The words sounded on a loop in my head the second I spotted Dathal standing with Mase and Axel. Objectively I should’ve been staring at Axel in those fucking obscene shorts, and while I could appreciate he looked hot as fuck, it was Dathal that made my blood sing.
As he turned my way, the light caught his shirt just right, rendering it see-through. Tattoos coloured his skin, and the urge to inspect them closer had me clenching my fists.
No distractions, remember?
How stupid I’d been to think he’d ever go unnoticed when he stood out like a shining beacon of sex in the middle of my club.
He stared back at me, and when he smirked, my resolve crumbled to dust.
“Fucking hell.” I gritted my teeth as I finally noticed the admiring glances he and Axel were getting from those around them. Some more subtle in their ogling than others.
I hated all of it.
I was halfway toward them, still no clearer on what I wanted to say when I reached them, when a loud crash from behind the bar stole my focus.
Shit.
With a frustrated sigh, I changed course and ducked behind the bar to find glass and beer all over the floor and Kevin, one of my bartenders, standing in the middle of it. Accidents happened and normally I’d take it all in stride, but irritation washed through me this time, obviously showing on my face.
Kevin held his hands up in quick apology. “Fuck, sorry boss. It slipped through my fingers.” He bent to pick up the broken glass, something I was pretty sure he wouldn’t normally do if I wasn’t glaring at him like an angry bear.
I grabbed his arm. “Don’t,” I said softly.
He’d only worked at the club for a couple of months before everything happened with Zane. He didn’t know me well enough to know that I never shouted at staff.
Never.
There was no excuse for treating people like shit and I wasn’t about to start now, just because I couldn’t go and talk to Dathal like I wanted to.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath in and schooled my features into something less murdery. “You’ll cut yourself if you try and pick it up.” Kevin was a witch like me, but a level three, and although he could probably heal a small cut pretty easily with his magic, he couldn’t do that here.
I plastered on what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Go get the dustpan and brush from the staff room while I finish serving.”
He looked a lot less intimidated as he hurried off to do as I asked. I stole another glance at Dathal, the smile sliding off my face as I noticed he wasn’t talking to Mase and Axel any longer. No, some huge fucker had sidled up beside him, leaving barely any space between them. My fingers twitched.
If I had my magic, I could easily make him back off.
And it was that type of thinking that got me sent up here in the first place. Scowling at them one last time, I rolled my shoulders and plastered on my professional face to serve whatever customers Kevin had left hanging.
I groaned when I realised who he’d been in the middle of serving.
Of fucking course.
Rys’s grinning face met me as I walked over to where he and Talis leant against the bar. He glanced over his shoulder to where Dathal stood. Still in deep conversation with the huge guy who had to be a fucking shifter.
Hell, Rys probably knew him.
“Not so funny when it’s you, is it?” His grin grew to shit-eating proportions and I glared at him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I plucked a pint glass from the shelf. “What can I get you?”
Rys gave me his drinks order, then leant on the bar, watching me. “It’s difficult to watch someone else try and take what should be yours but isn’t.” His voice was low enough that no one apart from Talis should hear him over the pounding bass reverberating throughout the club. I glanced at him, his smile now replaced by a serious expression I hadn’t expected.
I sighed, not wanting to have this conversation. “It’s not like that.”
“No?”
“No.” I remembered the night he’d been in here with Mase, before they’d got back together. How he’d growled in my direction for so much as even talking to Mase. I’d found it amusing at the time. But they were soulmates. It’d made sense for him to be possessive, even if they weren’t together. Instinct was hard to fight against, especially for an alpha wolf where his mate was concerned.
