Chapter 31
ELLI
Elli Rogan was having second thoughts. Jen didn’t always have the best ideas, but they were most definitely the loudest. Was that why they’d all agreed to have Kiera’s twenty-sixth birthday party at a strip club?
Elli set the vase of roses she was carrying on the buffet table, then took a step back to consider her other decorations and whether they should be adjusted.
It had been an easy theme, Kiera’s birthday landing on the day before Halloween, but she’d kept it to the seasonal colors—orange flowers, black table cloth, gold candles—rather than going full-out with ghosts and skeletons. It had been the right choice. Kiera was pure class.
The table was already laden with food, including the melted queso cheese fountain that Amy had rented from a party supply store. It was surrounded by bowls of chips and all the makings for do-it-yourself nachos.
Parvati sidled up beside Elli, threw an arm around her neck, and kissed her cheek. “Jen provided the venue. Ames and I took care of the food. Your decorations are impeccable. Don’t worry. Everything’s perfect. Kiera’s going to feel like a queen.”
“At Heidi’s Hideaway?” Elli asked, still doubtful. Just outside the private party room’s large picture window, two women in G-strings were spiraling down their poles, upside down no less.
Parvati released her and shrugged. “We have a private room, and we can draw the curtains over the window. We couldn’t exactly say no to a free room, right?”
Right. Jen’s boss hadn’t charged them a dime. That’s why they were there.
Bjorn Eliasson joined them at the buffet table. He gave Parvati a chin-lift greeting, then turned to Elli with eyebrows raised. “So, when do we eat?”
“When everyone gets here,” she said.
“Everyone is here,” Bjorn replied.
Parvati turned to glance around the room. “Are you sure?”
It was a sparse crowd. Kiera didn’t have any family to speak of and besides their own crew and Lukas’s teammates, she hadn’t added many others to the guest list.
Jen’s younger sister, Brielle, had come. Besides her, there were a couple of people from JoJo’s Boutique and Kiera’s older neighbor lady, who’d asked to bring her brother. The brother was getting selfies with all the Spriggans.
“Well…” Bjorn hedged, answering Parvati’s question, “I guess Caden’s out on the floor, watching the dancers until our party really gets going, but the rest of the team that’s coming is here.”
Elli pressed her lips together. She’d hoped her brother would show and bring Tuttle and Petey with him, but apparently things were still too awkward between them and the rest of the team.
It was amazing the rift wasn’t showing on the ice. They’d won yet another game yesterday.
“We’re not starting without the birthday girl,” Elli said because—come on—that should have been obvious.
“What are those?” Bjorn asked, pointing at plate of shiny dough twists. “Giant pretzels?”
He reached for one, and Parvati slapped his hand. “Wait.”
Bjorn’s eyes widened, and he looked down at his hand as if that little swat had physically pained him.
Parvati laughed. “They’re called chhanar jilipi. Much sweeter than pretzels. I like them straight out of the fryer best, but they’re not bad cold.”
“You made them?” Bjorn asked.
“Yeah, about an hour ago. I wanted them to be fresh.”
“I can’t wait to try them,” he said. “Is that honey glaze?”
“Uh…yeah,” Parvati said.
“Sticky sweet,” Bjorn said approvingly. Everyone knew berserker bears did like their honey.
Parvati cleared her throat, and Elli wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have seen a little pink flood into her friend’s cheeks.
“Excuse me,” Parvati said. “I need to…check on something.”
She walked away, and Elli and Bjorn both turned to watch her go.
Hmmm.
“You know Kiera’s with Murph,” Bjorn said.
Elli looked up, then up at him—Jeez, the guy was enormous. It was amazing anyone ever got a puck past him.
“Well, yeah,” she said, because of course she knew Kiera was with Murph.
After several weeks of dancing around each other, those two were finally official. Kiera had gotten her head out of her ass and Sean hadn’t wasted any time making sure they both got what they’d both clearly wanted right from the start.
Bjorn must have read the duh expression on her face because he clarified his point. “What I mean is, they’re together right now. Which means, maybe we could go ahead and eat because they’ll probably be running late.”
Elli felt her eyebrows knit in confusion. “I thought Sean was a stickler for punctuality. When I interviewed him for his feature, he said tardiness was his number-one pet peeve.”
“Given his history…” Bjorn said, “normally that’s true.”
“His history?” she asked.
Sean had been tight-lipped about his past during the interview. It was too late to add any details to the article, but Elli was still curious, especially after the little bit Kiera had shared about his mother.
