Shifting quickly to human form, my feet barely touched the floor when a large force smashed against my head, sending me reeling into the wall. Dazed, I turned around to see a fuzzy Mark, the Werehyena, holding what looked like a baseball bat. Certainly felt like one.
“Overcompensating?” I squared off, ignoring the thumping of my brain inside my skull. Maybe having a smart mouth would be useful for once and buy me time to get my eyes to focus.
He laughed and my vision cleared enough to see him stroke the baseball bat with a jerky pump motion. “I’m going to have fun with you.”
“Mmmhmm,” I stalled, willing my eyes to see only one of him. The three swirling Marks solidified into one just in time to see him swinging the bat at my head.
I ducked.
“I hope you like this bat.” Mark circled me. “I plan to give you splinters.” He made a thrusting motion with his hips, giving little doubt to where he referred.
“That’s disgusting.” I dodged another swing of the bat.
Mark licked his lips. A waft of his saliva coursed through the air and smacked me in the face. A nastier weapon than the bat.
“Ugh.” I fanned the air away from my nose, and caught Mark’s tensing muscles too late. He shot out and tackled me.
Slammed to the ground, I had little time to appreciate the inlaid stonework as I battled for position against the Werehyena’s heavy body. Sparring with Wick had its advantages—my ground game had improved.
Gripping one of his legs with both of mine, I prevented Mark from moving to a more dangerous position. Let him get distracted with dry humping my leg. It beat a bat to the head or getting choked out.
A large bang downstairs rattled the floor. Mark and I froze. Some screaming and hissing erupted below and I took Mark’s renewed ardour as my signal.
I thrust a hip up and yanked my arm to the side and threw Mark off-balance. Pressing my advantage, I used my momentum and rolled until I straddled Mark. I met his smug smile with my own.
His grin faltered.
“My sole regret is that I don’t have more time for this.” My smiled widened. I enjoyed the deep set frown on his face as I willed the changed.
The scent of his confusion turned to fear, his eyes big and round, took in the sight of a large mountain lion pinning him to the floor instead of a five foot ten slender woman. My tail twitched from side to side as memories of what this man did to me and the stuff he planned to do.
Another outburst of screaming spiraled up the staircase from the first floor.
No time!
With no warning, I dipped my feline head and clamped my jaws around Mark’s neck. With a quick jerk of my head, I heard a snap and Mark’s body went limp beneath me. Not dead, not yet. Some Weres could heal an injury even this intense. I quickly sank my teeth into the soft tissue of his throat and ripped it out. Ugh. The taste! Hacking, I spat out chunks of cartilage, artery, muscle and a whole slew of other tissues. When that didn’t rid the taste, I wiped my tongue off on my paw.
“Eric!” A man’s voice shouted from the floor above me. “Dammit, answer your phone.”
I followed the sound of his voice and slunk up the staircase, ignoring the battle waging below.
“What’s wrong, Ethan?” The sound of a whimpering female voice flittered to my position. Even from a distance the high pitched whine irritated and grated my nerves. I bit back a hiss.
“Not now.”
“But Ethan, I’m scared,” she simpered.
The pounding of feet followed by a sharp snap made me poke my head around the corner to find out what the hell just happened. A naked woman’s body lay crumpled on the floor, her head twisted at an unnatural angle.
I guess her voice irritated Ethan, too.
Ethan stood over her prone body, also naked, and ran a hand through his thick wavy hair before turning away from the staircase. Moving at vamp speed, he changed into clothes. Too fast to track. Too fast for me to attack. My advantage was the element of surprise. I waited.
He was in the middle of throwing various articles into a bag when he froze. His head turned to the side and his nostrils flared.
Fuck!
Coiling my muscles, I sprung forward as he swiveled around to face me with fangs barred. My claws swiped empty air. The weight of my body would have felled any norm and most supes on impact, but Ethan only staggered back a step. His cold fingers, strong as metal, grasped my front limbs.
He held me at arms-length, my feet dangling off the ground, and smiled, a slow, calculating smile. “They sent a pathetic Shifter? After me?” His hands tightened. “I’m going to enjoy sending a message.”
His face surged forward like a striking cobra, going in for the bite.
I shifted.
My limbs slipped out of his grasp as they formed wings. The moment my talons touched the floor, I shifted again. Back to cat, I twisted around Ethan and used the bed to launch onto his back. This time, my claws sank into cold flesh. I plunged my teeth into the back of his neck. And raked his skin with my hind legs.