Addie (Pack of Misfits #1) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,11
slightly sharp fangs. Usually, they look cute, but right now, it makes her look downright impish. “Yep.”
I sigh. “I said, I got hired at Doggie Style Pet Shop.”
She bursts out laughing, snorts and all. She laughs so hard that her fangs start spraying out venom. We watch as it arcs onto the floor, sending a spurt of toxins in the carpet. I once made her a bet that she couldn’t spray it more than three feet. I lost.
“It’s not that funny,” I say dryly, but she just continues her cackling. “Keep it up, and I’ll put your snakey ass in a cage and sell you on my first day. For a discount.”
She just laughs harder, so I chuck a pillow at her head. She instantly retaliates by throwing her massive body pillow at me, making me knock into the wall behind me and smack the back of my head.
Of course, I throw it right back, quicker than she can anticipate, hitting her square in the face. I can’t help but smile with victory as I grab another pillow, ready for her to retaliate.
“Huh. I thought all of that talk about pillow fights between girls was exaggerated for the benefit of males everywhere. I for one am glad to see that it’s real.”
I peer over the pillow I had held up like a shield and see Zoey’s boyfriend, Matt, standing in our doorway. Zoey, still laughing, jumps up and goes over to give him a kiss, but not before decking me with another pillow.
“Hey!” I try to throw it back at her, but she darts behind Matt and I end up hitting him in the head instead. “Whoops. Sorry, Matt.”
Luckily, he doesn’t mind being used as a pillow shield or catching the brunt of my attack, even though it knocks his glasses off.
Matt is the best kind of nerd. He’s lanky and wears glasses, and he has fluffy black hair and the whole hipster look on lockdown. He’s always in some kind of graphic t-shirt and playing video games on his computer. But he’s kind and he’s good to Zoey, which is what I mostly care about. He seems to be a good fit for her, even though she’s adamant that they’re just having fun for now.
I’ve only ever seen him do it one time, but when he shifts, he’s a three-legged otter. Some kind of accident forced an amputation, and now he hates shifting. His old pack was pretty awful to him from what I’ve heard. But not shifting is dangerous for us. If we keep our animals locked inside of us for too long, they can grow feral. Hugo is always talking about the importance of showing your animal respect, and letting them take the reins sometimes.
For now, Matt only shifts in private, but it’s something Hugo is working on with him. Our alpha is big on embracing our differences, and I know Zoey is supportive, so I have no doubt that he’ll get past his holdups. Besides, I think otters are cool as shit.
“Sorry to interrupt the war,” Matt says, catching the pillow and tossing it back on my bed. He fixes his glasses while Zoey peeks out from behind him, smirking like a brat. “Some of us are going to the club. You guys wanna go?” he asks.
Zoey and I are already nodding our heads and making a beeline toward our closet before he can even finish his sentence. Fifteen minutes later, about twenty of us singles are piling into our cars and heading off of pack territory to drive into town.
The night sky is crisp and clear, and I’m happily riding in Zoey’s car, listening to her talk about a client at work that she had to talk out of getting a bowl cut. It’s eight o’clock on the dot when we pull up into the parking lot for our favorite hang out, and our group heads into Club Joystick. Yep. We go to a gamer club. Us misfits are cool like that.
The inside is a huge space filled with computers, flat screens, skee ball, pool, air hockey, and dozens upon dozens of old school arcade games. I can just breathe in the awesome ‘90s nostalgia in the air. The best part about Club Joystick is every Thursday night from seven to midnight, the whole place is adult-only. Games, beer, inappropriate music, and a shit ton of pizza awaits us. It’s perfect.
Zoey and Matt go off for a beat down, drag out air hockey competition, while