Valentin was a “big, deranged grizzly,” while Stasya was an “intelligent and thoughtful panda.”
That description had come from his second-eldest sister, Nova. Forget that he, Stasya, Nova, and Nika—his third-eldest sister—were all Kamchatka brown bears, and pandas were so “thoughtful” they often took an hour to reply to a question. Apparently it was a metaphor. At least Nova hadn’t called him an actual snearzhnyi chelovek. An alpha had to have some standards—his included not being called a yeti.
Or a wolf.
His impolitic nature was the reason why it had taken him so long to meet Silver. He’d just never gone to any Moscow meetings. Now, he went to every one where he knew she would be present. Stasya had thrown up her hands when he dug in his feet on the matter—then she’d given him duct tape. To put over his mouth whenever he felt like being his “lumbering beary self.” End quote.
Valentin didn’t lumber. Not unless he’d downed a few beers.
And none of those thoughts were keeping his mind off the woman in the room beyond the closed door.
Silver Silence by Nalini Singh
Unapologetically Nerdy 