Chapter Four
It had been one week since she had met Vic.
Gah, why was she so nervous?
Lyric clutched her purse closer to her waist and scanned the parking lot again.
She didn’t know what kind of car Vic drove, so she took guesses.
There was a silver truck at the edge of the parking lot, parked in the grass.
Maybe that was his? Or the black one parked up front?
Why did she imagine him driving a truck?
For all she knew, this little Jetta she’d parked beside could be his.
She blew out a huff of air. What if he wasn’t here at all?
You are the weak link.
Her sister’s voice echoed through her head. “Stop,” she growled aloud. Her stupid head had been repeating it a dozen times a day. That’s what Eden did. She found the button to push on a person and pushed it at just the right time.
There were good things about her sister, but the button-pushing trait was Lyric’s least favorite part of being in this family. Her dad…errr, Aro…was the same way. He had held the same dark talent.
But once upon a time one week ago, Lyric had smiled and forgotten the world for a night with a nice werewolf named Vic.
She closed her eyes, counted to three, and made her legs move.
Her sneakers crunched against the thick gravel of the parking lot, and she didn’t slow until she got to the door of the bar, where she second guessed herself again.
If he was here…if…he was probably sitting at the bar with a girl. This was where he came to pick up women, right? That’s what he’d said.
It had sounded accurate.
Why did the thought of seeing him sitting with another female bother her?
“You’re being ridiculous,” she gritted out.
She was here for bingo. Yeah. Just bingo.
Lyric moved to push the door open, but a couple bustled out of the bar at that exact same moment and jammed the door into her hand. The pain startled her, and she flinched back, and let off a snarl on accident.
The couple looked at her with fear in their eyes, and she dropped her gaze quickly. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Your people aren’t allowed here,” the guy said.
“Jake, stop,” the woman said softly, hugging his arm. “Let’s just go.”
Jake looked from Lyric to his lady, and back to Lyric. He parted his lips to say more, but Lyric darted inside. A chill followed her, and she nearly shivered with it.
She didn’t like being around humans in mass. Not without backup.
And here she stood in the entrance of this bar, for the second week in a row, looking for an escape from the shit-show of her life.
She stretched her neck and looked down the hallway to see someone push into the back room. She could hear the murmur of excitement coming from back there. Bingo was definitely on.
A trio of ladies in their sixties bustled through the door and past her. They were dressed in bright green and pink shirts, and one of them wore a neon purple baseball cap.
Lyric smiled for possibly the first time in a week.
She made her way to the bar and ordered herself one marionberry cider, poured it into the frosty glass, paid the bartender, tipped him three dollars, and then meandered to the hallway and pushed the door to the bingo room gently open.
She spotted him right away. How could she not? Vic was sitting at the front table with two other enormous werewolves, all with artificial dark brown eyes that said Vic had shared his contact lenses with his friends.
They were three of the best-looking men she’d ever encountered in her entire life.
Vic’s nostrils flared and he looked right up at her. A slow smile stretched his face, and without looking at it, he pulled out the empty chair beside him.
For me? she mouthed, gesturing to herself.
He nodded, then lowered his gaze to her body. It was a quick and hungry up-and-down, and then he pointed a finger up. Wait. He stood and said something to the other two werewolves and made his way to the back where she stood.
She couldn’t help her laugh. He was dressed in a bright pink T-shirt and neon yellow ninety’s-style wind pants, and a neon blue fanny pack.
“What on earth are you wearing?”
“Ummm, it’s neon night at the ol’ bingo bar, woman. Catch up.” He guided her gently back out the door and into the hallway.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly at being touched.
“Bathroom,” he rumbled, grabbing her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Staring at their connected hands as he led her at a fast pace to the restrooms in the back of the bar, she said, “But I don’t have to use the restroom.”
He pulled her right into the men’s room. Gross. “Get out,” he uttered to a guy in there washing his hands.
The guy looked up with a rude look like he was going to say something, but at whatever he saw on Vic’s face, he clamped his mouth shut and bee-lined for the door.
Once it was closed, Vic tugged at the hem of her shirt.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Swapping shirts.”
“Swapping…Vic, you won’t fit into my shirt.”
“I can try. Fine, you take it off. I won’t look.”
