Now.
Keld weaved between tables and chairs, reaching the Omegas just in time to steady a teetering Grayson.
His friends yelped in shock, though their reactions were dulled with inebriation.
“Hey, aren’t you bad date guy?” the taller woman demanded. She had tanned skin and dark, almond shaped eyes.
“He definitely is.” The blonde woman glared up at him. “What do you want?”
“Grayson seems pretty drunk,” Keld said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. “I thought you might need a hand.”
“We got it,” the tall woman snapped.
Keld turned his attention on the short, slight man hovering uncertainly near the dispute. “Do you think you all can carry him if he falls over?”
The man’s black hair fell in his eyes as he blinked up at Keld. He seemed very young.
“Jenna, Tara, he has a point,” the man mumbled. “You really think we can get him home on the bus by ourselves?”
“Jaeyong, this guy kissed Grayson without his consent!” the blonde retorted. “What do you think he’s going to do if we hand him over unconscious?”
A little ember of anger lit in Keld’s chest. “I see he failed to mention the part where he kissed me back.”
The blonde deflated.
“Listen,” Keld continued. “I have a car. I can drive all of you home, and carry Grayson up to his room. One of you can stay with him the whole time if that makes you feel safer.”
The three exchanged glances.
“I think we should,” the smallest one, Jaeyoung, said. “Jenna?”
The tall woman scraped her silky, dark hair back off her forehead. “Fine, fine. Tara, can you grab his bag?”
The blonde shouldered a canvas tote bag with the well-shaped logo of the nearby midwifery stamped across it.
“May I?” Keld asked. He didn’t wait for a response before bending down and knocking Grayson’s legs out from under him.
The semi-conscious Omega let out a delayed grunt of surprise as he fell into Keld’s arms. Despite his lanky frame, Grayson hardly weighed anything. Keld jerked his chin toward the exit. As Jenna reached for the door, the muscular female Alpha by the door called, “He okay?”
“He’s fine,” Jenna said. “Just had a few too many.”
The other Mer shook her head. “Humans and their poison,” she muttered in Loaish.
“We may never understand,” Keld agreed.
Tara narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you saying?”
“Nothing,” Keld replied with a grin. “Just that humans have an unnatural obsession with ingesting toxins, that’s all.”
To his surprise, the woman laughed. “You’re not wrong. Night, Nerual!” she added to the female Alpha.
Nerual raised a burgundy hand in farewell. “See you next weekend, Brighid’s Well.”
As the door swung shut behind them, a loud crash sounded from the bar.
“Vitor, I swear to all the gods, put everything down andtake a break.” The female Alpha’s footsteps pounded past the door and vanished in the direction of the bar.
“He’s going to give birth on the pub floor,” Jaeyong grumbled.
