“Hey,” Jake growled. “I think I know you.”
Mike looked up at him with a hideous smirk while the men at his table hooted and hollered. “I think you do,” he hissed.
“You are going to shut the fuck up, or I will make you,” Jake said, squeezing his fists.
Jake didn’t give Mike another second to respond. As the asshole opened his mouth, Jake fired an arm backward and launched it forward at a record speed. It had been a long time since he’d hit anyone, and he was rarely in fights. He knew his shifter strength was exorbitantly higher than any human’s, so he generally held back.
But he didn’t with Mike.
His fist slammed into the man’s face with an incredible velocity, connecting directly with the tip of his nose and smashing the bones upon contact. Jake adored the feeling of his cartilage fading into dust as blood spurted out like a balloon had been popped.
Everyone else in the bar stared in silence, including Casey. Mike flew backward on the chair but quickly stood up and wiped his nose. He looked down at the blood like he hadn’t ever seen it before.
“You’re fucked now, man!” he screamed.
Before they could start to scuffle, two security guards came over and began dragging Jake by the forearms. He could have easily thrown them off, but he didn’t want to damage anything in the establishment. He had probably ruined their night anyway, so they may as well take it outside.
Mike tried to leap on top of him, which led two more security guards to grab him too. They were both thrown outside, sent tumbling to the concrete sidewalk beneath the harsh glow of the streetlight.
Jake was up and on his feet immediately. He recalled that Mike was a shifter like him and, unlike him, wasn’t afraid of cheap shots.
Mike rose from the ground, holding his bloody nose, then began to remove his shirt.
“Let’s fucking do this!” he bellowed.
People had begun to filter out from the bar. It wasn’t the way Jake wanted her to see him the first time he shifted, but he didn’t have a choice. No one was allowed to talk to her that way, ever.
CHAPTERNINE
CASEY
Casey barely noticed the man who was making obscene gestures behind her. She had been way too engulfed in her conversation but felt the change instantly as soon as she realized her night would not be void of harassment.
It was rare that any woman, especially a woman who was curvy and unafraid to show it, didn’t know what it was like to have men leer at her and take it upon themselves to ruin her night.
So when Jake plowed a fist into the man’s face, her rush of appreciation and adrenaline felt somewhat healing.
She followed the security guards as they dragged Jake and the man into the parking lot, both tumbling beneath a pool of light from the streetlamp. A few people, other than Casey, followed, intrigued by the violent turn of events.
Who knew poets could be bloodthirsty too?
“You’re gonna get it now, fucker!” the man screamed.
Strangers from the bar had begun to form a circle around Jake and the man, who both started stripping. At first, Casey was confused, feeling like she was witnessing some oddFight Clubstyle ritual she hadn’t known about. But soon enough, she watched as Jake went onto all fours, and his lips curled around growing razor-sharp teeth.
Colors bloomed from his usually smooth skin, the lavish shade of sunny yellow blended with a light, sweet brown. A spectacular halo of hair grew around his head as his features cracked and changed until he was completely formed into one giant, prideful lion.
Casey barely had time to notice that the other man, the one who had been so vocal about their fight, had also shifted into another animal. Except, from the title knowledge she had obtained from the discovery channel, he had turned into a hyena which were fierce, but nothing in comparison to the mighty lion.
Once both men had completely shifted, Jake inhaled and released a roar that shook the ground beneath them. While it made spectators take a few steps back in caution, Casey had the urge to bite her lip and begin to lightly stroke her chest.
He was defending her, and no one had ever done that for her. She knew she didn’t need it, but there was something so sexy about someone coming to your aid without being asked. Casey was surprised to find herself feeling turned on as the two wild animals circled one another, daring each other to take the first strike.
The hyena let out a pithy catcall, then charged directly into Jake, who was standing solid and still. Jake took him into his mouth at the torso without moving his back legs and lightly tossed him backward onto a parked car.
The hyena slammed into the back windshield, denting it lightly, which coerced a loud burst of laughter from the observing crowd. There weren't many people, and the parking lot itself wasn’t very big. Part of it was somewhat comical.
The hyena scurried to his feet and leaped onto the lion’s back, clamping his teeth down onto the loose strands of Jake’s mane. The action seemed to only irritate the lion, who growled and used his power to swing the hyena off and smack him down onto the pavement.