It was the caring side of Shay that had gotten him into this trouble. He’d gone off with Tock Lepstein to keep an eye on her because he knew if something happened, Mads was going to be . . . well . . . mad. Not only because their basketball team had made it into the championships, which would be coming up soon, but because—although she’d probably never admit it—Mads and Tock were best friends. They all called each other teammates but the relationship was more than that. For all five of them, but especially for Mads and Tock. They’d been looking out for each other since they were thirteen. Finn had always known that if he had a relationship with Mads, he would always have to make room for Tock. She’d be around somewhere. Showing up to their dinner out, sitting in seats behind him at the movies, or asleep in his kitchen cabinets—all his honey gone.
Normally, he wouldn’t want anyone sleeping in his cabinets. He wouldn’t want anyone around that much at all. But if he wanted Mads around, he’d have to accept Tock, too. Yeah. He knew he’d fallen hard for Mads Galendotter. A woman whose entire life seemed to revolve around basketball. The most boring of games. She sometimes compared that boring game to football. As if there was any comparison! One was a sport of strength, power, grace, rigid rules, and the innate ability to withstand major head trauma. The other was for tall freaks who could jump. In theory, neither Mads nor her friends should be able to play basketball in the shifter pros. They were honey badgers playing against She-bears, the big She-cats, and She-wolves.
Not only taller breeds but wider. Especially the bears. Those females had miles-long shoulders and legs. They might look like they loped and lumbered around, but nope. They could move like lightning down the court and knock smaller players out of the way with ease. But Mads and her friends were honey badgers. What they lacked in size, they more than made up for in brute viciousness. Finn had to admit . . . he did love watching Mads play. That ball was hers, and she wasn’t giving it up to anyone once she had it. And if she didn’t have it, she was going to get it.
He just didn’t know what was going to happen when the season was over. The championships were in New York but her team, the Butchers, was from Wisconsin. She’d need to be in Wisconsin for practices and whatnot. He would never ask her to quit the team or, even worse, quit basketball altogether. Not only because it was clearly her calling in life, but because it was how she made money legally. Because when these honey badgers weren’t playing basketball, they were stealing. They stole a lot. Badgers loved stealing and breaking into shit. And they would steal anything, from ancient art to the finest jewelry to cars to clothes off the rack to farm equipment to the steak off your plate—a situation that had nearly led to bloodshed between Keane and Max MacKilligan. In his defense, though, he’d been really hungry that day.
Not wanting to spend years of his life visiting Mads in prison, Finn would really prefer she play basketball. She loved it and it was legal. Even if the full-human world didn’t know any of these teams existed or had their own arenas and worldwide fans who cheered with growls and howls.
It was the same for Finn and his brothers. They could have been professional bone-breakers like most Malones. Or they could have gone into hockey . . . also like most Malones. But football seemed to be their thing. They’d started with peewee football and when they hit junior high, they joined school teams. All three of them were offered full scholarships to college, but by then their dad had been killed and they had to stay home and take care of their mom, baby brother, and baby sister. Their team coach had been devastated each time one of the brothers made the decision, and he always asked the same thing: How could they just give up football and a chance at a college education? But they weren’t giving up anything except eventually being part of the NFL—something that would never last because of all those blood tests that got more and more invasive as the years went by. Well, not only that. It was also Keane. His brutality on the field was legendary in the shifter league; Finn couldn’t imagine what would have happened if his big brother had gone pro with full-humans. As it was, none of them were sure he’d make it out of high school football without killing someone on the field. The man needed someone he could hit with all the force he could muster, someone who would get up again. Like Alaskan bears. Keane loved playing against Alaskan bears.
But they were part of the New York Crushers and had no intention of leaving. Not with their youngest brother still late on his growth spurt and college coming up in the fall; and their baby sister now part of their half-sisters’ lives. They had to stick around to make sure everything went according to plan. Their youngest siblings weren’t going to suffer like they did when their father was killed. They wouldn’t lose everything. They had a chance, and Keane, Shay, and Finn were going to make sure they both got what they deserved.
Finn continued to gaze down at his brother. He was pale but a specialist had been called in to deal with his wounded artery. The shifter world had lots of artery specialists on the medical side of things. It was the first area every predator went for when there was a fight.
The fever had also taken hold but they’d given Shay medication to control it. So he wouldn’t be running around the hospital, trying to fuck any non-related female whose scent he’d caught. But just seeing him lying there was upsetting. Shay didn’t make a lot of noise, but you always knew he was around. He was a presence in his own, quiet way. Right now, the room seemed empty.
Finn heard something smash against one of the glass windows that surrounded the hospital room and looked over to see Keane flinging something off his head. A huge honey badger hit the window but didn’t fall to the ground. It used the power of the throw to shove itself off and back at Keane. Wrapping itself around his brother’s skull.
Screaming, Keane tried to pry the badger off, but it was holding on with all its claws. Blood had already begun to leak down Keane’s forehead, and he was starting to get hysterical.
Finn let out a sigh. He’d tried to stop Keane when he’d stormed out after seeing their brother and hearing what had happened from some woman they didn’t know. She’d had an accent and was extremely pretty, but she was also badger and her explanation had not been kindly told. Unless they were up to something, badgers were brutally straightforward about . . . well . . . everything. Keane had not responded well to any of it.
And now he had a badger on his head.
With one last glance at Shay, Finn moved across the room and opened the glass door.
“Get it off! Get it off!” his brother begged.
Finn knew it wasn’t Mads attacking his brother. She had lighter fur, which got even paler when she was human. She liked to say it was the Viking in her that gave her that blondish fur. But it could be any of her teammates. He had no idea. The hospital was currently filled with honey badgers. And Keane, when angry—and he was almost always angry—could make a Benedictine nun aggressive as any of the nuns in their Catholic high school could attest.
Taking a breath, Finn reached out and attempted to grab hold of the fighting badger. But as soon as it felt fingers brush against its fur, it spiraled around, slashed at him—nearly taking his eye out—dropped to the ground, and ran into Shay’s room. It kicked the door closed with its back feet and by the time Finn and Keane made it into the room, it was standing on the bed facing them. Its back legs were on Shay’s chest, the front legs on his knees. When they moved toward it, the badger hissed so viciously that they immediately backed up, which was just weird. Amur tigers didn’t really back up for anybody. They didn’t have to. But seeing that angry badger face, Finn kind of understood why lions avoided these guys in the wild.