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CHAPTER ONE

Doing the hangover walk of sha waylaid by three shifters in theBree even further into an “I want to curl up and die” vortex Car horns honked Heels clacked on the sidewalk Vehicles whooshed by Every sound ht now And light And people And did the guy in front of her really have to talk so loudly?

Bree Dwyer sighed as the hyena prattled on and on, his suy She’d long ago learned that “nice” and “good” were two different things There was nothing good about him He oozed menace—and not in a sexy way He had a dark, serpent look in his eyes thatfor

The three hyenas hadn’t stepped into her personal space, lost their relaxed posture, or dropped their amicable smiles even once Smart Because they had to have known that every store on both sides of this street ned by her Alpha, Vinnie Devereaux Also, most of her pride mates worked in said stores If the hyenas made a misstep, it would be noticed, and they’d find themselves surrounded Which would be fun for her but not so much for them

As a rule, people tended to avoid her kind Pallas cat shifters were disagreeable Unpredictable Moody Brash

They were also, pound for pound, one of the strongest breeds of shifter Although her kind weren’t er than a housecat when in their ani ball of fur, they possessed an unparalleled ferocity that had been described by some as demonic

Personally, Bree thought that was a little harsh

It wasn’t as if they went on killing sprees for fun They didn’t bother you so long as you didn’t both them But if you pushed their buttons, they’d proceed to attack in a snarling, hissing, unholy display of pure fury—giving zero thought to whether their eneer, ar with that?

The chatty hyena sighed He’d introduced hi that was his real na towith mild exasperation

Bree frowned Did she look like she was in a fit state to hold a conversation? Apparently so Well, that was good Maybe her coworkers wouldn’t notice she was dying inside

“I was At first,” she replied “But then I got bored because you kept repeating questions I’ve already answered” Plus, it was kind of hard to concentrate when her head felt like it was trapped in a vice And she didn’t exactly care for the subjectand lashing her bushy tail about