“Don’t think too hard or your head will explode,” I told her, straightening.
Juneau’s lips lifted into a playful smile. “Is that your advice as a medical professional?” she asked teasingly.
“Definitely, right, Doc?” I raised my voice so the alpha in question could hear me from where he’d been filling the little glass bowls that we kept out on the bar with nuts.
“Whatever it is, it’s probably a no,” he called back without looking up.
I shot him the middle finger, which he also didn’t see, and turned back to the omega who was giving me the cutest little smirk.
“Don’t rub it in, brat,” I said, wishing I could take her upstairs and give her the spanking of a lifetime. But we were opening in a half-hour and I had shit to do.
“I’ll definitely rub something later if you give me the chance,” Juneau shot back, her blue eyes sparkling. She’d developed a saucy ass tongue over the past few weeks and was no longer shy about asking for what she wanted.
I groaned inwardly, feeling myself harden at the visual she was giving me. “You’re killing me. I’m going to swat the shit out of that ass later.”
I heard laughter from behind me as the rest of the pack seemed to be enjoying the show.
I hated to bring the mood down again, but I could still feel the tinged of sadness on the edge of our bond.
“But seriously, just try not to think too hard about tonight,” I told her in a quieter voice.
“I’ll be okay, Rex, promise. I just need to get through today and we’ll be all set.” Juneau’s teeth tugged on her lower lip as her expression fell.
“Has the friend in your head made an appearance yet?” I asked.
Juneau shook her head. “No, I haven’t heard from him since we awakened your magic. I think it took a lot out of him.”
I harrumphed at that. The crazy guy in her head hadn’t been the one who ended that night nearly comatose with blood streaming out of his nose and eyes, so I couldn’t see how it would take much out of him.
“Let me know if that changes,” I said, my mind going back to the weird air surrounding the mirror. I wish we had instructions on how to avoid Juneau accidentally falling back into the past, but we’d just have to make do with keeping her away from the mirror entirely.
“Fucking Uno!” I heard one of the guys shout and turned to see Bat doing a stupid dance around Storm and Podcast. The other alpha and omega were glaring at the tattooed man and Storm chucked his cards onto the bar top.
I shared one last commiserating smile with Juneau before leaving her to kick the rest of the pack’s ass into gear. “I know you three have better things to do than play card games. Storm, the glasses need to come out of the dishwasher, PC, can you help Doc finish putting out the snacks, and Bat…” I grimaced when the alpha gave me a toothy grin.
“Try not to piss everyone off for an hour?” I finally offered. The last time I’d made Bat do anything in the bar he had ended up making a big ass mess.
Bat gave me a jaunty salute. “Aye, aye, captain!”
With that he whirled around to go and screw around with the jukebox. “Do not Rick roll us thirty times,” I told him with a glare as he pulled a handful of quarters out of his pocket.
“And noAll Stareither,” Doc added. “I thought my ears were going to bleed last time.”
“You two are no fun,” Bat said with a pout as he dutifully picked different songs to start the night with. “How else am I supposed to rock the world of the thirty-somethings that come to the bar on a Friday night?”
“Try some R&B,” Storm offered from the window of the kitchen.
‘Or alternative rock.’Podcast held his hands up above the ledge so we could all see.
“What? I can’t hear you? Did you say the gummy bear song? You’ve got it!” Bat mock-shouted as the first strains of the most annoying song in existence began to boom from the speakers.
I groaned. “I would have preferredAll Starto this,” I told Doc who was trying and failing not to laugh.
Juneau was covering her ears with her hands. “You know, I have liked most of the future-music you have shown me… but this isawful,” she shouted over the din of the bubblegum pop blaring out of the jukebox.
Bat was too busy spinning in the middle of the bar, dancing to the music like he was listening to hip hop in the club rather than an annoying voice declaring that it was, in fact, a gummy bear.
I opened my mouth to tell Bat to turn the music off, but the door to the bar slammed open and my blood froze.
