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With a snarl, he stepped toward me with malicious intent.

Fear shot straight into my belly, and I staggered back, but there was no more room in the tub. I’d pressed my back against the shower wall.

My hand clutched the towel tighter to prevent it from dropping and exposing myself. My right knee bent a little, ready for a quick, brutal kick to his throat or groin, depending on the situation.

My goal was clear: I wouldn’t let him tear the towel from me and expose me as a girl. I had made it so far that I wouldn’t allow anyone to sabotage my stay in this realm. My mind worked fast, several plans running through it at once.

Option one: jump kick the panther in the throat or groin when he came at me, decapacitate him, jump out of the tub, shove Luna away, then run like a bat out of hell while the panther bent to hold his groin in pain.

Option two: apologize and beg for mercy, appealing to their good sides.

Option three: play it by ear and restrain myself from attacking them first.

If I had to resort to violence in the end, I’d make sure to kick him to the ground with one strike. Hopefully, neither of them would see my “cock” or the lack of it in the blur.

Fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Sy made a gesture of crossing fingers while looking out in intrigue. She loved to see me in a pickle like this.

Luna pulled Javier back just in time. “C’mon, let’s give Little Bob a chance to explain first. You made the poor boy shake like a cornered chihuahua.” She chuckled. “He bites too when he’s pushed too hard.”

Sy bristled. She’d rather get into a battle than be belittled.

Javier still bared his teeth, but he seemed to forget the idea of lunging at me without issuing more threats. That was better.

“So you think it was a fucking good idea to invite yourself in and take a shower in my tub?” the panther hissed.

“Technically, it isn’t merely yours,” I said. “Luna owns half of it. So technically, I can say that I’m using the half of the tub she owns.” The panther looked like he wanted to lunge and strike me again, so I added in a hurry, “Sorry, man, this is a big misunderstanding. I was looking for Luna, since Dixie mentioned that we’d all go out for a drink to a shifter bar!”

They didn’t seem to share my excitement but still glared at me like two mean judges.

“When I didn’t find Luna,” I continued, “I remembered what the prince said.”

“What did His Highness say?” Luna asked.

“He said that I needed to take a bath,” I confessed. “That’s what I was doing before it was disrupted.”

Both Javier and Luna stared at me incredulously, and I nodded, staring back at them with a meaningful look. “Dixie heard it as well. You can check with either the prince or Dixie if you want.”

“What the hell is going on?” Dixie’s voice sounded at the door.

Worry and hope warred in my belly, then Dixie appeared in the doorway of the bathroom behind Luna. Now instead of two pairs of eyes, three pairs stared at me, as if I needed that kind of pressure.

“Dixie, so glad you’re here,” I called, a bit cheerfully and a bit ruefully. “Luna and Javier returned before I finished my shower.”

Javier bared his teeth fully now.

Dixie frowned at me. “I left you for two minutes and you already got yourself into some shit again. Didn’t I escort you to the bath chamber?”

“But there were too many people there,” I said.

“That’s where you should bathe with the other shifters!” Dixie snapped. “You aren’t ranked high enough to have your own private bath. Be grateful that I didn’t assign you to the bunk quarters! And you can’t just go to other people’s places to take a shower whenever you feel like it. You gotta respect other people’s privacy! Learn boundaries.”

“I have boundaries,” I said. “I’ve never taken a dump here. It isn’t the right thing to do to another supernatural.”

“Fuck!” Javier cursed. “This wasn’t the first time Little Bob took a shower here and defiled our space.”

Luna nodded. “All those times, I thought you made a mess.”