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I narrowed my eyes. “A what?”
“A battle goose,” he said, chuckling. “Caught it down by the river.”
I frowned. The feeling of my forehead wrinkling was weird. Idly, I pushed at the corrugated skin on my brow, trying to push it flat again. Jesus, I was drunk. “What the hell is a battle goose?”
“We think it’s some kind of secret military experiment that escaped from his cage or somethin’. It looks like a normal goose, and damn, it’s as ornery as a normal goose, but the thing has… extra parts.”
I closed one eye, so I could focus on just one Jeff, not the doubled-up version. “What kind of extra parts?”
“Well, for starters, he’s got a razor-sharp beak.”
“A razor… sharp… beak?” I wobbled my stool a little.
“Yeah. Sharp enough to cut straight through rawhide.” Jeff’s amber eyes rolled over me, appreciation and regret in his expression. “That thing would cut your pretty skin to ribbons.” He seemed sad about the fact that he wouldn’t get to see me bleed.
I blew a raspberry, accidentally spraying him with spit. Or, maybe not so accidentally. “Bullshit. No way.”
“It’s true.” He wiped a glob of my spit off his chin. “And there’s something up with his neck. It’s like… diamond-plated, or somethin’.” He shook his head. “He gets real big, and his feathers harden up when he fights. He doesn’t fight like a goose, neither. A normal goose will come straight at ya and poke you with his beak, but this one uses his neck like a whip. And he’s mean.”
“Well. Normal geese are mean.”
“Well, this little bastard is bad. It ripped a gash in Sammy’s arm and tore one of Liam’s eyes out with its claws,” he said, chuckling like it was the funniest thing in the world.
I laughed along with him merrily. “I’m going to assume you’re exaggerating. Laughing about your friends being maimed is some shhtraight-up psychopath shit, dude,” I giggled, slapping a hand on his chest.
He didn’t know I could See. So far, no supe had clocked me as one of them. From what I understood, some supes could tell by looking into someone’s eyes, like I did. Werewolves would be able to smell the difference between species. But my eyes were unique, and I smelled like a human.
Jeff thought I was some dumb drunk college girl. “No, really,” he chuckled, leaning closer so he could sniff me. “It took a whole pack of us to corner it. That thing is a weapon. It’s gotta be a covert government experiment or somethin’.”
I huffed out another laugh. “That’s crazy. You’re crazy, Jeff.” I smacked his chest again, way harder this time. “I bet it’s just a normal goose with an extra-sharp beak and claws.”
“Naw,” Jeff drawled. “This creature is something else. It already sliced through the wooden crate we had him in. The bastard almost got away; we had to get one of our metal baby crates and shove him in there.”
“Metal… baby…” I peered at him, then let out a giggle. “Oh. You’re teasing me.”
He grinned. “Sure am, sweetheart.”
He wasn’t. His pack put their pups in crates when they acted up.
Most shifter packs were actually just loving, close-knit families. But the ones that weren’t were not nice places to be.
Jeff’s pack wasn’t nice at all.
“We’re gonna find out just how bad this goose can be.” He leaned closer, whispering conspiratorially. “There’s a shed out back; Javier uses it for dogfights on Saturdays. I got my two old fighting dogs with me. We’re going to throw Ruby and Margot in the pit with the goose and see what it can do.”
I blew another raspberry. A glob of spit landed on Jeff’s bushy eyebrow. A flash of irritation twisted his face, but he quickly masked it. He’d put up with much worse to lure me out of this bar.
He was braver than Javier. Or just more stupid. For a second, I watched his thoughts.
The other wolves wanted to play with me, too; I could see they had all talked about it while I was in the bathroom. They’d take their time. The fun they could have with me would easily outweigh the consequences, as far as Jeff thought, anyway. If there were some formidable man coming to pick me up, the pack could take out some human marine easily. Jeff’s alpha was one of the most powerful wolves in the states, and although he’d be pissed at Jeff for making trouble for him, he’d still cover it up.
Jeff had already planned his excuses. Sorry, Alpha, we had no idea who she was! She was just some dumb blonde who was stupid enough to get blackout drunk in Javier’s. You should have been there, boss. You would have loved it.
I rolled my eyes. “Two pit bulls would rip a goose to shreds.”
“Not this one. He’s bred for battle. I think Ruby and Margot will have their work cut out for them.”
I pouted. “Aren’t you worried about your poor pooches getting hurt?”
