Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
The place was at its busiest around noon, but though it was after six in the evening, there were still plenty of patrons sitting around or standing in the line at the counter. The sounds of dishware clattering, background music, and the tumbling of a dough mixer filled the space.
After Bailey and her girls bought both a drink and one of the baked treats from behind the glass counter, they claimed a table.
Peeling the crackly wax paper from her lemon muffin, Bailey hummed in delight. “So, we still on for movie night tomorrow?”
“Absolutely,” said Havana, lifting her éclair from her plate. “We’ll have it at my place.”
“Good. I like your TV best.”
“I don’t know why. It’s no different than your own.”
“Some things cannot be explained, they just are.”
Havana sighed, flapping her free hand. “Whatever.”
“Goddamn shitbag,” Aspen muttered under her breath, her upper lip peeling back in disgust.
Bailey frowned. “What? Who?”
Tearing open a sugar packet a little too hard, the bearcat tipped her chin toward a member of the line. “Check out his neck tattoo.”
Catching sight of what was basically the no-smoking sign only it featured a wolf’s head rather than a cigarette, Bailey had to bite back a growl. Her snake flicked out her tongue, feeling nothing but pure scorn. The sigil was commonly worn by anti-shifter extremists.
The hateful, fanatic humans were very much in favor of culling the shifter population—particularly by attacking them, bombing their territories, and insisting that mated couples be restricted to having only one child.
More, the extremists appealed for shifters to be electronically chipped, unallowed to leave their territory, prohibited from mating with humans, and placed on a register like sex offenders.
Grave mistake.
Because shifters were predators. They didn’t run or hide or play nice. They fought violence with violence. So they’d formed the Movement, a group which had no issue eliminating entire factions of extremists and assassinating those in power.
Preferring to keep the identities of their members private, the Movement often recruited unmated lone shifters since they were able to more easily fly under the radar. The group had recruited Bailey, Havana, Aspen, and Camden many years ago. While the four had appeared to live simple lives to the outside world, they’d actually done plenty of Movement-work in the background.
Members weren’t considered disposable soldiers. The group was a family who looked out for each other. They also didn’t allow members to perform more than eight years of service, wanting shifters to go find their mates rather than dedicate their lives to dealing with asshole-extremists.
Not many people outside the group knew that Bailey, her girls, and Camden were once part of it. Only Corbin, Tate, and Luke. As such, most had no idea that the four ex-members were trained in all kinds of shit that came in real handy at times.
“They all need shooting,” declared Havana before taking a hard bite of her éclair.
“If the dude knew he was currently surrounded by shifters, he wouldn’t be so at ease,” Aspen asserted, pouring sugar into her cup of coffee.
“I hope someone spits all over his order.” Havana licked at the small blob of crème that got stuck to the corner of her mouth. “A little rat poison wouldn’t hurt either.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Aspen tipped some milk into her drink and then stirred it with a teaspoon. “Going by the look on Jessie’s face, she’s considering it.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.” The female was as fierce as her mate, Farrell, who was also the pride’s head enforcer. Bailey took a bite of her muffin, almost moaning in delight as the warm, lemony filling hit her tongue. “On another note … I got finger-fucked by Deke last night.”
Havana’s éclair slipped out of her hands. “What?”
“And I jacked him off,” Bailey added.
“What?” demanded Aspen.
“It was totally unexpected, I—”
Aspen slammed up a hand. “Wait, slow down, are you serious right now?”
“Deadly.” Bailey had done her upmost best to put the encounter out of her mind but, yeah, she’d failed. Especially that damn kiss—it kept replaying in her mind.
No one had ever kissed her like that. As if every ounce of their focus had been on tasting and exploring and feasting on her mouth, like nothing had ever been more important. A girl could easily get addicted to something like that.
Havana did a slow blink. “Oh my God, you’re not kidding.”
Her eyes glinting with avid interest, Aspen leaned forward. “How did all that come about?”
Bailey took another bite out of her muffin. “He followed me into my apartment to make sure I didn’t bite Vera—it was a close call. She threatened to have me evicted. Can you believe that?” Her snake was still stewing over that.
Havana clicked her fingers. “Focus, Bailey. We’re talking about Deke.”
Setting down her muffin, Bailey rolled her eyes. “We talked. Well, bickered. I called him Eye Candy. He got all frowny. Then he warned me not to keep pushing him or I’d regret it.”