Chapter 16 #2
Chuckling, I stole one too many glances at the hot and busy couple, my dick aching to the point my cock was crowded in my jeans. I moved on my seat, almost desperate to rip them off. Even my heart was pounding from watching them achieve their carnal pleasures.
If I wasn’t careful, I’d break into Christine’s house and fuck her brains out. Mmm… The thought was delicious. “Meaning?”
“Meaning starting with your generation, wolves have lost many of their primal abilities. Mating rituals are different, now centered on human courtship. Every wolf is different, but the symptoms appear the same. Now, this girl. How attracted to her are you?”
My skin itched just thinking about her, another wave of heat rolling into my system. “Very.”
“Then my guess is you found your mate.”
I had to laugh until I choked. “I doubt she’ll see it my way.”
“Then you’ll need to convince her. The human way. Flowers. Dates. Watching movies together. Buying her a puppy. Whatever she wants you make sure she gets or within two months, you’ll be a blubbering mess of flesh and blood incapable of doing anything but panting and hunting.”
“Oh, fucking fantastic. Thank you so very much for the advice.”
“I don’t mean to cut this short, son, but we have a much bigger problem.”
“And that is?”
“Ah, rumor has it some senator is planning on introducing a bill in Congress that would allow our rights to be stripped away. I don’t mind telling you that we can’t allow that to happen.
So we’re digging up everything about this man and his family since you and I both know there isn’t a creature out there who doesn’t have a dirty little secret hiding in his or her closet. ”
“When will this shit end?”
Another sigh, but I could hear the anguish. My father was very much an empath, suffering every ache and pain of our pack. “I don’t know, son. But I’m hoping in your lifetime. It would be amazing for your pups to grow up in a free world.”
My pups.
Marriage. Kids. Buying a home together. Sports games. Graduations. Birthdays. Weddings. Jesus Christ, I was sweating from the thought. I couldn’t do all that. I wasn’t ready. And even if Christine was my mate, she’d kill me as soon as marry me.
“Thanks for the advice, Dad. Good luck with destroying this senator.”
“When there’s a will, there’s a way, Steven. Taking a mate doesn’t mean the end of your career or your life. It means beginning a new chapter and trust me, it’s worth the bite.”
“Ha, ha. So I’ve heard,” I told him, thoughts of my brother sliding into my mind.
“Yet you don’t want to believe. You’re a good man, Steven, but you need to settle down to live up to your potential.”
Settle down. Everyone wanted to handle me.
“But what if she’s human, Dad? What happens to our bloodline?”
The hesitation already gave me an answer.
“Son, your mother and I just want you happy. The pack and the family name will go on. Whether or not our blood is diluted doesn’t matter nearly as much as your happiness.
And in truth, we can’t alter what’s already occurred.
No longer will shifters be of pure blood.
That’s an irresponsible way of looking at the future. ”
“Okay, Pops. I’ll think about what you’ve said.”
“One more piece of advice. Find a surrogate pack in Tampa.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“They’re creeping up more and more, but I’m talking about locations you can go where shifters are not only welcome, but they are also encouraged to be themselves.
However, within that recommendation is a warning.
We have it good with our pack in close proximity.
From what I understand, you don’t have anything similar in Tampa, although I’m aware someone on the city council has already proposed land for that option.
But now since everything is out in the open, as you might imagine, the concept is being challenged. ”
“Let me guess. People are terrified shifters will break free from the perimeter.”
“Something like that. There’s a lot of red tape to go through, but that’s something I’m willing to undertake as well. But there must be a place you can go.”
“Yeah, I can think of one. How’s Saint? Does he still hate me?”
“He never hated you, Steven. You two just have way too much testosterone. Maybe you can solve that in the upcoming game I heard you two are going to play.”
I was ready to beat my head against the steering wheel. “Quite a matchup.”
“One that is a long time coming. You’ll need to talk to him, Steven. Maybe you can lean on him and his advice. He’s been through exactly what you’re going through. And he’s family. Above all, he will always be your brother.”
“Yeah, I know. Talk to you soon.”
Of course I’d heard what my father had said to Saint about him needing a mate.
Even in my lifetime, the world of wolf shifters had changed significantly.
Whereas we used to live in a tightly knit community, years before we’d begun to disperse, some living hundreds of miles away.
