Beast Behaving Badly
Page 9
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How long you two staying this time?
Sami dropped the magazine onto the floor. Shed only been back in the States for a few days, but Bo could tell she was already bored, ready to travel again. Foxes bored easy, and Bo had gotten used to his friends appearing and disappearing randomly. If he were really desperate, he could always track them down through their parents. But to be honest, he was never that desperate. He enjoyed his friends while they were around, but didnt think much about them when they were gone.
I dont know, she said. We havent made up our minds. Taiwan might be fun. She reached for another magazine. You know, we stopped home before heading here. Lots of people asked about you.
Lots of people asked about me? Or lots of people asked about Speck? A nickname he completely loathed.
Does that matter?
You kind of just answered my question.
Sami turned on her side, facing him. What about your uncle?
I cant speak for him, but hes never suggested hes in dire need to see me.
You always talk like a lawyer when I mention your family.
As usual Sami made it sound like Bo had this big family back in Ursus County, Maine, rather than one uncle willing to take him in when his parents died. No one else had wanted him. His mothers Pride had no use for a male hybrid, and his fathers other brother had no use for Bo. So, Bos Uncle Grigori left the Marine Corp and took Bo back to Maine where he was mostly ignored by the locals. They ignored him, that is until they figured out he was good at hockey. Hockey was all in Ursus County.
It wasnt easy, though, in the beginning. Bo was considered small for a bear, and playing hockey against all-bear teamseven the junior and minor league oneswas not for the weak of heart or body. Yet Bo learned a lot in those years, playing against bigger, full-bred bears who found him small and useless. And what he learned was to be mean.
He knew his reputation as a hockey player and, as far as he was concerned, hed earned every bit of that rep. There were two constants when he was on the ice. The puck belonged to him and if you tried to take his puck, Bo Novikov would do whatever necessary to get it back. The intensity of his attack would depend on how much of a threat Bo considered a player. The more the threat, the worse the damage. When he was barely six-one and playing against bears at least a foot taller, this made sense and the damage was mitigated by his lack of size. When Bo hit his growth spurt, however, he didnt change the way he played. The only difference now was that he had the size and power to amplify the damage twenty-fold.
Even worse . . . Bo didnt care.
Winning was his goal. Always had been, always would be. The money, the contracts, the women,all of it, were the outcome of winning, but it was the winning that got Bo to the rink every day. It was winning that made him do whatever he had to do to get the puck from the other guy. Funny, he wasnt this predatory when he was hunting down dinner, or this territorial about anything else in his life.
You need travel money? he asked Sami, not wanting to discuss his uncle or the town hed left behind a long time ago.
Nah. We have some cash left from our last job.
Samis last job most likely being her and Sanders last con. They were foxes after all, and foxes liked to steal. Sami was an Arctic fox from a very old Eskimo line. Sander was an Alaskan fox, his people from Kodiak. Bo had been unable to shake them since hed moved to Ursus County, the pair latching on to him his first day of grade school. No matter where his career landed him, at some point Bo would look up in the stands and see Sami and Sander watching him, or hed come home after practice to find them lounging on his furniture and eating his food.
It was simply just something he learned to accept, and as long as they cleaned up after themselves and controlled their clutter tendencies, he enjoyed having them around.
Well, let me know if you need any.
Youre such a good polar, Sami teased. Im so glad we made you ours.
Like I had a choice.
You so didnt! she laughed.
See this? Mitch demanded, lifting up his mane so Blayne was forced to look at the back of his thick linebacker-size neck.
What am I looking at?
I was trying to get Novikovs autograph at a game he had in Philly, and I must have startled him because I was hiding behind a door until he passed
Why were you hiding behind a
and he slammed me into the wall so hard, I was bleeding and couldnt stand for like an hour. I still have the scar!
Dude, dude, thats nothing. Phil, Sabinas husband, pulled the neck of his long-sleeve thermal tee down, revealing faint scratches on his chest. I got this during the game he had against the Jersey Stompers three years ago. The crowd was throwing soda and chips and popcorn on him after he annihilated the Jersey team. And I leaned out and screamed, Novikov! You suck! And he slashed me with those eight-inch hybrid claws hes got! Phil leaned back in his chair, appearing way too smug. And I totally survived.
Horrified, Blayne said, What are you two bragging about? Abusing fans is not appropriate behavior. Blayne pointed at Phil. And if you didnt like him, why are you so excited about him physically assaulting you?
