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She hadn’t won over the guys yet, but she would. I knew it.
“We pay a premium on nights like tonight,” I said as we walked into the Knight and Armor Pub. “I laid down a generous flat rate because these monsters can eat.”
“Don’t forget the booze!” Steve and Rue walked by and slapped my back, laughing about how much money they thought it cost for a night out. They had no idea. Kane was going to blast me when he got the bill. I grinned. I felt it was my brotherly duty to test his limits. What good was money if it wasn’t used for some fun?
“I notice it’s only us here.” Charlie, observant as always, scanned the noisy bar. “You bought the whole place out, didn’t you?”
“Like I said, a premium is paid.” I shrugged as I weaved us around the tables, each brimming with high energy and wicked cheer. “These guys deserve the best, but I don’t want them hooking up with a bunch of local women for one-night stands. That’s how accidents happen.”
“Accidents like mauling?” Charlie sounded doubtful as she surveyed the guys, her frown showing she couldn’t imagine the pack doing anything so barbaric. I was relieved to see that she didn’t lump us in with the types of ferals that caused that kind of trouble wherever they went.
“No, nothing like that.” I waved the bartender over. “Just broken hearts and drama, more trouble than it’s worth. The guys can date, hook up, whatever. They just need to do it out of our territory.”
“You mean, stir up shit in other territories.” Charlie laughed then leaned in and asked for a local craft beer.
She smelled amazing, like cinnamon and clove, peppermint, maybe vanilla. I wanted to nuzzle her throat and breathe her in. It was more than a primal urge. She was familiar in ways she shouldn’t be yet. I knew that had to be a result of the time we’d spent together in her dreams. I wished I could remember the last three years, but I was going to trust my gut and say we were close in her unconscious realm. Very close.
I needed to figure out how to cross that intimacy into the real world.
“We all have urges,” I said as I reined myself in, noting the irony in my words where Charlie was concerned and motioned to the bartender for what Charlie was having. “And none of the guys has overstepped too badly.”
“So, no major turf wars over women.” Charlie clinked glasses with me. “Yet.”
“Exactly.” I lifted my pint.
“Hey, Charlie, come play a game.” Tre waved a pool cue our way. “Show us what you’ve got.”
I wanted to keep her by my side and hog her to myself, but the whole point of this night was to get her in with the boys, to make more than peace. I wanted her entrenched. I wanted her heart to melt for each member of the pack. Not in a sexual way, I wasn’t that into free love, but in a committed-to-the-clan way.
“It’s going to be one competition after another now.” I laughed. “Hey, Charlie, wing-eating contest. Show us what you can do. Hey, Charlie, beer-guzzling contest…”
She rolled her eyes and smacked my chest playfully before snatching up her beer, guzzling it in two deep pulls then slamming the glass down on the bar.
“They have no idea what I can do,” she said as she beelined for the pool table, cracking her knuckles along the way.
I’m in love.
More than I already had been, that was.
Chapter Five
Charlie
I knew what Johnny was up to, and even though I wanted to hate it, rebel against the obvious push to bond with these guys, I didn’t. I was having too much fun. Being part of a pack, even on the periphery, was a homecoming I hadn’t expected.
I knew there was tension still, a mistrust of me and worry that I might use my mind-meld fuckery again, but I was determined to prove that I wouldn’t betray them twice. I liked these guys. They were rough and tumble ferals with hearts on their sleeves and seemed ready for fun and games, the same as what my uncle’s ferals had been like. As much as that realization made my heart heavy, it also gave me a zing of hope. This might be a second chance for me to redeem myself—to become part of a pack, aligned with them, one of the guys. It was something I hadn’t thought I’d missed, but the hole in my heart was bubbling with all kinds of hope, and I kinda loved it.
Just like Levi had said, I didn’t have to take a bite to be part of a pack. I just had to bend a knee and swear loyalty—palm to palm, a self-inflicted bite mark to seal the deal in blood. I’d never done it, of course, I was born into a powerful clan, but the idea of selecting a family, a new start with these guys? Well, it thawed my fears to the possibilities.
That, and maybe I’d call Johnny and Kane into my subconscious awareness, just like I’d done with Levi. No, not maybe…definitely. I needed to bond in some way with the boys and quit pushing them away like I’d been doing. At least then, maybe, they’d accept that I wanted to be part of the pack without me taking a mating bite from any of them.
In no way did I want to lead the pack, dominate them or demand their loyalty as anything other than a member. It sounded like a good plan to me, but would Kane accept my pledge rather than my submission as a mate? Would he, Levi and Johnny be cool with me being a soldier instead of an alpha? Maybe a ‘member with benefits’ kind of deal?
I looked at the guys surrounding me, laughing, walloping each other on the back, telling jokes at one another’s expense. I wanted to be part of this…a member of the pack. There to kick Sal’s ass but not leading the charge.
Yeah, that was what felt right.
It would probably piss Kane off, though…not getting his way.
