Zé suddenly grabbed Freddy by the hair and yanked him up and out, dragging him toward the front of the house. Following them, she watched Zé yank open the front door.
“She told you to leave,” he said, kicking the security door open. “So you should do that.”
He tossed her father out of the house like so much trash, slammed the door, and locked it.
Zé faced her. “What an asshole!”
Max nodded. “Yeah. He is.”
“He didn’t even do anything. But just the sight of him . . .”
“Irritated you.”
“Yes! Just the sight of him irritated me.”
“Yeah. That’s my dad. He does great with full-humans. But shifters aren’t fans . . . except our mothers.”
Zé cringed. “Why?”
“Dude . . . if I knew why, I’d tell you.” Max went to the door, pushing past Zé. She unlocked it and opened it again. Her father was standing in front of the house now and she could tell just by looking at him that he was about to start screaming. Just to get Stevie’s or Charlie’s attention.
She stepped out of the house but didn’t have to go any farther because her saviors were right there.
“Hey, Kapowskis!” she called out to the four grizzly bears about to drive their kids to shifter summer day camp—including the one almost eaten by Zé. “If you want my sister to have those honey buns ready for you when you get back”—she pointed at her father—“he needs to go.”
Those big grizzly heads turned, those cold brown eyes locked on Freddy MacKilligan, and their grizzly humps abruptly grew, giving their already powerful arms and shoulders even more strength.
Freddy glared at his daughter. “You evil little—aaaaaaaaaah-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” he screamed, running from the four bears chasing him down the Queens, New York, street.
With a smile, Max went back inside and closed the front door.
“All done.”
“What about those kids?” Zé asked, pointing at the cubs through the front windows of the sun room. “Should we leave them outside like that?”
“They’ll be fine. Every bear mom in this neighborhood is genetically tuned to the cries of any cub under threat. And one of those kids is the one you tried to eat, so I’m not sure his dad would want him in here . . . with you.”
Zé glared. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, ignoring the sarcasm in his tone. “And thanks for your help.”
Max headed back into the living room and found Stevie standing there in one of Shen’s way-too-big Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirts.
“Dad?” she asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah. Dad. Sor—”
“No. Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything. What did he want anyway?”
“What else? Money.”
She nodded at Zé, who’d followed Max into the room. “Hey, Zé.”
“Hey, Stevie. You okay?”
“I’m going to be fine.” She held her hand out. “Gimme your phone.”
Max let out a sigh. “Dude, don’t give him any money.”
“I’m not. I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago.”
Handing over her phone, Max asked, “What?”
“I’m going to rat him out to Uncle Will. Let his brother deal with him the way he’s always wanted to: brutally.”
Max couldn’t help but be shocked by that response. Well . . . that response from Stevie. No one in the family had ever thought she’d be the one to tell Uncle Will.
“You’re going to call Uncle Will? Are you sure you want to do that?”
“I am not letting our sister’s therapy go to waste. She has been doing so well.”
Max winced a little, glancing at Zé. “Yes, let’s tell the world our sister’s in therapy.”
Stevie stopped searching for Will’s number in Max’s phone to glare at her. “I’m in therapy. Are you embarrassed by that, too?”
“I’m not embarrassed by you or her being in therapy, but perhaps she doesn’t want the world to know.”
“That sounds like shame.”
“That is not shame.”
“I’ve been in therapy a few times,” Zé suddenly announced and both sisters looked at him. He shrugged. “PTSD. When I was a Marine. You know . . . being shot at. Things blowing up around me. It takes its toll.”
“See?” Stevie said, again searching for Will’s number. “He has no shame.”
“I’m not asham—”
Max stopped what was about to turn into a tirade. She wasn’t going to let her father and sister get under her skin. Not today!
“I’m going upstairs to take a shower and then buy him”—she pointed at Zé—“a new phone.”
“Did I ask you what you were going to do?” Stevie demanded. “Because I don’t really care what you’re going to do!”
* * *
It took all of thirty seconds but the sisters went from general sadness about having such a weirdly irritating father to screaming at each other. So much screaming that Zé couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
He thought about stepping in before the two could come to blows but that seemed like a bad idea. Zé had already seen Max’s fangs. He didn’t need to see them again.
Behind them, though, standing outside the window in the yard, stood Shen. He waved at Zé, urging him to come over.
Zé looked at the sisters, then back at Shen, but Shen motioned again. He walked through the house and out the back door to meet Shen.
“Morning,” Shen greeted.
“Hey. You needed me?”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell me to come outside?”
“Oh, because you don’t want to get in the middle of a MacKilligan sister fight. For a second there, you looked like you might.”
Zé glanced back at the house and nodded. “You know, I sensed that wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Instincts, man. You’ve lived this long because of your instincts. Trust them. Besides, it always gets like that when their father comes around. Especially if Charlie’s not there for them to focus on instead.”
“They’re trying to keep it from Charlie.”
“Probably a good idea. She really hates her father.”
“I’ve only met him once, but I get that.”
“Anyway, it’s better if you stay out here with me.” Shen held up what he had been holding in his hand. “Bamboo?”
Zé shook his head, forcing himself to not look disgusted about a man offering him what seemed to him to be nothing more than a piece of a cheap chair, and simply replied, “No, thanks.”
Shen motioned behind him. “Wanna climb a tree with me? ”
At that point, Zé couldn’t do anything but look as confused as he felt. “Why the hell, as an actual adult, would I want to climb a tree with another man?”
Shen simply looked at the tree and so did Zé. It was a good-sized tree with a wide trunk. The branches were extremely thick and covered in lush leaves.