“What now?” Astaroth asked, resenting this interruption even more than the first. To his horror, a second rugby team was jumping and shouting and smacking one another’s bums in the lobby, these ones dressed in blue jerseys proclaiming Soundview Shifters. “More werewolves?”
Bronwyn passed by the table, menus in hand. “They’re a mix of shifters, not werewolves.” She pointed at the tallest man, who had a bushy brown beard and a bun. “The captain is Ranulf, a bear-shifter, and his second, Cooper, is a corgi-shifter.”
Astaroth eyed the shorter man next to Ranulf. He looked buff, but still. “A corgi-shifter?” he asked skeptically.
“Have you ever seen a corgi at the dog park?” Bronwyn asked. “They give zero fucks.” She smiled, then hurried away to greet the newcomers.
“This is exciting,” Calladia said. “A rival team?”
He did not like the way she was ogling those shifters. “So, about the quest,” he said in an attempt to distract her. “Should we—”
“Ranulf!” Kai shouted the name and launched out of his chair. “I’m amazed you have the courage to show up here after the beating we just delivered on the pitch. Eager for more?”
“Yes,” Calladia hissed, doing a fist pump. “Rivals!”
Astaroth had no idea what she was excited about. All he knew was that there were thirty very large and very attractive wolves and shifters in the dining room, which was about thirty too many. In normal times he would have welcomed an overabundance of attractive people, but his thoughts had become obsessively fixed on one specific attractive person, and he urgently needed to hustle her out of here before any of the overgrown furballs propositioned her again.
“Come on,” he said, standing up. “Let’s retrieve Bronwyn and discuss next steps.”
The dryad was nowhere to be seen though, and a rolling metal door had been pulled down to block the space above the bar. The door to the kitchen was barricaded with a table.
Ranulf sauntered into the middle of the room. “You might have won this match,” the bear-shifter said, “but we still have the most wins in the league.”
All the rugby players were standing now. Some were stretching, others punching their palms. One grabbed a pool cue and snapped it over his knee.
“Calladia,” Astaroth said, gripping her elbow to help her out of her chair, “it isn’t safe.”
“Season isn’t over,” Kai said. “Next match, we’re going to wipe the field with you again.”
“How?” Ranulf shot back. “You incompetent degenerates can barely wipe your own asses.”
The insult elicited a burst of outraged grumbling. “Calladia,” Astaroth repeated more urgently, tugging at her arm. She didn’t move, her attention fixed on the rapidly devolving scene.
“You’re a hoity-toity jackass with an overinflated ego,” Kai said.
“And you’re a bum with mommy issues whose closest relationship is with your right hand,” Ranulf snapped.
Kai’s eyes looked about to bug out. “Your man bun is tasteless, and your beard smells like stale chips and defeat,” he nearly screamed.
With a roar, Ranulf rushed forward and tackled Kai into a table, which broke under their weight. Instantly, the rest of the men sprang into action, pummeling one another with fists, pool cues, even chairs. Cooper the corgi-shifter headbutted a green-kitted wolf, and blood sprayed.
Definitely time to leave. Astaroth reached for Calladia again—
Only to realize she was no longer at his side.
He looked around frantically and caught a glimpse of a swinging blond braid. Then a swinging fist.
A blue-kitted shifter’s head snapped back at Calladia’s hit. “Damn,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “A new player has joined the game.”
He picked up a chair and swung it at Calladia.
Astaroth was already halfway across the room, but he wouldn’t be fast enough. His heart hammered, and terror rose in his throat.
Calladia ducked and spun, jabbing her elbow into the shifter’s ribs. The chair went flying.
Then Astaroth was in the thick of it, dodging fists and elbows as he tried to make it to her side.
“Well, well.” Kai was abruptly in front of him, grinning with blood-slicked teeth. “The demon wants to play!”
Astaroth risked a glance at Calladia and was relieved to see her still on her feet. She cast him a feral grin before picking up a napkin holder and chucking it at someone’s head.
Apparently they were doing this.
Astaroth cracked his neck. His leg had been a bit sore earlier, but the adrenaline pumping through him was enough to make him feel invincible.
“Come on, pretty boy,” Kai taunted. “Show me what you’ve got.”
This werewolf wanted a fight?
He was going to get one.
SIXTEEN
Calladia laughed wildly as she dodged a punch, then hammered her opponent’s side. The wolf grunted. “Nice hook,” he said before surprising her with a front kick to the gut.
The air rushed out of her as she crashed into a table. Silverware and condiment bottles went flying, and Calladia grabbed a ketchup bottle from midair before winging it back at the wolf who’d kicked her. This one was named Avram, she remembered. With his thick brown hair and big nose, he reminded her of Ben, her friend and Mariel’s boss. She’d started targeting the blue-kitted shifters, but as all werewolf brawls went, it was a free-for-all now, with teammates fighting both their opponents and one another.
Avram caught the bottle and crowed in delight. “Kai, we have a new recruit!”
This was what she adored about werewolves and shifters. They were the only other people she’d met who seemed to understand fighting was fun.
A familiar shout caught her attention, and she whipped her head around to see Astaroth take a punch to the cheek from Kai’s massive fist. His head snapped to the side, but he embraced the momentum, completing an elegant spin that culminated in a roundhouse kick to Kai’s ribs.
Ooh, nice move. Maybe Astaroth could run her through it later.
The werewolf wheezed and clutched his ribs. “Damn, demon. Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.” Astaroth grabbed a chair and swung at Kai’s torso again. The wood exploded on impact, and one leg flew off and brained Ranulf, who had just been clambering to his feet from under the remnants of a table.
“Two for one!” Calladia hooted.
Astaroth looked at her and shook his head, grinning. “Witch, you’re a menace.”
She’d distracted him though, and Kai was already moving. “Watch out!” Calladia called. The werewolf was airborne and about to full-body tackle her demon.
Astaroth moved with liquid grace, dodging the tackle, and Kai crashed into the wall. Ranulf swung for Astaroth’s head, and Astaroth performed some complicated maneuver that resulted in him suplexing the bear into the ground. As more opponents converged on him, Astaroth snapped a leg off an overturned table and held it in front of him like a sword. “Come and get it,” he taunted. “Humiliation is free.”
Calladia gaped as Astaroth handily defeated wolf after wolf with his fists, feet, and makeshift sword. He was smaller than his opponents, but he made tossing them around look easy.
A pulse started between her thighs.