Page 3 of Siren's Gift

But scales—freakingscales—were showing up on my arm.

Could anyone else see them in this dark lighting?

I spun away and reached for my talisman. The tooth necklace still hung from my neck, and a glance down showed nothing appeared damaged.

Only partially paying attention, I blocked the human’s next few attacks and considered the issue, my heartbeat speeding up as panic started to settle in. If my talisman was failing, I needed to get out of here quickly. But if I won this round, I still had two more fights before they’d let me leave with any money.

Son of a sea biscuit!

Ireallyneeded that money.

My hands and fingers tingled just before webbing crept up between my middle and index fingers.

Time was up. I needed to get out of here—fast.

I made an obvious feint to the left and let the human’s fist connect with my stomach, then my face, before I threw myself to the ground. The blows hurt, but not enough to send me to the ground. Desperate times called for overly dramatic measures.

Marissa had taught me well.

He was on me in an instant, pinning me down and leering into my face. His breath stank like rotten cheese. Ugh.

I slapped the ground three times, the universal sign of surrender.

Brutus’s booming voice called the fight, announcing the human as the winner.

Except the man made no attempt to get off me. Instead, he leaned closer to my face and grinned. "Just as you should be—on your back like a good little bitch."

CHAPTER 2

Dominic

My entire body ached. A deep, bone-breaking ache that promised intense pain as soon as I could move again. I had wedged myself between crates inside a shipping container for the better part of six hours, waiting for Keiko’s signal that it was safe enough to emerge.

It was also cold. The kind of cold where I knew if I closed my eyes to rest, even for a minute, I might never open them again. Even in the dark, my breath fogged out with each exhale. It was the kind of cold that might make one wish for death.

Thankfully, my dragon, Joubunaryuo—Jou, for short—was more than capable of keeping my body warm enough to avoid hypothermia. The Baltimore warehouse storing the shipping container had to keep temperatures near freezing to ensure the massive amount of pyrocrystals stored within didn’t combust on their own. Finding that fact out had been a fun surprise for all involved.

A veryexpensivesurprise.

My leg spasmed in protest, demanding movement. I gritted my teeth against the pain, and Jou flooded my muscles with warmth, soothing the spasm until it ceased.

It was the fifth time it had happened in the last hour.

Fuck this.

As quietly and slowly as possible, I slid a crate a few inches away and stretched out my leg. My knee popped loudly with the movement.

Atop another crate near me, two large yellow cat eyes popped into existence. They focused on me and narrowed.

I ignored the leopard’s glare as the blood rushed back into my legs and I massaged my muscles. Since my sight had long since adjusted to the limited light that crept through the container’s various cracks, I could make out the leopard’s big head resting on his equally massive paws.

"We’re not all built for day-long naps," I muttered quietly.

Something soft and fuzzy swept across the back of my neck. With a silent curse and a shudder, I swatted away the cat’s tail. "Quit it."

The black cat yawned. Teeth the length of my fingers glinted briefly before they and the yellow orbs disappeared into the darkness again.

Unlike their wolf counterparts, most cat shifters were solitary creatures, and Aaron was no exception. He preferred to live and work alone, though he was never opposed to a nightly cuddle with some gorgeous woman warming his bed. He just never let them stay longer than a night.

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