my own kind, but I fit in with them. How do you manage to go like a thousand years without making a single friend? That’s the real question.”
Given the cold rage that swept over his features, I had definitely not found the right words. “Is this what you and your friends sit around doing? Talking about your stupid feelings? If that’s it, I don’t need any friends. I just want to keep running my life the way I want, without you and your idiot friends messing things up for me.”
He stood so quickly I didn’t have time to react and kicked me in the ribs, practically launching me across the room.
“I’m tired of waiting. I guess I’m going to have to send your boyfriend another photo, just to drive home exactly how serious this situation is.” He held up my phone and opened the camera function. “Smile pretty.”
I did smile, and I could feel the blood seeping between my teeth from biting my lip. It would heal quickly, but it definitely stung like a bitch. And the sight of my bloody grin made him pause, revulsion clear on his face. I laughed, twisted into a sitting position. I kicked off my shoes, freeing my feet.
He dropped the phone, the photo forgotten. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m going to guess you’ve only kidnapped humans over the course of your whole bullshit campaign of terror, huh?”
He scoffed, “So what?”
Inhaling deep, I used all of my strength to force my wrists apart, tearing through the loosened duct tape. His eyes bugged out like something out of a cartoon.
“Surprise.” I sprang to my feet, jamming the palm of my hand under his chin as I threw myself at him. I felt his jaw snap under the force of it. He howled, swinging out wildly at my head level, but I was already shrinking to four paws. I lunged, sinking my teeth into his ankle and sweeping him off of his feet. As he writhed on the floor, I used his leg as a sort of handle and swung him against the wall. He hit the cement block with a dull thud, hard enough that I felt safe to dash for the stairs.
But he was fast, scrambling to his feet and grabbing at my back left leg, dragging me into the basement. He flung me back, and I rolled, sinking my claws into the cement to slow my momentum. It made an awful screeching noise and left shallow furrows on the gray surface.
I sprang again, landing against his chest with all four paws, shoving him against the pile of food dehydrators. I lunged for his right arm, tearing at the wrist until I tasted blood. The foul bitterness of it had me dropping his limb and attempting to spit it out in my wolfy way. He kicked me in the muzzle, knocking me back. And then he threw a food dehydrator box at me.
Who throws small appliances?
He seemed to be running out of tricks. He didn’t know what he was doing once hitting me in the face didn’t knock me unconscious. He was used to overpowering someone quickly. And he seemed like the type of dick who would only target people who couldn’t fight back. Well, I’d grown up in a family where casual fistfights were a way of life. I had all of the tricks.
Game on.
I changed into my human form and scooped my phone off of the floor, scrambling through the menu options until I found the file the twins sent me. I pressed play, cringing as the horrific shriek of the highest-slash-most obnoxious violin note filled the room.
Greg shrieked, covering his ears with his hands and screaming at me to shut it off. I tried to run past him, but he slapped my phone out of my hand, shattering it against the wall. I grabbed a violin from the pile of instruments. With mental apologies to Alex and his students, I swung it up in a tight arc. The wood collided broadside against his cheek, exploding into splinters. I was left holding the neck of the violin, broken off to a jagged wooden point.
I swung the makeshift stake at him, and he ducked out of the way. He honestly seemed intimidated by me for the first time, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because he knew I was a werewolf, or because I was a naked woman attacking him with a sharp implement. He scrambled back and I made for the stairs again.
Technically,