“If I knew, I would have come here more often.” The fucker winks at her, and I want to throat-punch him.
I have to bite the inside of my cheek hard until I feel the taste of copper on my tongue in order to restrain myself from pummeling Dominic into the ground with the fists currently tensed at my sides.
Why is my wolf going crazy over this woman while erasing all of my rational thinking?
Ava clears her throat. “I just started tonight. I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch your name earlier,” she responds, and my heart rate slows down a little because what she said denotes that they only just met and that Dominic hasn’t fucked her yet. But with how he looks at her, he definitely wants to.
“It’s Dominic,” Malik says, and I throw daggers at him with my eyes. A Cheshire cat grin takes over his face. He saw me with Ava earlier, and he can tell I am about to fucking explode. “I’m Malik, that right there is Kaiden.” He points with his thumb at Kaiden, who isn’t paying any attention to us anymore as he looks at Iris. Then Malik juts his chin toward me. “And this angry furball here is Logan.”
Ava turns toward me and takes the bottle from the tray. The moment she bends, she somehow trips, and before I can stabilize her, she knocks her pelvis into the table and spills the contents of the beer bottle all over my lap. “Oh my God!” she blurts in a panicked voice.
I reach for the napkins on the table, but she has already gotten ahold of them and bends over me with an “I’m so sorry” thrown my way. Then all of a sudden, her dainty hand is pressing over my hard-as-steel cock, making it twitch even with the barrier that the napkins provide. The tiny gasp she lets out when she feels me twitch obliterates every rational thought I have.Fuck.The smell of her arousal makes my wolf go crazy. I feel the urge to bend her over the table and pound into her pussy like I needmy next breath.
Think Logan. Fucking think. Your mate. You can’t betray her like this!
“Enough,” I snap at her, my voice coming out harsher than I intended as I grab her wrist to stop her from touching me. If she continued, I would have pushed her to the floor and fucked her senseless, not caring that we have an audience. I let go of her wrist abruptly. I can’t stand to touch her anymore. I don’t know what I’ll do next. I can’t control myself.
She smiles sweetly at me even if I just yelled at her. “I’ll bring you a fresh bottle.”
“There’s no need. You’ve done enough. Just leave,” I say with as much coldness as I can muster. It physically hurts me to talk to her like that—my wolf even snarls at me to immediately apologize, but I can’t. If I can’t trust myself to stay away from Ava, I need her to stay away from me. Maybe if I act like a douche, then she will.
Ava winces and straightens at my tone. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. Her eyes instantly become glassy. “I’ll ask Tony to bring you another, then.” She turns on her heel, and I grip the table, my fingers turning white with the pressure, as I try to physically stop myself—my wolf—from going after her.
Dominic looks at me like I have grown two heads. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man? She’s such a sweet girl. Why would you—”
“I swear to God, Dominic. If you don’t stay away from her, I’m going to fucking stake you,” I growl, wanting to bare my teeth at him.
“Sorry, he doesn’t get out much,” Malik yells at her disappearing back as he throws me a weird look. “What the hell, Logan?”
I snap my jaw shut as my nostrils flare, ready to tear into him. But I don’t get a chance because suddenly, the tumblerin Kaiden’s hand explodes into tiny shards of glass that fly everywhere, the sound like a loaded gun in the silence at our table. Malik’s barrier spell hides it, though, so no one in our vicinity pays us any attention.
“What happened?” Malik asks, alarmed.
We all look at Kaiden as he stands up, his fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides. Red streaks swirl dangerously in his eyes yet again, which give over to burnished gold as his sclera becomes completely white. The ground beneath our feet trembles with his simmering rage.
I glance toward the high-top table near the bar for an answer.Fuck.“That asshole is kissing Iris,” I say grimly.
Kaiden disappears abruptly. One second, he is standing at the table, and the next, he is gone. I am jealous of his ability to disappear and appear like that out of thin air at whim. It can be really handy sometimes.
“Where did he go?” Dominic asks as his eyebrows pull together in concern.
“Probably to blow something up,” Malik replies. “It’s a good thing he left. Otherwise, he would have leveled us all and killed everyone in the bar.” He takes a sip from his beer. “Don’t worry, if Iris is here, he’ll be back in no time.”
Dominic looks at the ridiculously expensive watch around his wrist, a grin spreading over his face. “Twenty minutes and not a minute later,” he says. A glint of triumph shines in his eyes as he winks at Malik and pockets the money. We all have more money than we need, but the stupid fucks always like to make wagers at the most inappropriate moments.
Tony comes by and places another beer on the table, giving me a dirty look as he hands me more napkins. “You’re lucky you’re Emily’s brother. Otherwise, I would have kneed you in the balls for being such an asshole to Ava,” he huffs and walks away.
“He does have a point. You were a dick,” Malik agrees withhim.
Well, shit. What can I say to that? They’re right, but how can I explain the visceral attraction I feel toward Ava without sounding like a creep? It’s taking every drop of restraint I possess to not go after her, even as I follow her with my eyes through the bar, serving tables and smiling at customers. I want to gauge every man’s eyes out just for looking at her, and if that’s not insane, then I don’t know what the fuck is at this point. I should probably go home, though I can’t seem to make myself move.
After ten minutes, Kaiden reappears at the table Houdini-style, his eyes having returned to somewhat normal. As I search for Ava in the crowded bar again because I’m a glutton for punishment, I see Iris getting up from the bar stool, heading toward the bathroom hallway.
In the next moment, Kaiden makes Malik scoot over so he can get out of the booth. Then he slices through the crowd, people parting from his way like he is Moses or some shit, and stalks directly to the high-top table to sit down next to Iris’s date. The moment the skinny guy’s eyes land on Kaiden, he balks. I have to give it to him; very few people can act normal at Kaiden’s sight. Aside from the fact that he looks like a mean motherfucker with his whole dark vibe and body covered in tattoos, he also has that special something that reminds people he isn’t human and sits at the top of the food chain.
They shake hands, and I can hear from here the guy’s bones crunching as he whimpers in pain. Kaiden just broke the hand that touched Iris’s thigh. I don’t know what Kaiden says to the poor guy, but he trips over his legs as he gets up from the bar stool in a hurry, almost toppling over. He scurries away like a cockroach and bolts out the door. Kaiden places a few bills on the table, probably covering what they had to drink tonight, and strides back toward our booth with a satisfied smirk on his faceas Malik stands to let him back in his seat.
12
