Page 40 of Nicolette

She agreed taking things too far right now wouldn’t be good, but we needed to do something about this situation. The females were our responsibility whether they liked it or not, so we needed to do right by them. Knowing she was right, I stood on the bar, put my fingers to my lips, and let out one hell of a whistle.

“Nicolette, what are you doing?” Rambler demanded, grabbing my ankle as if he was going to pull me off the bar. However, when our gazes met, and my lioness told him to back off so she could do her job, he did.

Now that I had everyone’s attention, I didn’t really know where to start, but my lion did, so I trusted her judgment. “Hello, everyone. I’m sure you’re wondering what the fuck is some strange woman doing standing on the bar this early in the night, am I right?”

Pretty much everyone murmured yes or nodded their heads.

“Great, so we got that awkwardness out of the way. Let me introduce myself. I’m Nicolette Katz. Some might know me as Swurve Reaper, who used to fight at the Lucky Shot. Due to matters I’m not going to get into, I was scratched by a feline and am now part of the cool kids club,” I shared, which had everyone whispering and talking, pointing up at me like I wasn’t going to notice.

“What do you want a gold sticker for surviving?” a woman by the pool tables asked.

“You’re a born feline, aren’t you?” I questioned, and she nodded. “I thought so because if you experienced the pain I did, you’d have a fucking gold star in your pocket to get out for that shit.”

“Did you have a point, or are you just letting us all know there’s a new bitch to fuck during her heat?” shouted a greasy-looking man whose hand was under a woman’s shirt, groping her breast.

“See, I would offer, but you look like you’ve got your hands full already,” I pointed out, making everyone laugh at him. “Look, I’m doing this against the will of the leadership, but fuck it, man. I really, really need you all to stop assuming I’m a sweetbutt or a damn lay. Being a new shifter, it’s hard to keep my lioness in check when you do that, and I have to prove I’m not a danger to those around me.”

The whole room went silent, and I’m not talking like it got real quiet. I mean to my supernatural hearing, all I got was breathing and heartbeats to know everyone was alive. Confused, I looked down and saw Rambler shaking his head as he pinched his nose like I’d done something wrong.

“What?” I demanded in a harsh whisper. “What the fuck did I do now?”

Before any of my guys could answer, the cackle of a woman filled the room. “There’s no way you’re a lioness. A street thug like you? No, that’s just a fucking lie to get the leadership to pay attention to you.”

Amaretto seemed to really want to die today. What other reason would she have for calling me out when she knew I was telling the truth? My lioness practically waved hi as I fought against strangling her in the hall. Now she was calling me out as a liar? Yeah, that wasn’t going to fucking happen.

“Are you sure you want things to be like that between us, cheetah? You know goddamn well I’m not making this up since I already handed you your ass once today,” I reminded her.

Hopping off the bar, I stalked over to the long-legged blonde who was sitting on the arm of a couch. That brought us to be closer in height so I could look her dead in the eye. My lioness was eager to prove to everyone in this room that we were the baddest bitch in town, so she let her alpha magic loose. Amaretto’s eyes widened as my magic slammed into her making her realize once more that she really shouldn’t fucking test me.

“Kneel,” I ordered, knowing that I could easily force her to do it, but it would make a much bigger impact if she chose to do it herself.

Amaretto tried to fight me, to shove my power back at me, but she was pathetically weak. My lioness bared her teeth, letting out a warning growl that rumbled in my chest. My feline and I could agree on this, working as a solid unit to establish our place in this pride. We would now be in charge of the females from this point forward. On top of that, I planned to make sure whatever the fuck kind of system these men had for the ladies who lived here was the best we could offer. Motherfucking iceberg lettuce salad. No wonder they were all bitches. Let them have some real food and see how big of a change that made.

My lion snapped at me, knowing I’d drifted off course, bringing my attention back to the matter before me. “Retto…” I commented with a low warning in my tone. “Don’t make me force you in front of all these people. Be smart and keep some of your pride intact.”

“How dare you do this to me? You have no authority here.” She snarled, choosing to stand and loom over me.

I wasn’t a short woman. Five-six was perfectly average, but this fucking amazon of a woman put on five-inch heels since our last encounter. That’s fine, I was used to being the smaller person in a fight, and my winning track record was perfect.

“She has the authority I gave her, along with the fact she has the dominance to back up her claim,” Nine announced as he joined the party.

Not taking my eyes off her, I felt him come to stand at my shoulder. He didn’t try to stop me or butt into the situation, just provided his support. It was the crack in Amaretto’s walls I needed for my energy to make her crumble. I’d known she was barely hanging on, but the rejection from Nine was a blow she couldn’t withstand. Dropping to her knees, Amaretto hung her head in full submission to us both, proving to the whole pride that I was the boss.

Everyone had gathered to watch what happened between the two of us, and all of them hung their heads in an act of submission. They’d all felt what I’d thrown at her, and clearly, none of them wanted to fuck around and find out. Worked for me. I was really getting tired of this whole ‘she must be a whore since she appeared out of nowhere,’ bullshit. Now the truth was revealed, and we could all move on to bigger and better things—like getting me some real goddamn food.

I turned on my heel and headed for the bar where Zealot was standing, arms crossed and bits of food still stuck in his beard. When I popped up on the stool, he took a step back which made me smile. “I promise I won’t assault you with any more salads as long as you never offer me one again.”

He gave a sharp nod but still looked at me warily.

“Let’s try this again, shall we? Zealot, I would love the biggest, juiciest burger you can make,” I requested.

The man didn’t move.

“Please?” I added, not understanding why he was frozen in time, just staring at me blankly.

Lifting a hand, I waved it at him trying to see if there was any sign of life. “Hello? Anyone there?”

“Zealot,” Nine bellowed from right behind me.