Reese (Pack of Misfits #2) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,41

in and offered me my own shop and a place in his pack. I thought it was some kind of sick joke at first, but he convinced me it was legit. I took him up on his offer, and I’ve never looked back.

Scanning over the kitchen to make sure I’m leaving it as clean as I found it, I turn to go, heading for the front door. But before I can reach it, a chimpanzee walks in.

That might be weird for other places, but it’s normal around here since Mitzy lives in Warehouse Two and she’s always coming over here to hang out.

“Hey, Mitz,” I say as the chimp comes barreling in. She usually goes right for the stairwell so she can climb up the railing and then hang from the industrial piping on the ceiling, but today, I notice that she’s got something in her hand, and she has a guilty look on her face.

I frown. “What do you have there?”

Mitzy bares her teeth at me and waves me off with her gangly arm. It’s basically chimpanzee for fuck off.

I plant my feet, blocking her path. “Lemme see, Mitzy.”

She yells at me unintelligibly and clutches whatever is in her hands closer to her chest. She also swings her arm again, clocking me in the shoulder.

I scowl at her. “Ouch.”

She laughs in that breathy, obnoxious way of hers that her chimpanzee has perfected over the years.

“Toby!” I call over my shoulder. “Come tell your chimp friend to let go of whatever she’s holding hostage.”

I hear curses fling out as Toby pauses the game, and then he comes striding up, stopping beside me. He grins when he sees the chimp standing in front of me. “Hey, Empress.”

She bares her teeth again, but for Toby, it’s more of a smile. She also starts making kissy noises and faces at him, which is actually pretty funny, because human Mitzy insists that she doesn’t like him. But chimp Mitzy? She always comes straight here, every time she shifts. The chimp is infatuated with him.

Toby’s grin widens. “See? She digs me,” he says cockily.

“Pretty sure her human side doesn’t share that emotion.”

“Whatever,” Toby says, disregarding it. “She’ll come around.” He takes a step forward, holding out his palm. “What do you got there, Empress?”

Instead of giving him her hand to show him, she jumps up into his arms. He catches her with an oomph, and she maneuvers until she’s sitting in his arms, hanging off his neck and looking mighty pleased with herself.

When I take a step toward her, she turns and boops me on the nose. Hard. Toby snickers.

I rub my nose. “Not nice, Mitz,” I reprimand her. “Now lemme see what you’ve got.”

She blows a raspberry at me. Spit goes flying.

I swipe my cheek with a sigh. “Toby.”

“Alright, alright,” he says placatingly. “Come on, Empress. If you give grumpy Luca whatever you’ve got there, then I’ll set up the balancing bar for you to hang off of. You know how much you like to play on it.”

She nuzzles against his neck in gratitude and immediately shoves her fist out, nearly knocking me in the head—which I’m sure was the point. I barely duck back in time.

I grab hold of her fist and gently peel back her fingers, and then I have a very familiar, very pissed off pack rat in my hand.

“Who’s that?” Toby asks, frowning down at her.

I watch the brown rat try to crawl out of my hand, but I keep a firm hold on her so that she can’t fall and hurt herself. “It’s the new shifter, Reese. The one Addie found at the pet shop.”

“This is her?” Toby asks in surprise. “Damn. Tiny thing. She nearly put all those guys at the gym in a rut.”

“Yeah, me included,” I drawl.

“Shit,” he whistles. “I thought she was in the sanctuary?”

I frown. “She...was.”

Toby’s eyes widen, and he starts backing away, keeping a firm hold on Mitzy. “Dude, is she still in heat?”

Suddenly panicked, I hold my arm out in front of me, as if that extra few inches between my body and where I’m holding her will make a lick of difference. “Fuck, how the hell am I supposed to know?”

Toby shakes his head and continues to back away like I have a live bomb in my hand. I guess, to male shifters, I do.

Not only did she almost put me in a rut, but if she had managed to bite me, my shifter instincts would’ve completely taken over, and I