“Who the fuck is that?” Stryker demands, glaring at the man prattling away as Risa gives him an awkward, dismissive smile and steps away uneasily. He follows her, and only the fact that he hasn’t actually touched her is keeping his head attached to his body.
As much as it threatens to drive me mad, I tune back into everything so I can pick up on their conversation. He can’t be much older than Bane, with a blonde buzz cut and pompous attitude to match, like he thinks the sun shines out of his ass.
“-ven’t seen you for a while now. You switch to a new club?” he asks, and I have to take shallow breaths rather than the deep, bracing one I’d prefer. The last thing that I need is for my already tenuous control to snap.
My long strides eat up the distance quickly as I weave between the racks of bras and underwear, approaching her from behind. Wrapping an arm around her stomach, I pull her against me, kissing the crown of her head. The contact helps take a fraction of the edge off, appeases the bond screaming in the back of my head that thinks the only way to know she’s safe is by having a hand on her for confirmation.
“Hey, babe, who’s your friend?”
The jackass looks at me, nostrils flaring before his blue eyes widen slightly, and I freeze. Guard still down from when I was eavesdropping, it makes it easier to get a sense of the man before me; namely, the fact that I don’t have the typical aversion to him that I do with humans.
“Shit,” he curses, taking a step back. His gaze flicks sharply to Risa and away, brow furrowed in confusion. “Sorry, guys, I didn’t realize.” Lifting his hands in surrender first, he tucks them into his pockets, putting more distance between us. “I’m not surprised she caught your eye at Underground; gods know enough were circling. But you can’t blame me for being disappointed that I waited too long to make a move.”
He scrunches up his face, risking another quick look in her direction, and I realize with horror that he can tell she’sother.Not human, but not shifter either; something unknown that’s confusing his senses, and new things aren’t kept a secret for long.
People love a good mystery, especially ones that look like her. Pretty girls make men do reckless, stupid things.
The temperature seems to drop around us with the cold fury emanating off of Stryker and me with his words. Cringing, the stranger retreats a few more paces, dipping his head respectfully. “I’m fucking this up. Just-“ he glances between us, pointedly not looking in Risa’s direction again “-congrats.” With that, he turns on his heel, walking away.
I don’t move until he rounds a corner out of sight, and Stryker beats me to the punch before I can speak. “Where the hell is Bane?”
Risa curls her fingers around my arm over her collar. “He went to buy my swimsuit and underwear so I wouldn’t see how much it was after my reaction last time.”
Slipping to the side so my arm stays wrapped around her shoulders, I guide her in the path the man disappeared towards the register. “That’s because he’s book smart. He gets hung up on solitary tasks and forgets that the rest of the world isn’t like where he grew up, and people are garbage. Next time, punch first, and ask questions later.”
“Yeah, definitely not going to do that,” she declares, tucking an arm around my lower back. “I hate confrontation. Now if he’d actually tried something, I’d have shouted, but I’m not about to make a scene unless it’s justified.”
Stryker steps into her path, tucking a finger beneath her chin to tilt her head up, forcing her to see the conviction in his eyes. “You were literally kidnapped before we found you. You know better than anyone how quickly things can change in the blink of an eye, so by all that is holy, please don’t suffer an uncomfortable situation for the sake of not wanting to draw attention to yourself. Do you have any idea what it would do to us if something happened to you?” She pauses, blinking up at him.
Dipping his head, he presses a quick kiss to her lips. “Let’s not find out, okay?”
Her breath leaves her in a rush. “Where did you guys run off to, anyway?”
Rather than let her change the subject, I counter, “Who was that asshole?”
She sinks closer into my side. “Just a regular at the club. I recognize faces more than names, but he was there nearly every weekend with the same group of friends. Tipped well; especially for the fact I wasn’t a topless dancer and most people don’t bother since cage girls don’t give out lap dances.”
Tongue in cheek, I keep myself from saying anything, because I guarantee it’d come out wrong right now. I’m not pissed that she was a dancer. Hell, I’m beyond proud that she held on to that despite the asshole she was dating likely giving her hell for it. And from the way her face changes when she talks about that place, it’s clear she enjoyed it. No, I’m pissed to hear that there were people frequenting enough to notice she was missing, but never thought past their dicks long enough to actually look at her and see she was clearly suffering.
Any of them could have tried to seduce her away from her boyfriend, upgraded her from an abusive relationship to a regular, disappointing one. Instead, they just left her there, week after week, too much of cowards to approach her. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her anymore, not after that sort of failure.
Bane glances behind him as the stranger that bypassed him disappears down another aisle, headed for the exit. When he faces us again he’s frowning, as if he sensed there was something off despite his block still being in place. Upon seeing the murderous looks on our faces, he quickens his pace, risking one more look to memorize the man’s features in case he needs to hunt him down in a second. “What?”
Stryker growls, “Some prick cornered her in the underwear section. Only backed off when he realized we were like him and assumed she was mated; still picked up that something was off, though.”
Bane’s eyes widen slightly at that tidbit, not used to running into many shifters out in public towns since we always have our sensory blocks up. His attention whips to Risa. “Are you alright?”
Tapping my side, she slips out of my grasp to approach him. “You guys make way too big of a deal out of little things. You do realize that ignoring annoying men is par for the course for women, right? Plenty of practice over the years, it’s not like I was shot or something.”
My scowl is reflected on Bane and Stryker’s faces. “That doesn’t make us feel any better.”
She turns to me, raising an eyebrow. “It isn’t supposed to, it’s just an unfortunate fact.”
Lips pursed in annoyance, Stryker takes her hand, lifting the back to his mouth before interlacing their fingers together, leading her towards the exit. “Fact of the past, maybe, but not your reality anymore. Some jackoff hits on you or follows you around like a creep? Punch him in the throat. He tries to retaliate? Stab him in the eye or cut his dick off; dealer’s choice on how you want to kill time until one of us can get to you.”
Bane growls in agreement. “Don’t worry about making a scene or the fallout, we’ll handle it. You just focus on keeping yourself safe, because in absolutely no situation should you force yourself to tolerate some creep’s bullshit for the sake of not wanting to bother anyone.”
The summer heat blasts us in the face as we exit the building, but she stops on the sidewalk before stepping foot into the parking lot. Whirling around, she flicks her gaze between all three of us to make it clear we’re all included as she angrily retorts, “Have you looked in a damn mirror lately? You give off the air that you’ll shank a man in broad daylight without giving a shit. You scream blood money and power, and have the builds to back it up. Ofcourseyou think it’s so easy to scare someone off.”
