They walked to the front so he could introduce her to his brothers.
“Sweetheart, this is my younger brother Patrick. This is my mate Juliette.”
Trick nodded and extended his hand with a smile. “Hey, that’s awesome. Welcome to the family, Juliette. Everyone calls me Trick.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Inside, they stopped at the bar. “Juliette, this is my brother Darrin, the alpha,” he said.
“You can call me Dare,” he said, shaking her hand across the bar. “What can I get for you? I’ll make you anything you like.”
“I’m not much of a drinker, but I do love lemon lime soda and cranberry juice if you could do that?”
“Happy to.” He glanced at Sigh. “You are staying to work? I hate to be that guy, but Marco can’t run a whole dinner shift by himself.”
“I’m staying,” he said.
Dare slid the pale yellow and bright red drink across the counter to Juliette and said, “Holler if you need a refill.”
She took a sip and hummed. “This is great, thank you.”
“Anytime. Welcome to the pack.”
She walked with Sigh into the kitchen and greeted Marco, taking a seat on the stool he’d set up the night before. “Blue Monster, baby?” he asked as he tied his apron around his waist and looked at the tickets already coming through the printer.
“Yes please.”
“On it,” he said with a wink.
He got the burgers going to fill the tickets and make her dinner. As he settled into the rhythm of work, they traded questions back and forth about their lives. How she’d lost her dad at a young age, and her mom after high school. How it was just him and his brothers; the pack of their youth and their family considered them dead for all intents and purposes.
“Family’s important to you,” she said, as she took a bite of the burger he’d made for her.
“Yes. I think it is for you, too.”
“Very much so,” she said. “I could tell it’s important to you and your brothers, because your eyes lit up when Trick welcomed me to the family and Dare welcomed me to the pack. For you guys, the words are interchangeable, aren’t they?”
He nodded. “Years ago, I wouldn’t have said that. Pack was pack, family was family. Close but not the same. But for us now, here in King Lake, the words mean the same thing – the people you’d kill for, walk across fire for, make a life with.”
“Feed,” she said, smiling as she picked up the burger.
He leaned over and kissed her. “You’ll never be hungry with me, baby. I’ll satisfy all the cravings you have.”
She grinned. “When does the tavern close?”
“Ten. I bet you’ll have all kinds of cravings by then.”
“I think you know me very well already, Sigh.”
“I’m trying my best.”
“Your best is amazing.”
Okay, he freaking loved it when she praised him.
He got back to cooking, sending burgers and fries out to his brothers after the dinner rush was over, then he and Juliette took a break on the back patio away from the smell of grilled meat and the noise from beyond the swinging doors.
He’d made a plate of loaded fries for them to share, with his homemade ranch and tons of cheese and crispy bacon.
