“Where did you come from, baby?” a gravelly voice asked out of the blue. “And where are you headed?”
I stopped dead in my tracks.Dangit!
I’d been so focused on pretending not to see the other guys in the bar that I didn’t notice one of the bikers slide out of the booth. By the time I realized, he was already standing in my path, grinning like he’d just claimed a prize.
Grizzled, with flecks of gray in an otherwise black beard, he loomed over me, his amber-brown eyes gleaming with a mix of amusement and something sharper, more intense.
Danger.
It radiated off him in waves, setting off all my “girl, run!” instincts—but other than that, he wasn’t entirely unattractive. My eyes caught on the chiseled jawline framed by the perfect amount of scruff and the broad shoulders filling out his leather jacket like he’d just stepped out of one of those old-school motorcycle movies.
Still, I took a huge step back. “I’m just... heading to the bar to order something to eat.”
He stepped with me, blocking my path again. When I tried to cant to the left, he shifted, too, cutting me off. “How do you smell this good?”
“Um...” My voice cracked. “Because I showered?”
“Like a whole box of chocolates.” To my absolute shock, the hard-edged biker leaned in closer, inhaling audibly.
“Fuck me..." His eyes fluttered, like he'd just taken a hit of some kind of drug. "I’d happily eat you for supper, baby.”
“For supper?” I echoed weakly, my voice threatening to give out.
“Hey, leave her alone.”
The command came from behind me, low and firm.
When I turned, the hulking blond from the bar was standing there.
He was even taller than the biker, his giant frame blocking out most of the room behind him. And those blue eyes I’d spotted all the way across the bar? Even more vivid. Seriously, they could’ve landed him an automatic extra role on any Viking show.
But to my surprise, they were filled with what appeared to be genuine concern for me.
“Hey, what are you doing here? “The town’s closed.” He hunched down the near foot it took for us to be at eye level, his gaze worried. But then he audibly sniffed at me, too.
What in the world?
“But the bar is open,” I carefully pointed out, doing my best to both step away from him and his flaring nose while not bumping into the biker whose amber stare was currently burning a hole into my back. “I was hoping to grab some dinner—and ask about my sister. Noelle Winters.”
“Noelle?” The Viking’s expression flickered with recognition. “Hold on, you’re the sister of the Tuk’mara’s new mate?”
His entire face lit up. “Does that mean you’re planning to stay?”
“What? No! I have a whole life back in…” I started to answer—before thinking better of letting these guys know where I lived.
“What’s atookmahra?” I asked instead, carefully repeating the title he’d use in association with the guy Noelle had decided to stay with after knowing him for less than a week. “And what’s his actual name so I can find him and my sister?”
“Who cares?” Before the Viking could answer, the biker’s hand clamped around my wrist, pulling me to face him. “What’syourname, baby?”
“Um… none of your business!” I snapped, trying and failing to pull my arm out of his grip.
“Hey, take your dirty hand off my mate!”
The Viking’s voice boomed through the bar—right before he grabbed the biker by the shoulders andmadehim unhand me.
By lifting him in the air and body slamming him into the nearest table.
I gasped and slapped both palms over my mouth as the wooden table crumpled under the biker’s weight.
