?”
“How does a werebear eating a werewolf make her a cannibal? Do you need a dictionary?”
“It’s just… She’s so… I can’t even picture…” Dev shook his head. “I mean, she’s sonice. And she never loses her temper.”
“All those things can be true, Dev.”
He was still shaking his head. “Uh, no. They really can’t.”
“She loses her temper under a very specific set of circumstances. And when that happens, it’s just better to take a step back. Like, halfway across the country. And then find a bed to hide under. For a year.”
“Didn’t she get in trouble?”
“Nope. Clear case of coming to the rescue and then self-defense. There were three of them, after all.”
“Jeez!”
“It’s not against the law to defend yourself, or to eat a dead werewolf.”
“This is gross and interesting and weird.”
“Yes, it is.”
Caro, meanwhile, had been studying Pat as if she was planning to describe him to a police sketch artist. Her steady regard was…not unpleasant, exactly. Intense. If she was a speaker, it’d be the time for her to say something dramatic.
But she wasn’t a speaker. So she slapped two sketch pads down in front of Pat, who eyed them like he wasn’t sure if they were snakes or snacks. Then she gestured.
Please.
Pat started to read.
Chapter 31
“Oh, that bitch! She’s dead! And not ‘dead to me’ dead, but actually, biologically dead! I’m going to snuff out her life force as I stomp on herface.”
“I was kinda hoping I wasn’t right about that one,” David said, taking a hard left. “Gotta wonder about her motive, though.”
“And I’ve gotta wonder about my abysmal judge of character. Do you know how many alarm clocks the woman has bought me?”
“A hundred?”
“No goddamned wonder Caro won’t speak to anyone. Random case workers and judges are literally out to get her, and I’m floundering in my own ignorance! Case in point: using flounder instead of founder!”
“I think—”
“And I’ll tell you something else, IknowI’ve seen Brennan before today. There’s something about the set of his head. Or shoulders. It’s driving me insane.”
“I can tell. You haven’t tried to back-seat drive at all.”
“This is no time for me to stroke your driving pride,” she snapped.
“Sorry.”
