Born to Be Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles #5)(64)

“Why are you asking me?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “You’re here?”

“And,” the vet continued, “because of their strength and power, they can be a very hard breed to handle.”

“Meaning . . . ?”

“That the only reason that dog hasn’t ripped your face off and used your daughter like a chew toy is because of what you are.”

Confused, Shay frowned and asked, “Mongolian?”

Tock covered her mouth but the laugh slipped out.

“What?”

“Daddy, I think Dr. Maurice means what you are. What we are.”

“What are you exactly?” The vet looked him over. “Bear?”

Now Tock just laughed out loud. The comment would only be a bigger insult if she’d called him a wolf.

“My daddy’s a tiger, Dr. Maurice.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Now Shay was panicked. This vet was definitely a full-human. “How do you know about . . . Would you please stop laughing!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Tock waved her hand in front of her face.

The vet lifted a puppy out of the crate and began her examination by weighing each one on a small scale.

“My husband is African wild dog,” she informed Shay in response to his partially asked question. “We met when I was in vet school. Sorry about calling you a bear. I don’t spend much time around big cats.”

After weighing each pup, she checked their heartbeats, claws, paws, and teeth.

“The puppies look great. Very healthy. Now, time to take a look at the momma.”

Shay put his arms around Princess and lifted her as he stood. Before he could put her on the exam table, though, Tock took the muzzle from Dani and stepped over to the pair so she could put it on the dog. That’s when Princess bared her fangs in warning at Tock for the first time.

“I know you didn’t just growl at me,” Tock told the dog.

Princess’s mouth relaxed, her hackles went down, and she yawned. Tock stepped close and put the bucket muzzle around the dog’s closed mouth.

Once secure, Shay put her on the exam table.

The vet examined the dog and took some blood. She asked about vaccines, and when Shay only gazed at her, she began writing furiously on her chart.

When Shay put Princess back on the floor, the vet said, “Mr. Malone, my strongest suggestion to you at this point is that you don’t place these puppies with anyone other than the big shifters. That includes the smaller cats and dogs. No bobcats. No foxes. No jackals. Apex predators only, please.”

“She’s fine with me,” Tock said. And when the vet only gazed at her, she added, “I’m honey badger.”

“Ah. The psychotic, rage-filled assholes of the wild? Yeah, I’m sure she’s fine with you, but my suggestion still stands. Bears. Lions. Tigers. Wolf Pack. And start socializing those puppies now.”

“You mean . . . socialize them outside their uncles and mother?”

The vet clenched her fists and, for a brief second, Shay was sure that the woman was going to punch him. But his daughter stepped forward and said, “Don’t worry, Dr. Maurice. I’ll be handling the puppies from now on.”

“Well, thank God for that. Unbelievable.” She shook her head at Shay. “You got them at a parking lot. Unbelievable.”

*

“She wanted to beat you to death.”

“I am aware.”

“Who knew you could make a vet so mad? She deals with animals all day and yet you pushed her to the edge. It was hilarious.”

They had left the vet’s office and were making their way down to the world beneath. Of course, that sounded way more dramatic than it actually was. All you had to do was walk down some stairs and pass a couple of shifter security guards who gave a good sniff to make sure you were one of them.

“You want something to eat, baby?” Shay asked Dani, placing the crate with the puppies on a table near the Starbucks.

Tock dropped into a seat and Dani took one of the others.

“No, thank you, Daddy. Just some water.”

Shay had walked into the coffee shop but walked right back out. “You’re not hungry?” he asked, gazing down at his daughter. “What’s wrong? You don’t feel well? Do I need to take you home?”

“Um . . . no. Just wanted some water.”

“When was the last time you ate? Did you eat before we left? What about some fruit? Do you want some fruit? Or cereal? I can get you some cereal.”

“You are freaking her out,” Tock told him. “You know what I’d love? A small coffee. Black. No sugar.” She pushed a ten-dollar bill across the table, but Shay waved it away before looking his daughter over one more time and finally walking into the Starbucks.

“Thanks for coming with us today,” Dani said once her father was gone.

“No problem. Your father is always so cute in his inherent confusion.”

“I think I’m going to stay with him and my uncles until we find homes for the puppies.”

“Probably a good idea. Will your mom be okay with that?” Tock’s mom had become weepy when she spent the night at Streep’s house or Nelle’s mansion. Even now she received regular texts from her mother that basically said the same thing: “I haven’t heard from you in days. Are you dead?” Tock had never wanted a sibling, but she always wondered if her mother would be less clingy if there were another child to distract her.