Page 16 of Nicolette

Take a back seat—now.

With a lazy blink of her eyes, she let out a superior sniff and turned her back on me, flicking her tail in my face.

Not cool! I yelled at her just before I felt the feeling of falling and practically tripped over my own feet into my body with my lioness laughing her ass off in the back of my mind. The transition burned like someone stretching your muscle further than it could go but all over your body. Collapsing to my knees, I thrust my hands out to catch myself before I kissed the wood floor.

“Son of a bitch!” I groaned. “Please tell me that’s not how it’s always going to be.”

Something soft was draped over me, and I looked up to see a man with a bright smile and chartreuse eyes. He was buck ass naked and didn’t seem to give two shits about it as he combed his fingers through his golden-brown hair. Granted, with a sleek, toned body like his, covered in tattoos, I wouldn’t have any problems showing it off, either. Mine, however, was covered in scars and marks from all the fights I’d survived, and I was guessing there was a shit ton more after dealing with that ghoul.

“Nudity is common among shifters, but I figured you might not feel comfortable with that around us just yet,” he explained before squatting in front of me, balancing on the balls of his feet. “I’m Circus. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nicolette, but you can call me Nic,” I offered.

“Will you be my friend? My leopard really wants us to be friends,” Circus announced.

A hulking beast of a man wearing boxers grabbed Circus by the scruff of the neck and hauled him off toward the stairs. “Come on, you, let’s give her and Nine a little time to work things out. You’re gonna make things weird if I let you stay.”

“But, Rambler, she didn’t answer my question,” Circus whined as he let the tiger drag him around like a rag doll.

“You’re proving my point, now grab your clothes and let’s go before I throw you down the stairs and see if you’ll land on your feet,” Rambler ordered, releasing the man.

Circus popped up and scooped up his clothes, clutching them to his chest. “Wait, were you going to throw me down the stairs if I did what I was supposed to or not?” Rambler started to talk, but Circus waved him off. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just do it myself because now I’m curious.”

My jaw dropped in disbelief as the motherfucker tucked and rolled right off the landing down the stairs. There were a few thuds and lots of laughter before a cheer was heard. “Nailed it!”

“What the hell, Circus? Warn a guy when you’re gonna do shit like that,” Polo grumbled from the lower level of the house.

It was so strange to be able to hear everything so clearly, like they were in the room and not half a house away. Standing, I wrapped the blanket around myself and walked toward the stairs to peer down them. They were at a pretty steep angle, with walls on either side, making it a narrow path straight down. How the fuck did he manage to roll down and land on his feet?

As if knowing I was there, Circus appeared and waved up at me. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. It would take a lot more than that to mess me up, being a shifter and all. Once you’re up for it, I’ll teach you all the fun stuff like climbing trees and shit.”

“Leave her alone.” Rambler growled before a hand appeared and snagged the smaller man back.

I covered my mouth, trying to stifle my laughter at the hilarity of it all. Part of me wondered if I’d hit my head and if all of this was a dream, but everything was too realistic for that to be the case. Wait, had I died, and this was some strange version of purgatory? No, with the number of people I’d killed, I would be going straight to hell, not the kitty-cat hotel and playground.

Instantly my whole body stiffened as I felt someone behind me. I couldn’t tell how long they’d been there, but I swore, kicking myself for letting down my guard. I knew better than that. My lioness butted against my hold on her, trying to free herself so she could handle this situation.

Chill the fuck out. I’ve got this.

She hissed at me, furious I would dismiss her offer to help. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes at her dramatics. Using all the skills I’d learned to keep myself alive, I tried to determine just how close this person was. He felt odd, like he was close enough to touch me, but yet I couldn’t pick up on any breathing, a heartbeat, nothing that would give away any information. Making a judgment call based on the heights of the others I’d met, this person was probably my height or slightly taller, so I decided on the elbow jab. Grabbing my wrist with one hand, glad I had the blanket to hide my movements, I thrust back and spun at the same time.

My elbow never made contact since the person, a man, had leaped out of the way. Seconds later, he was coming at me, and I reacted without thought. Dipping low, I dodged his jab and whirled to get away from the stairs and into a more open space. The man didn’t stop advancing on me, and all I could manage was to keep out of his way. He moved faster than I could see, trusting my lioness’s instincts.

“Use her,” a low, raspy voice ordered. “Stop holding her back if you want any hope of holding your own in this world.”

Holding my own? Oh, he did not just fucking say that.

I’d been motherfucking holding my own since the day the cord to my mother was cut, and I took my first breath. This cocknugget dared to assume he knew anything about me. Well, too bad for you, asswipe, but I loved to prove people the fuck wrong.

My lioness roared in my head, surging forward into me. This time though, I didn’t step aside and let her by. Instead, she filled me to the brim as if we were a symbiotic combination of feline and human. Suddenly my vision became sharper, my movements faster, hearing intensified to the point I knew there was a mouse crawling around in one of the walls. It was as if my whole body went into overdrive, but I felt alive instead of feeling taxed and knowing I was pushing myself harder than I should have. My heart beat strong and steady in my chest even as I smiled from the excitement of this fight.

I was a Supe now, and that changed everything.

Now, this fucker was going to learn firsthand just how much I was holding back.

Chapter 7

Nicolette