“You really want to get spanked tonight, don’t you?”
My mouth goes dry—apparently so that other parts of me can get wet. “You try to spank me, and I’ll knock you on your ass, Pumba.”
He shoots me a look before turning off the highway, following the other cars in front. “You can try.”
I chuckle, watching as we head up a long, winding dirt road. “How long have they had Reese?”
Jericho’s face grows serious again as he glances down at the clock. “Not sure. From what I gathered, a few hours at least.”
My teeth grind together. If anybody hurt Reese, I will personally rip every single one of them apart. And I’m too much of a bitch to even feel bad about it after.
I haven’t been in a real fight in weeks, and I’m used to facing one nearly every single night. I’m oddly...excited, my muscles tensing and stretching in preparation. For better or worse, Kaazu made me who I am today, and part of who I am is a fighter. I may have hated the act, but I love the action, and I’ve missed it. I didn’t even realize that until right at this moment.
By the time we pull up to the house in the middle of nowhere, my adrenaline is singing in my veins.
The enforcers waste no time. Hopping out of their cars left and right, I see Stinger and Igor in the forefront, as well as a seriously pissed off Luca. The male isn’t even an enforcer, but the mechanic looks ready to yank some heads off.
I get out of the truck, shaking my hands out as I ready myself. Someone is talking—Igor, I think—demanding to know where Reese is.
“What the fuck is this?” Luca demands, gesturing toward an area off to the side of the house. My skin prickles, because I know exactly what that is. I’ve been in too many shifter fighting rings not to.
Realization hits me with a growl, because I know based on all the mongooses in attendance and how we obviously interrupted their entertainment, that the fighting circle is meant for Reese. And that female is a lot of things—kind and optimistic and a bit of a kleptomaniac—but she is not a fighter.
My hands curl into fists.
“Where is she?” Luca shouts.
All hell breaks loose. The mongoose pack attacks in unison, going for Luca first, and snarls and yells fill the air as pack members shift left and right, while others stay human and join the fray.
“Shit,” Jericho curses before both of us start sprinting toward it. He strips as he goes, stopping to punch someone in the face who was coming at him with a lead pipe like he’s Colonel Mustard from Clue.
I lose sight of Jericho, my eyes already locked on the four shifters who are surrounding Luca, one of them a female who’s clinging to his back and trying to wrench his neck to the side.
Arms pumping, I jump up the back bumper of a car, my footsteps slamming against the metal as I race up the trunk, over the roof, down the hood, and then spring into the air. My feet plant as I land right behind Luca, and I grab the bitch clawing at him.
With one swipe, I thrust my arm between them to knock her hold away, and with my other hand, grab her neck. I pull her back, finally giving Luca the room to move and fight off the others, and then he disappears into a shift, turning into the biggest fucking bird I’ve ever seen in my life.
The female snarls in my ear, trying to use the same move on me, and goes for my neck, but I knock her clumsy arms away and swipe her legs out from under her, sending her on her ass with a cry.
Sensing the change in the air behind me, I turn just in time to see a fist flying where my head just was. I reach back, elbows bent above my shoulder, and clamp onto the wrist of the male. Spinning my body, I snap his arm out of his joint, making him scream.
Too easy.
Another male comes at me, this time with someone to help him, since apparently they need to enact the buddy system.
“Evening, boys.”
Now that I’m getting a good look at them, since they’re both standing in front of me in a hulk pose, I realize they’re twins. They’re spindly bastards with yellow straw hair, looking like a pair