That didn’t change being a part of a pack.
We also weren’t living nearly as long, which our experts blamed on the human influence and the weakening of our bloodline. Up until Lily had come into our world, we’d been of a pure bloodline. Now what? If I had pups, what would they endure in years, decades to come?
One thing was certain. I wasn’t going to glean the answers sitting in the parking lot. And I was one thirsty man. Maybe the Wolf Bar was exactly what I needed to clear my head.
So I walked inside.
I don’t know what the hell I expected. Maybe wolves roaming around with humans, plates filled with steak and bone marrow in bowls. Or maybe a bar complete with a jungle atmosphere. Neither was true; instead the dimly lit space reminded me of one of several bars I’d gone to while in college.
Yes, the stench of fur lingered in the space, but unless you were a shifter, it would be assumed the scent was all about heavy testosterone as there were more males than females in the bar.
What I appreciated more than anything was the lack of protestors or the press. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe the Wolf Bar was too normal to fuel their insane stories. Whatever the case, the peace and quiet was exactly what I needed.
There were pool tables and dartboards, and several television sets with various sports games, including hockey. There were two bartenders, one who looked as if he bench-pressed four hundred pounds at a time and a chick who was likely a biker’s girlfriend.
Hell, even on the walls were photographs of various sports stars. Recent photographs and if I had to guess, I’d say they were shifter heroes. One caught my eye that was hanging close to the bar. I was already snorting when I approached.
It was my brother standing with his arm wrapped around the bartender’s shoulders, the burly man wearing my brother’s old jersey. Wow. I had no idea.
“You look a lot like him.”
The man’s voice matched his physique, rough and tumble. He approached, eyeing me entirely differently than when I was recognized while walking into a human bar. “Thanks. I guess.”
He laughed. “Well, you could look like that asshole.” He pointed to another picture hanging close by and I visibly winced.
“Fuck, I guess I could. My brother come here often?”
“When he’s in town. Like clockwork. What’ll you have?”
“Just a draft. Guinness if you have it on tap.”
His grin widened. “You passed the test. Of course we have Guinness on tap.” For some crazy reason, wolf shifters preferred a darker brew, Guinness to be exact.
There was no rhyme or reason, but it was an interesting nugget of information that had endured gossip and variations of the story since the seventeen hundreds.
As he poured the beer stein, I scanned the customers.
While a couple of guys nodded from recognition, not a single person in the joint was afraid or incensed that I’d dared walk into their fine establishment.
Hell, maybe my father was right in that finding a place with my own kind was good for the psyche.
“Here you go.” As soon as he placed the beer onto the bar’s surface, he nodded behind me. “Speak of the devil.”
I didn’t need to turn around to know Saint had arrived. I could smell him from a significant distance. And not his natural scent either.
A laugh had already bubbled to the surface by the time he slipped onto a barstool next to me. “Speak of the devil indeed.”
By the time my brother had landed on the wooden surface, a Guinness and a shot of tequila were waiting for him. While another one of our inhuman attributes was our ability to hold our liquor, I was surprised he was indulging.
He lifted the shot glass, tossing it back before he even settled in. When he slammed it on the bar, I shook my head.
“Always the grandstander,” I told him, wrinkling my nose when he glanced in my direction.
“What? I took a shower.”
“Not your body odor. It’s your choice of aftershave. You’re still wearing that shit?”
“Jovan Musk Oil isn’t shit. It’s the fragrance I wore every time I captured a beautiful woman.”
I choked on a gulp of beer. “You mean Lily would kick your ass if she knew you were wearing that shit.”
He laughed. “Bingo. I had a half bottle left. I couldn’t let it go to waste.”
As the laughter died down, the silence we’d shared most times when together drifted between us. For the two kids who’d been so close, to find it difficult to know how to even talk to him any longer was bothersome.
“I don’t know what to say, Saint.”
“About what?” He pulled the glass to his lips, still staring at the television over our heads.
“About what happened with the Today Show.”
“Hey, Jim. Can we have some of your mother’s delicious peanuts?” Saint asked.
“Sure thing, Saint. Mama will be excited how much you love them.” The bartender immediately grabbed a bowl, filling it with shell-on peanuts that smelled heavenly.