Ten

Wes slid a cold beer down the bar at Ezra as Brianna reached around him for a highball glass. He forced a smile onto his face but found it difficult being nice with her constant scolding of his actions earlier.

“Seriously,” Brianna said. “Don’t put me between the two of you again. I don’t mind picking up extra shifts, but not if it’s because you two are at odds with each other and you’re using it to punish her.” She turned to face him, hand on her hip. “I don’t like being the paddle.”

“How about being paddled?” Ezra quipped as he reached for his beer.

Brianna just winked as she grinned at him. “Now, that’s a whole other story.”

Wes rolled his eyes. “Some things, I just don’t want to know.” He shook his head as he turned and leaned back on the bar. “But you’re right. I should have given you more of a heads up as to why I called you in to work. I was pissed and hurt and just didn’t want to deal with it.”

“And now?” Brianna asked, staring him down.

Wes sighed. “We’re good, but we still have some things to figure out.”

“So, why isn’t she here?” Brianna pushed, still not content, it seemed, with the way things stood between the two.

Wes sighed. “She’s doing some of that figuring out stuff, right now. She’ll be by later.” I hope. Truthfully, who knew what would happen later? While he determined to make things work between the three of them—whatever that meant—he wasn’t sure Jake would be as willing. Shifters were pretty particular about how others treated their mates. Wes, himself, struggled making his mind wrap around the current situation between all of them. The one thing he knew for sure was that he couldn’t lose Noel, no matter what he needed to do to keep her, even if that meant sharing her.

“Uh huh,” Brianna said with a quick nod. “Why do I not believe you?”

“What?” Ezra said with a chuckle. “He sounded convincing to me.” The thick man lifted his beer bottle to his lips and took a sip, his laughter shining in his eyes.

Wes rolled his eyes. A scream came from the back, and Wes pushed himself away from the bar to go stop whatever caused the disturbance to his quiet night. Of course, the distraction would be welcome. His mind was going crazy wondering what Noel was up to with her fiancé in Melbourne. His cell phone had remained quiet all night, which he understood, but still didn’t like.

“Okay, people, let’s calm down back here,” he said as he neared the two guys making the disturbance. “Everglades can only handle so much rowdiness.”

“Leave us the fuck alone,” a young kid, probably barely out of college, if he even attended college, snarled at Wes. He tried to puff out his scrawny chest, but Wes only rolled his eyes at him.

“Yeah, leave us alone,” the kid’s partner-in-crime said as he wobbled near his buddy. “We’re just having fun and cutting loose.” Both seemed to be a little too loose, and Wes knew he would have to kick them out soon. He wasn’t in the mood to put up with idiots. Not tonight.

“Well, calm the fun down,” Wes said. “You’re disturbing the customers up front.”

“Then I suggest they go to a library,” the first guy spat. “This is a bar, not a church social. People are expected to get rowdy.”

Wes sighed. He hated this part of owning a bar. “No, people are not expected to get rowdy. They’re expected to behave. Now, just keep it down, all right?” He started to turn and walk back to the bar, but he should have known better. He should have known that nothing is ever as easy as people just doing what they should.

“Look, dude, we’ll do whatever the fuck we want to do. We paid for our drinks, and we’re going to be as loud as we want while we drink them. We have just as much right to do what we want as those pussies up front.”

Wes turned and glared at the kid, the first one who just kept running his mouth. By the look on the second kid’s face, he knew enough to keep his mouth shut. Wes wished his friend could be just as smart. “This is my bar, which means you only have the rights inside of here that I give you. Now, you can either calm your scrawny ass down or get the hell out of here. Either way is fine by me. And if you don’t calm your ass down, I’ll have no problem hauling you out of here myself.”

The kid laughed. He actually laughed. Wes just stared at him, unsure what the kid thought he had that would keep Wes from snatching him by the scruff of the neck and dragging him out the door and pitching him out on his ass. He glanced at the table to see how much the kid had been drinking, and it didn’t look like an abundant amount, not enough to make his idiocy explainable anyway. So, what was his problem?

Wes narrowed his eyes as he took a step toward the kid. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

The kid sneered. “I’m the one who’s going to tear this place down when my grandfather buys it.” His upper lip curled up as he stared at Wes with disgust. “Your ilk doesn’t belong around normal folks. The Order of Wardens will make sure you’re driven far away from here.”

Wes glanced at the kid’s friend, his dark green eyes full of trouble as he glared back at Wes. “You really should take Mr. Prescott’s offer. One way or another, your broken-down bar is toast.”

Wes narrowed his eyes at the punk as he took a step closer to him. “Are you threatening me? If you truly know about my kind, then you should realize that’s not a very smart idea.”

Prescott’s grandson stiffened his back as he faced off with Wes. The kid looked like he was barely of legal drinking age, too young to already be so filled with prejudice and hate. He stepped between his friend and Wes, his chest out and his eyes narrowed. “What are you going to do? Turn into your disgusting animal and attack us? Your kind can’t fight like real people, can you? You’re sick, a perversion of…”

He never said another word. Wes lashed out, grabbing him by the throat and spinning him around behind him toward the front door. The kid’s feet flew out from under him as Wes hurled him into a set of chairs at an empty table. Wes turned back to the kid’s friend, but the young man just stood there slack jawed, staring as his buddy groaned on the floor. Wes didn’t think the kid had it in him to cause any trouble, so turned back around to the first kid, feeling his bear struggling to bust loose and finish the job. Wes bit down on the shift, knowing this needed to be done by his own hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ezra and Brianna standing there, watching as he reached down and grabbed Prescott’s grandson and hoisted him to his feet. With a growl, he jerked the kid to within inches of his face, and snarled, “I don’t need help removing the likes of you from Everglades.” He dragged the kid to the front door, opened it, and shoved him outside into the parking lot. “And tell your grandfather, Everglades is still not for sale.”

Wes turned, slamming the door behind him and headed for the bar. Ezra was already sliding back onto his barstool, while Brianna just stood there, arms over her chest as she stared at Wes. “Was that really necessary?” she asked.

Wes nodded as he watched the kid’s friend scurry past him and out the door. “Yeah, it kind of was. I hate people like him. Bull Creek has had its fill of idiots.”

“Who was he?” Ezra asked as he picked up his beer again.

Wes grabbed a glass from under the bar and set it on the counter. He then reached down and grabbed the whiskey, filling the glass. “His grandfather is from Draven Falls. Apparently, he’s part of some group called the Order of Wardens who see it as their duty to drive shifters out of human populated areas. He offered to buy Everglades a couple of days ago, and now, his grandson threatened to do something to the place.” He glanced over at Brianna. “I’d keep a close watch on yourself while they’re in town.”

She nodded. “You really think they’d try to hurt someone?”

Wes downed the whiskey, setting the glass down on the bar a little harder than he intended. “I honestly don’t know what they would or wouldn’t do. I’ll have Dimitri try and dig up some information on the group, but until then, everyone needs to watch their backs.”

Brianna said she would and then started making the rounds checking on other customers. Ezra just sipped his beer, choosing not to say anything. Wes poured another glass as he worried about Noel walking into something at the bar. He needed to warn her and almost picked up his cell phone to do just that when he remembered the reason why she wasn’t here with him now. His chest clenched as he wondered again how her night turned out and whether he would lose her to Jake. Noel had become the bright spot in Wes’ life, and he didn’t want to lose her. However, he also couldn’t keep her if her heart belonged with someone else.

He heard his bear rumble his disagreement within him, refusing to be parted from his mate. I know how you feel, boy, but it’s her decision. We’ll just have to pray she makes the one we want. He downed the fiery liquid.