Reese (Pack of Misfits #2) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,44

her naked as the day she was born, hanging from the exposed pipes on the ceiling. I barely have time to register the fact that she’s holding up a lighter to one of the sprinklers before they all spring on and start dousing the entire warehouse.

It’s the distraction I need.

As shouts ring out and the males get distracted from the water now raining down from the ceiling, I send one powerful kick at Jenson—sorry, man—sending him sprawling to the floor.

Wasting no time, I shove past Duke and wrench open the door. With one arm banded behind me to help keep Reese on my back, I race away from the warehouse. I curse when I realize I’ll have to carry her all the way to the sanctuary, since my car is currently in pieces in the shop.

“Hold on,” I tell her as I hurry away, ignoring the shouts and growls coming from behind me.

She doesn’t seem the least bit bothered that males are running at our heels as I sprint towards the other warehouses. If I have any hope of getting Reese away with everyone unscathed, I need a damn car.

I’m just getting to Warehouse Two when I see a female heading out, keys in hand. “Freya!”

She turns around at my shout and then her dark eyes go wide. I have no idea what she sees behind me, but it’s enough to make her mouth the words, What the fuck… and back up a step.

“Sanctuary!”

Without missing a beat, she gets in her car and starts up the engine, throwing the passenger door open for me right as I get there. I swing Reese around to clutch her in my arms, jump in the car, and slam the door closed. Looking through the window, I see a horde of males sprinting for us.

“Drive!”

“Got it.”

Freya slams on the gas pedal and takes off like a bat out of hell.

Dust kicks up under the spinning tires of her Honda Civic, and she races that thing down the road, past the group of pissed off shifters. A couple of them keep chasing us for a while, so instead of heading right for the sanctuary, she takes a detour to circle back around.

Reese, meanwhile, is in my lap, licking my jaw and nibbling at my ear. It takes an incredible amount of willpower to hold off my rut. Holding her like this, I can hear and feel her mate-call resonating from her. It’s louder than a revving engine.

I’ve never heard a female put out a mate-call before Reese, and certainly never had one calling out to me. My own body tries to react and answer her, but I sink my talons into that instinct as hard as I can and drag it back down. I keep the urge locked inside of me, even as my jaw starts aching, needing to clamp down on her golden skin and claim her.

She’s not herself—I saw that much when Hugo broke her out of her animal’s prison and made her shift. She’s being completely overrun, her hormones suppressed for way too long. She probably would’ve reacted this way to any male in the room, but I just managed to be the first one she looked at. That thought makes me clench my teeth, but I shove the surge of jealousy that comes up.

I know she said she needs me, but what kind of male would I be if I took advantage of her in this state? I couldn’t live with myself.

She whines again, this time moving her legs so that she’s straddling my thigh. I feel her hot, wet center soak warmth into my jeans as she rocks against me. I bite back a groan. “You gotta stop that, Mousey.”

She doesn’t.

“Reese,” I say sternly. “We’re gonna take you back to the sanctuary.”

“No!”

I flinch back at the ferocity of her voice, and the fact that she’s broken past her heat haze to yell it. Clear human eyes are blinking at me. “Don’t take me back there alone. I need you,” she says, her fingers curling into my shirt. “Please, Luca.”

“Geez, take care of the poor girl,” Freya says, shooting me a look like I’m being an asshole.

She’s wearing a bright red dress that goes good with her dark skin, and her black hair is in tiny braids with beads at the end of them that click together as she moves, the sound reminding me of fingernails on a typewriter. As usual, she has a cup of ice with her, and she’s