He hesitates.
Quinn hits his top lip next. Blood spurts from his mouth as if he’s been punched by a very large opponent.
“Mother fucking fuck!” Mitchel swipes at his lip with the back of his arm before scrambling to get dressed in the clothes Sylas snagged from his own home. Hiking clothes, including hiking boots.
“What the fuck do you want from me?” Mitchel whines as he ties his boots. “You like your men to look like they came out of the forest or something?”
For some reason, this asshole is fixated on the fact that one of us—or all of us—intend to fuck him. What a joke. Maybe he’s not even into women.
“Get your car keys out of your jeans,” I order. “Put them in your pocket. Strap the camelback on, too.”
“Are we going for a fucking hike?” Mitchel asks. “What sort of kinky shit are you boys into?” He snags his jeans, finds the keys, and moves them to his hiking pants.
“Good boy,” I repeat, hoping it irritates him. Hell, if my words make him horny, fine. I don’t care. He’s fucked either way. If a dude dies while he has a hard-on, will his dead body still have a woody when he’s found?
I shake the unnecessary question from my head. “Turn around. Start walking.”
Mitchel hesitates again. Quinn aims the next rock at the guy’s junk. Even through the pants and his boxers, all the air leaves Mitchel’s lungs as he buckles forward. He’s in so much pain that he drops to his knees, holding his dick.
Blood runs down his face from the spot between his eyes, his cheek, and his lip. The front of his shirt has a bloody spot where his nipple is shredded. It’s a fine sight.
“Get the fuck up, motherfucker, and start walking,” I growl.
Mitchel shakes his head. “I don’t think so.” His voice is high-pitched. “I don’t like whatever you’re planning. It’s dangerous out here. There are cliffs. I can’t see fuck.”
This is when I leap into the air, shifting while I’m flying toward him, so that I land in front of this piece of shit on all fours. I roar so loudly that Mitchel pisses himself, his urine dripping down between his fingers where he’s still gripping his junk.
When I roar again, padding closer to him, he releases his dick and scrambles backward, crab style.
“Get up, you waste of human breath,” Ronan commands. “Get the fuck on your feet and start walking.”
I keep coming at him. I can smell his fear. It’s much stronger now that I’ve shifted.
“You’re one of them? A fucking lion shifter? Do you know how much trouble you’re going to be in when I tell the police you antagonized me? You folks are only tolerated in the mountains as long as you don’t bother anyone. One wrong move, and you’re out of here.”
I come closer, so close that I can lean in and bare my teeth inches from his face. My saliva drips down my fangs and lands on his thighs. I roar again, causing him to cover his ears. That’s how loud I am.
Quinn hits him two times in succession, once on his ear and once on the back of the hand covering his junk.
Mitchel stops fighting and scrambles to his feet. He holds his ear now. His face is a mess. It’s about to get so much worse that even an autopsy won’t show evidence that he was stoned several times before his untimely demise.
“Start walking,” Sylas orders.
I continue forward. My lion is much larger than this asshole. I’m scaring the hell out of him just by existing. He’s obviously never encountered a lion shifter up close. Not surprising. Most people haven’t. We don’t tend to shift in front of humans for no cause.
Sylas is on one side of me; Ronan and Quinn are on the other. We’re crowding Mitchel, forcing him to move deeper into the woods.
I know this territory blindfolded. We’re not that far from our current logging site. It’s perfect.
Mitchel is sniffling as he walks gingerly forward, climbing over rocks and felled trees. Every few seconds, he swipes at his cheeks. He’s crying. He should be.
When we get where I want him, I leap a few feet closer so my snout reaches over his shoulder. I roar again.
“Run!” Ronan shouts.
Mitchel obeys, jogging forward for about five steps, and then he’s gone. Right over the edge of a cliff. His screams can be heard for a few seconds before they are silenced by his death.
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