He turned around and peeled his hot pink T-shirt over his head, exposing the crisscrosses of scars that said he was a werewolf who knew war. Geez. He’d been hurt before. Hurt bad.
His skin was tan, and smooth other than the raised red scars, and his muscles rippled under his thin skin. She was staring.
He handed her the shirt back. “I’m not looking.”
And something took over her. Something she didn’t understand. Something spontaneous that had never been allowed before. “You can look.”
He turned slowly, and she pulled her shirt over her head.
And yep, she’d worn a lace see-through burgundy bra today, just in case.
He inhaled and held the breath in his lungs as the outer edges of his eye color turned bright gold. “Fuck,” he murmured.
“Is that a compliment?” she asked as heat crept up in her neck and landed in her cheeks.
“Yep. Big compliment.” He puffed air out of his cheeks and rested his hands on his hips, the pink T-shirt dangling from his grasp. He was looking her up and down like he wanted to devour her, and there was such a sensation of power growing within her right now.
It had been a long time since a man looked at her with lust in his eyes.
The bathroom door started to swing open, and she yelped at the same time Vic blurred into motion.
“Bathroom’s closed,” he barked as he slammed the door back into place. “Two minutes.”
“Dude, I have to take a piss!” a disgruntled man said from outside.
“One sec,” Vic whispered to her, and then swung the door open by inches. “Hey man, the hottest woman I have literally ever laid eyes on is in here showing me her tits. I will never get this opportunity again. I will give you twenty bucks to piss off.”
There were a few moments of silence on the other side of the door and then, “I’ll keep everyone out. You have three minutes.”
“Bro,” Vic said in a relieved voice. “Yes! Thank you.” He fist-bumped the guy and shut the door again. He turned for Lyric and said, “Carry on.”
Lyric had been grinning and blushing during that entire exchange. “You said I’m the hottest girl you’ve ever seen, and there was truth in your voice,” she said softly.
“I mean…” Vic gestured to her. All of her. Then he closed the space between them, stood behind her, and turned her gently toward the mirror.
She had defined abs and a curve to her shoulders like most female werewolves. She looked strong, but she’d been blessed with curves. She didn’t usually pay it much attention, but Vic made her feel pretty. Behind her, he was enormous. He did something that shocked her.
He pulled her back tight against his chest, slipped his hand around her throat, lowered his head to look at the phone he lifted up, and he took a picture of their reflection in the mirror.
Then he showed her.
He looked huge, dark, and broody, with stark tattoos down his arm, and she looked small and confident. Her chin was tilted slightly into the air, and she wore a wicked little smile as she stared right at the camera. The lace of her bra added texture to the picture.
They looked quite beautiful together, in a dangerous sort of way.
A knock sounded on the door, and Vic called out, “One minute.” Then he pulled his pink t-shirt over her head, settled it onto her torso, and tied the excess in a little knot at her stomach. It actually didn’t look half bad.
Him fitting himself into her little black T-shirt was much funnier. The seams were struggling just to stay together.
She could see every muscle in his chest, abs, back and shoulders in this shirt.
“Ready to meet Earl?” he asked.
“Oh my God, you brought your hamster?”
“Tabian and Bridger are hamster-sitting him. I have to get back before Bridger eats him. He’s crazy.”
“Are Tabian and Bridger members of your Pack?” she asked as he grabbed her hand again and led her to the door.
“Yep. It’s boys night tonight. We’re all single.”
“And ready to mingle?” she guessed.
“Well, technically I was waiting to see if you would show up.” He led her to the hallway and into the bingo room. “I had plans to be an awesome wingman for them though if you didn’t come tonight.”
Like last week, he bought her a booklet of bingo cards, then took her to the bake sale table and got her six of the thumbprint cookies she got last week. This time, he wouldn’t let her pay.
God, she was so glad she had come here tonight. Her face already felt like it was glowing from her smiles.
The caller was announcing numbers into the microphone, and by the time Vic led Lyric to the front table, Tabian and Bridger were deep in concentration marking off their bingo cards. Vic introduced them, but Tabian just said a bland, “Hello,” and Bridger barely did a nod of greeting.
Vic was, by far, the friendliest of the three.
“They’re mad that I dragged them out of their caves,” Vic explained as he took the lid from his bingo dauber.