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“Yep.”
We watched the dancer in silence for a while.
“I finished the interviews for the night,” Felix said. “I think I found one you’ll like.”
“Yeah?”
Felix handed me the file, and I flipped it open, studying the photo of the girl he wanted to fill the role. Flaming red hair, hazel eyes, and something about her gaze tugged at me.
I closed the file again.
“Good,” I said.
“You didn’t even read it.”
“I trust your instincts. If you think she’s right for the job, we’ll roll with it.”
Felix nodded. “How’s business otherwise?”
“Same shit, different day,” I said. “It’s not bad. More money comes in than goes out, and that’s really all I give a shit about.”
Felix chuckled. His voice was a little deeper, more of a growl than usual, but in a club like this, where sex was in the air, it was easier for the animals to crawl out. Shifters responded to sex more intensely than to most magic out there.
We were very careful around here—the world wasn’t ready to be exposed to what shifters were, so my club was a safe space for shifters to relax and not have to keep their guard up and their magic hidden all the time. Sex was a beautiful thing, and I wanted the place to be a safe space for them to explore each other, to find what they liked, to find who they were.
“The pack is restless,” Felix said.
I sighed. “They’re never going to calm down, are they?”
“They’re not happy, Jameson. You can’t blame them. Putting someone in charge who won’t shift doesn’t make them feel like they’re understood.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to force her to shift.”
My sister, Carletta, was in charge of most of the pack business, handling their magic. She helped the new shifters who still lost control, taught them how to take care of themselves and find that balance between man and beast. Sharing a body with an animal was like a dance, each toeing the line. The beast always looked for a way out, a way to take over.
Felix was my beta, but I needed him to handle my companies, and although he was powerful as fuck, his animal still ruled him sometimes. Since Carletta had decided to never shift again, she was more powerful than all of them in my eyes. She’d defeated the beast. Her control was impeccable. At least… her physical control. Mentally was a different ballgame, but I couldn’t let anyone know that her determination not to shift left her with a different kind of weakness. They would prey on her in other ways if they knew. Or maybe they did know—if I were to believe the rumors. I just wouldn’t confirm or deny anything.
“They don’t want her,” Felix said. “They think it’s unfair; they think there’s something wrong with her.”
I shook my head. “Let them think that. They’ll come crawling with their tails between their legs when the beast takes over, and then they’ll beg for her to help them.”
Felix didn’t agree. The tension prickled my skin. He was irritated, and it scraped against me like sandpaper.
I didn’t care that he didn’t like what Carletta was doing. My sister had her reasons for not shifting. It was her way to honor our sister’s death.
My animal wasn’t in a cage like hers was—I let it out from time to time.
“Anything else you want to discuss?” I asked.
Felix shook his head. “No. The new girl is coming in on Thursday, if you want to meet her. I’ll take care of her, and Serena knows to look out for her, too, so if you’re too busy—”
“I’ll be here,” I said.
Felix clapped his hands on his thighs. “I’ll get going, then. Give you a chance to tap that.” He nodded at the dancer.
I lifted a shoulder to my head. “You know I don’t do that.”
Felix sighed. “You own a sex club, Jameson. It’s ironic that you, of all people, abstain.”
