“There is nothing wrong with the way she’s dressed.” The cat smirked, flashing white teeth. “I like it.”

Laugh it up while you can. “Shut up. If I decide to ask for your opinion, I’ll say, ‘Hey dickhead,’ so you don’t get confused.”

The cat snarled back. “What the hell makes you think you can tell me what to do?”

Julie sighed. “Look, I don’t have time for one of your man things, where you stand around and insult each other. The city has a Guardian, and I’m her Herald. I have a task, and you’re between me and my destination. Clear your asses out of here or be destroyed.”

“What the actual fuck is going on here?” the jackal asked.

That was about enough of it. Derek stepped forward, moving out of the shadows into the moonlight.

The cat’s eyebrows crept up. “What the hell happened to your face?”

“Oh shit.” The wolf raised his hands, backed away, and sat down on the ground. “I submit. I meant no offense. Tell Curran I meant no offense.”

The cat and the jackal stared at him.

“What’s your problem?” the jackal asked.

“That’s the Beast Lord’s Wolf.” The wolf raised his hands palms out. “And that’s the Beast Lord’s daughter. I’m out.”

“I’ve seen the Beast Lord,” the cat said. “He’s black, his mate is Asian, and they don’t have kids.”

“Not that Beast Lord, you moron,” the wolf said. “The first one. The ex-Beast Lord.”

“Wait,” the jackal said. “There is another Beast Lord?”

They were idiots. He was about to fight two idiots.

“You can’t challenge him,” the wolf said.

“The hell I can’t.” The cat bared his teeth.

“If you fight him, it’s to the death,” the wolf warned.

“I don’t care.”

“Tooooooday.” Julie drew the word out.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” the cat declared. “I’ll rip your throat out and feed it to you.”

Yes, he’d never heard that one before.

Julie sighed again and glanced at him. “This is taking way too long. That was a declaration of murderous intent. We’re clear. The big one is yours; I’ll take the ginger.”

They moved at the same time. He was a shapeshifter and she was human, so he won the race. But, he reflected, sprinting toward the cat as one of her tomahawks hurtled through the air and sliced into the jackal’s chest, the gap between their reaction time was getting uncomfortably short, and not because he was slowing down.