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I tilted my hand in question, silently asking her to dance. The look on my face must have been comical because she laughed as she pulled me to my feet.
“I assume you know how to dance to this music. Show me.”
I smiled. My smile was impossible to hide from the observant crowd as she brought us to the middle of the floor. I couldn’t help myself; she was actually trying. This went beyond her allowing me to lie in bed with the pillow fortress as our divider. She was genuinely allowing me to hold her. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate this major step forward.
The music thrummed through my veins, matching the tingles left from her hands on my shoulders. I held her hips as I guided them to twist and sway to the rhythm of the song. She followed my lead without fault, a smile blossoming across her lips as I spun her out and back against my chest.
Everyone was watching now. Not just quick glances our way like they had before. No. They had formed a circle around us, captivated by the way we moved. I saw approval in their eyes as she kept perfect time with me; their approval fueled my hope for the future.
A crash broke the spell of the dance, and the music abruptly stopped as two drunk men fell at our feet. I reached for Liberty to pull her out of harm’s way, only for her to step out of my reach before she yanked the two men apart.
“What is going on?” she demanded with all the authority of a true alpha.
The two men froze as the alpha tone leaked from behind the scent barrier Brady had placed on his sister. Her powerful aurawas too strong to hide. I stepped up to her side and looked between the two, daring them to try anything against my mate. However, their gazes never wavered from her.
They looked sheepishly back at Liberty as she released their collars and pushed them to the opposite side of the dance floor. With her hands on her hips, she looked between them expectantly, like a mother scolding her children. I had to wonder if she even remembered where she was, as she posed herself as a leader among her people.
“Well?” she asked again. “What is all this about?”
The men looked back at one another with shame filled eyes. “We were trying to see which of us is the stronger.” The one I recognized to be Keith’s cousin Bernard finally answered.
“Is that all?” Liberty asked with astonishment. “There is a far better way of establishing that fact than to break out into a brawl.”
I watched as she looked around the room; her eyes brightened with whatever discovery she seemed to have made. Liberty ran over to two empty tables and dragged the occupants back to the center of the room.
She pointed to each man. “Each of you lift the tables over your heads. You will hold them up for five seconds before setting them down. Then, we will place a pitcher with equal amounts ofliquid on each table. You both will lift the tables up again without spilling the pitchers.” I smiled as she waved for Rory to bring over the pitchers. “We will continue to do this until one of you can no longer lift the table.”
They looked ready to argue before she called over a third table. I smirked as I watched the confusion pass between both men while Liberty walked to the table and climbed on top of it.
“If you both think this is silly, then I’ll do it with you. That way, we all look silly, but no one gets caught in the crossfires of a brawl this way.”
I laughed as everyone murmured, and the men’s chests puffed out. A few people tossed a glance my way in question, while I stepped up to the table Liberty was standing on.
“I’ll join the contest too,” I declared. I rolled up my shirt sleeves, while I waved for another table to be brought into the circle. “Sounds like fun to me.”
The moment I stepped up to take part, everyone broke into chatter as they placed bets on who they thought would win. We decided that first to compete would be the two men, then Liberty and me. The winners of the two matches would compete for an ultimate table lifting championship.
I could hear the chatter of everyone, clearly excited to watch the matches. They were busy discussing making it a weekly Wednesday thing at the bar.
“She’s really something,” Rory said from behind me as Liberty cheered on the two men into their fifth round of lifting the table of pitchers.
I looked back at my friend and smiled. “Yeah, she is.”
“When are you going to tell everyone she’s your true mate and not a fake?”
I smiled sadly and looked back at Liberty. I crossed my arms. “I guess I’m not as good at hiding it as I thought.”
Rory shook her head. “No, you are doing good. I just have a first-row seat of fated mates while living with Ginger and Keith. I know it when I see it.” She looked behind us, and I followed her gaze. Cheri stood at the bar with tears glistening in her eyes. “I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry. She will be fine.”
“I don’t understand why she is so hurt. I’ve never even gave her a sign that we had a future.” I let out a sigh and turned my eyes away once more.
“She’s just had a crush on you for a while, is all. Once she finds her mate, she’ll be over it. Maybe as soon as we all can go back to being a pack.”
“I’m working on that. I just need to convince Dad that this vendetta isn’t worth all our lives…or our happiness. We need to blend back into the pack that we were in before and accept the Rigel line,” I asserted.
Rory patted me on the back just as Keith’s cousin won the table lifting round. “I can tell you this much, Xander. You will have far more supporters for that path than your dad ever had for going to war. You just need to step up.”
Liberty laughed as she patted the loser on the back, encouraging him to try again later while congratulating them both on making it so far. I chose that moment to step up and remind her of our turn. I found her smiling brightly back at me.
