Decebel looked over to Costin who was staring at his little boy, his eyes wet with unshed tears. “Why would I need to growl at you instead?” He asked.
“Because Daddy is broken and I don’t think your growls could fix him. But you can growl at me.” Titus was completely serious and believed every word coming out of his own mouth. The boy was smart, that was certain. But the boy’s intuitiveness, very much like a wolf, interested Decebel even more.That’s not something you learn, it’s just a part of who and what you are, the Alpha thought.
“Take good care of him,” Decebel told Titus.
The little boy nodded and straightened his shoulders, proud he’d been given a task.
“Yes, Alpha,” he repeated the words his dad has spoken a few minutes ago.
He gave Costin one more pointed look and then turned, leaving the same way he came, only this time he didn’t wonder what he was dealing with—he knew. If they didn’t find Sally soon, Costin would not be able to fight the darkness. He would become fully feral.
Costin looked down at the crushed puzzle pieces he’d been holding. That’s just about what he felt like, crushed. He looked across the puzzle at Titus who had gone back to searching for the correct placement of the pieces as if he hadn’t just offered to take Costin’s punishment for him.
“Titus,” Costin waited until he looked up.
“Yes, Daddy,” he answered and then looked up at him.
“I’m sorry,” Costin’s voice broke and he paused, wrestling with so many emotions. “I’m sorry that all this has happened and just after you got here too. I’m sorry your mommy isn’t here and I can’t seem to fix it. I’m sorry that you feel you should take my punishment for me.” Titus had become blurry because of the tears flooding Costin’s eyes. His heart wasn’t just broken for his mate; it was also broken for the child they’d been given.
“You’re my daddy. That’s what sons do for their daddies, and you would do it for me because I’m your son.” Titus answered sincerely.
Costin reached across and picked his son up and placed him in his lap. He wrapped his arms around him and held him close. “You’re right, I would do that for you. I will always do what’s best for you.” Costin didn’t tell the boy that there might come a time when what was best for him would be to be as far away from Costin as possible.
If he went feral, Costin would run, as fast and as far as possible away from the people he cared about. He would not let his wolf destroy what he loved.
Chapter 3
“I feel like something is missing. It’s right there, just outside of my grasp. Every time I start to get close to it, it slips away again. My dreams are filled with an empty void and I don’t know how to fill it. At first I thought it was the death of my parents, but now I’m not so sure.” ~Sally
Sally dried the fiftieth glass of the evening—she’d been counting—as she watched Jericho mix a customer’s drink. She had to admit that Jericho, despite his slightly overeager personality, was a talented bartender. He had mad skills when it came to spinning bottles, tossing glasses, and sliding drinks down the bar to their buyers with uncanny precision. Sally kept picturing herself attempting those same stunts, but her fantasies always ended, probably realistically, with bottles of liquor crashing down around her while glass and liquid splattered the patrons that lined the bar. Yep, she was pretty sure there would be no bartending theatrics in her future. She’d be happy if she ever remembered the names of the drinks and what went in them.
“How you doing over there, Texas?” Jericho shot over his shoulder at her. He’d adopted this little nickname for her when he’d found out where she was from. Sally had been dutifully ignoring all of his insinuations about everything being bigger in Texas and, though she didn’t really care for the nickname, she supposed it could be worse.
“Wiping down these glasses is riveting. I don’t think I could handle much more excitement,” she said dryly. Okay, so she was bored, sue her.
“Wow, it’s only your first day and already you’ve got attitude.” His eyes sparkled with mischief as he smiled at her. “I like it.”
Sally laughed as she reached for the next glass only to grab air. She looked down and realized that she’d finished all of them.Finally, she thought as she stuck part of the towel in her back pocket and left the rest hanging out. With all the pouring of various fluids the job involved, she figured out real quick why bartenders kept a towel tucked in their jeans.
“You ready to try your hand at mixing?” Jericho asked her as he handed the finished drink to the man across the bar and then turned to face her. He leaned a hip against the counter and crossed his muscular arms in front of him. He was pretty, that was for sure.
“Have to learn sometime,” she said as she clapped her hands together and rubbed them as though needing to warm them up.
“I figure it would be better to do it now, before we get to the 5:30 rush. Once people start getting off work, ready to unwind, we won’t have a free minute until closing time at midnight.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” she responded.
He smiled at her then pushed away from the bar and reached beneath it, pulling out a stack of papers held together by a metal ring in the top left corner. They were all laminated and, from what Sally could see, extremely worn.
“This is the master drink list,” he began. “It has every drink we make and the ingredients and how to mix them. In the beginning, it’s going to seem like a lot, but just like having to memorize multiplication tables, you’ll wind up memorizing this.”
“And what if I never mastered my multiplication tables?” Sally asked.
“You’re screwed,” he said without missing a beat. “Alright, let’s start getting familiar with the different types of alcohol.” Jericho motioned her over to the back of the bar where rows of bottles lined shelves that ran up the wall all the way to the ceiling. A mirror behind the bottles and shelves made it look as though there were multiple bottles in each row.
“What do you know about liquor?” he asked as he began pulling bottles down.
“It’s flammable.”