Sami dropped the magazine onto the floor. Shed only been back in the States for a few days, but Bo could tell she was already bored, ready to travel again. Foxes bored easy, and Bo had gotten used to his friends appearing and disappearing randomly. If he were really desperate, he could always track them down through their parents. But to be honest, he was never that desperate. He enjoyed his friends while they were around, but didnt think much about them when they were gone.
I dont know, she said. We havent made up our minds. Taiwan might be fun. She reached for another magazine. You know, we stopped home before heading here. Lots of people asked about you.
Lots of people asked about me? Or lots of people asked about Speck? A nickname he completely loathed.
Does that matter?
You kind of just answered my question.
Sami turned on her side, facing him. What about your uncle?
I cant speak for him, but hes never suggested hes in dire need to see me.
You always talk like a lawyer when I mention your family.
As usual Sami made it sound like Bo had this big family back in Ursus County, Maine, rather than one uncle willing to take him in when his parents died. No one else had wanted him. His mothers Pride had no use for a male hybrid, and his fathers other brother had no use for Bo. So, Bos Uncle Grigori left the Marine Corp and took Bo back to Maine where he was mostly ignored by the locals. They ignored him, that is until they figured out he was good at hockey. Hockey was all in Ursus County.
It wasnt easy, though, in the beginning. Bo was considered small for a bear, and playing hockey against all-bear teamseven the junior and minor league oneswas not for the weak of heart or body. Yet Bo learned a lot in those years, playing against bigger, full-bred bears who found him small and useless. And what he learned was to be mean.
He knew his reputation as a hockey player and, as far as he was concerned, hed earned every bit of that rep. There were two constants when he was on the ice. The puck belonged to him and if you tried to take his puck, Bo Novikov would do whatever necessary to get it back. The intensity of his attack would depend on how much of a threat Bo considered a player. The more the threat, the worse the damage. When he was barely six-one and playing against bears at least a foot taller, this made sense and the damage was mitigated by his lack of size. When Bo hit his growth spurt, however, he didnt change the way he played. The only difference now was that he had the size and power to amplify the damage twenty-fold.
Even worse . . . Bo didnt care.
Winning was his goal. Always had been, always would be. The money, the contracts, the women,all of it, were the outcome of winning, but it was the winning that got Bo to the rink every day. It was winning that made him do whatever he had to do to get the puck from the other guy. Funny, he wasnt this predatory when he was hunting down dinner, or this territorial about anything else in his life.
You need travel money? he asked Sami, not wanting to discuss his uncle or the town hed left behind a long time ago.
Nah. We have some cash left from our last job.
Samis last job most likely being her and Sanders last con. They were foxes after all, and foxes liked to steal. Sami was an Arctic fox from a very old Eskimo line. Sander was an Alaskan fox, his people from Kodiak. Bo had been unable to shake them since hed moved to Ursus County, the pair latching on to him his first day of grade school. No matter where his career landed him, at some point Bo would look up in the stands and see Sami and Sander watching him, or hed come home after practice to find them lounging on his furniture and eating his food.
It was simply just something he learned to accept, and as long as they cleaned up after themselves and controlled their clutter tendencies, he enjoyed having them around.
Well, let me know if you need any.
Youre such a good polar, Sami teased. Im so glad we made you ours.
Like I had a choice.
You so didnt! she laughed.
See this? Mitch demanded, lifting up his mane so Blayne was forced to look at the back of his thick linebacker-size neck.
What am I looking at?
I was trying to get Novikovs autograph at a game he had in Philly, and I must have startled him because I was hiding behind a door until he passed
Why were you hiding behind a
and he slammed me into the wall so hard, I was bleeding and couldnt stand for like an hour. I still have the scar!
Dude, dude, thats nothing. Phil, Sabinas husband, pulled the neck of his long-sleeve thermal tee down, revealing faint scratches on his chest. I got this during the game he had against the Jersey Stompers three years ago. The crowd was throwing soda and chips and popcorn on him after he annihilated the Jersey team. And I leaned out and screamed, Novikov! You suck! And he slashed me with those eight-inch hybrid claws hes got! Phil leaned back in his chair, appearing way too smug. And I totally survived.
Horrified, Blayne said, What are you two bragging about? Abusing fans is not appropriate behavior. Blayne pointed at Phil. And if you didnt like him, why are you so excited about him physically assaulting you?
