“Hey, you,” I said to a passing Pit girl, the words a bit slurred. “Another whiskey on the rocks.”
She wrinkled her nose, but went to do my bidding. I hoped. The buzz in my head was getting good now—heavy, like a nest of swarming honey bees. My problems were but pesky little bubbles, and if I squinted hard enough, I could pop them. Make them disappear.
Another glass of amber liquid thunked on the table and I wasted no time knocking the drink back. After two more, the world started to swirl. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that last one. Getting home was going to be interesting. With a lurch and slight stumble, I was on my feet. Somehow I had to keep my cool as I weaved through the undulating crowd.
Were they dancing?
I had never seen anyone dance in this joint before. They had no idea what they were missing out on. An urge to sway to the thumping bass consumed me. I bobbed my head and shuffled my feet. Only for a minute. Shaggy hair fell over my face like a curtain, hiding me from the others. If they couldn’t see me, they couldn’t bother me. I was alone with the music, the vibrating beat, alcohol warming my insides and calming my normally rage-filled mind.
The moment was rudely interrupted as my back hit a wall. I swung around, almost tilting too far, but I grabbed onto a pole. Or rather, an arm covered in swirly green art.
“Pretty.” I focused on the wall that had ruined my dance moves, but was greeted by a two-headed monster instead. I blinked and the heads squished into one. Then split into two again. He looked human. Sort of. “Ugly.”
Two mouths pulled back to reveal hideously yellow teeth. “What did you call me, Fae scum?”
I stumbled back a step, waving a hand in front of my face. “Dude.” I coughed. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you to brush your teeth?”
The teeth elongated and I stared, fascinated. How did he do that? Then he started talking again and more laughter bubbled up my chest, escaping through my nose. “You shouldn’t have come to a shifter joint if you can’t hold your liquor, boy. Now the floor is about to get real messy.”
I watched, curious, as he took off his shirt, revealing a large tattoo of a mermaid. But the drawing had—I squinted—three heads. I pointed at the fuzzy image. “Is that your girl? She’s uglier than you.”
The two-headed monster roared, sounding like a constipated walrus. His rotten egg breath washed over me a second time and my gut roiled. I held up a hand, the other gripping at my stomach. “Whoa, I think you’re right. Keep doing that and the floor is going to get messy. Maybe your shoes, too.”
Out of nowhere, something struck my face. My head whipped to the side and so did the rest of my body. Another pole broke my fall though. No, not a pole. Some of the fog receded, enough for me to see a furious shifter holding me upright. A second later, I was thrust backward, right into another wall.
The whiskey in my stomach sloshed back and forth. I groaned. “Time out, guys. Give me a second. I don’t think my stomach likes being tossed around by an ugly pack of shifters.” I belched, my body’s way of agreeing.
But I should have known better. Shifters didn’t play fair.
One second I was swaying on my feet, the next rolling on the floor as a boot struck my back. My spine throbbed, the ache sharpening my awareness. Shifters. Shifters everywhere. At least a dozen glaring down at me. Another kick, right between the shoulder blades, wrenched the buzz away.
I scrambled to my feet, blinking rapidly as the dozen faces became fifty. Snap out of it before they snap you in half! Barely dodging another kick, I let fly a fist—my knuckles smashed into a nose. Crunch!
Everyone paused, gaping as a shifter cradled his broken nose, blood streaming between his fingers. I clenched my teeth, knowing that whatever happened next would be bad. Maybe I’d finally managed to provoke them into not letting me walk away again. The end had come for me at long last.
At the finality of the thought, my stomach twisted, and not because of the alcohol. Maybe, now that the end stared me in the face, I wasn’t quite ready. The realization came too late. In the next moment, hell was unleashed as several hands grabbed me, dragging me to the putrid floor.
Fists and feet and elbows and knees rained down on me. No way was I surviving this. My entire body was on fire, receiving blow after blow.
“Stop!”
The shout was strong, authoritative, and decidedly female. But the beating didn’t let up, only intensified. Everything changed when a roar shook the building, vibrating through the cement beneath my cheek and into my bones. Silence. Frozen silence. Shuffling feet, and then . . .
Then . . .
I frowned. From my place on the floor, I saw the crowd part, giving me the perfect view of . . . the alley wall painting? White wings. And attached to the white wings was an enormous white lion. My eyes failed me then as the terrifying creature shrank inward. Shaping, reshaping, bones snapping, fur receding, until a few short moments later, a girl stood in place of the lion.
A very naked girl.
She straightened, revealing pale skin covered in colorful tattoos. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen a naked female at The Pit, but when my eyes traveled up to blue and black hair, I wanted to die. Someone needed to put me out of my misery and fast because the Night Enforcer’s nude image was now forever imprinted on my brain.
I grimaced as her keen gaze swung my way, no doubt taking in my fresh new bruises and
