Prologue
Otto
“Ohmygod! He’sright there!”
I stifled a grin when the squeal was followed by a flood of drunken whispers shushing Dex, but the birthday boy would have none of it.
“I willnotshush!” he huffed out in a whispered shout which carried further than he realized. Hell, even the humans over at the pool table across the bar were chuckling at the feisty Omega. “Ottoisright there!”
“Weknow!” Taylor, another Omega, snapped back. “And he’s gonna hear you if you don’t upsky-shay!”
Behind me, my boss Darren was trying not to laugh as the group argued about whether what Taylor claimed was pig Latin qualified as such. “Do you know those boys?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “Depending on which one you point to, they were either two or three years behind me in school. Dexter, the redhead, is the youngest of the group and today is his twenty-first.”
“Ahh. That explains the drunken frolicking.” Darren chuckled again, peering at the group of revelers huddled around the end of the bar. “You seem to have an admirer.”
My inner bear perked up as I snorted at the suggestion. “Nah, I don’t think so.” My bear gave a disgruntled huff at my rebuttal and settled back. “I think it’s the booze. Our families have known each other for years and there’s never been any hint he thinks of me that way.” A quick twinge in my chest made me rub over my heart. “He’s an only child so I think I’m more of a surrogate brother, you know?”
Darren didn’t look convinced but nodded. “Okay. They have a way home?”
“I collected all their keys when they arrived,” I assured him. “They have an Uber already scheduled for last call.”
“Good man.” Darren chucked me on the shoulder as he headed for his office.
I was drawing a draft of local pale ale when Dex’s voice rose above the crowd again.
“You shouldn’t go home with a stranger,” he insisted earnestly. “I could be a serial killer.”
Normally, the thought of a serial killer in the small mountain town of Unity City, Colorado would have me laughing, but if Dex thought Cal was a stranger, he was drunker than I thought. I glanced over and scowled when I saw Cal’s hand on Dex’s hip.
Plunking Trey’s beer on the bar in front of him, I made my way down to where I could hear well enough to suss out if Cal was making the younger guys uncomfortable.
“Otto!” Dex saw me lingering and called me over. “C’mere! Tell him I’m a serial killer!”
I coughed into my hand to hide my laugh and leaned over to lightly tap Dex’s cheek. “You’re named after a serial killer,” I corrected with a grin. “Your mom watched too much tv while she was on bedrest with you.”
Dex’s face fell and he jutted his chin out defiantly. “You don’t know everything I do! I could be a serial killer.”
I shrugged. “I guess, but between work, school, and volunteering at the animal shelter, when do you find victims?”
“I..” Dex’s face tightened and his shoulders twitched. Looking down, I saw Cal’s hand had migrated to rest on the curve of Dex’s ass.
“Cal.” I waited until the Alpha looked over at me. “Gonna be damn hard for you to work on cars with only one hand, ya know?”
Cal’s eyes went wide for a split second before he scowled at me. “That a threat?”
“Yeah, ‘fraid so,” I confirmed. “I’m their security detail tonight and they’re having a private party.”
“That true, sugar?” Cal leaned close to Dex and the Omega stiffened more, pulling to his other side. “You want me to go?”
When Alpha pheromones began to stink up the air, I sighed and tossed my rag onto the counter below the bar.
“That’s enough.” Cal was a few years older than me, but my particular ursine shifter genes meant I was larger and stronger, so when I clapped my hand down on his shoulder, Cal was wise enough to back down. “He’s not interested. You need to move on.”
Cal grumbled and complained under his breath but headed for the door without pressing me.
“You all okay?” I ran my eyes over the group of Omegas who were all wide-eyed and uncharacteristically silent. They nodded as one, and as if a secret signal had been given, began to yammer all at once. I listened long enough to be sure it was all normal drunken nonsense and headed back behind the bar, grinning as I refilled their drinks. None of the Omegas were actually mine, but my bear still got satisfaction out of providing protection, from being needed.
