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This will not go down well between the eagle and raptor clans. I’m so glad I don’t have feathers. “To sum up, you stood between bullies and your friend, trying to help an injured hawk get to safety?”
Kyle nodded.
“Good for you.”
Kyle beamed. Then his face fell. “I didn’t mean to do all that damage. Not until Earl and his buddies ganged up on me, then I bit back. One of them clawed up my ribs.” Kyle turned and lifted his shirt, showing off a deep gash already healing.
Gerald hadn’t realized the blood he’d smelled earlier had belonged to more than just Earl and his friends. “Did you mention this to Laura?”
“No.” The teen glanced down. “I’m already in trouble for fighting. I don’t want to get into more trouble for losing.”
Gerald blinked. “What?”
Kyle made eye contact once more. “We’re bears, Mr. Winter. We might act like we’re laid-back, but we don’t like to lose. At anything. My cousin is not going to be happy if she learns I got hacked.”
“By one raptor, no. But by multiple threats? You took on birds of prey and won, Kyle.”
Kyle paused. “Well, that might give me a little street cred.” The boy smiled. “Huh. Yeah. I have a battle wound.”
Way to wind the kid back up, Gerald. “Okay, hold on. What happened was not good for you or this town. We need to calm things down, keep you safely away from jail, and make sure Laura and parents don’t string you up for any of this.” Good, the kid looked a lot less proud at the moment. “Now, again, tell me exactly where the other boys were when all this happened. Don’t leave anything out. We need to make your case airtight so the raptors have no room to make more trouble.”
“What?”
“Talk, boy.”
Kyle did and didn’t stop until he’d turned hoarse. “Can I get some water?”
“Sure thing.” Gerald turned, looking for Laura. But she hadn’t returned.
Typical. The sexy deputy had a way of putting his fur up. No matter how professional and put-together he felt, she always made him feel off kilter, something he rarely felt around women.
Gerald had been born with the ability to charm a snake out of its own skin. He was quite the catch, and he knew it. But Laura didn’t seem to like him much.
He frowned. She’d never been mean, but she’d never been all that nice either. Bossy and dismissive. But hell, he’d been dealing with that all his life. Most of the larger predators in town respected size and strength instead of cunning. As if being a fox made him lesser, somehow.
But it wasn’t like he didn’t possess a powerful build as a man. One that could more than handle Laura’s sweet curves.
“Um, could I have some water?” Kyle asked.
Gerald blinked, annoyed at himself. “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”
He donned a familiar polite yet detached smile, shielded behind an icy front, and left to fetch the boy some water.
He didn’t feel the Christmas spirit much as he passed a small, drooping evergreen on his way to the watercooler and muttered a “bah humbug” under his breath when a few bristles dropped.
Chapter Three
Laura half-listened to the screeching on the phone while she tried to calm Earl’s mother. She gazed out the window of her office, watching fat snowflakes fall.
Only twenty-three more days until Christmas, and she felt just as lonely as she had since Thanksgiving, and the holiday before that.
“Yes, yes, Roberta. We’re aware they had to reset Earl’s wing. But maybe next time the boy doesn’t go plucking an underage girl’s feathers or put his friends up to fighting with my cousin.”
“You’re biased. I knew it!”
“I’ll be taking this to the eagles. You can deal with them about Christine. My alpha will get in touch with you about our bear.” Laura hung up before her temper got the better of her. She, unlike her nephew, wouldn’t stop with a few bites of a hawk. No, she’d snap that nasty Roberta McKay in half, and her stupid husband too.
She glanced down at her hand, not surprised to see bear claws and a paw start to form. Drawing on her patience, she pulled her bear back in and remembered to be a professional.
