Reese (Pack of Misfits #2) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,88
lean in to get a better look. Bat droppings. I’d forgotten the fucker was a bat shifter. My animal fluffs his wings inside of me. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d hunt the bastard down.
Igor walks over to a rickety table on the left side of the room. There’s a very obvious rectangular stain on the top. “Your rat’s scent is strongest here.”
“That’s where he kept my cage.”
She tries to keep her voice steady, but I hear the warble in it, and I know how difficult this must be for her and her rat.
“You mean your plastic crate,” I correct, my tone pissed off. When Addie showed me what Reese had been kept in when the human brought her to the pet shop, I saw red. “It sure as fuck wasn’t a proper cage. And it was filthy. And empty.”
Reese just shrugs like that shouldn’t be any surprise. She stares at the windows that have been covered with black sheets.
Stinger looks through the cupboards and the fridge in the kitchen. “They cleaned out all of this already too.”
My girl snorts humorlessly. “Those cupboards were never full. When he bothered to feed me, it was scraps from whatever junk or fast food he’d picked up.”
I’m getting more and more pissed off the longer I stand here and see what she was subjected to.
“We can scent you, Reese, but we need you to tell us if you recognize anyone else here. There are too many scents for us to tell.”
Nodding, she walks around as she scents the place. If I weren’t so pissed off, I would smirk at the adorable way she twitches her nose—just like she does in her animal form.
“Here,” she says, making Stinger and Igor follow her to the couch. Her lips curl slightly in a sneer. “This one is Rick Dick. But there’s humans in here too. I don’t recognize any of those.” She walks around frowning and then stops near the door. “Sid,” she says shakily. “This is him right here. With the bitter tinge and hint of dust.”
Stinger and Igor mark the scent to memory, and I do too, because even though I might not be a pack enforcer, I want to track this fucker down and make him pay.
“You’re hissing.”
I snap my head over to find Reese standing next to me. “What?”
“You’re making a weird hissing noise,” she repeats, and I realize that I am making an angry as fuck noise that sounds like my bird’s hiss.
I clear my throat to stop, and Reese laughs a little. I don’t know how the fuck she can still smile after having to face this place again. I know she’s scared now that she knows Sid is near, but she’s strong enough not to let it consume her. The sight makes some of my fury dissipate.
“I didn’t know that vultures could even make that noise,” she teases. “It was almost like a growl.”
“That’s not a growl,” Stinger butts in with a smirk. “You wanna hear a real man growl, you let me know, Rat-A-Tat-Tat,” he says with a wink.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, fuck off. Your animal’s growl is pitiful.”
“Fuck you, my animal’s growl is the shit,” he tosses back.
Curiosity lights up Reese’s eyes. “What animal is he?” she asks me.
I open my mouth to answer, but Stinger holds up a finger. “Uh uh. We don’t shift and snitch,” he says. “You’re gonna have to find out,” he tells her with a grin.
Reese gives a little disappointed huff, and I shrug at her. “I’ve been in the pack for two years, and I still don’t know what everybody is,” I confess.
“Really? Wow.”
“Yeah, some of us are more protective and secretive about it than others.”
“And some of us just like to build the suspense,” Stinger adds with a wag of his eyebrows.
“Hey, Stinger?” Igor says dryly.
“Yeah?”
“Go build your suspense somewhere else.”
Stinger snorts. “Sure thing, boss.” He walks out while Reese stifles another laugh. At least she doesn’t look as tense as she was when she first walked in here.
“You recognize any of the other scents here, Reese?” Igor asks, getting us back on point.
She meticulously walks around, so as not to miss anything. “The human who brought me to Addie—I can smell him all over here.”
Igor nods. “The landlord. He’s been in and out of here a lot. I guess when Rick didn’t show up to pay rent, he evicted him. That’s why the human came in here in the first place. He found you and took you to