Page 7 of The Ashpaw: Part One

For the longest time, she had assumed all of their male wolfkin customers were alphas based on the size of them—broad-chested and well over six feet tall.

And then she’d met a real alpha…

She’d never make that mistake again.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” she said, knowing the term always brought a laugh, and that laughs always brought tips. “Will it be a meal or just ale tonight?”

“Always a pleasure to see you again, Fern. What’s your mother got in the stew—goat or mutton?”

“Rabbit, actually.”

They looked at each other, wolfish grins overtaking their faces and making her sweat. Wolfkin could almost be mistaken for human—large humans, but humans nonetheless.

Except for their canine teeth, long and sharp whether the moon was full or not.

“Meals then, for the lot of us,” one of them said, clasping her on the shoulder.

His hand squeezed for a moment, then lingered. He stepped closer, his face lowering as he sniffed the air around her, his grip on her tightening.

Something stirred inside her, a shadow of the wolf she’d never been, that made her want to lean into his touch. Her stomach tightened, followed by her head tilting to offer her neck, her exhale gaining pitch…

“I won’t be able to get your stew if you don’t let go,” Fern finally said, finding her voice.

“Mmm, maybe I’m not in the mood for meat tonight.” He leaned down further, his lips a hair’s breadth from her ear. “Perhaps I’m hungry for something a little more… sweet.”

Fern closed her eyes, finding the prospect of being eaten not as abhorrent as she probably should…

“You’ll not be troubling my daughter tonight or any other night,” her mother called from the bar. “Now, take your seats and let her do her job, or you’ll have to find dinner elsewhere.”

The wolfkin holding onto her barked a laugh, then whispered before he let go, “It’s a shame. With a scent such as yours, I’m sure you’d be delicious.”

He snapped his teeth in her face, laughing again when she flinched, and the group made their way towards a table in the back.

The tension in her lower belly loosened, and she released a long breath, shaking herself free of the instinct to go back to them, so they could… so they could…

She did not allow the thought to fully form, instead focusing on the human customers as her mother prepared the wolfkin’s meals and delivered them herself, all while they eyed her every move from across the room.

Her parents were well aware of the effect she and the wolfkin had on each other, and when the line between harmless flirtation and brazen desire was too close to being crossed, they’d jump in to give her the reprieve she needed before she accidentally outed herself. Before she’d be dragged to the wolfkin territories across the river, never able to return.

The night progressed more or less the same as all the others, with her avoiding the wolfkin’s corner as best as she could. When they finally left, she breathed a little easier, resuming her normal demeanor, with lots of smiles, giggles, and half-hearted taps on the arms of the humans she was used to.

They too were eventually nudged out the door as the hour grew late, and once the last coin had been collected, dish had been washed, and table had been cleaned, she and her parents locked up and headed to their house behind the tavern.

“You shouldn’t flirt with them,” her mother chastised in the dark, the wind blowing stray strands of hair that had fallen free from her braid. “It’s not safe.”

Her father nodded. “If you let them get too close, they might be able to smell it on you. Their noses are better than you can imagine.”

Fern wanted to argue that she hadn’t flirted, nor had she purposefully let them sniff her.

But she couldn’t argue about their noses, her own stronger than most humans, and so it would do no good to fight. She was tired, and already owed her life to her parents.

“I’m trying,” she said. “But I can’t just ignore them if they speak to me, either.”

About a year ago, a lone wolfkin had nearly torn the place apart when he’d asked Fern to refill his cup only for her father to come in her stead. It took five human men to finally subdue him, all of them sporting scars from the ordeal.

And that was just one, so a whole group of wolfkin? Fern had no doubt the outcome would likely be deadly.

Her mother sighed as they entered, lighting the fire and fixing the kettle over it. “Then perhaps it’s time for you to quit the tavern.”