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I opened my eyes. Jag had tackled the man to the floor, and they rolled around as each tried to gain the upper hand.
Why in hell was he defending me?
I punched my attacker’s clamshell again, and her hold on my throat slackened. I twisted free.
A hand gripped my shoulder, and I whirled, fist raised. It was Ram—and fuck, despite all that had happened between us, the betrayals, the battles—I hesitated.
“Enough,” Ram said softly. His eyes pleaded with me, which was as unsettling as a tiger who looks guilty for eating your arm. “You’ll end up in solitary. We—”
“I got the magic beaver,” yelled a high-pitched voice.
I shoved Ram aside to see Aquamarine gripping Beverly’s collar as the beaver struggled to run from her. Beverly made a short, sharp sound like a car alarm crossed with a click.
I ground my teeth. “Let her go.”
Jag stopped grappling with the Umbrella Fondler and jumped to his feet, fists clenched at his sides like he was ready to fight for Beverly. I still had no idea why he would care.
Two-Eyes and the woman I had slammed in her tuna sandwich stalked toward me. I stepped back with fists raised.
Aqua grinned, cruel as a kid who found a classmate with a difference. “We finally found your weakness, wood gobbler.”
It was a shot at my last name. Everyone from classmates to prison guards liked to make fun of it. “Have you tried having an original thought for once in your life?”
“Don’t hurt the beaver,” Ram ordered. “If she is a shifter, we need her to talk.”
Aqua glanced at Beverly and back to Ram. “She’s clearly not magical.”
Figures that one of the only people seeing reason in this prison was Aquamarine, who had been arrested for forcing people to party for hours on end to “The Safety Dance”—on more than one occasion.
“Then why are you harassing an animal?” I said.
“I might not be one of the special people with unique powers or big harems,” Aqua said, “but that doesn’t mean you get to steal from me.”
I stepped toward her. “You’re still going on about not landing a mate spell? Just buy a vibrator, for fuck’s sake.”
“Give me back my umbrellas now, or the beaver gets it!”
Why did she care so much about the stupid things? I knew why I cared. Pettiness.
Beverly shouted louder. I wished she would bite Aqua, but I guess she wasn’t a fighter.
“Only a fucking coward would threaten a literal animal in a cage. I’ve spent my whole life around cowards.” I shot a glare a Ram. “You’re easy to handle.”
It wasn’t true. Cowards were often the most dangerous people. I knew because I had been one. A coward would do anything to prove that they weren’t afraid. They were as bad as fatherfucking heroes who saved worlds to look noble while cowards destroyed them to look tough. Both wanted to be admired, and neither had a good reason for it.
Aqua glared at me. “You’re not going to shit on me anymore, merkin.”
Jag stepped between Aqua and me as though to shield me from her lazy-ass insults. “Say one more word or harm one hair on that beaver, and I’ll beat you until you have more bruises than a barrel of Macintoshes.”
I could bite him like a Macintosh,my brain said. I ignored her.
Ram picked up the dropped umbrellas. “We’ve got them back, Aqua. Now, let’s—”
Boots thumped on the floor as two guards stomped down the hall. I guess they got bored of watching us fight on the cameras.
“Break it up, you scumbags,” one of them shouted, his taser already sparking in his hand.
Chapter 3
