The logic wasn’t lost on me; however, I wasn’t sure my brother would see it the same way. “When do you move in?”
“Next week. Well, I guess it’s more like nine days, but who’s counting?”
“You owe the Bitches an apology.”
We were all referred to as the Bitches by our friends. Each of us had a nickname that ended in Bitch that we’d chosen.
“Fuck me running, I know. I was such a beotch.” Syn’s voice sounded chagrined.
I walked back toward the last enclosure. I really did need to go to the bathroom. I shut the stall door and let the silence stretch.
“You know, you could’ve disagreed with me,” Syn groused.
“We pinky swore when we were kids, we’d never lie to each other.”
I laughed when my friend kicked the door on her way out, calling me a name as she went.
Straightening my blinged-out belt, I stared at my reflection. People always assumed I colored my blonde hair—having dark brown eyes and tan skin, it didn’t seem natural—until they met my brother, Xan. He shared my coloring. Even in wolf form, we were blonde wolves, a rarity in the wolf world. Syn and Kellen were both black as night with the bluest eyes. Alpha eyes. Although Xan had the same brown eyes in his human form, when he shifted to his wolf, his eyes also turned a beautiful shade of blue, while mine shifted to amber. Had he wanted to be alpha, I had no doubt he could’ve been, but Xan was happy being second.
Our parents had been best friends with Kellen and Syn’s, who’d all left the pack ten years earlier after a war nearly took their lives. Their injuries were so severe that the link tying them to the pack couldn’t hold the borders. Luckily for the Iron Wolves, Kellen’s wolf was strong enough to take the alpha position. I shuddered and pushed the memories away, grateful my brother, along with Kellen, had been there to protect me. Xan, all of twenty-five at the time, had been left to raise his fifteen-year-old sister. Now at twenty-four years old, I felt like the world was passing me by. I’d gotten my degree at the local college instead of going away to school. South Dakota was a huge state, but with the club being so tight-knit, and shifters even more so, I wanted to stay with my pack. Now I wish I’d at least gone off to one a couple of hours away.
The MC built custom bikes on one side of the shop and was the local mechanic on the other. Syn and I ran the office, while I did more of the creative side of the business. I planned out what I’d say to my brother about moving in with Syn, and before losing my nerve, pulled my phone out of my back pocket. Knowing him, he’d be with his flavor of the week and not see it till the morning, but at least it would give him a few hours to simmer down before I had to face him, since I was staying overnight at Nene’s. Once I hit send, I turned my phone off and put it back in my pocket.
Butterflies danced in my stomach as I walked out into the dark hallway. When I got bumped from behind for the third time, I finally turned around and met the steely gaze of a truly mean-looking wolf. I had smelled him and a few of his pack when they came in earlier. I hadn’t thought anything of it.
“Excuse me, darling. Can I have this dance?”
I saw the way he looked me up and down, stopping at my chest and continuing down to my boots, and then back up. “Sorry, I was just going to get a drink.” I pasted on a fake smile, trying to step away from him.
His quick-as-a-snake reflexes caught my bare arm, squeezing hard enough to bruise. “Now, that’s just rude. I watched you shaking your ass for the last half hour. I think you can dance just one more.”
Looking around the crowded dance floor for Syn, I knew I was no match for the wolf, even in his human form. “You are so fucked if you don’t let me go. Do you know whose territory you’re in?”
Although I wasn’t strong enough to take him on, any wolf with an ounce of smarts knew better than to come into another’s territory and threaten their members. I was technically property of the Iron Wolves; therefore, he’d just stepped over the line. If Icould get Syn’s attention and a little help from my friends, he’d move along, and all would be well. Or I hoped he would.
He leaned in close. “Your little friends ain’t gonna help you, bitch.”
I tried to pull away from him, coming up against another solid form behind me. “What is wrong with you? Do you know who my brother is? Do you know who the Iron Wolves are? If you let me go now, there will be no harm, no foul. I’ll pretend like you don’t exist. But, if you keep fucking with me, I will bring the wrath of my pack on all your asses.”
The last wasn’t an empty threat. My brother Xan would kill any man, or wolf, for putting his hands on me without permission, some even if they had my permission.
“Do you hear her? She’s gonna call her big brother.” He sneered.
At some point during my struggle with the large man, they had maneuvered me closer to a side hall. If they got me outside, I had two choices. Let my wolf out and fight or run. Either way, I had little chance of escape. Pack law stated you couldn’t show yourself to humans, and the bar was filled with way too many for me to shift inside.
I opened my mouth to scream for Syn or anyone to help me, but one of the men slapped his hand over my lips before I could make a sound. I counted three men with the leader, but the smells from the bar made it hard to be sure.
I pretended to be docile, allowing them to maneuver me outside, while I planned what I’d do as soon as the door opened. I’d only have one chance, and that was a slim one.
The lights from the parking lot speared into my face before they could drag me outside as someone opened the door.
“Excuse me, boys, looks like you got a problem there,” a man said in a deep rumble.
“Mind your business, punk,” the leader growled.
I felt the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end. The man standing by the door was tall and muscular. He was also one hundred percent human. I wanted to ask him to help, but I changed my mind when I heard the simultaneous growls around me. Although the newcomer was every bit as big as my brother and Kellen, in a fight against a group of wolves, he’d be massacred.
The man held the door open like a gentleman, nodding as they passed. I had to tilt my head way back to look up at him. The arms holding me captive didn’t allow me to do any more than get a quick glimpse of black eyes. I tried to memorize his features, breathing deep to take his scent in before I was shoved outside, and the door was shut behind us.
