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“Seriously?” she shrieked, stamping her foot. “You’re talking about the humans? They’re not even—”
My wolf’s snarl cut off whatever catty remark the stupid bitch was about to let loose. As far as my animal was concerned, every single one of those humans were our mate’s pack. As such, they deserved respect. Narcissa’s cheeks flamed as she threw a dirty look at the snickering bartender.
I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow. Waiting.
“Yes, alpha. Won’t happen again,” she mumbled and stalked out of the room. Probably to go and work up a brother so she could angry fuck her way out of the reprimand.
My eyes followed her and then tracked slowly over all gathered, making sure they’d gotten the message. No one held my eye for long. Finally, my stern glare landed on Viola who stood quietly by. Keen intelligence worked away behind that calm exterior. The woman reminded me of Bulletproof, actually. She gave me a nod of respect and left with the water.
I took another long pull of my beer as I mused on the rapidly shifting dynamics in my pack while everyone else went back to their business. Yeah, the humans—those that had stayed—looked like they might fit in here, all right. Despite not being shifters.
Silver needed to find out what skills they had, stat, so we could settle them in properly. They were club girls now, not competition. The sooner the over-territorial sweetbutts worked that out, the better.
Right as my wolf was starting to relax, into the bar sauntered Mongrel and his mate for a drink. Their hands were entwined and their heads bent together, murmuring as they went. The two of them looked good together. And well-fucked. In fact, they were practically glowing. I smirked.
Silver threw back his head and laughed. As the omega roared in delight at whatever filthy thing my Sgt. at Arms had said, Mongrel hooked his hands in his belt loops. Smug bastard.
Then I saw it. A second bite mark peeked out from Silver’s collar.
And I knew—just knew—it was hers.
My wolf went deadly quiet as I rolled off the stool and stalked my omega.
Claiming the space between us like a battlefield.
Mongrel felt me coming and puffed up, instinctively moving in front of his mate and letting off a low growl of warning. I shoved him out of the way. It took a fair bit of effort to make that giant move anywhere, but my wolf wasn’t messing around.
Silver’s eyes flew wide as he gulped, but the man lifted his chin and stood his ground. The part of me that wasn’t only an animal was proud of my friend for standing his ground. The beast inside me—the one who demanded obedience of all in his domain—was not.
I grabbed Silver’s shirt and tore the collar to the side, revealing the fresh claiming mark. A perfect crescent winked back at me. One made of decidedly human teeth.
His new scent hit me between the eyes. A mix of all things Silver and the sweet and spicy wonder that could only belong to one woman.
Sasha.
“The fuck?” I growled, squeezing his throat and shaking the man who didn’t move a muscle to stop me. At my back, several of our men grabbed a hold of Mongrel to prevent him from charging me. “What the fuck did you do, omega?”
My wolf spat the words like Silver was nothing but dirt under his paw.
I was beating at the cage now, desperate to tear down the barriers my wolf had erected, so I could protect my friend.
Silver’s eyes blazed with his wolf as serene and fierce as I’d ever seen him. But I saw the pain in there, too. My friend’s shoulders were slumped. The human side of him, feeling each lick of hurt I was dishing out, and owning it like it was his due. Acting as though it was my right to treat him worse than shit on my boot.
I couldn’t let this happen. I had to break my wolf’s jealous hold. Even now—as gone as he was—I could tell he wasn’t angry that the pup had claimed Sasha. He recognized his omega’s right to claim his mate.
He was fucking livid though. With me. Driven insane by the thought that I’d let Silver claim her first.
A roar came up from behind me as Mongrel broke free of the brother’s who had dived on top of him. I grunted as he charged me from behind and all three of us went crashing to the ground. Rolling about with fists and boots flying, not too worried where or what they connected with.
With my beta’s attack, I’d been completely sidelined. My wolf was firmly in charge, his jealous rage fueled by the beating claim of the Goddess. The magic I’d been doing such a fucking stellar job of ignoring all day. Now that Mongrel had joined the fray—a wolf who could meet me, strength for strength—I set my sights on my oldest friend and bared my teeth.
Finally, someone I could take the pain out on.
Mongrel and I had tussled a time or two in our youth, but not as men. As we’d grown, we’d recognized how dangerously matched our animals were. Until today, our loyalty had always far outweighed any other bullshit.
Not in this. If I went for his mate, truly went for Silver’s throat, Mongrel would end me. And all it had taken to ruin that careful balance was the claim of a beautiful girl and the return of the Blood Moon.
My rage was starting ebb and reason was kicking back in. So was his. I gave Mongrel one solid punch to the gut to tell him I was ending it and he returned the favor with a kick to my knee. I winced. That was gonna hurt in the morning.
