“I think you’ve had too much to drink. Why don’t you—”
I gasped when someone snatched the back of my shirt and hauled me aside. I gripped a chair to keep from falling and looked up at Jericho, who lit up a cigarette with a flick of his silver lighter.
“Who invited you?” one of the guys spat.
I shouted for Denver when the men rose from the table. Jericho kept his cool, taking a long drag of his cigarette before blowing smoke in their faces.
My heart raced. What do I do? We didn’t have bouncers in this bar; that job had been left to the bartender and a few guys in the kitchen.
Reno, Wheeler, and Trevor materialized behind Jericho without a word. My table seemed more concerned with the likes of Wheeler, who folded his arms and incinerated them with his molten gaze. Jericho’s brothers took a stance that left no question they were a pack—and a pack lived, ate, and fought together. I didn’t know what kind of animals the idiots at my table were, but they looked intimidated.
Jericho pulled another drag from his cigarette and smashed the butt in the ashtray. “Why don’t you walk outta here before we take matters into our own hands? I don’t like seeing greedy men putting their hands on a woman disrespectfully, and neither do my brothers. Don’t fuck with the Weston pack.”
To my surprise, the men spat a few obscenities and cowardly walked away.
“They must have been deer,” Trevor said with a cocky laugh.
“More like chickens,” Wheeler suggested, his arms still crossed.
Trevor looked disappointed as he turned away. “Well, I got my wolf all amped up for nothing. How about next time we don’t deliver a threat and just beat their sorry asses?”
Reno chuckled and messed up Trevor’s hair. “Some battles aren’t worth fighting.”
As the men dispersed, a warm feeling slid over my body when I looked up at Jericho. His eyes were hooded and low, but when he melted me with a possessive gaze, my feet cemented to the floor.
He moved toward me with the grace of a panther—slow and predatory. The external noise from the bar faded away, and all I heard were his silken words as he caressed the ends of my hair, looking at it between his fingers.
“You haven’t changed,” he said in quiet words.
“What do you mean by that?”
Jericho bent down and his mouth brushed against my ear. “Still sexy as sin and making me protect you.”
Goose bumps erupted over my arms. “No one said you had to protect me. I’m not the shy girl you once knew.” My heart raced. The inflection in my tone wasn’t as harsh as I’d planned it to be, my words breathy and unsure.
His warm body pressed against mine and when I stepped back, I bumped into a wooden post that pinned me to him. Tingles raced through my body uncontrollably, and I lost the ability to think rationally when I smelled his cologne. Men never had this kind of effect on me. His power slid down my body like hands against my naked flesh.
Jericho had a smile that aroused, and combined with his voice, it became an aphrodisiac.
Or maybe it was the way his callused fingers lightly stroked the back of my neck, as if I were an instrument. As he played me, memories flooded my mind, and I shoved him away, panting and trembling.
Jericho worked his jaw in a frustrated manner, his brows slanting down with a look of disbelief. He shook his head and then backed up.
A brunette appeared out of nowhere in a revealing top that displayed her breasts like cookies in a bakery: warm, tempting, and something you’d regret later.
“How’s my sexy man?” she asked, tucking her fingers possessively in his jeans and nipping on his arm. “You want to go have some fun?”
His eyes stayed locked on mine as he circled his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She moaned playfully as he squeezed her hip, testing if I had my temper under control.
So I played his game.
“Can I get you a drink, honey?” I asked her. “Maybe some milk in a dish?”
Sometimes I could spot the cats. It was all in the purr and the way they slinked their bodies.
“No, thanks,” she replied. “I have something else in mind I want to put in my mouth.”
When she stroked his crotch, I blinked in surprise. Not just because she had the audacity to do that in front of me, but the fact that Jericho tilted his head and gave me a “so what?” look.
So what?