Bjorn glanced down at her, but didn’t explain. “I’m just saying, if anyone could make him late, it would be Kiera.”
Elli’s shoulders slumped. She didn’t doubt what he was saying, but exactly how late would they be? What if the food got stale?
A cheer went up from a group of people by the door, and when Elli turned to look, Kiera and Sean walked in.
“They’re here,” Elli said on a relieved sigh.
And damn. Sean had never looked better, and Kiera… How did that girl always know exactly what to wear?
Elli looked down at her own dress. It was a lot more stylish than what she would have worn last year, but keeping up with Kiera meant seriously upping her game.
“Attention! Attention, everyone!”
Elli looked over to see Jen climbing up onto a chair. It was quite the feat of gymnastics getting up there given the tight, cleavage-maximizing, pink-sequined, mini sheath she was wearing.
Once Jen had everyone’s attention, she waved her hands in the air as if directing a choir. They all broke out into “Happy Birthday.”
A strong presence filled the space behind Elli, and she leaned back, knowing it was Lukas.
“Kiera looks happy,” he said, his warm breath brushing the curve of her ear.
“Yeah,” Elli said. “Finally.”
BJORN
Bjorn stood by the buffet table, shoving more of Parvati’s sweet, twisty, honey things into his mouth. He’d already forgotten what they were called, but damn they were delicious.
He licked his fingers as Caden Kelly finally entered the party and headed straight for the chef herself.
Of course, the kid would gravitate toward her. Parvati was a stunner. Smart, too; an investment banker. Christ, he didn’t even know what that entailed—not exactly—but it sounded powerful.
One of the finance bros Parvati worked with had apparently told Elli about Parvati’s no-holds-barred reputation in the boardroom.
Bjorn had liked the no-holds-barred bit. Bears liked that. His kind needed a mate who could stand up to chaos, not to mention a little roughhousing in the sheets, and—
Shit. What was he doing thinking about mates? Especially in the same sentence as Parvati? She was so far out of his league, he couldn’t even get a clear focus on her. And she hadn’t looked in his direction at all. Not even once. Not since Caden entered the room.
Typical.
The rookie wasn’t merely young and ridiculously good looking—everyone said so—he was a gancanagh, an Irish fae and a natural charmer. Even in Bjorn’s younger days, he hadn’t had one ounce of that kind of charisma.
Not that he had zero luck with the ladies, but as quick and agile as he was on the ice, he felt slow and clumsy as soon as he got off of it.
He always had to push himself out of his comfort zone at the beginning of any relationship.
Unlike Caden Kelly, small talk and flirting had never been his super powers.
And now Bjorn was well past his prime.
Well, not for the average berserker. But in terms of professional athletes, he was practically ancient. There was a reason his teammates called him “old man.”
He popped another one of the gooey, twisty whatever-they-were-calleds into his mouth. The honey dripped down his throat.
Rafe slunk up looking like a pup who’d been kicked. Not a good look for a hell hound or for their team’s captain.
“What’s up with you?” Bjorn asked.
“Shot down. Again.”
Ah. This was why Bjorn didn’t even bother trying with Parvati. His body took a beating on the ice. He didn’t need to have his heart kicked around, too.
Rafe had been trying to get the attention of another one of Elli’s friends—Amy Song—for as long as Murph had been pursuing Kiera. The difference being: Kiera had been into Murph right from the get-go, even if she’d played hard to get.
Amy had shown absolutely zero interest in Rafe. Zilch. Nada.
Bjorn had actually watched Rafe walk up to her at a bar, and as soon as he was in touching distance, the girl made an about-face and took off like a shot.
Brutal.
“Maybe it’s time you cut your losses,” Bjorn suggested.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Rafe declared miserably.
“There’s other fish in the sea,” Bjorn said, resorting to the old adage because he had no unique advice to give.
“Ever been with a mermaid?” Rafe asked, chuckling. He took a pull off his beer.
Bjorn snorted. “No. You?”
“Not yet,” Rafe said, clearly suggesting the night was still young. He glanced at the picture window and the dancers on stage.
Lukas came over with the necks of three beer bottles clamped between his fingers. He handed one to Bjorn and another to Rafe, who was now two-fisting it.
Lukas opened the third bottle for himself. “What are you two talking about?”
Rafe took a swig of his beer.
“Fish,” Bjorn said, and he grinned against the rim of his bottle.
KIERA
I hadn’t expected presents, but after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Jen had strutted through the party like one of those girls at a car show, flourishing her arms like she wanted everyone to feast their eyes on…something. I wasn’t really sure what was going on.