we’re interrupted again when we hear voices. First, it’s Herrick’s low timbre, but then I hear something that makes all of the lust drain right out of me.
Giggling. A female giggling.
My eyes flash with uncontrollable rage and the next thing I know, I’ve shifted.
My duck takes over, and she is a form of feathered fucking fury.
She flies out of Lafe’s bedroom faster than he can grab her. She waddles her tawny ass down the hallway before I can even try to retake control. Side effect of the heatwave and the answered mate-call—it kinda makes us lose our shit when we think our territory is being threatened. And yeah, until the bonds are severed, the guys are my territory. So another female giggling with Herrick? Yeah, my duck is ready to beak a bitch.
When my duck gets to the living room, I’m forced to watch from the sidelines out of her eyes, as we both take in the scene. What we see makes fury ignite to a flame that really crisps my duck’s feathers.
Herrick is on the couch, and there’s a woman straddling his lap and looking like she’s trying to suck his face off. And he’s kissing her right back.
Oh hell no.
10
Addie
My duck snaps.
One second, my duck is in the doorway, and the next, she’s quacking like crazy and launching at the woman whose tongue is slathering up Herrick’s face like he’s her favorite flavored popsicle.
When my duck flaps around her head, the woman flinches back and starts screaming all high-pitched and girly. Unimpressed, my duck flies up to her head and gets tangled in her blonde hair, and Blondie goes ballistic.
Blondie jumps up from Herrick’s lap and starts running around the room in circles, which that doesn’t actually do anything. My duck is a pro at holding on. She snaps her beak, aiming for the woman’s nose, feeling victorious when she manages to get a small nip at it. My duck always goes for the nose. It’s her thing.
Furniture crashes over as Blondie runs into stuff while she runs around like a lunatic. The guys shout and try to intervene, but the woman is too worked up to stop, and my duck just continues to squawk, flap, and snap, which only makes Blondie more panicked.
When Penn suddenly walks in through the front door, his hazel eyes widen in surprise at the sight before him. “What the hell?”
Somehow, even with her hair all over the place, Blondie is able to see the open door, and she shoves Penn out of the doorway and bolts outside, still screaming like a banshee.
My duck has a really good hold on her hair by now. She’s just about to go in for the money shot and get Blondie’s entire nose when someone plucks her off Blondie’s head and holds her hostage in his hands. My duck swivels her neck to look behind her to see who intervened.
Penn.
Fur pops out on his hands where he’s holding my duck, but he manages to suppress his shift. My duck desperately tries to get back at the bitch who dared touch her rutting shifter, but it’s no use; Penn’s hold is too tight.
Blondie stands in front of us, gasping in the front yard. Her hair is a tangled mess, and every time my duck snaps her beak in the woman’s direction, she flinches and shrieks a little.
When Herrick and Lafe come outside and start walking over to Blondie to check on her, my duck squawks at them in warning. They stop in their tracks immediately. Ha! My duck stretches her neck smugly.
Blondie lifts a shaking hand to point at me. “Y-you have a pet duck?” she asks shrilly.
Lafe starts laughing, but it’s quickly cut off when Herrick smacks him on the back of the head. “Yes,” Herrick answers simply.
“Well, your stupid duck is fucking crazy!” she shrieks.
Her words make my duck freak out again, and images of crapping all over her blonde hair pops into our head. Yeah. Getting bird crap on our enemies’ heads is just as fulfilling as it sounds. Oh, and now my duck has spotted her car, and she wants to crap all over that, too. I fully support the idea.
My duck tries to get out of Penn’s hold to mete out some serious bird poop punishment, but he just taps her beak with his finger. “Stop that, you naughty thing,” he reprimands her. “You’ve made your point. Herrick is very sorry. Aren’t you, Herrick?” Penn asks, looking over at him.
Blondie gapes at them.