Imani stepped forward, finally ready to intervene, but she heard that sound first. Even from this great distance, she could hear it perfectly. So could everyone else. The cats, dogs, and most of the bears hit the ground or made a mad run for it. Except for Kapowski, who had reared up onto his hind legs to scare off the She-badger. It wasn’t until that tranq dart hit his neck that he became aware of anything other than the honey badger and that black cat.
From her spot on the ground, Imani watched the bear blink, stumble back, blink, stumble forward . . . blink . . . and go down like the Titanic.
That surprised Imani. She’d been hit by a tranq once, shot by scientists at an animal park in Botswana. It took her ages to finally pass out, only to wake up with one of those damn collars on her neck so that the scientists could monitor her location and vitals. The worst part was the laughter of her mother and aunts before they took the damn thing off, but that was beside the point. A bear shouldn’t go down this fast. Especially not a one-thousand-pound bear with a thick neck.
But there he was . . . snoring.
Standing, Imani looked in the direction the shot had come from. There was no one standing in range. Tranq rifles were not long-distance weapons. The shooter had to be pretty close for it to not only hit the target but also get past the target’s hide.
The honey badger had slid the blade back into its holster. She crouched beside a snoring Kapowski, her hands on his shoulder. But as soon as she attempted to push him over, his two brothers were there, snarling in warning.
“He should be on his side to sleep this off,” the badger explained. “If he’s on his back and vomits, he’ll choke. If he’s on his front, I’m afraid he’ll stop breathing. You should get him home. Put him to bed.”
One brother leaned forward and roared in her face and Imani heard it again. That sound of a trigger pull and a projectile racing toward them. She didn’t drop down this time; instead she watched.
It wasn’t a bear that was hit this time, but the black cat. He’d launched himself at the bears roaring at the badger, claws and fangs out, all four legs spread wide. But that tranq hit the cat right between the eyes, flipping him back and over. When he landed, he was out cold.
“See what you did?” the badger asked the bear. “Causing problems!”
In obvious exasperation, the bear finally shifted. It was the youngest Kapowski, Matt. “I’m causing problems? You steal our honey—”
“Prove it!”
“We have video of you!” the third brother yelped, now also human. “Stealing our honey in both your honey badger and human forms!”
“Oh.”
“—you let your friend try to eat our nephew—” Matt continued.
“If he lost a few pounds, he wouldn’t look so tasty!”
“—and you get my brother tranq’d—and I’m causing problems?”
The badger stared at him a moment before replying, “Yes.”
Then, without another word, she easily hefted the more than two-hundred-pound cat onto the back of her neck like she was putting on a stole, and returned to the streets run by bears.
They all watched her go. In silence. She wasn’t running. She wasn’t fearful. She was just . . . a honey badger with a live but unconscious cat around her neck.
Glad the drama was over, Imani looked at the bears and ordered, “Mind getting your walking bear rugs off my territory?”
With a few snarls and some snaps, the bears left and the cats shifted back to human and put their clothes on. Everyone’s day finally returning to normal.
Shaking her head, Imani turned to go back to her house when she came face-to-face with the She-tiger and the dog.
“What?” she asked.
“Interesting, huh?” Malone asked.
Imani frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Jutting her chin, Malone motioned toward the retreating bears.
“Sorry. I have never found bears remotely interesting.”
“Not the bears. The honey badgers.”
“I only saw one badger and I didn’t find her that interesting.”
“The one doing the shootin’ was Charlie MacKilligan,” the dog explained.
“Even I couldn’t make that shot,” Malone admitted, which was huge. Because Malone was the go-to gal when it came to long-distance kills. It was, in fact, her specialty.
“And the one who combined a long-distance rifle with a tranq gun and created a knockout drug for shifters that wouldn’t kill them but could automatically adjust to their body chemistry was their baby sister, Stevie. Although anyone with any sense would just leave her out of this.”
“Why is this dog talking to me?” Imani asked Malone.
“Because we need you.”
“I’m retired. I’m especially retired if you’re thinking of going after the de Medicis. You can just leave me, my Pride, and the entire cat nation out of that shit.”
Deciding nothing else needed to be said, Imani started toward her house.
“They’re using full-humans,” Malone called after her.
“They’ve always used full-humans. Humans deal for the de Medicis. They spy for them. They kill for them. This is not news, Malone.”
“The de Medicis are using them as product.”
Imani was halfway up the steps to her porch when she froze.
Slowly she faced the cat and dog. “What?”
Malone shrugged.
“What kind of product?”
“Well, much to our surprise, given their history, they seem uncomfortable with sex trafficking so they leave that mostly to the full-humans, but anything else the buyer wants . . . From what we can tell that includes hunting, food, and on several recent occasions, ritual human sacrifice.”
Imani’s mouth briefly dropped open; then she closed her eyes, shook her head, and once again asked, “What?”
chapter SIX
Zé woke up and quickly realized that he was, again, naked and on top of the china cabinet. How did he keep winding up here? What was that about?
At least this time he wasn’t alone. He had a furry companion cuddled up to his side. Not the dogs, thankfully, but the stray cat that Max seemed to hate. The cat was sweet to him so he didn’t understand what her problem was.
“Why are you up there again?”
Zé looked over the side of the cabinet. Max stood below.
“I really don’t know. Is this normal for cats?”
“I have no idea. Are you hungry? You must be hungry.”
“I could eat.”
“Do you need help getting down?”
“No,” he said quickly. This time he didn’t even have a towel. It was just all him . . . hanging out for the universe to see. “I’ll get down on my own.”
“Great.” She took a step away from the cabinet but then stopped, looked back at him. “By the way . . . did you know it’s been forty-eight hours since our last conversation?”
Zé blinked. “Wait . . . what?”
“My sister tranq’d you so you wouldn’t be torn apart by bears. She also tranq’d a bear, but he was only out for, like, ten minutes. But he’s a thousand pounds, compared to your two-hundred-and sixty, so that’s a substantial difference, right? Anyway . . . thought you’d want to know.”