Chapter 16
“S o I gather there was some excitement in Maple cabin this morning,” Zephyr murmured, joining him at the staff-only coffee machine at the back of the dining hall. His soft voice was nearly lost under the clamor of campers wolfing down breakfast. “A rat, apparently.”
Buck grunted as he poured himself a coffee.
“I’m sure your campers have told you all about it,” Zephyr continued. “Beth in particular. She’s been very eager to relate the tale. She sought me out first thing, in fact.”
“Really,” Buck said flatly.
“Mmm.” Zephyr’s expression was as bland as the oatmeal. “I believe she told me it was a rat three times. She seemed particularly keen to impress that fact upon me.”
Buck gave his nephew a level look over the rim of his mug. “Is there a reason you’re telling me this?”
“Just wondering if you had an opinion on what I should do about this rodent of unusual size,” Zephyr said, utterly poker-faced. “Should I tell Facilities to put down traps?”
Buck looked round, checking that none of the kids were watching. With his back to the hall, he lifted a hand, keeping it tucked against his chest. He folded down all of his fingers but one.
Zephyr snorted a laugh. “I’ll take that as a no. So how are things going with Honey?”
Buck didn’t glance at the table where Honey was eating breakfast. “Fine.”
“Since when does ‘fine’ include sudden screaming?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Buck sighed. “Look, it’s not what you think. Damn mutt dumped me buck-naked on the roof again.”
Zephyr’s eyebrows drew together. “You still shifted last night?”
“Yep. Honey helped me cover it up, no pun intended.” Buck refilled his mug from the coffeepot. This was already shaping up to be a day that required a lot of caffeine. “Don’t worry. I’ll be more careful chaining myself to the bed. The campers won’t get an eyeful.”
His nephew gave him a long, somewhat troubled look. “That’s not what I’m worried about. Uncle, I don’t want to pry—”
“Then don’t.”
Zephyr let out his breath. “Look, there’s no point trying to deny it. I know what’s going on.”
“There’s nothing to deny.” Buck took a sip of coffee. “Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong.”
Invisible jaws clamped around his arm. Buck didn’t allow himself to react to the bolt of pain. Zephyr’s suspicions had to be nipped in the bud, and fast. They couldn’t afford for him to start wondering why Honey wasn’t acting like a shifter in the grip of mating fever.
Stop that , he silently snarled at the nonexistent fangs worrying his humerus. I’m doing this to protect her, you idiotic hairball. Do you want him to send Honey away?
The grinding pressure hesitated, then eased up. Buck kept his face impassive, not betraying his flicker of surprise. It was the first time the cursed animal had ever been even remotely reasonable.
“I’m not blind,” Zephyr said stubbornly. “I’ve seen how you look at Honey.”
“She’s an attractive woman,” Buck said, and felt a silent growl of agreement vibrate through his bones.
“Can’t blame a man for looking. I know what you assumed, and I’ll admit, she did have me wondering for a while.
But I was wrong. So stop trying to mash us together like a kid with a couple of Barbie dolls. ”
The line between Zephyr’s brows deepened. “You told Honey she’s not your mate?”
A warning twinge shot through his arm. Buck wasn’t sure whether his personal curse could actually hurt him, but denying his connection to Honey seemed like a surefire way to find out.
And even if the damn mutt couldn’t literally disjoint him like a buffalo chicken wing, he wasn’t willing to flat-out lie to Zephyr’s face.
“I didn’t have to,” he hedged. “Look, not a word of this to Honey, you hear me? Things are complicated enough as it is. Last thing she needs is to have people poking their noses into her private business. Especially her boss.”
From Zephyr’s slight wince, that hit home. “Understood. I would never overstep professional boundaries, and I certainly don’t want to make any of my staff feel uncomfortable. But Uncle, you can’t tell me you don’t—”
“You take that back!” Estelle’s piercing yell rose above the general background ruckus—furious, shaking. “You take that back right now, you—you— motherlover! ”
“I think my campers are trying to murder each other,” Buck said to Zephyr, privately breathing a silent prayer of profound gratitude. “Excuse me.”
