Free Bitten 2 by A.J. Colby Page A

shudder and scramble to retrieve my towel from the floor.
    “What the hell?” I scowled at the fearsome bird. “Get out.”
    Rather than retreating out of the room as I’d hoped, he propelled himself up to Alyssa’s headboard with a couple of flaps from his massive wings, the strength of them buffeting my face with air that felt far warmer than the rest of the room and smelled faintly of wood smoke. It was an aroma I had long been fond of, and I hated to associate it with the pervy bird.
    “I said out!” I snarled, pointing at the door with what was intended to be an intimidating glare.
    If his dismissive blink was anything to go by, he found me about as menacing as a bowl of oatmeal, and I couldn’t help feeling a little insulted. Dipping his dark red head to inspect the feathers under his wing, he kept one black eye on me, as I shuffled from one foot to the other, waiting for him to leave. After a minute of staring silently at each other it became obvious that he wasn’t planning to leave. With a huff, I adjusted my towel and stalked out of the room. The last thing I wanted was to grant him a view of my naked ass as I stormed down the hallway.
    “That’s pretty,” Alyssa said, eyeing my borrowed shirt with a bright smile that began to wither as I continued to stomp past her in the hallway. “Is everything okay?”
    Stopping in the doorway to the guest room I turned to face her and replied in the calmest voice I could manage, “Your... whatever the hell he is... just tried to get a look at my... bits!”
    “Marvin?” she asked, blinking wide violet eyes in confusion.
    “Yes. He’s a creeper.”
    “Oh, I’m sure you just misread him. He’d never do anything like that,” she replied, her surety written in the furrow of her brow.
    I wasn’t sure how she could live with a perverted phoenix and not know it, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be the one to burst her oblivious bubble. She’d done more for me in the short time I’d known her than I would ever expect from anyone, and for that I was more grateful than I knew how to express. If remaining her friend meant I had to deal with Marvin the perv, so be it. Glancing past her to the doorway, I saw the creep in question lean his head around the doorframe to watch us, something in his gaze making me think that I should choose my words carefully. Swallowing the lump of irritation and unease that stuck in my throat, I nodded.
    “You’re right. I think I’m just nervous about meeting the pack master.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    SWEAT POOLED IN the small of my back as I crept along the street, looking for an open parking spot. When I’d picked the Escalade, I hadn’t spared a thought for how I would park the monster on the crowded streets of downtown Denver. It took far longer than I’d expected to wedge the gleaming black behemoth into a parking spot, leaving me to jog the last four blocks through the lunchtime crowd.
    Tugging on the hem of my shirt for what felt like the hundredth time, I hurried along the street all the while wishing I’d opted for the navy sweater. The ruched hem refused to stay in place on my hips, the silky fabric riding up to reveal my stomach while gaping around my chest, exposing skin in all the wrong places. As I had many times throughout my life, I cursed the gods who had jipped me in the boob department while being overly generous when it came to my hips and ass.
    I swear this damn thing fit when I left Alyssa’s.
    Dodging people on the sidewalk like a salmon swimming upstream, I wove through the masses, sidestepping patches of ice and loitering hipsters filling the air with the stink of their fancy flavored cigarettes. A sharp elbow to my ribs had me spinning around in a tight circle, forcing out a curse for my faceless assailant who had already disappeared into the steady flow of pedestrians bundled up against the cold.
    Turning back to face the way I was headed, I told myself that I