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“Keep the beer flowing,” Gage said, and everyone dug into their meals.
Several rounds of drinks later, I was laughing hysterically. My stomach roiled from too much chuckling, but what made it funnier was that I couldn’t remember the joke. Something about a priest, a dragon shifter, and a giraffe walking into a tavern. Kahlo slammed his palm on the table, roaring in amusement, while Gage chortled, as if he might burst at any moment. But Reed simply smiled. I was a big believer that alcohol brought out a person’s real emotions. There’d be no more hiding. I couldn’t stop glancing over at Reed, who was on his sixth pint and grew more withdrawn with each drink.
Someone shouted from within the tavern, and I flinched, turning around to find three burly men swinging punches at each other. The bartender was there poking them with a long stick, telling them to cut it out. “Take it outside, the lot of you.”
Others sat around gawking, cheering on the battle. When the fighters toppled a table, taking down two more, like quick fire the fight spread and soon enough half the place brawled.
Gage was on his feet, swaying, his eyes glazed over. He dusted his hands. “I’ve got this. Dealt with these kind of scuffles at Brawl all the time.”
“Don’t.” I reached out for him, but he’d already set off across the room. “Idiot.”
“Leave it to me.” Kahlo hiccupped and took two tries to stand before he finally got up. My head swam, the room spinning around me, but you didn’t see me get up to join a fight. I should have had only two drinks.
In the time I took to calm my whirling head, Gage and Kahlo were in the thick of the rampage, tossing people about as if they were toys.Shit!They were going hurt someone.
A man picked up a chair and brought it down on Kahlo’s back, but my mountain of a man jerked around and lifted the man off the ground by clenching his shirt.
“Don’t!” I jumped up, and Reed had already darted across the room toward them. Someone punched him square in the face, and he stumbled back, shaking himself with shock.
His body trembled, and my worst fears squeezed my heart. They would transform into their animal forms. Panicked people would draw knives and other weapons to kill them if threatened. I hefted the bag with my hair and threaded my arms into the straps, then ran to Reed’s side, but my feet wobbled. I crashed against a table before finding my balance again.
Kahlo had already ripped off his shirt off and growled, his body transforming. I tottered toward him, tugging at his furry arm, but he fell to all fours, his trousers splitting as he morphed into a monstrous tiger, reaching my waist. Stripped and gorgeous, he was the epitome of beauty, except everyone backed away from him. He sniffed the air, his eyes golden green scanning the room. Powerful muscles shifted beneath his shiny coat. Hot air floated from the corners of his mouth before his upper lip curled over long canines, and I flinched away at first. His broad nose creased, and he crouched low, his haunches high, ready to attack.
Oh, shit!
Knives were drawn by all the surrounding men, and dread swallowed me. “Don’t hurt him.” I stepped in front of Kahlo as Gage exploded with a thundering growl, and his wings spread out, almost reaching either side of the wall.
Nothing made sense, and sweat dripped down my back as my attention darted between the panicked humans and the shifters.
All I needed now was for Reed to turn furry and they’d be the perfect set of loose cannons. Except he remained there, his body shaking, his skin gleaming with sweat, and thank fuck he had control of himself.
The bartender turned to us with his stick, which might as well have been a pitchfork the way he poked it toward us. “Fuck off. Shifters aren’t welcome in this tavern.” Others screamed at us, brandishing weapons, and my stomach clenched. So this town hadn’t changed, even if it had appeared so from the outside.
“Killers!” another man shouted.
“They won’t hurt anyone,” I called out. Sure, shifters were stronger, but this intolerance of difference races was bullshit. “You’re the ones holding the weapons.”
The bartender glared my way, his shoulders curled forward, his earlier cheer replaced by repulsion. “Get out. You’re all the same, coming into our town and killing humans.”
Reed was at my side, his hooded expression dark and swimming in shadows. “Shifters came in here and attacked people?”
A man with a cut lip grunted. “Fucking abominations. Your kind attacked two men in the woods just yesterday.”
Horror locked me on the spot, and I rubbed my eyes, trying to wade through my foggy head. “What did they look like?” Of course my thoughts went straight to the hooded man.
“Freaks! Like that horned lion.” He eyed Kahlo and Gage, who’d already retracted his wings.
I rocked on my heels. “Was he white and did he also have a scorpion tail?”
The man’s face warped and his lips twisted. “Get the fuck out before we skewer you to the walls!” he yelled, not answering my question. But he didn’t need to. It was too much of a coincidence to not recognize this as the same monster. Why were they hunting humans? Did they see them as a free feast, or had they stumbled into the wrong place?
Others raised their weapons and hooted for our destruction. I looped an arm over Kahlo’s neck and pulled him away. Already under my touch, he vibrated and transformed back into a man.
Everyone gawked with disgust while I watched in awe at the magnificence of this change. Within moments, Kahlo stood next to me, naked and delicious. The women lowering their gazes smiled.
“Leave!” the drunk mob chanted, and we all turned for the door, retreating, my skin crawling. Reed collected our clothes and his bag from our table. No one had ever driven me out of a tavern before, but that rumble might have been exactly what we’d needed.
