Reese (Pack of Misfits #2) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,18
at least two-hundred-fifty pounds. He is scary and snarly and—good Lord, are those his teeth?
My rat immediately pisses herself.
It’s the second time in one damn day, and it is not awesome.
Lug Nut though? He doesn’t even flinch, bless his heart. He simply plops me down on the bench and wipes his palm on the front of his jeans, getting rid of the little droplets of pee I accidentally left as a present. Nice guy.
I’d probably be more embarrassed about peeing on him if it weren’t for the fact that I’m now standing right in front of the jaguar’s face.
The fangs are a little distracting. His whiskers are as long as my entire body. When he exhales, it’s like being blasted with a hair dryer, and he smells like strength.
And the power wafting off of him? It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It scrapes against my skin like a chisel grating over a chunk of wood, curling my nerves into tight spirals of recoil.
I try to back up a step, but he lets out a low warning growl that stops me in my tracks.
Immediately, my rat responds to his call by going down on her belly and keeping still, totally submitting.
As I stay in that position, his giant paw comes up. Razor sharp claws hover in front of my face, each one sharper than a sword and longer than my tail. He lengenths them, flexing ever so slightly, and then with incredible control, swipes one against the side of my vulnerable neck.
I cry out in distress but keep still, feeling as his tongue comes out and licks the spot he sliced open. I feel a sting, but that’s almost an afterthought, because by licking up my blood, he’s just accepted the role to become my alpha.
I shudder as a crackle of power sinks into me. The alpha sits back on his haunches, his huge, pale eyes locked on me.
I try to stand, but in the next second, I feel my insides begin to quiver. The muscles in my neck jump, and like a ripple, the sensation moves down throughout my entire body until I’m struck stiff, paralyzed and yet shaking uncontrollably.
I suddenly feel the same way I did when my rat chewed through Rick Dick’s phone charger. As soon as my teeth chomped into the wire, electricity shot into me with a jolt, the shock making the hair on my back stand up. This is similar, except ten times stronger.
As my body quakes and my teeth clamp, I can feel my old alpha wound—the one on my belly where Sid marked me—come alive with angry, possessive power. Like two fists raising up to fight each other, alpha dominance wars inside of me.
Hugo said that he would only be able to claim me over my current alpha if his power is stronger. Well, now that I can feel both of them warring beneath my skin, I have no doubt in my mind who’s going to win.
Popcorn kernels of electrified power pop inside of me until I’m nearly exploding full of it, bursting at the seams. There’s a terrible noise coming from my rat’s mouth as I scream, and then one alpha fist crushes the other in a terrific burst of sparkling intensity, and it’s suddenly over.
One alpha won.
When I’m able to blink and regain awareness, my eyes roll over to see that Alpha Hugo has shifted back into his human form, and he’s kneeling right in front of me.
I twist back onto my belly, since I’d fallen onto my side during the whole ordeal, and stand up on shaky feet, my nose twitching as the remnants of magic threaten to make me sneeze.
“Did it work?” I hear Addie’s worried voice ask.
Instead of answering, Alpha Hugo keeps his steady blue eyes on me. And I know. I know what’s going to happen next.
I’m filled with so much worry that my eyes dart around, looking for a place to hide. As if I could possibly run from this.
“Shift.”
The moment his gruff order is issued, I feel it like a snap in my soul, and suddenly, I’m being cleaved in half. It’s like I’m a piece of firewood and someone is taking an axe to me. Hack, hack, hack goes the blade, digging into my grains and splintering me right down the middle.
I try hard to resist, but I feel the shift begin to happen anyway, because I can’t refuse his command. Because he’s my new alpha.