Born to Be Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles #5)

“I was hoping for one of your brownies.”

“Sure.” Charlie came over holding a platter filled with brownies. Different types of brownies. Even blondies.

“Do you have any nut allergies?” Charlie asked.

“No.”

“Good.” Charlie held the platter out and Dani reached for a brownie. “That’s dark chocolate. With walnuts. Do you like dark chocolate?”

“Uh . . . I don’t know.”

“Then try the lighter brownie next to it first. That has pecans.”

Dani took the lighter brownie and took a bite. His daughter closed her eyes and made a low growling sound from the back of her throat.

“Daddy, you have to try one!”

With a closed-mouth smile, Charlie held the plate out to Shay. He didn’t like that smile. It was ridiculously off-putting. But the smell of those brownies . . .

“The dark chocolate one,” she pushed when he started to grab the same kind his daughter had.

“I don’t really like dark—”

God, the way she was staring at him.

“Okay.” He grabbed the dark chocolate brownie instead and took a bite. “Oh, my God,” he gasped, no longer caring about how off-putting Charlie was at the moment. “This is the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.”

“Thank you.” Charlie looked around. “Where’s everyone else?”

“I think they’re hiding from you,” Dani said. She was still at that age where she just said the truth when asked. Especially when she was in the thrall of delicious brownies, her face and hands already covered in chocolate.

“They’re avoiding me?” Charlie repeated. “Why?”

Shay let his gaze move over all that food out on display before looking back at Charlie and replying, “Who can say?”

*

Tock burst into the bedroom and announced, “I left them both to die!”

“Who?” Mads asked.

“Shay and the kid.”

“Tock!”

“She wanted a brownie!”

“Charlie does make good brownies.”

“What is it with you and those brownies?” Max wanted to know.

“I like a good brownie,” Mads said. “Most people use a mix. But your sister makes them from scratch.”

Tock moved across the room and hugged Ashley. “That’s not all she’s made, though.”

“How bad?” Max asked.

“Dude, she’s filled that kitchen with baked goods. And it’s a really big kitchen. It looks like a bakery.”

Nelle leaned forward. “Should we make a run for it?”

“No!” Stevie pointed at the floor. “We should tunnel our way out.”

“Why are you all acting insane?” Ash asked. “It’s true that Charlie bakes when she’s stressed, but she’s just working through stuff. She’s just trying to figure out what happened to you guys and why and what her next steps will be. The time you have to worry about Charlie is when the first thing she does is grab a knife. We all know that’s when rational thought is not part of the equation. She’s literally just reacting. Reacting Charlie is bad. Baking Charlie is good!”

While the rest of them grudgingly nodded in agreement, Max just stared at Ash. Tock didn’t know why until Ash, staring back at Max, suddenly exploded, “Oh, my God, Max! Cass and I have been together since tenth grade! You’ve come on vacation with us! I spent a week in Switzerland with Charlie and Stevie while you five were doing that heist in Marrakesh! You RSVP’d to our wedding next year! In fact,” she added, “you checked off the steak for your entrée, but then you crossed it out and wrote in lobster, then wrote, ‘Why are you doing paper invites anyway? You should just do this shit online!’ ”

Max gave a small shrug. “It’s just not ringing any bells.”

“That’s it!” Ash moved onto the bed, stretching out beside a much-better-looking Streep. “I’m done with this. I don’t know you. You don’t know me.”

A tiny knock at the bedroom door paused the ridiculous conversation and Tock gave a relieved smile. “You’re alive.”

Dani, frowning and gazing at Tock, bit into the brownie she had in her hand. When she finished chewing, she said, “Charlie wanted me to tell you that if you want anything she’s made, you’d better come down and get it now.”

“Why?”

“The wolves are coming.”

*

Mira followed the massive cat up the stairs for five whole floors until they reached a doorway that led out onto the roof. He snarled at one of his brothers or an older nephew—she didn’t really feel like figuring out who was who among all these big cats—to leave and walked over to the edge. That’s when he finally shifted to human. Naked human, but at least he had a very good body.

Giovanni Medici didn’t live the life of most lion males—fighting his way into a pride and letting the females feed him and breed with him until he was forced out by younger, stronger males. Some moving on to have their own families with full-human women; those who were particularly lazy might end their lives living with their sisters if they got along at all. Most older, full-blood lion males, however, just ended up dead in the Sudan.

But the Medicis—like the de Medicis in Italy—were not a pride. They were a coalition. A coalition of brother lions that ran their own family. It was rare but was known to happen in the wild. Over the centuries, there had been other coalitions, but none as powerful or long-lasting as the de Medicis. None as brutal, either.

Mira walked over to stand next to Giovanni. She no longer had her weapon trained on him. Wasn’t sure she needed it.

“You certainly have brought a lot of problems on yourself today, kitty.”

“It wasn’t us.”

“Don’t lie to me, Medici.”

“It wasn’t us. If it was, I’d have eaten your head by now and left your gnawed-on bones in front of the Israeli Embassy.”

“Just like your father would have?”

“Exactly.” He took in a deep breath, then let it out. She wondered if he did that any time he had to talk about old Giuseppe. “Only my father could authorize an attack like this on protected soil, but I seriously doubt he would. He’s not a nice man, but he’s never stupid or crazy.”

“Whoever authorized that attack has put a target on the back of the entire—”

The harsh laugh that cut her off was bitter and angry.

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