Page 29 of Rock Hard
For as long as he lived, Rex didn’t think he would ever forget what happened next.
Valerie hissed and shifted, lunging at Alice. Before he could intervene, though, Alice turned into a beautiful tawny lioness and took Valerie out with a spectacular lunge and well-aimed swipe of her paw. Then Alice stood on Valerie’s chest androaredin her face.
Holy fuck!Alice, his competent, conservativehumanhadshifted.
Valerie whined and moved her head in a submissive gesture, exposing her neck. Had she wanted to, Alice could have ripped her throat out right there and then. Instead, she huffed, stepping off the tiger with a heavy push of her paw. Then, ignoring Rex, she went over to Rex’s bed, grabbed the shirt that was lying there with her teeth, and disappeared into the bathroom.
When she came out again, she was wearing his shirt and looking fierce as fuck. Her beautiful hair was wild and untamed. Her lush curves filled out his shirt better than a centerfold model. The hem of the simple cotton tee hung halfway to her knees, revealing toned, smooth skin his mouth watered to taste.
She glared hard and growled a warning at Valerie, who had been slinking over toward Rex but now turned and went the other way.
He stared at her as if she was a different person, because fuck it all, shewas. Not a human female like he had believed all these years, but a beautiful, fierce lioness. A shifter, like him. A potentialmate.
“You’re a lioness.”
She turned her glower on him, her golden-brown eyes still more feline than human. “Obviously. Now, about Carly—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She huffed, putting both hands in the air. “Does it matter?”
Anger and frustration welled up inside him. “Yeah, it fucking matters.”
“How? Nothing has changed, Rex. I am what I’ve always been. I can’t help it if you’ve had your head too far up your own ass to see what’s been right in front of you the whole time.”
She was wrong.Everythinghad changed.
He opened his mouth then shut it again. The music was there, a symphony of violins and electric guitars and bass. He closed his eyes and let it wash over him, through him, the truth appearing in small, jagged pieces coming together.
It was all starting to make sense. His inexplicable attraction to Alice. Alice’s close connection with Carly.
When he opened his eyes again, Alice was gone.
Rex ran out into the foyer and saw the elevator doors closing. “Fuck!” he yelled, then ran for the stairwell. He flew down the steps, emerging in the hotel lobby just as the penthouse elevator dinged. He started for it but was blindsided by a mob of screaming fans clawing at him, crying, begging for his autograph.
As he looked over their heads, he saw a flash of white slipping out into the night.
Rex used his bulk to move forward, but it was nearly impossible to make progress without crushing the humans who blocked his way.
By the time he made it to the door, she was gone.
