Breaking Badger

by Shelly Laurenston

  Two males held her bare arms tightly as they dragged her through the warehouse until they reached a room and threw her inside. They closed the door and stepped in front of it, facing her. Then they waited. She stood on the other side of the room and said nothing. Simply watched them.

  The smaller one started to sweat first, wiping his forehead a lot. His partner noticed and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t feel so well.”

  “Suck it up. The boss is in a bad mood.” He glanced at Nat. “Poor kid doesn’t even know what’s about to happen to her. Unlike her, we will hear her screams.”

  “Sure she can’t hear?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  Now the taller guy wiped his forehead. “Is it me or is it getting hot in here?” He looked down at his hands, studied the palms. “Do your palms feel sweaty, too?”

  “It’s like my skin’s on fire.”

  “Yeah. Mine, too.”

  The smaller one pointed at Nat. “What’s she smiling about?”

  * * *

  “When will you get the money?”

  “I . . . I . . .”

  Joey didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have the money. And he’d already borrowed from everyone he knew to pay off all his old debts. He still hadn’t paid his rent and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep that from the wife. As it was, she thought he had paid the rent. But he’d thought this time the horse was a sure thing. He’d looked into the horse’s eyes! He’d thought for sure this time . . .

  Now he had the biggest man he’d ever seen standing over him, telling him if he didn’t pay up money he didn’t have he would not just break his legs, he would demolish his legs.

  Joey had always thought he was a big guy. He was a big guy! Six-three, three hundred pounds, and, like his dad and granddad before him, he worked on the docks. But the guy staring down at him with weird gold eyes . . . he was bigger. Way bigger. Taller. Wider.

  Joey always thought he was mean, too. Joey sent most of the guys who came around demanding money on their way with a swift kick in the ass while he and his union boys laughed about it. But this guy. This guy was definitely meaner. Colder. Impatient. Joey didn’t think he’d be kicking this one’s ass anywhere.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “Uh . . .”

  “Hey! Malone.”

  It was a woman’s voice. Coming from behind the mountain in front of Joey.

  The mountain turned and said, “You? What are you doing here?”

  She walked around him and Joey saw her and another woman. The first one was Black. Only about five-nine, but with big shoulders. Cute, though. The other one was tiny. Blond, thin, in a little sundress one of Joey’s daughters might wear. Neither of them seemed to belong on the docks. And they definitely didn’t seem like the kind of girls who should be talking to the mountain.

  “I’ve been told,” the Black one said, “that you do work for the Yuns.”

  “Look, I’m not about to get—”

  “They took my sister. I need to know where they would have taken her.”

  “I’m not getting in the middle of this. Not against the Yuns.”

  “I’m sorry if I was unclear. You don’t have a choice.”

  The mountain sort of laughed. “Really?”

  The Black one suddenly grabbed the mountain. By the hair, twisting him down, so that he was forced to look up to her. Her other hand, she pressed against his neck, and warned, “Move and I’ll rip it out.”

  The mountain stopped struggling.

  “The Yuns took our half-sister. They plan to torture her and kill her. This would also be the half-sister of the Malone brothers. Your cousins. While you should be worried about what I will do to you, you should really be worried about what the Black Malones will do to your entire family when they get back to New York. Because we both know that if anything happens to their sister, they will never stop until the entire Malone bloodline is wiped clean from the planet. So I strongly suggest you answer me.”

  Joey could see the mountain struggling. He didn’t want to answer, and Joey knew why. Ratting out the Yuns was a quick way to end up in the East River. But before the big man could make up his mind, the tiny blonde leaned over and screamed right into the mountain’s face, “TELL HER!”

  The containers that surrounded them, which needed to be lifted by very powerful cranes, shook from the force of the girl’s roared words.

  That’s when the mountain blurted out an address somewhere on Staten Island.

  He was released, and the blonde started walking away. The other didn’t follow immediately, though. She stared at the mountain a moment before heading off, tossing a warning over her shoulder as she did. “If that kid is hurt or dead because you didn’t give us the information right away, I promise you’ll never see me coming.”

  Realizing that this mountain of a man had let those two women stomp all over him and was still looking weirded out and panicked, Joey swung on him before he could get his senses back. He hit him right in the face, too. Should have knocked him out.

  Instead, all the mountain did was turn his head slowly to glare down at Joey. He didn’t even blink. Or move. Or appear harmed in anyway.

  Then he did something truly unsettling. He growled.

  That’s when Joey knew he was well and truly fucked.

  * * *

  Tova stood next to Freja as Mads came over the hill with her new Oriental boyfriend and his Oriental brothers. They were big tigers. All three of them.

  Some of her clan were in their human forms, but some were loping back and forth, sending out their whooping call. Some laughing. So Mads would not forget what she was dealing with.

  “Do you have it?” Freja called out to her worthless daughter.

