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A flash of black flew through the air, pouncing on my attacker, pushing him to the ground. Too fast to be human or witch; the energy, too hot and vital to be vampire. My eyes struggled to trace the movement, but when I looked down, sure enough, Becca Stone pinned the guy to the floor.

His sickly skin turned an alarming shade of red as the slim woman straddled him, squeezing his throat with her long, slender fingers. Becca's black satin floor-length dress was slit up both sides, allowing her long, shapely legs the freedom to restrain my attacker so effectively that he could hardly move.

I looked down at the scrap of material that barely covered my torso. My borrowed dress was about as ineffectual as I was right now. A nasty little worm of envy for Becca's brutal elegance wiggled around in my brain while it was still catching up with the fact that I wasn't dead.

I really had to get a grip.

A hand under each arm, Lucas lifted Becca off the yob cowering on the floor. After one hard kick directed at the man's groin, she went limp in Lucas's hold.

"Not here," he growled into her ear.

Becca grunted, before prowling over to where the other shifters stood. The group shuffled around, eyes darting anywhere but at their Beta.

I didn't blame them. Becca was pissed. And scary as hell.

"Man-eater," Kev whispered, fear distorting his voice into a wavering whimper.

Becca's head tilted his way as she moved round them, sleek as the massive black panther that she shifted into at will. All bravado scattered to the wind, the group of pitiful shifters stood like statues as Becca surveyed them, yellow eyes flashing with menace.

"Move," she said, deep and quiet.

The shifters scattered. One minute they were there, all brutal intentions and threatening leers, the next all trace of them had vanished.

"What? Aren't they going to be pun..."

Lucas stopped my complaint before it had chance to gather force. That's when I noticed that both Becca and Lucas still had their heads tilted up, scenting the whereabouts of the shifters.

When they relaxed at the same instant, I knew that the shifters truly had left the building.

"Well?" I asked.

"Well what?" Becca answered.

"Aren't you going to punish those guys?"

"Me and who's army?" She turned away from me, as though that was explanation enough.

"Don't give me that, Becca, those guys were pissing their pants when you circled them, why'd they call you a man-eater?"

Becca stilled.

As she turned slowly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up in terror at the feral glint in her yellow eyes. The fact that her get-up was sophistication itself did nothing to temper the ferocity of her expression.

I'd already seen how her long black slip dress was cut to allow her to fight. The plait that wound around her head was designed to keep her luscious long black hair out of the way. High cheekbones and almond shaped eyes gave her beauty an exotic flavour that stood out in the club full of humans.

Becca was stunning, but she was also deadly.
I stepped back without even realising that I was moving, coming to an abrupt halt when I hit Lucas's hard chest. For once the pack connection did nothing to ease my fear. Twisting my neck to peek at his face, shock jolted through me at the hostility that met my eyes.

I stumbled away from him, hurt by the rejection. What the hell had I done?

Lucas grabbed my arm, stopping me from falling. His eyes softened a fraction. "She didn't mean it Becca, she doesn't know."

"Know what?" I squeaked.

"Later," Lucas snapped. "Not everything is about you, Alice."

I swallowed my objection, realising that he was right, something had happened between the shifters that didn't involve me, until I'd made it worse with my stupid questions.

Nice, Alice. Piss off the panther who just saved your ass, why don't you?

Becca closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the yellow glowed a little less, and the heat that shimmered around her body was back to its usual fuzzy distortion.

"What are you guys, fifteen?" Becca asked, her voice mimicking a stern parent.

It took a second to remember that we'd ditched her back at the guesthouse, sneaking out the window like kids defying their curfew.

A snort erupted out of my face at the ridiculousness of it, and Becca smiled.
"I wouldn't have stopped you, you know. I'm your security not the fun police," Becca said, snagging one of the shots that Evan had fetched.

She downed it without so much as a flinch.
As I watched, I realised that I really needed one of those too. I grabbed one, threw it down, and then coughed my lungs up as the smoky liquid burnt a trail of acid down my windpipe.

"Absinthe?" I spluttered as the others all looked at me like I was an alien.

"Err, yeah. Didn't realise you were such a lightweight," Evan said, shrugging.

"I'm not usually, but dude, C'mon. I've been beaten and rebuilt every day for the past two weeks. I'm a bit raw. Plus no witchy juice to help me on my way, remember?"

"Sorry, shall I get you something more palatable. An Appletini?"

The bastards all laughed while downing their third shots. Bloody paranormal metabolisms. I didn't even realise that's what had made me a good drinking buddy until it was gone.

The embarrassing thing was, I really did want that Appletini.

"Cheer up," Lucas said, and the return of his affection was like a burst of sun on a stormy day.

Thank goodness for Becca! Check out my short story Man-Eater if you want to learn the secrets of the deadly panther shifter...

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