Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)

I dropped my cue on the table and stepped between them. Though I’d have loved to watch Shaz beat the mouthy wolf bloody, it would serve only to prove the wolf’s claim that we didn’t belong there. With a pulse of assertive energy, I pushed Mitch away. Shaz was the difficult one. He attempted to shove me aside, eager to throw another fist.

“Enough.” I fixed my gaze on Mitch, ready to put him on his ass if needed. He wavered, unsteady on his feet. “The two of you have nothing to say to each other. Mind your own damn business, and we’ll mind ours.”

As drunk as he was, the wolf still knew better than to antagonize me. Being feared had its advantages, though at times it could be quite the opposite. It meant that I was no longer underestimated. And I did so love a chance to prove that I should not be misjudged.

Mitch muttered something that involved several curse words before hurling what was left of his beer at us. It hit the corner of the pool table before shattering against the floor. He staggered to the bar where he proceeded to argue with the bartender about being cut off.

Shaz strained against me, wanting to go after him. “Hey,” I said, a hand firmly on his shoulder. “That was not a fight worth getting into.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” His eyes were wolf when he pushed me. When I held my ground and wouldn’t be moved, he snarled, “Get out of my way, Arys.”

“Not until you calm down. When did you become such a maniac anyway?” A thin ribbon of my power reached out to wrap around him. Subtle but effective, I calmed him with my touch.

His gaze dropped to my hand, and he glowered. “Cut that out you manipulat—”

“Careful now,” I interrupted. “You don’t want to piss off the one person in here that can actually take you.”

The small force I exuded smoldered with erotic heat, something I couldn’t help. It was in my nature. Shaz groaned, a sound that was both angry and sensual.

“I really fucking hate you sometimes,” he said, knocking my hand away.

“What happened to bonding? We were doing so good before you let yourself be so easily coerced into a bar brawl. Come on, Shaz. You’re better than that.”

He glared at Mitch who was now pleading his case to the bouncer trying to escort him out. Shaz sighed and swore. Then he nodded.

“Fine. You want to bond? Then come with me. Time for you to see things from our side.” He abandoned his beer bottle, dropped his cue on the table, and headed for the door.

I followed, not because he was being a tad dramatic but because he’d captured my interest. For all I knew he could have been leading me to the parking lot to instigate a brawl that nobody would break up.

His stride was purposeful, his jaw set with determination. Curious, I sauntered along behind him, noting how he trusted me enough to turn his back to me. That small act revealed much.

Hiding my smile, I called after him, “Where are we going?”

Without a glance back, he said, “To Alexa’s house.”

Epilogue

Standing in Alexa’s backyard, I was painfully aware of her absence. The house stood dark and silent. Everything about it was wrong.

Shaz pointed beyond the property line to the trees in the distance. “Out there is a place that’s very special to Alexa. I’m going to show it to you.”

He pulled his t-shirt off and laid it on the stone wall of the fire pit. His hands went to his pants, and he shot a glance my way, one brow raised in an unspoken question.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Though I had seen through the eyes of Alexa’s wolf, I had never accompanied her into the forest. Shaz’s willingness to take me to a place they had been together caused a swell of emotion to rise within me.

When he stood there in his boxers, oblivious to the autumn chill in the air, I felt the stirrings of the ghostly beast that dwelled within. His gaze narrowed as he seemed to sense it.

“Arys? Are you ok? You smell like wolf.”

“As do you, pup,” I said, avoiding his question. “Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”

There was some hesitation on his part. Then he slipped out of the boxers and stretched. His limbs were long and pale in the dark of the night. Without another word he became wolf, a change so fast and fluid it was near impossible to see in its entirety.

He was one of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever seen, second only to Alexa. Fur the same white blond as his hair, the green of his eyes seemed to glow in contrast. He loped out of the yard without checking to ensure that I followed.

I most certainly did. We cut a path across the small expanse of field to the waiting forest. It was nice to walk beneath a blanket of stars with the white wolf. The city suddenly felt so far away.

The echo of wolf was alive with excitement inside me. The scent of the earth at my feet and the wolf beside me brought memories swimming up from the depths of my subconscious, all of them Alexa’s. Being wolf meant so much to her. I would never have forgiven myself if she had lost it.