“I’m sure.”
Chapter Five
Tryingon clothes and dodging mirrors to screw with Wayne didn’t lead to my execution, but the pair of disgruntled lycanthrope males fought to pick up the slack. Driving their truck right onto my piece of shit car counted as rude, as did breaking the store’s front window.
If they wanted to play, I’d play. While the brute joined the fray in his human form, he had three wolves with him, all single and male. A tabby cat rode a wolf, and I recognized his scent as the brute’s friend.
I wasn’t the only hybrid female in town, and the shop’s owner shifted, her clothes expanding in size to accommodate her larger form. With several hundred pounds of muscle on me, she could take me out with a flick of her claws, five inches of lethal curves, which were painted a glittery blue.
“We can paint our claws?” I blurted.
“Absolutely,” Francine replied, and she caught the brute by the throat and tossed him out of her shop and through his windshield. “How rude. If you want a date with a lady, you ask politely.”
I grimaced at the crunch of glass and bone, and blood sprayed onto the brute’s truck.
Wayne stifled a yawn, put his phone to his ear, and said, “I’d like to report a disturbance.” He gave the shop’s location, his phone number, and his name. “Two hybrid ladies are about to demolish a mixed pack of males. You should write ‘too stupid to live’ on their death certificates.”
The brute got up from his introduction to his windshield and bounded forward. The rest of his pack followed his lead, and I braced for pain, suffering, and bloodshed. The wolf with the cat reached me first, and I swiped for the cat, snagged him by his scruff, and threw him in his friend’s face.
The cat yowled, the claws came out, and the brute left the dispute with a deep set of gouges from his hairline to his jaw. I scowled as the feline hadn’t quite managed to hit the bastard’s eyes.
Turning tail, the cat bolted from the shop and ran for the trees.
Coward cat.
The wolves skidded to a halt, tucked their tails, and retreated a few paces, whining and regarding the brute with wide eyes.
While I recognized that my furry adversaries understood they’d bitten off more than they could chew, the brute went for me, spittle flying from his mouth. Francine took a single step forward, grabbed his arm, and flung him to the floor as though he weighed no more than a feather. He hit so hard the tiles cracked, which made the woman snarl. “Men who behave like little boys have the manners beaten back into them, and when I’m done with the beating, you will be on your hands and knees cleaning every damned inch of my shop when you’re not putting the young lady’s car back together.”
I regarded my poor vehicle with a sigh. “It lost this time.”
“Rather severely,” Francine agreed.
“It’s a pancake.”
“It really is.” Francine stepped on the brute’s chest, leaned over, and roared in his face. “You picked the wrong shop to trash, buddy.”
“The police will be here within five minutes,” Wayne reported, and he took pictures of Francine restraining the brute.
The wolves turned tail and charged across the parking lot, following the cat’s path of escape.
While the brute couldn’t worm out from beneath Francine’s foot, he went for her ankle and bit hard enough she yelped despite her protective layer of fur. Like any sensible being, she kicked, once again punting the brute right out of her shop and into the cab of his truck. Metal and glass crunched once more, and I winced.
The idiot male groaned, but rather than come back for thirds, he crawled out of his truck, and limped after his friends, leaving a trail of blood across the asphalt.
I wondered why he hadn’t shifted.
“Well, shit. I didn’t mean to let him get away.”
“It doesn’t matter. I know who he is, I have pictures of him, and the CDC and FBI will take care of it.” Wayne shook his head. “I really hadn’t thought they’d be that stupid.”
“Stupid is attacking a hybrid,” Francine replied. “Sure, you’re dainty for a hybrid, but you’re more than enough to take on any damned male dumb enough to get into your space uninvited.”
I flicked an ear back. “Dainty is one way to put it.”
“She’s a solo, underfed, and generally neglected. I’m taking care of those problems.”
“Along with her clothing problems, I see.”
