Page 66 of Nicolette

“Can you take that upstairs to eat so we can talk,” Nine asked in a low voice, grabbing my drink. “There’s been a development with those who’ve left the pride.”

Mouth already full of onion rings, I nodded and hopped off the stool. “Thanks, Trixi, it’s exactly what I wanted today. I don’t know how you pulled it off, but you got my vote,” I told her as we headed up.

“Vote for what?” she asked, looking a little confused.

I smiled brightly at the bottom step. “Oh, for becoming the new bar manager. Once I’m done kicking his ass, regardless of him living or dying, he won’t be running this place.”

She looked a little stunned, then burst into what I can only guess would be her interpretation of karate, muttering her excitement over the idea. “Fuck yeah, take that, you asshole. It’s my turn to run things, bitch. Hell yeah, this is gonna be epic.”

It was seeing shit like that which told me things really needed to change in this pride. There was no support offered to those who had skills and should be in better-matched positions. Trixi knew this bar and the people who frequented it. The guys made it clear she could handle herself with the bikers, and they respected her. I’m no business expert, but how the fuck she wasn’t more than an afternoon bar babysitter blew my mind. It just seemed so obvious to me the talent and skills she had.

“Careful, your alpha side is showing,” Marco whispered in my ear with a chuckle.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I followed him up the stairs, to my surprise, over to the conference table. “What do you mean by that?” I asked as I sat.

“Female alphas have the ability to see where each pride member can be placed to the best advantage. In the animal world, the females, especially lionesses, do all the hunting, caring for the young, and even defending the pride if the male lion isn’t around. Many believe they only have a male around to make babies, but they also are the guardians of the group,” Rambler shared. “In the shifter world, this has morphed to fit our human abilities by seeing where each piece of the puzzle will fit best. I’m guessing the choice for Trixi to manage the bar is a no-brainer for you.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking two seconds ago,” I blurted. “Which, let’s be honest, how the fuck would I know that when I’ve never had a real job or worked somewhere to learn that type of shit?”

“Welcome to being a shifter where humanity and instinct combine,” Circus said. “Soon, you’ll learn to trust when you know things like that and just go with it.”

“Good to know I’m not going crazy when that shit happens.” I sighed, popping another onion ring in my mouth. “So what happened?”

“I reached out to the pride that offered to take those who no longer wished to be here and discovered something rather odd,” Nine started, leaning forward and stealing an onion ring from my plate, which got him a warning snarl. “He had no idea what I was talking about and has had no contact at all with anyone from our pride in the past few days. Then he went on to tell me he wouldn’t have been able to take them in either since there is a major turf war going on between them and the werewolves in their city. Seems the werewolves have a new alpha and are trying to push the felines out.”

Having just taken a massive bite of my sandwich, I had to hurry up and chew before I could speak. Thankfully Polo asked the question I was about to with this whole thing. “If they didn’t go there, where else would they have gone? Also, don’t you have to be the one to make arrangements with the alpha of the pride they are relocating to?”

“I will only say this once, and then it won’t be brought up again,” Nine warned, looking at each of us in turn before he continued, “What I did to Amaretto fucked with my head, and then Nic got backlash from it as well. When the first group approached me after finding out what happened, I didn’t even try to argue. In fact, I think I told them to get fucking lost and don’t let the door hit them on the way out. If they wanted to abandon me for the choice I made, then fuck them.”

Hearing him say that had me pausing before taking another bite to lower the sandwich back to the plate. “Do you still feel that way?” My mind raced, fearing the ass-chewing I’d given him earlier made things worse for him.

“No, you were right to tell me I needed to man the fuck up and own the choice I made,” Nine admitted. “When I was sixteen, my parents were killed in a car accident, or at least that’s what the police told me when they broke the news. Come to find out, the truth of the matter is the accident they were in was a car bomb. A group of shifter terrorists planted it to take out my mother, who was part of the shifter council. I guess there was some matter the council had decided on that they felt undermined shifters in the workplace. So, they planted the bomb to go off when someone sat in the passenger seat.

