woman barked, whirling to face her two flunkies, giving me a blink of time to shove the traced symbols into the pocket of my jeans.
I made a show of shimmying into the stretchy denim, wiggling my hips like I’d seen Rhonda do more times than I cared to remember. Things had to be bad if I was looking to archenemy number three for survival skills.
The men, being true dogs, sensed my seductive antics, and whipped their heads around. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see them panting.
What did surprise me was Ms. Redhead’s brutal response.
She vibrated and turned full werewolf with a roar. She’d taken the form I found most repulsive and fearsome, sending me back to the bloody fight in the forest, where I’d seen Zane in the very same shape — on two legs — looking like a half man half beast monstrosity. Eyes crimson with malicious intent.
Her guards dropped to the floor and rolled on their backs, arms and legs up, resigning themselves to her ruling rank.
I swallowed the urge to laugh.
As horrifying as the scene was, the image of two grown, massive men, flat on their backs, submitting to a woman, werewolf or not, would stay with me forever.
Wait! What the …? One orangey pile of something was dangling from the bed.
Her hair! My female captor, in her haste, had changed so fast, she’d torn right out of her clothing like Misty in Vegas. In this case, Ms. Werewolf had also lost her hair.
A wig.
Sensing my appraisal, she swung her massive head around to glare at me. Salvia trickled from the corners of her elongated snout. Although notably smaller than Zane, she was no less imposing.
Her eyes stretched into narrow slits and her horrible lips curled into a feral grin. There was no mistaking that like Jazmine, she detested me.
In some strange way, I could understand Jazmine’s feelings, as misplaced as they were. She wanted something I had; at least I’d had Zane. I wasn’t so sure now. What this beast wanted was yet to be determined.
My stomach constricted, and an unexpected jolt of fear punched through my midsection. What if I’d lost Zane? Get a grip! This is no time to ponder bad love gone good … gone bad.
I forced myself to stand taller and stared back, not quite sure what I hoped to accomplish by my challenging attitude.
She didn’t take well to my unexpected display of bravery.
Asserting her dominance, she growled her threat, running her tongue over the sharpest teeth I’d seen in such proximity.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the canines to shred my throat.
Unlike Valamir’s blissful bites, I could expect no pleasure from the rabid she wolf, just excruciating pain. I felt sorry for whoever would get stuck cleaning up my mess, bloody entrails and all.
She still doesn’t get it. Stupid, stupid, human.
Impossible! I was on the verge of a bloody and demoralizing death. It couldn’t be another open window this soon. Yet here she was broadcasting her thoughts out in the open for any halfway decent, animal-mind-reader to overhear.
The area around us quivered. I knew then she was shifting back, and allowed myself one huge sigh of relief. Though later, I’d realize I should have waited to rejoice.
With simple curiosity getting the best of me, my eyes opened, seemingly without my permission. I had to know, had to see her face minus the flowing amber wig.
My internal warning bells started tolling the minute I registered her striking and familiar features: The exotic face; the stylish geometrical hairstyle; the commanding presence.
A teeth-chattering chill wound up from the base of my neck down to my finger tips.
I was looking into the icy eyes of one very pissed off purebred she wolf.
Jazmine.
Chapter 3622
“You?” was all I managed, bewildered by the startling turn of events. I wished I could say it all made sense now, but, in truth, I was even more baffled.
The thing I knew for certain: Jazmine and the redheaded-woman were one in the same. Not two separate entities. One. One evil bitch bent on my destruction, and only God knew what else.
Her escorts, now back on their feet, had moved to either side of Jazmine. The two of them, together, could defeat her in combat. So why were they submitting to such castrating treatment? They were at least double her size, but cowered when she blinked. She wielded a powerful hold over them. I needed to find out what fueled her unchallenged authority.
“Finish packing,” she ordered, her eyes shooting daggers my direction.