Page 4 of Grizzly Sleuth
Big mistake.
Yuri stood and growled, but the drunken morons didn’t clue in on the danger.
“Ooh, he’s taller than you, Andrei,” crowed Tubby.
“He’s meaner as well, so I suggest you all back off.” Svetlana tugged her arm free.
“Or what?” sneered Andrei, leaning close enough she practically got drunk from his fume-riddled breath.
Smack.
Yuri cuffed Andrei upside the head and sent him reeling.
“Hey!” shouted Tubby. “Your bear attacked my friend.”
“You’re welcome. I usually charge for fights.” Svetlana’s dry reply.
Andrei picked himself up from the ground and glared. “I’m going to report you and that beast as being dangerous.”
“Go right ahead,” Svetlana dared even as she held in a sigh. So much for sticking around a few weeks doing shows. She had no interest in dealing with the authorities.
“You can’t go to the police,” whispered the third of their group. “You’re supposed to be on house arrest.”
Andrei blinked. “Oh yeah. Maybe we should head back to my place. I have more vodka.”
As quickly as they’d accosted, the trio of men left, and Svetlana let out her sigh. At least they wouldn’t report her, meaning she could spend a few more days in this town before moving on. She glanced at Yuri. “Good job not knocking him out this time.”
Yuri tended to react a tad violently when she was threatened. Warranted, but those accosted didn’t usually agree.
“Let’s get out of here before we run into more trouble.”
Svetlana held open the flap on the back of the truck, and Yuri climbed in. She then slid into the driver seat and started the engine, the vibration of the motor rattling her teeth. They didn’t drive long before reaching the RV park where she’d rented a spot for the week. She might extend their stay depending on how the shows went.
Before she headed off to the public bathing facilities, Svetlana poked her head in the back of the truck. Yuri lay where’d collapsed on the rug, snoring off the booze. She’d begun allowing him to drink a few years ago when the bars started offering her a percentage of receipts. Nothing like bumping thatnumber by having the crowd buying vodka just to see a bear getting drunk.
She bathed quickly and returned to the truck, only to pause at the tailgate as a gruff voice said, “We need to talk about your bear.”
To which she replied by whirling and throwing a fist. Might as well have hit a wall.
The very large man—the brooding one from the bar—arched a brow and mockingly said, “Ouch?”
Chapter Two
The swing of the fist,which Idris kind of expected, thankfully didn’t hurt as it poked him in the chest. Had she aimed higher and bopped his nose? Things might have gone quite differently.
Rather than look frightened at being confronted, the woman, who’d introduced herself on stage in the bar as Svetlana, pursed her lips and looked peeved—and still managed to look cute. “What do you want? And before you ask, I’m not for sale.” She spoke perfect English, a relief, since his Russian consisted ofpivo,AKA beer, andukhodite, go away.
“I’m not interested in you.” Not entirely true, Svetlana had a tight bod and a pretty face that he did find attractive. However, he’d not sought her out looking to get laid. “I’m here about your bear.”
“Yuri is fine.”
“I’d hardly call having him perform like some circus monkey fine,” Idris muttered. The show and its theatrics left a bad taste in his mouth. So why had he gone to watch? Blame the flyer stapled outside the ramshackle apartment that he rented by the month. The advertisement had promised to dazzle and amaze. Usually, Idris would have ignored it, as he didn’t approve ofanimals being kept in captivity, even more so now since his ordeal at the hands of the military. However, curiosity had won out. He’d even shown up early so he could score a seat where he could have his back to the wall. A man in his situation couldn’t be too cautious.
The venue ended up with quite the crowd. He almost fled before the show started. Mixing rowdy people with booze often resulted in bar fights, not something he used to mind, but now, given what happened when he got hurt, he tried to avoid those types of situations.
Idris ended up staying as he realized folks had come to be entertained and weren’t spoiling for trouble. While they oohed and aahed over the antics of the bear, Idris, however, found himself less than impressed once he realized Yuri was a therianthrope. He could tell by the eyes. They always gave it away. In this case, while bears and humans had similar-looking orbs, bears’ pupils were always a shade of brown—never blue.
Another bear shifter, just like him. Oh, the questions he had to ask of someone with his condition. There was an immediate sense of comradery at finding out he wasn’t alone. The shock and excitement at the unexpected discovery almost propelled Idris from his seat to rush the stage.
