“No, we’re not. You were hit by a She-bear.”

“And you’re full-human.”

“So?”

“Look, look at this.” Malone pulled her cell phone out of her sweatpants pocket.

“Don’t show her that,” Smith nearly begged, her gaze moving up to the ceiling.

“Look what happened to this guy who had a run-in with a not-high, black bear sow ... which is way smaller than a grizzly, and the grizzly who did this to you was startled.”

MacDermot took one look at the picture, squealed, and quickly slapped the phone out of Malone’s hand. “What the fuck are you showing me that for?”

Crush was kind of wondering the same thing.

He also wondered if all that bear talk had conjured up its own set of problems when the perky fox admin said from the front desk, “Mr. Van Holtz? There are two grizzlies outside. They’re asking me to buzz them in.”

“They’re not ours?”

“No, sir.”

MacDermot walked around to the other side of the admin’s desk and looked at the fox’s computer screen. With her one open eye, MacDermot studied whoever was at the front door. “Nope. They’re not ours.”

Van Holtz nodded. “Let them in, Charlene.”

“Yes, sir.”

He pointed at Malone and Smith. “And you two, don’t start anything.”

“Even if they deserve it?”

“Dee-Ann ...”

The two grizzlies walked through the door, the taller one smiling at Van Holtz.

“Mr. Van Holtz?”

“Yes.”

“Hello. I’m ...” The grizzly caught sight of Crush, his words trailing off. Their gazes locked and clashed, and the grizzly’s lip curled. He recognized Crush and not merely as a fellow bear.

Cella didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t for Crushek to suddenly stand up, place Cella on her feet, and then snarl at the grizzlies, “What? You got something to say?”

Suddenly all those proper bear manners went out the window and the grizzlies were moving toward the polar, and Crush was moving around Van Holtz, going head-to-head with these two assholes. But before any of that could happen, Smith stepped between them all, facing the grizzlies, one side of her mouth lifting into a slight and rather scary smile.

The grizzlies stopped, refusing to go any closer, not surprising considering Smith’s past history with BPC.

“Why don’t you gentlemen sit,” Charlene, the admin, said, running over and offering chairs near the door, her smile wide. “Mr. Van Holtz has a meeting scheduled right now, but he’ll be back as soon as he’s done. Okay?” Without waiting for an answer, she offered, “Would you gentlemen like something to drink? Coffee, tea, or somehoney?”

Smith sucked her tongue against her teeth. “That Charlene,” she teasingly complained about the admin, “always ruinin’ my fun.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

They all headed toward Van Holtz’s office, the BPC grizzlies left behind to seethe. As they came around the corner, Cella realized that Crush wasn’t with them. She stopped and retraced her steps, finding the bear standing outside the game room where many of the Group’s rescued hybrid teens hung out. He stood there, staring in and she stood next to him.

“You okay?” she asked when he didn’t say anything. “What was the deal with those bears?”

“That was nothing.” Crush pointed at the window and quickly changed the subject, which made her think whatever had happened between him and the grizzlies was not “nothing.”

“Why are there kids here?” he asked.

It was his tone that made her concerned, but she still didn’t know if that tone was due strictly to the BPC reps or not.

“Smith found them on the streets,” Cella explained. “She brought them in.”

“Why didn’t she turn them over to CPS?”

“Child Services had most of them and lost them. All these kids are runners. Dee-Ann”—she kind of hoped using the She-wolf’s first name would loosen him up a bit—“was just trying to help out by bringing them in.”

“Helping them or helping the Group? Are you people training them as agents?”

He sounded so accusatory, Cella felt her hackles go up.

“I’m not training them to do anything. At all. This is Dee’s deal, not mine. I’m not even in the Group.”

The bear faced her. “What do you mean you’re not in the Group?”

“I mean I’m not in the Group.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just come to see you?” When his expression grew impossibly darker, she quickly said, “I’m kidding. I swear I’m kidding. I’m just here to represent KZS as per Van Holtz’s request. So don’t worry, I’m not stalking you if that’s—”

“Wait,” he cut in. “You’re KZS?”

“Yeah. I didn’t tell you that? I could have sworn I told you that.”

“No. You never told me that.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “Oops.”

“Oops? That’s all you can say?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing.” He walked around her and headed off down the hall.

Cella followed Crush, catching up to him as he stood in the hallway trying to figure out the way to Van Holtz’s office.