Honey was already hurrying toward their pack’s table. She wasn’t the only one. Ragvald, who’d been assigned to monitor breakfast that morning, got there first. His huge hands came down on Estelle and Ignatius’s shoulders.
“Cease this at once!” Ragvald forcibly dragged the pair apart, as easily as if they were a couple of kittens. “Are you mere toddlers, to squall and strike at each other? This is no way for young warriors to behave.”
Estelle shrugged off Ragvald’s restraining hand, still glaring daggers at Ignatius. “He started it.”
“It does not matter who started it,” Ragvald said, towering over both children like a thundercloud of disapproval. “What matters is how you end it.”
“Well said, Ragvald,” Honey put in. She fixed Estelle and Ignatius with the kind of glare Buck usually saw in the mirror. “You two, apologize to each other at once.”
Estelle and Ignatius glowered at each other like gunslingers at dawn. It was clear that any apology was going to be extremely hollow.
“You’ve got one chance here, kids.” Buck folded his arms, pleased to see both Ignatius and Estelle wilt a little. “Be grateful you’re being given the chance to apologize. Or would you rather skip straight to the next option?”
“Friend Buck, you speak true words!” Ragvald boomed before either child could respond. “Fists have been raised in anger, and in the feasting hall itself! For so great an offense, mere apology will not suffice!”
“Uh,” Honey said. Behind her, Buck could see Moira trying to reach their table, struggling to cut between goggling campers. “I don’t think that’s quite what Buck meant.”
Too late.
Ragvald had already produced a pair of actual motherloving axes.
“This is a matter of honor!” Ragvald declared, as Estelle and Ignatius’s eyes went very wide. “You must settle this like men!”
At that moment, Buck was too busy stopping his idiot animal from going for the man’s throat to do anything else. Honey, fortunately, had no such problem.
“Thank you, Ragvald,” she said, her voice just a touch higher than normal. She stepped forward, smoothly taking the axes out of his hands. “I think we can handle it from here.”
Somewhat to Buck’s surprise—though much to his relief—the big man relinquished the weapons without a fight. In fact, he looked positively pleased to hand them over.
“Yes, shield-sister. It is right that you should oversee this matter, since these young ones are under your care.” With a broad smile, Ragvald reached behind his back again. “Will you be using your own ax, or may I offer you one of mine?”
Honey’s own smile was rather fixed. “I think I have all the axes I need, thanks.”
Moira descended on Ragvald like a one-woman SWAT team. “Ragvald, I require a word. Outside. Now.”
“ Of course, Princess,” Ragvald said, who was now starting to look rather bewildered. As Moira led him out of the hall, Buck caught him murmur to her, “Princess? Why does everyone seem so tense?”
Honey turned back to Estelle and Ignatius. They, for their part, did not seem notably relieved to find themselves now facing an ax-wielding Honey. They both leaned away a little.
“Now,” Honey said, quite calmly. “Who would like to tell me what this is all about?”
“She attacked me.” Ignatius drew himself up, four and a half feet of offended draconic dignity. “When my uncle hears about this—”
“Shut up about your stupid uncle!” Estelle yelled. High spots of furious color stained her pale cheeks. “No one cares! You take back what you said, or I’ll… I’ll… stab you!”
Ignatius looked down his nose at her, as though she was a belligerent cockroach. “With what? Your spoon?”
Estelle made an inarticulate sound of pure rage. She lunged for the boy again, hands balled into fists.
Buck caught her by one wrist. She was so tiny, it took no effort at all to hold her back.
“That’s enough, Estelle,” he said, and felt her go submissively limp. He let her go again, though he stayed close by just in case she made another move to murder her fellow camper with the nearest cutlery. “Too many axes around to start flailing about.”
“Ignatius.” Honey turned to the boy. “What did you say to her?”
“Nothing that wasn’t true,” he said defensively. “She shouldn’t be here. This is a camp for shifters.”
“We were talking about our animals, and what it was like when we shifted for the first time,” Finley volunteered.
His gaze slid sideways to Archie. “And… some of us noticed Estelle wasn’t really joining in, and started pestering her about it.
