“You do have fine taste, Pogue.” Caden let out a fiendish laugh, eyeing me. An elbow casually rested along the bar’s edge as he rolled his eyes. “Look, you weren’t making a move, so I figured I’d take my chances.”
The roadblock in front of me shifted.
Pogue.
My breathing doubled. He’d seen me. Witnessed me all over this Dorcha guy.
I swallowed down the rising embarrassment.
Lucid thoughts slipped away again as a wave of needcrashed over me, pulling my mind into the depths. My brain wasn’t aware of what it was doing when my hand rose up, slowly splaying out on Pogue’s lower back in front of me. The shirt was soft under my fingertips.
I just needed to touch him.
My hand felt a jolt of lightning, shocking my entire being. Invisible static built around my body, ordering me to cling to him.
The air in my lungs was stolen away as he ever so slightly stepped back, settling deeper into my touch, as if he could feel the relentless pull too.
Souls fucking take me . . .
Heat flared at my core, red-hot scorching need. It took every strength I had not to drag my nails down his back.
Should I drag them down?
Pogue’s shoulders went tight as a bow string. The charge in the air had changed into something dark, possessive, and on edge. I could almost taste it like vapor on my tongue.
The lights outlined Pogue’s silhouette making him look like a phantom, a shadow of death. The sight alone prickled the back of my neck.
Caden, the smug stupid bastard, laughed again, stepping forward.
“The silent treatment then?”
A deep vibration went through my hand that caressed Pogue’s back. The kind of shudder I imagined a lion’s diaphragm would exude when preparing to sink its teeth into prey.
“Walk. Away.” Pogue’s voice went low in warning.
Caden’s mouth ticked up. “Come on now, we can share! It’d be?—”
He froze. A faint paleness crept into his gray skin.
I saw it too—wisps of shadows emanated off Pogue. I’dseen him speak to shadows before, as if calling them. But this was different, this was as if they livedwithinhim, emerging to the surface.
Tension grew to the point of suffocation, grounding me in the moment. Something terrible was about to happen if I didn’t stop it.
“You!” A voice boomed, cracking the crowd like a lightning strike. “Youfeckingthief!”
Lochlainn barreled through the crowd, flanked by Finley and Keeffe, along with a stronghold of muscle behind them. He was headed straight for Caden.
Pogue intentionally moved backwards, forcing me to press up against his shoulder blades. Without turning to look at me, his arm wrapped behind him, a hand gently settling on my waist, guiding me further back, away from the incoming altercation.
Meaty paws fisted Caden’s shirt and lifted him straight into the air. Then, Lochlainn viciously slammed him down onto the bar. Drinks spewed into the air, the glass clinking and shattering to the floor. The crack that sounded from Caden hitting the stone reverberated through the room, stunning everyone into silence. Even the music drew quiet.
Caden’s breath was knocked out of him. He desperately gulped for air. A look of terrifying shock haunted his face.
In one fluid motion, Lochlainn drew a gold pistol, cocking it.
Caden threw his hands up, pleadingly. “P-p-pleaseee!” The cocky bastard from moments ago disappeared.
Gold sparkled, contrasting against silver skin as Lochlainn pressed the gun to Caden’s forehead. Executioner readying.