Without parents, I went to live with my aunt, my father’s sister, and the pride she was a part of. The police never found the people who killed my parents, so I took matters into my own hands. I joined the terrorist group, which opened my eyes to the worst of our kind. The way they treated those they deemed to be against our people was something I had nightmares about for years. It was through them that I was introduced to Viking, our previous president. He supplied them with guns, black market supplies, and explosives. Once I found the people responsible for making, planting, and coming up with the idea to kill my parents three years later, I took out all nine of them.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“Then I went after Viking, doing the same thing, becoming a prospect and working my way into the Savage Pride. Only thing was, by the time I was a fully patched-in member, I’d learned he never sold them the explosives. One of his people went behind his back and did the deal, knowing it would kill my mother. The moment that Viking found out, he killed the crew member for treason against shifters and the pride,” Nine explained. “I have no idea how I ended up president and alpha to this pride, but I take that responsibility incredibly seriously. Which is why having those I’ve looked after doubt me was like a punch in the gut.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how he got his name within the crew. While it didn’t happen as a Savage Pride member, it was still a moment in Nine’s life that I’m sure Viking knew Nine would need to be reminded of. He’d gotten revenge for his parents that no one else could manage by putting himself in massive danger. To me, that showed just how deep his loyalties lay when someone was important to him. It also helped me to understand that he’d seen the worst of the shifter world and wanted to be better, creating a refuge. He didn’t want to become like those people who killed his family, but he’d strayed a little too far on the side of nice and lenient.

“All right then, we just have to find out where they went, and if they still don’t want to come back, then at least we know if they’re safe,” I suggested. “You said another group left today, didn’t you? Is there someone who’s good at tracking who can hunt them down?”

Everyone turned to Dice, who was spinning a throwing blade on the table like it was a fidget toy. “I’m not doing it,” he announced.

Slapping my hand over the blade to stop it caused him to glare at me. “Can you at least tell us why?”

“They fucking left and clearly lied to us, so why the hell should I give two shits where they went. Besides, you have a challenge fight tonight. I’m not going anywhere until that’s done,” Dice stated, lifting my hand from the blade and turning it over to show me I’d sliced my finger.

That fucking blade had been so sharp I didn’t even feel it when it sliced into my skin. Taking hold of the cut finger as blood ran down it, Dice licked from palm to fingertip, cleaning up the blood. The wound continued to bleed, so he popped the finger into his mouth and sucked on it, stroking his tongue over the slice. When he pulled it back out, it was healed, but there was a little pink line from where it had been.

“My blades are made of silver, one of the few things that shifters are vulnerable to across the board. Next time keep that in mind when you interact with them since they are far more difficult to heal, even with our magic,” Dice warned, pressing a kiss to the scar. “Does this mean you wear my mark now?”

“I don’t think that’s quite how it works, but what the hell do I know,” I said, interlocking our hands together and leaning close. “You might want to try it the traditional way too, just to be sure.”

Hearing those words coming out of my mouth surprised me, yet I had to admit I was being serious. Even though it had hardly been any time at all, there was no sane reason for me to feel like these men were mine as much as I was theirs. The thought of having Dice mark me and for me to put my mark on him had my lioness purring up a storm with a smug look on her face. She’d known all along. It just took my ass longer to figure it out.

“Oh yeah, thanks for the heads up about the knives being silver. I’ll be more careful next time,” I assured him, feeling slightly awkward with my bold declaration and the fact he had yet to say anything about it.

Pulling my hand away so I could finish eating, I let out a yelp as Dice hauled me out of my seat onto his lap. He grabbed my plate, sliding it over for me, then promptly wrapped his arms around my waist, propping his chin on my shoulder. This was a move I’d expected from Circus, but it meant far more to me, knowing it was Dice, the man who hated people’s touch.