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“I think it’s great, personally,” Diesel said.
“Yeah?”
“Hell yes. No lioness will touch me with my bum leg, but human females don’t necessarily care about the fact I’m low ranked and can’t run fast. Gives me hope.”
Barron looked down at his friend. “You’ll find your heart-match when the time is right, I fully believe that. I mean, hell – Mercy just walked right by me one random night. That’ll happen for you.”
“I fucking hope so.”
As he’d expected, the night crawled by. On his breaks, he video-chatted with Mercy, but only until midnight. He didn’t want to keep her up when she needed her rest. She was on her feet all day at the salon, and while it warred with him to have to say goodnight when he wasn’t snuggled up with her, he wanted to be a good mate and that meant putting her needs above his.
When the bar finally closed, the last patron hustled out by Hemi and Titus, Barron hurried to set the chairs up on the freshly cleaned tables. As he worked, he was aware of the house band putting their instruments away on the stage. The band was led by Jake, Lenn’s brother. When Duke took over at the end of the thirty-day time period, Lenn would become the second most powerful male in the pride. He’d never be alpha, of course, unless Duke and Ree failed to have any male heirs. There were no other males in Duke’s family that lived in the Kedrick pride, so the alphaship would slide to the number two male, and an entirely new family would take over.
Two of the males on the stage whispered, and Barron caught a gesture out of the corner of his eye. They were pointing at him. With a frown, he straightened and looked at the males. Jake was mid-ranked like Barron, but the males in the band were from another pride. He was about to ask them what was up when Titus walked over to him.
“You have a sec?”
“Sure, thing,” Barron said. He finished setting the chairs upside down on the table and followed Titus upstairs to his office, which overlooked the bar.
He sat across the desk from Titus.
“How are things going with Mercy?”
“Great.” He tapped his temple. “My cat hates being away from her.”
“I’m sure.” Titus folded his hands on the desk, looking serious. “I told Duke I’d talk to you about your mate.”
Barron straightened, worry filling him. “What about her?”
Titus lifted his hands in a calm-down way. “It’s nothing bad, I promise. Duke’s getting some push-back in the pride from a couple of disgruntled males about the mating laws being changed. Byron and Duke aren’t planning to bow to pressure, but for the time being in the interest of safety, Duke doesn’t want Ree or Mercy at the bar. He’s concerned about backlash.”
Barron’s thoughts turned to Jake. “Do you know who the push back is coming from? I got the distinct impression from Jake and his band buddies that they were talking about me earlier.”
Titus nodded. “It’s Lenn. His family is against the blending of humans and lions. I don’t think they’d mind as much if it were other types of shifters, but they have a problem with humans. They feel superior to them.”
Although Barron had grown up in the pride with Lenn and Jake, who were both a few years older than him, he couldn’t ever recall hearing either of the males share disparaging views of humans. “I wouldn’t have pegged them for that, but their parents are pretty old-school.”
“Definitely. It’s not that we think they’d do anything against the females, Duke just feels it’s better to be safe than sorry, particularly where mates are concerned.”
“I agree a hundred percent. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Sure thing. Before I let you go, I wanted to find out if you’d rather work Friday night or Saturday night going forward. We can alternate one Friday off, then one Saturday off, if that would work for you, also.”
“Mercy works most Fridays and Saturdays and she doesn’t work late either night, but I know she’d prefer if I didn’t work Saturday nights.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks. For everything.”
“Go home to your mate, Barron. See you tomorrow.”
Barron said goodnight to his boss and walked down to the first floor. The stage was empty, the bar dark and silent. He walked down the hall to the exit, but when he pushed on the bar, it clanked but didn’t open. “What the hell?” he murmured.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose, his lion on alert. Something menacing was coming his way.
* * *
Mercy rolled over with a groan and stared at the ceiling as she came abruptly awake. Blinking into the darkness, she waited for her eyes to adjust. Although the blinds were closed, light from a lamppost in the parking lot seeped around the edges of the plastic slats. Lifting her phone from the nightstand, she saw it was nearly two thirty. The bar would be closed by now and Barron would be helping to clean up before heading home. She checked her messages and didn’t find any new ones from him, not that she expected to. He’d video chatted her during two of his breaks but said he wouldn’t call her again because he wanted her to get a good night’s rest.
