they’re all wearing iron blindfolds. I guess that group is gonna need more time to warm up to me.
There’s another group of some vampires with a posse of fang bangers hanging all over them. Most of the vamps are forgoing the food completely and are just sucking on willing veins instead.
I don’t blame the fang bangers at all. I’ve been bitten by a vamp once at a rave. I orgasmed on the dance floor just as soon as their sharp teeth pricked my skin. Vamp venom is a very powerful aphrodisiac, but the crash afterward is a bitch. It was like coming down from the highest of horny highs to dealing with the world’s worst PMS lows. I ate an entire palette of cookie dough ice cream, texted my ex, and plucked out way too much of my eyebrows.
The fang banger option is gonna be a hard pass for me.
Turning around, I head to the buffet-style assembly line and pick up a red plastic tray and empty paper plate. The male in front of me turns around and growls when I accidentally bump into his back.
I roll my eyes. “Calm down, Big Bad Wolf. It was an accident.”
“The fuck you say?”
Groan. Wolf shifters think they’re such hot shit. They’ve fancied themselves the public’s favorite shifter ever since Twilight came out.
“Go huff and puff on your little piggy, mmkay?” I tell him with false sweetness.
The wolf shifter looks at me incredulously, and he’s a big dude, but the way he’s squinting at me makes me think he’s a little slow.
I hear a female snicker behind me, and I shoot her an awkward thumbs up where my hand is still clutching the edge of my tray.
He, in turn, tosses his tray to the floor with a loud clack—needlessly wasting food, I might add—and faces me, rolling back his shoulders like he wants to intimidate me. “I will fucking crush you, lizard girl.”
My eyes widen. “Oh, this is gonna be my first prison fight!” I say with excitement. I set my tray down responsibly and then rub my hands together and bounce from one foot to the other. “Alright, go ahead. I’ll give you the first punch.”
His bushy brows pull together. “Huh?”
I pat my chest. “Just not the face, okay? I’ve managed to go this long without a broken nose, and I’d like to keep it that way,” I explain. “I know that might not sound like a big deal, but I’m very scrappy. I got in a lot of fights as a kid.”
He hesitates, like he’s not really sure what to do with me. We’ve created a scene by now, and the entire cafeteria has quieted down to watch our exchange. The workers serving the food ignore us completely though, and the guards stationed along the walls look like they’re taking bets. I wonder if I can get in on that action?
“Just to be clear, what does the winner get?”
“What?” he snaps.
“Bragging rights? First turn at the toilet? You become my prison bitch?”
A new growl bursts from his chest, and then he charges at me. I jump out of the way, watching as he spins on his heels, fury in his eyes.
But before he can pummel me, the same female who laughed earlier steps between us smoothly and tosses him a bored look. She’s wearing the same gray scrubs as everyone else, and she has black dreadlocks pulled back at the nape of her neck, dark skin, and golden eyes. She also has a metallic-green tattoo of a tiny lotus flower beside her left eye that seems to shimmer slightly. “Beast, stop your growling and go lick your hairy balls,” she tells him.
“Fuck off, Zen. This is between me and the lizard girl.”
I crinkle my nose at the nickname and hold up my finger, leaning around Zen to speak. “Excuse me, if you’re giving out prison nicknames, can it be something better than lizard girl? Because I can’t work with that one. There’s no amount of bedazzling that can make that look good on the ass of my pants. While we’re at it, let’s think up something new for you too. Beast is just so...predictable. And let’s be honest, Belle and that library-giving hottie she’s with really fucked with the terror that the name Beast used to evoke.”
Beast seems to get irrationally angry at that statement and just starts growling at me like crazy. I blink at him as he starts frothing at the mouth, tawny hair breaking out over his skin.