Chapter 55

JO

There was something different about him that night.

Some pent-up frustration, or anger, but Kray came into the bar hot and fast.

“I caught you some fish.”

He pushed a cooler across the bar counter, and I took a look inside. It was fully iced, with three beautiful salmon inside.

“Is this some old bear courting thing?” I teased. “Hey, hey, I’m trying to make amends,” he laughed.

“Well, thank you,” I closed the lid and walked it over to the walk-in fridge, leaving it inside for later.

“I haven’t been able to get yesterday out of my head,” he lowered his voice when I walked back to him.

My eyes darted over to Natalia, but she didn’t seem to hear or notice. “Shh, don’t start this again,” I sighed.

“You’re gorgeous, smart,” he was pouring it on thick. “It’s like the second you’re in the room all I can think about is what it would be like to -” “Natalia, can you man the bar for a little bit? I need to talk to him,” I cut

him off.

“Yes, ma’am,” she agreed without pausing from what she was doing. I stepped out, motioning for Kray to follow me.

“Don’t go talking like that in front of my customers, they’ll think it’s an okay thing to do,” I grumbled. I walked around the side of the building, towards the back, so that rumors wouldn’t start. He followed me without question.

“So, you’re saying you want me to talk like that to you when we’re alone?” his voice had a dangerous tone to it. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me, but this wasn’t what was important. “Because if that’s the case, there’s a hell of a lot more I want to say to you.”

“Look, just cut it out okay?”

“Why? You like me, you made that damn clear,” he frowned.

“That doesn’t mean I think it’s a good idea to do anything with you,” I couldn’t look him in the eye. Those damned green eyes were too much to handle.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” his voice softened. “I just want to figure out whatever the hell this is between us.”

“And then what? I don’t want to have to deal with the aftermath once you get bored,’ I frowned. “If we’re …” I couldn’t force the words from my lips.

“Say it, I feel it, too.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” I frowned. “Especially not with you, I don’t mess with bikers.”

“Come on, just say what you think this is,” he cornered me against the wall. I was overwhelmed with need, wanting him despite knowing I shouldn’t. He wasn’t a good choice for me. I’d made ten years of good choices, I didn’t need to throw it away for some random biker gang asshole.

“Fated mates,” I murmured, looking over his shoulder into the woods. His forefinger and thumb found my chin and pulled me into a kiss.

I didn’t want to turn him down anymore. My body needed him.

I hated to admit it, but I liked him, I wanted him in a way I hadn’t wanted anyone ever.

Even as I kissed him, my arms wrapping around his neck to drag him closer, I couldn’t help but wonder why. Why the hell was it him and me? He was just going to leave town, just going to ditch me and run off into the sunset without getting to figure out what the hell this was.

I hadn't let myself have fun in a while, though. I deserved one good night.

Kray pulled me up, pressing me into the wall so that my thighs could wrap around his waist. My leggings were thin, but as he grabbed my ass it felt like too much fabric separated us. He rolled his hips, and I moaned, grinding against him and seeing stars from how good it felt.

I could hear some motorcycles pull up to the bar, and I hoped his friends weren’t going to come looking for him. Kray was needed right the fuck where he was.

His kisses turned rough, trailing down to my neck he marked me again and again. I gasped, arching my back so that my chest pressed more against him.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, so perfect,” he growled as we writhed against each other. “I want you so bad it feels like I’m dying.”

“Ah, God - me too,” I gasped. I was nearly breathless from how all of it felt.

I wanted him to turn me around, to pull down my leggings and take me right there, but a sound filled the air. We both seemed to freeze at it.

Shouting, glass breaking, something was fucking wrong.

He set me down, and we fixed our clothing before running around the side of the building.

Those other motorcycles weren’t his gang, they’d already been there and I was too distracted to notice.

My brother stood in the middle of my bar, a chair raised, and he slammed it down on one of Kray’s gang members.

No!

Not here, not now, please no!

Sawyer looked pissed, he was bleeding and yelling.

Kray pushed past me, into the bar, and I didn’t know which would be worse. My brother getting hurt, or Kray.

“Get the fuck out of Ember Abyss,” one of the Carved Fangs yelled.

A Speared Lions member threw a full beer bottle at him, and the two shifted. Kray was still human until the exact moment my brother shifted, and then it was chaos. My bar had become a tangled mess of fur, blood, and alcohol.

I could smell smoke, hot and sudden, and I couldn't wait anymore. I shifted.

After not shifting for so long, it was like stretching a muscle that hadn’t been used. I was sore and uncomfortable, but my wolf was the largest in the family and I needed it.

Howling, and growling, I got everyone’s attention.

Someone had brought an ashtray into my bar and left a lit cigarette in it, and the commotion lit all the spilled alcohol. My bar was burning! Shifters

realized what I was alerting them to, and the gaggle of men rushed out in a mass exodus. Shifting back to my human form, I wrapped a coat around my naked body, went for the fire extinguisher, and hit the fire as quickly as I could. It was already getting out of control, already spreading.

Kray rushed in, using towels from the back, and his shredded shirt, to try and smother the fire where it was on the ground. When we finally got all of it out, my bar was ruined.

Scorched walls and floor, a broken window and table, bottle and glass all over the floor.

This wasn’t supposed to be a biker bar.

I wasn’t supposed to have to deal with this shit.

I turned around to the crowd of mostly naked men, clothes torn off of them from shifting, bleeding, a few still fighting out in my parking lot. I wanted to just give up and go to bed. This isn’t how I wanted tonight to go.

“Jo,” Kray said softly. My name in his voice sounded so good, and it hurt so much that this was when I had to hear it. I was done. No more distractions, no more risks, no more bikers. Walking away from him, I headed to my brother.

“I never want to see either of you in my fucking bar again,” I was too mad to even yell.

Kray looked angry at everything, with some guilt, but didn’t argue. For once he was quiet.

They stood there, for just a moment, before Kray got on his bike and rode off.

My brother didn’t look like he regretted anything and didn’t have any of the guilt that Kray looked like he had.

“You don’t fucking understand,” he said before getting on his bike. I didn’t want to if this was what understanding got me.