Born to Be Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles #5)(41)

“No one is taking you away from me or your mother. Now, where is your mother—”

“Did she leave you again?”

“Keane!”

Giving a short roar, Keane stomped off. But not before briefly stopping and kissing his niece on the top of her head.

“Uncle Keane is mad,” she whispered when he had gone inside the house.

“Uncle Keane is always mad. Don’t worry about it. Where’s your mom?”

She leaned back a bit in his arms but didn’t look him in the eyes. “She had to do something with the boys. Something with football, of course. She texted you yesterday and I asked her if she heard back, but—”

“Don’t worry about it. I, uh, lost my phone last night somewhere and I just didn’t get her message. It’s okay.”

Small fingers brushed his neck. “What happened, Daddy? Were you hurt?”

“Just a little. But I’m okay now. And I see worry lines again.”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Keep it up, you’re going to become a growling, snarling, man-beast!”

And to show their niece what that would like, Finn walked up to them and yelled toward the house, “The neighbor is not being reasonable!”

Keane was out the front door like a shot, heading over to the next house. Snarling and growling the whole way.

“No one messes with his niece,” Finn said, taking Dani from Shay’s arms and lifting her up so she could sit on his neck.

“Is he going to hurt the man?”

“Of course not, baby. Because your uncle fears prison. The idea of being locked up behind bars terrifies him.”

“It terrifies me, too!”

Shay stared at his daughter. “Why are you worrying about going to prison?”

“Or being put in a zoo. That’s like prison, right? Our class went to the zoo last year and I was thinking, ‘What if I get put in here?’”

“You’re not going to be put in a zoo, Dani.”

“I could be put in a zoo. If full-humans find out what we are, they could put us all in zoos.”

“Do you think about that a lot, baby?”

“Don’t you?”

“No,” Shay and Finn said together.

“Must be nice. Flittin’ through life without any worries.”

Shay crossed his eyes but didn’t bother arguing with his child. She could be as stubborn as her mother on good days. And today probably hadn’t been a good day.

Once they were inside the house, Finn’s phone rang. He handed Dani off to Shay, who held her in his arms until she pointed out, “I haven’t touched the ground in about ten minutes. I can walk, Daddy.”

“Right. Sorry.”

As soon as her feet hit the floor, she took off toward the backyard.

“Stay away from those filthy dogs!” Finn yelled after her before turning toward Shay and asking, “You want some spaghetti?”

“You made spaghetti?”

“Charlie made spaghetti. That was Mads. We’ve been invited. For spaghetti.”

“Will there be sauce?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“We could buy some sauce. If they don’t have sauce.”

“I’m sure they’ll have sauce.”

“Who will have sauce?” Keane asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Charlie invited us to her house for spaghetti. Did you threaten that old man?”

“He’s not that old. He’s just lived in that house since he was a kid. And yes. I threatened him. But don’t worry. Nothing that could be used in a court of law. I did it with my eyes. And why do we need to see the honey badgers again?”

“We’ll also see Nat.”

“I do like Nat.”

“We all like Nat.”

“But we don’t know if Charlie will have sauce?”

“Why wouldn’t they have sauce?”

“They only mentioned spaghetti.”

“You should ask. In case we have to bring our own.”

Finn texted Mads. A few seconds later, he said, “There’ll be sauce.”

“I like sauce.”

“I do, too.”

“We all do.”

“Are you really all talking about sauce?” Dani asked, gazing up at them and petting something in her hands.

“What’s that, honey?” Finn asked.

“A puppy.”

“Where did you find a puppy?”

“Outside with the dogs. Looks like one of them had puppies.”

“How many puppies?” Shay asked.

“Six.”

“Jesus, those things are huge. Now we’ll have to get more food,” Finn complained.

“Princess had six puppies?”

“You call that drooling animal ‘Princess’?” Keane demanded.

“I love Daddy’s dogs,” Dani informed her uncles in a tone that would tolerate no dissent. “Do not roll your eyes at me, Uncle Mean.”

Keane leaned down until he was nose to nose with Shay’s daughter. He rolled his eyes again and again until she laughed.

“Are we going to get spaghetti or not?” Finn wanted to know.