And eventually she had to admit that she hadn’t shifted yet. ”
“Which is completely normal!” Beth put in.
She’d moved to flank Estelle, though Buck wasn’t sure whether this was in support or to tackle her if she went for Ignatius again.
“Don’t listen to him, Estelle. Lots of people don’t shift until they’re teenagers, or even adults.
You’ve got just as much right to be at camp as any of us. ”
Estelle sniffed, swiping the back of her hand across her nose. “I am too a shifter. I am. ”
“Of course you are.” Beth put an arm around her friend, and Buck let her draw Estelle away. “Rufus wouldn’t be able to talk to you if you weren’t. And we’ve all seen your powers. Your unicorn is there. She’ll come out when she’s ready.”
“Ignatius,” Honey said, still in that ominously calm voice. Light glinted from the ax blades. “Apologize to Estelle.”
“Or what?” Ignatius’s lip curled. “You’ll ground me?”
“No,” Honey replied. “I will call your uncle and tell him he is wasting his money.”
Buck had expected Ignatius to brush off the threat, but to his surprise, it hit a nerve. Color drained from the boy’s face.
“You—you wouldn’t dare,” he stuttered. “My uncle—”
“Was very insistent on you spending the summer at camp,” Honey interrupted. “But if you cannot treat your fellow campers with basic respect, you do not belong here. You have a choice. I can call your uncle and tell him to collect you. Or you can apologize to Estelle. Now.”
For an instant, Ignatius seemed to waver. Then he hunched his shoulders, head dropping.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
The apology was directed more at the floor than Estelle, but it was clearly as good as they were going to get. Honey must have come to the same conclusion, because she prompted, “Estelle?”
“What?” the girl protested. “ He insulted me. ”
“You still shouldn’t have attacked him,” Honey replied. Her eyes, usually so warm, were as hard as the steel blades of the axes. “Apologize to Ignatius.”
Estelle screwed up her face, eyeing the boy with extreme distaste. With clear reluctance, she mumbled, “I’m sorry I tried to punch you in the face.”
From her mutinous expression, Buck was pretty sure she’d added a silent, private but only because I didn’t succeed in breaking your nose. Still, it would have to do.
“Good.” Honey’s flinty gaze swung to include the rest of the pack, who all abruptly found something fascinating about the breakfast table.
“I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my pack. You’re here to learn teamwork and friendship, not play petty dominance games.
I won’t allow any of you to spoil someone’s summer.
Don’t think that I won’t send anyone home if I have to, because I will.
Without hesitation. Do you all understand? ”
There was a meek chorus of, “Yes, Honey.”
“Good.” Honey rapped one of the axes on the table. “Now finish your breakfast and clear up this mess. I want you all ready and waiting when the bell rings for the first activity.”
She strode off without waiting for a reply. Buck found himself following, like a piece of paper caught up in a hurricane. Honey marched out of the dining hall, round the corner—and then, with a great whoosh of breath, collapsed against the side of the building.
“Oh God,” she mumbled. “I am so, so fired.”
“If Zephyr comes out here, pretty sure it’ll be to give you a raise.” Buck had never wanted to kiss a woman so much in his entire life. “Woman, you were magnificent.”
“If I’d done any of that at my school, I’d have been escorted away in handcuffs.” She lifted a hand to rub at her forehead, but stopped before she clonked herself in the head with an ax. “Please take these things away.”
“With pleasure.” Buck took possession of the weapons. “I’ll shove these back up Ragvald’s ass. You find somewhere quiet to sit and take five. I’ll bring you a coffee. You damn well deserve it.”
Honey let out a long sigh. “So much for trying to win Ignatius’s trust. God, I’m such a hypocrite. I’m the one who doesn’t belong here. Not him. And if he finds out—”
“He’s not going to find out,” Buck said firmly. “Look, everything’s going to be fine. I’ve got a plan.”
From the look Honey gave him, this did not fill her with reassurance. “Buck, your last plan involved unexpectedly grabbing my ankle.”
“Don’t worry.” He slung the axes across his shoulder. “This one is better.”