  Unlike her fertile sisters, Freja had always had trouble conceiving. It hadn’t really bothered her. She didn’t like children. But if she wanted to take over, to rule when Tova moved on, she knew she’d need a daughter of her own to watch her back. She’d heard about the tough genes of honey badgers. She’d thought at worst she’d get a disturbing mix of hyena and badger. Instead, she got a weak little badger with a love of basketball. Ghetto trash with ghetto-trash friends. The Clan would have found a way to get rid of her a long time ago if it hadn’t been for Solveig.

  But Solveig was gone now. No one to protect little Mads anymore except three tigers and her crazy badger friends. They might not be standing right next to her, but Tova wasn’t fooled. She knew those bitches were around somewhere. Maybe under her feet. She knew they could dig. She was ready for their little tricks and moves. Even the probability that they would use weapons because their little claws and fangs weren’t strong enough to go up against hyena jaws. Tova’s Clan had weapons of their own. Just in case.

  “Well?” Freja pushed when the badger just stood there. Not saying anything.

  “I’m not here to fight you,” Mads finally said. “I’m just here to tell you that it’s over. It ends here.”

  “What ends here?”

  “The harassment. The stupid fights over swords. It’s just . . . done.”

  Tova dropped her head. “Lord!” she muttered to one of her nieces. “That girl is sad.”

  “Okay,” Freja said, her voice full of sarcasm. “It’s done. Because you want it done. Because we’re upsetting you.”

  “No. That’s not why. Because I’m doing what Solveig always wanted to do but never tried because she thought it was too crazy, even for her.”

  Confused, Tova raised her head, watching the first one trot over the hill.

  His big mane waved around him, thick legs standing tall and powerful, massive chest moving in and out with each breath, instincts kicking in at the mere sight of the clan standing in front of him.

  At first, Tova kind of laughed. Admiring the balls on the girl to come up with this crazy idea, with or without Solveig. But that laughter died in her throat when more males kept coming. Filling up the hil
lside. Lion males as far as the eye could see. More male lions than she’d ever seen at one time in all her life.

  More male lions than she had hyenas in her entire American Clan.

  This wasn’t a warn-off. As she’d thought it would be when it looked like the girl had only brought a few lions and her pet tigers. This was a wipeout.

  “You wouldn’t,” Tova snarled at her.

  “Better hide the children,” Mads Galendotter growled out, her badger fangs extending past her lips. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep them from going that far.”

  Then the evil bitch threw back her head and unleashed a Viking scream Solveig would have been proud of, sending all those lion males charging straight at Tova’s entire Clan.

  * * *

  Charlie pressed her foot on the gas and drove straight ahead, ignoring the bullets that kept slamming into the windshield. She’d borrowed a work SUV and those vehicles were mostly bulletproof, allowing her to continue driving forward until she rammed the cats protecting the front of the building, shoving them into the wall and then right through the concrete.

  She didn’t duck down until she realized the top of the SUV was being partially sawed off and worried her head might go with it. There was definitely no coming back from a decapitated head. Even for a honey badger.

  Once she cleared the wall and the near loss of her head, Charlie spun the wheel hard and hit the brakes. She grabbed the machine gun next to her and started shooting before she even straightened up. When she did sit up, she had already taken down five tigers and was gunning for three more when something slammed into her from behind. This one had shifted into his cat form. His forelegs slammed onto her shoulders with a brutal force that should have crumpled her like tin foil.

  Her father’s freak genes, though . . .

  Charlie reached back with one hand and grabbed the tiger by the extra skin of his neck and flung him into the tiger launching himself at her from the front. They slammed into each other and landed in a muddle of claws and fangs. She jumped out of the wrecked SUV and cleared the empty mag, quickly replacing it with a new one from the vest she was wearing. She started firing again at the males rushing in from a doorway.

  There were a lot of them. And it was clear they’d been waiting for her. So Charlie wasn’t exactly surprised when she got hit twice in the back, just above the vest she had on, knocking her to the ground. She rolled over and started to clear her empty mag again but a hand reached down and yanked the weapon from her hands. He slammed his foot against her chest. A rib cracked and Charlie yelped out in pain. He kicked her in the side a few times, then grabbed her ankle and began dragging her toward the open doorway.

  * * *

  Mads heard her mother scream orders as the female hyenas attacked from all sides. She didn’t shift and neither did they. Instead, they came at her swinging. But Mads blocked their blows with her arms and struck back with the blades she had tucked under her T-shirt. She slashed one across the face, another across the shoulder. Someone kicked her from behind and she rolled forward, came up standing. She spun around and brought the blade down, nailing a cousin in the chest.

  The rest shifted and scattered; lion males took off after them.

  She knew blood had sprayed across her face, and she had it on her hands and white T-shirt. Slowly she faced her mother and grandmother with her arms spread wide, a blade in each hand.

  Mads said nothing. There was nothing to say. The only thing her family could do at this point was flee.

  They did.

  * * *

  The banging coming from inside the SUV stopped the man dragging Charlie toward the hallway. He looked back, gold eyes narrowed. He shook his head and started dragging Charlie again. Another bang had him tossing Charlie against the wall and aiming his machine gun at the back of the SUV. He shot at the vehicle a few times. Paused. Shot it some more.

