Luckily, it was going to be a double wedding with Blayne and Bo, and the one thing Gwen was starting to use to her advantage was that Lock’s uncles didn’t want to go near Bo Novikov. Very few people with sense did.

And Blayne was known to be rather sense-free.

“How did it go today?” Gwen asked once Lock put her back on the ground.

“Pretty good. Sold that marble and wood dining table.” Her eyes narrowed and he quickly added, “For the amount you suggested. I promise. I didn’t give any discounts.”

“They either made you mad or they were full-human.”

“They were snobby . . . and full-human.”

“Whatever.”

“I think I was wrong about Cherise,” Blayne said, rolling over so that she could give Lock a welcoming hug.

“The mouse?” Gwen asked. “I’m surprised she’s not under the bleachers.”

Lock chuckled. “Jess Ward style!”

Gwen glanced at Blayne and then at Lock. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Not bothering to explain, Lock pulled out one of those plastic bottles of honey. The ones shaped like a teddy bear.

“So how much longer?” he asked, motioning to the tryouts.

“Another forty minutes. That okay?”

“Sure.” He opened his mouth, tilted his head back, and squeezed an ungodly amount of honey into his throat.

By the time he was done, Kowalski had skated over to them.

“So,” Gwen said to the freaky little unnamed shifter. “You in or out?” She didn’t bother with niceties with this woman. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t see the point.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I am feeling less aggressive at the moment, which is usually a good thing.” She suddenly faced Lock, and Gwen watched the bitch stare up at her fiancé. Gwen cracked her knuckles and Blayne skated in front of her, briefly stopping Gwen from house-catting the boyfriend-stealing whore’s face.

“Can I have some of that?” Kowalski asked Lock. She sounded almost polite.

“This?” Lock held up the bottle of honey.

When the female nodded, he handed the bottle over and she did what he’d done. Leaned her head back, opened her mouth, and poured an ungodly amount of honey into her throat. When she was done, she handed the now-nearly empty bottle of honey back to Lock.

“Thanks.”

“Yep.”

With that, Kowalski skated back to the track.

Gwen and Blayne moved closer to Lock, each of them on either side of the grizzly.

“Hey,” Blayne whispered, “is she a bear, too?”

“She doesn’t smell like a bear,” Gwen said. “But she doesn’t smell like a hybrid, either. But the honey thing . . .”

Lock lookedback and forth between the women. “She’s not a bear.”

“She’s not?”

“You guys really don’t know what she is?”

“It’s been driving me nuts!” Blayne continued to whisper loudly. “I’ve been around her for days and I can’t figure it out.” She began to bounce up and down on her quads. “Please tell me, Lock! Please!”

Lock shrugged. “She’s a honey badger.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “So now you’re just making shit up? Just admit she did that whole honey thing to flirt with you.”

“That woman doesn’t flirt. She wasn’t flirting. She wanted the honey. She starts off nice because I have something she wants. But trust me . . . if I’d said no, she’d have ripped it out of my hands, possibly taking a few fingers with her. Her claws are longer than yours.”

“These are not claws.” Gwen held up her expertly done nails. “These are a fashion statement.”

“Claws.”

“But, Lock,” Blayne reasoned, “I’ve never heard of a shifter honey badger.”

“They’re unbelievably private. I mean, you think we’re private with the government, but they’re private with everybody. Of course, that could have a lot to do with them being thieves.”

“Like foxes?”

He chuckled. “Foxes are like kids going into a bodega and stealing candy bars. Honey badgers steal real shit.”

Gwen watched Kowalski smash her fist into the face of a six-nine grizzly female. There was no fear in her expression. Just some hidden rage that Gwen didn’t even want to think about. “She does seem mean enough.”

“The meanest animals and shifters in the world,” Lock said. “I realized that when I joined the Marines.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know those military guys who say very little but they’re always standing right off to the side of what’s about to explode into a problem? They’re usually short, powerful looking . . . and smirking. Then when shit does explode, usually in a bar right outside the base, they’re the first ones in the middle of it all, kicking ass and ending up in the brig for doing the worst damage although they always look the least harmed? Yeah . . . those are honey badgers. And the females are definitely worse.”

Blayne happily clapped her hands together. “That’s so—”

“Shut up, Blayne,” Gwen snapped before the word “cool” could come out of her mouth.

Blayne immediately calmed down and they continued to watch the tryouts. Cherise had disappeared for a while, but she came back out at some point and got on the track. Appearing typically terrified.