“Yes?” The people in this shithole had clearly skipped tourist appreciation training day.
The larger of the two fur coats growled. “We don’t like mages.”
“Any particular reason or are you equal-opportunity assholes?”
The other fur coat growled. I had a feeling these two were shifters. Big shifters if the width of their shoulders were any indication. Hopefully not polar bear shifters, as those fuckers were dangerous.
“Mages treat us like cattle,” the smaller one said. “They’ve been plundering the islands for years, stealing our females and killing anyone who stands in their way. We’ve had enough!”
What the actual…?
The male with the wolf huffed loudly and shifted on his chair. It creaked under his weight, but he didn’t seem too concerned. With the light hitting his face, he was a lot younger than I’d assumed, despite the thick beard and long white hair. Maybe mid-thirties or so. He was also way bigger than he first appeared. Much bigger than the two fur coats.
Fuck, I was in serious trouble if this kicked off.Oh well. A fight would break up my boring evening.
“Leave the mage alone,” the bearded guy grumbled, nudging the wolf with his boot. It stretched and yawned, revealing a set of wickedly sharp teeth. “He’s just a kid.”
“He’s a mage,” the first fur coat growled. “I vote we end him now. Nobody will miss the little shit.”
I drew on my magic, preparing to fight back. Wielding lightning indoors wasn’t ideal, but neither was dying at the hands of a rabid seal shifter. If these fuckers thought they were going to take me down, they were stupider than they looked.
“Rufus, if you break anything, you’re fucking paying for it!” The bartender swept the few empty glasses dumped on his bar into a bucket and disappeared out back. I heard a door slam and then silence.
A log crackled in the fire, sending a cloud of sparks up the chimney. The fur coats and I stared at each other, the tension in the room growing thick enough to cut with a knife. Then the wolf farted, and I almost retched.
Fuck my life, what was the bearded man feeding his wolf? It stunk.
The two fur coats took advantage of my distraction and shifted into huge white tigers, not seals, but before they could attack, thebearded man shifted into a giant polar bear. He lunged between the tigers and me, and with one giant paw, slammed them into the stone floor.
The polar bear’s roar rattled the rafters as the two tigers lay on their bellies and whimpered under his alpha dominance.
I wanted to laugh at how easily they’d submitted to the polar bear, but decided it was better for shifter-mage relations if I kept my mouth shut.
“Um, thanks,” I muttered once the polar bear shifted back into a gigantic naked male. The dude was big, taller and wider than Maverick. I averted my eyes as he took his foot off the bigger tiger and huffed with annoyance.
“Dammit. I ruined my best pants.”
“I’d offer to lend you some, but I doubt mine would fit.” The tigers shifted back and slunk off into the night, not bothered about their nakedness. I guessed nudity was an occupational hazard for shifters.
“Marlon, fetch me some pants!” the polar bear shifter hollered. A minute later, the bartender reappeared and tossed a pair of ratty old overalls at the bear. He dragged them up his tree-trunk thighs and wrapped the arms around his waist.
“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate your help.”Even if I didn’t need it, I added silently.
The male shrugged and sat back down by the fire. His wolf had resumed snoring again.
“My bear insisted I help you. No clue why, but I trust his judgment.” He gestured toward the chair opposite his, so I took a seat. It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be.
“The name’s Thorrin. You?”
“Alaric.”
Thorrin’s eyebrows shot up. “Alaric Vane?”
“Yeah.” There seemed little point in lying. Shifters were excellent at smelling lies. I stared at the fire, waiting for thebear to lay into me about my father, the council, and mages in general. It seemed we weren’t winning any popularity contests up in this neck of the woods. But instead, he cocked his head to one side and frowned.
“Why are you here?”
“I came with some…um…magicals I know. They went inland, and I stayed.” It was way more complicated than that, but I barely knew this guy. He didn’t deserve my life story. “So tell me, what’s this about mages stealing females and killing other magicals?”
