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El sat up and narrowed his eyes at me, studying me as if he could pull the answers out with a glare alone. I swear my partner was adorable when he had his sharp claws at the ready. Which was at the drop of a fucking hat most days.
“What did you do, Riven? I swear to all that’s holy if you fucked someone else I’m going to cut your dick off and feed it to you.”
I let out an exasperated sigh at his assumptions. Why was me cheating the first thing he went to? Even if I found a mate I’d tell him before anything went down. I could tell he was trying to joke but was also genuinely worried.
“Calm down. Of fucking course, I didn’t fuck anyone. Even if we found mates, we’d talk about it first,” I argued, a bit offended that’s something he even thought I would do. My bear was just as loyal as I was and we’d never hurt our mate. “Just listen. Someone stopped by the bar today before you came in. Things were so crazy tonight I never got a chance to talk about it. We got an invite to the National Bar and Brewers Board Annual Bartending Competition.”
“Seriously?” he gasped. All thoughts of cheating were gone now. He sat up straight and was practically bouncing in anticipation. “Riven. This is fucking huge! They never invite small bars to these.”
“I know,” I grinned. It was nice that he already saw the importance before I’d even finished. “They opened it up this year. The exposure will be amazing. And more than that, I made sure they headed over to Soulful Brews for us, too.”
A wicked smile spread across his face at that. If there was one thing El thrived on more than sex, it was pettiness.
“I figured what’s the point of a competition if we can’t prove that we can take down our biggest rival.” Something in my voice had him narrowing his eyes.
“And you call me the petty one,” he snorted. “You’re no teddy bear, but I can’t believe you’re letting these people get to you so much.” When his features softened, I knew what was coming.
“It’s not about my past,” I groaned, flopping back against the couch. “I’m over it. I don’t care if I was the odd bear out anymore. We’ve got a good life here.” He raised an eyebrow and I let out a long sigh.
I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t hurt that the moment my parents and older sisters found out I was a bear, they were terrified of me. It wasn’t long before I was the teenage loner that wasn’t invited out to family events like I could snap at any moment and maul them or something. That mentality was outdated to everyone but them, apparently. Predator animals didn’t just go around eating people. We were soul-bonded just as much as they were.
The moment I turned eighteen, I was gone. Moving here wasn’t easy and I spent far too many hours working shitty jobs and scraping by.
Was there resentment?
Of course, there was.
But I wasn’t going to take that out on the rest of the world.
“You sure about that?” he challenged. “You aren’t putting all your focus into this competition to prove something?”
“Why would you think that?” I asked, genuinely confused at this point. “I barely said anything other than I made sure they were included.”
“Because you bring them up a lot and now sending the board over so you can face off with them personally?” he pointed out bluntly. “It just seems a bit extreme. They’re getting by just like we are. What are you hoping the outcome is?” It was a pot-kettle situation. I wasn’t the only one involved in studying their success and coming up with plans.
“A little healthy competition never hurt anybody,” I argued. “The only aggression my bear has is how intent I am on winning things. Including them was just the icing on the cake, a chance for us to prove to the city we’re the bar they should frequent.” My bear growled out his approval in my head. I couldn’t even hide the grin on my face at his outburst.
El rolled his eyes at me. “You two are impossible.”
“Says the man who just offered to cut my dick off and feed it to me,” I pointed out. “And you think I’m the one with issues.”
“I grew up alone,” El said evenly. “I’m fairly sure we all have issues here.”
“Comrades in our crazy, there’s a reason we’re mates,” I agreed, pulling him into my side. “We can go over the rest of the details for this competition later but we only have a little bit of time to prepare before we have to be there. The prize money alone could change our business but the exposure we’re going to get is going to be phenomenal.”
“I’m loaded, and our business is fine,” El pointed out. There was a bitter edge to his voice. His family’s money was something he used out of necessity but tried to not touch and I respected that.
“This would mean we won’t need that money,” I said. The relief in his eyes meant I hit that issue right on the head.
“This is honestly amazing. Do you have to go alone or do you get a backup person? AKA me?”
“You know I’m taking you with me. Like anyone else could handle me anyway,” I snorted. “We both know I’m a pain in the ass.”
“Literally,” my mate joked with a heated grin. “And I’d hate to have to stalk you there.” He would definitely be the type to show up and literally fight off anyone who dared to talk to me a bit too flirtatiously.
“You and your jealousy.” The one time someone tried to come onto me at the bar he’d walked up and practically shoved his tongue down my throat in warning to her. It did good for a bear’s ego. And with my past, it was nice to have someone who would burn the world down for me. And I’d do the same for him in a heartbeat. El was my world and part of the reason I wanted our business to thrive.
My bear growled in agreement. In fact, he demanded I claim my mate now to prove the point. That he was mine and no one else’s.