  Charlie rolled to her stomach, got onto her knees. She pressed her hand to her chest and forced her ribs back into place so she could breathe a little better. Once breathing was no longer a challenge, she pulled out the .40 holstered to the back of her jeans and put a round in the chamber.

  As soon as she did, she had to duck, because the back door of the SUV was flipping across the room as an angry, roaring Stevie emerged from the trunk.

  The male tried to fire again when he saw the giant, tiger-striped honey badger but Stevie didn’t even see him. She was too busy stepping on him with her giant paw as she got out of the vehicle, crushing him into the ground. Leaving nothing but his flattened, bloody remains behind once she’d stepped away.

  In the past, when her meds weren’t quite right and she had no real control over her emotions, this incarnation of Stevie would have been an explosion of panic and fear. But that fearful Stevie no longer existed and right now she was too angry to be afraid of anything, it seemed.

  More men charged out of the doorway, completely unaware of Charlie. All focused on Stevie. She gave Charlie a short nod before doing what Stevie did best . . . freak everyone out.

  This time it was by running across the room and up the wall to the ceiling. She hung on there for a moment until the men began shooting at her. Then she ran across the ceiling, keeping their focus on her.

  Charlie ran through the doorway, searching for Nat. She shot on sight any male who came at her. When she reached the end of the hall and could go neither left nor right she heard screaming.

  Following the screaming usually worked, so that’s what she did. The sounds took her to a steel door. She carefully tried opening it but it was locked. Charlie took a few steps back, angled her shoulder in and down, positioned both hands on her gun, and ran.

  She rammed the door and took it off its hinges with the first hit, sending it across the room. Inside, she found Nat on her knees, holding Kang Yun by his arms and spitting at him.

  No. That wasn’t right. Well, it wasn’t wrong either. She was spitting at him. Not like a scared, angry teen, but like a spitting cobra. Yeah. Exactly like a spitting cobra.

  And it was Yun who was screaming.

  Nat released the cat and he fell back, writhing and rolling over and over, his hands desperately wiping at his face.

  Charlie looked around the room. There were at least six male tigers, all dead. Each of them in a different state of contortion and decomposition. There was only one thing that caused a human body to react like that: the world’s worst snake venom.

  Grabbing her sister by her T-shirt, she lifted her to her feet and raised her arm. She sniffed Nat’s palm and her forearm.

  “You can release poison through your pores?” Charlie asked Nat, looking her right in the face. “And spit it? Like a reptile?”

  “Only after I drink it. I don’t digest it. It just sits in my system.”

  Charlie let out a breath. “You know whose fault this is, don’t you?”

  “Dad’s?”

  “Dad and his fucked-up genes.”

  The doorframe cracked and Stevie shoved her massive, tiger-striped badger head in. The legs and torso of a man still hung from her mouth, but he’d stopped kicking. When she looked around and saw nothing but dead males in the room, she spit her “toy” onto the floor and gawked at her younger sister.

  Charlie jerked her thumb at Stevie and said to a wide-eyed Nat, “That’s also Dad’s fault.”

  * * *

  To Finn’s surprise, some of the hyenas had guns and started using them when they realized how dire their situation actually was. Not that he blamed them. The problem was, the weapons didn’t really help. As he walked around, lion males tore hyenas to shreds like cruel boys ripping apart their little sisters’ stuffed animals.

  Eventually, the hyenas that weren’t killed right away started to run for their lives. Probably smart, because it had turned out to be way easier than Finn had thought possible to round up a bunch of lion males for this. All Keane had to do was put a call out to the lions in his football league. They’d only received “yes” replies and the males
showed up at the airport less than twenty-four hours later on their own dime. Apparently running down hyenas for amusement was something lion males did whenever they could. Whether on the Serengeti or in Brooklyn on a Saturday night. So to be able to take on an entire clan for another player’s badger girlfriend—because Mads was now officially Finn’s girlfriend as far as the league and Finn’s brothers were concerned—was an “honor.”

  What was strange to Finn, though, was that he hadn’t seen any of Mads’s teammates since this had all started. They’d disappeared when Mads and the rest of them had headed toward the trailers and hadn’t been spotted since. He just hoped they weren’t about to blow the place. He wouldn’t put it past them, but he really didn’t want to have to make a run for it.

  Once Tova and Freja turned tail, the whole thing was pretty much over. The hyenas that were left just took off. They grabbed the kids—who had not been harmed in any way—got in their trucks and cars, and were gone.

  Finn went looking for Mads and found her staring out over a small man-made lake. She was covered in blood and had a few bruises, but not nearly as many as she’d had the night her cousins had ambushed her.

  He put his arm around her shoulders from behind and kissed the top of her head.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Think they’ll be back?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care. I just know they won’t be bothering me. And I never have to come back here.”

  “This was never your home.”

  “It really wasn’t. Detroit was my home. Solveig was my home. Those parks and those basketball courts were my home.”

  She grabbed his forearms with her hands and just held them. They stayed like that for a long time until they heard a truck pull up and the badgers got out.

  “Where did you go?” Mads asked when she saw her friends.

  “Had to get some stuff for you,” Max said. “And now you owe us. Because oh my God!”