Reese (Pack of Misfits #2) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,77
look really hot?” I guess, letting my gaze trail down his abs. He is the friggen sexiest damn vulture ever.
He smirks. “Good try. Hand ’em over.”
“Hand what over?”
He squats down next to me, totally blocking my tanning action. “Baby, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
With an exaggerated sigh, he plucks me up from the ground and proceeds to carry me, slung over his shoulder. “Put me down, Vulture!”
He ignores me until we get to my tent and he sets me on my feet right outside. “Alright, go get them.”
My bottom lip comes out. “But it looks so good in my nest! I need them!”
I can see his eyes light up, like he’s amused, but his expression stays serious. “I know, Mousey. And I’ll get you some better, shinier things when we get home, okay? But for now, I’m gonna need you to give me everything you took.”
I huff. “Fine. But you owe my rat big time. She is super mad at you right now,” I warn before heading into my tent. I move aside my plastic bag of belongings to reveal the nest hidden behind it.
Luca follows me in, crouching down to get a look. “Huh. Impressive,” he says, looking over the pile my rat collected.
“I know, right? It’s so pretty.”
“Where’d you find the gold necklace?”
I shrug. “It washed up on the shore. Weirdest thing.”
“Reese...”
“Okay, fine. My rat stole it from Susie’s bag while she slept.” I hold up my hands before he can launch into a lecture. “In my defense, my rat is feeling a little petty right now. I’m sure she’ll calm down once Susie stops glaring at us every time you hold my hand or call me baby.”
At least, I hope so. It is not a good thing for my rat to hold a grudge against someone. Who knows what she might take?
“Remind your rat that I belong to her,” Luca says. “Then maybe she’ll calm down and stop being such a klepto.”
My rat snorts inside of me like sure, buddy, keep dreaming.
To my dismay, Luca starts breaking down the nest and collecting all the shiny bits.
“Wait, can I just keep—”
“Nope,” he says, plucking the jeweled hair pin from me.
“I’ll talk to Susie,” Luca assures me. “Tell her she needs to get over it and accept that you and I are dating. I’m honestly surprised that she cares. We broke up months ago, and she’s been with other people since then.”
I steal a look at him. “Does that bother you? Seeing her with others?”
“No,” he answers without hesitating. “Like I said, we weren’t right for each other. My animal never liked her. Ah—there it is,” he says, plucking the ring of keys that was buried beneath some fluff that my rat stole from someone’s sleeping bag.
My rat pouts. “You’re gonna need to give her some major shiny shit after this.”
He chuckles and kisses me on top of the head, which sends a thrill through me. Every time we touch, I feel that same zing.
“Come on, let’s get these keys back to Stinger before he loses his shit.”
I sigh. “Fine.”
I follow Luca out, but I stop once we get back to the tarp, because we’re suddenly facing a...well, I’m not even sure what to call it, to be honest.
“Uhh, what are they doing?”
The other shifters are all standing in a circle, watching the display. Sitting on the tarp in her bikini, with her hands wrapped around her knees, is Sloth Wynn—in human form—and she currently has a bearded dragon and a bird of paradise flanking her. The shifted animals are glaring at each other—if lizards and birds can glare—and while I watch, they start to...dance?
At least, I think it’s dancing. The lizard is sort of bobbing his head at her, real aggressive like. The bird, in turn, squawks loudly at him and then moves front and center of Wynn and puffs his feathers out until they look like he’s wearing a skirt. Then he starts to dance too.
The lizard moves to the front, trying to cut off the bird, and he bobs his head even harder, like there’s rocking headbanger music blaring somewhere that only he can hear. In retaliation, the bird dances faster, spinning his feather skirt like a ballroom dancer. He holds out his black iridescent wings while the plumage on his head moves with every bop of his head. They are just going for it.