Page 10 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

"Ahem, well! Obviously you can have some dessert, but it's only polite to have your dinner first. Mouthwatering meat, remember?"

"You mean this one?" Tucker said huskily, and Leif saw him reach down to squeeze Rahul's growing hard-on .

"That tongue on you…" Rahul said. "Puppy, I can take you to bed now, but if I do, dinner will get cold, and you'll have to say goodbye to Leif since he'll be gone to work before we're done."

Tucker growled, but eventually ceased his amorous advances. He took a seat next to Leif, who thrust a piece of meat up in front of his mouth.

"Darlin'?"

"Try it!"

"I'm about to get a whole plateful," Tucker protested, laughing, but took the chunk into his mouth. "Oh, hey, yeah."

"You see?"

"Okay, yeah. Dinner first is probably the right call."

"Of course it is!" Rahul said, sitting down at the table. "Besides, the more food you have for dinner, the more energy you'll have for later."

"I reckon that's true, assuming I don't end up stuffing myself."

"Nah, pup, stuffing you is my job. Now eat! It's a simple Greek recipe I got from Toni, she says it's one of the many meals that she made to convince that bull husband of hers to marry her. It's specially seasoned bifteki over lemon rice, with feta, cucumber, pita bread, and a tzatziki spread."

"I can see how it would win Deimos over," Leif said. "It's delicious!"

Leif made short work of his dinner, checked that he was still good on time, then helped put away leftovers and clear the dishes.

Afterwards, he stopped by his bar that was set up between the living and dining room and mixed the pineapple and orange rum punch cocktail for Rahul's Dust Sight , sticking it in the minifridge.

The ice would water the drink down by the time Rahul drank it, but that was the price of keeping to the same recipe until he had time to figure out what each ingredient modification would do to the final effect.

Leif took a quick shower in the spare bathroom upstairs before donning his work clothes.

It wasn't a theme night at the bar, so he settled on a simple black vest with paired slacks.

After putting in his piercings and rolling up his sleeves, he made one last stop in the master bedroom where Tucker was just getting started on foreplay to steal himself some goodbye kisses.

In a supreme show of willpower, he managed to brush away Rahul's grabbing hands and leave the room after only a two minute delay, since he didn't want to be late.

The Rainbow Rooster where Leif worked was a modestly-sized gay bar on the eastern edge of Minneapolis. He parked his car without difficulty—still too early for the main Saturday night crowd—then did a quick jog to the entrance to escape the chilly air.

"Hi, Andre!" Leif said, waving cheerfully to the first-shift bartender as he stepped behind the bar. He got a nod in return while he made final outfit adjustments, undoing the top few buttons of his shirt and securing his LED name tag in place.

He did a quick team huddle once Andre finished with his current customer, making sure everything was good for his shift, then took over so that his coworker could have a break…

which apparently entailed him immediately going off to sit in the amply cushioned lap of a gentleman in a Golden Girls T-shirt? Good for him!

His boss, Dennis, arrived from the larger dance room a few minutes later while Leif was doing a volume check of the available liquors. "Hi, Dee! How've you been?"

"Just positively dreamy, duckling," he said, leaning on the bar with his chin propped up on his elbow. He fluttered his fake lashes.

"And how's Jack?"

"You can ask him yourself when he gets back from fetching me dinner, but he is an absolute delight, I just want to gobble him up, yum yum yum."

"You say that like you haven't fit most of him in your mouth already."

"Duckling, I am shocked!" Dennis said, mouth hanging open aghast as he brought a hand up to his chest, twirling a finger around his spaghetti-string crop top. "A good girl never kisses and tells."

"Exactly, so you shouldn't have a problem sharing."

Dennis tossed his head and laughed. "You're right, who am I kidding! Anyways, yes , I have ridden that wolf cock of his every which way to Sunday. He is a literal beast in the sheets."

"Jack? Our Jack, who gets teary-eyed during every sad karaoke song? I don't believe it."

"You're right, again . It's a bad habit of yours. No, he's a perfect gentleman, not at all brutish like the shifter porn would have you believe. He does enjoy the occasional bit of pretending to be a dom, though. I'm sure you saw some of that last weekend? Your eyes were on him enough."

"I… yeah, you're right." Years spent working in Dennis's ribald presence prevented him from trying to hide his blush. "He made those assless chaps look good. He had half the guys calling him Sir, it seemed like. And didn't he crush a man's head under his foot?"

"While belittling him, yes. The lucky man came right in his pants, hands-free.

Well, if you ever want to bring him home one day for you and your own men to share, just take off your jockstrap at the end of a shift and wrap it around his snout like a muzzle.

He'll follow you home quicker than two shakes of a wolf's tail!

" Leif noticed Dennis perk up, peering past Leif. "Isn't that right, my handsome banana?"

Jack Clairmont, fifty-year-old perpetually shifted werewolf, set down a bag of take-out from a sushi restaurant on top of the bar.

"Dee…" Jack growled warningly, his triangular ears swiveling.

Dennis completely ignored him, leaning back closer to Leif. "And like any good dog, he's always keen on shoving his nose in a man's crotch. I'm sure he'd be happy to demonstrate, service top that he is."

Jack leaned in and gnawed playfully at Dennis's neck. "Hush now, you gabby goose, or I'll have to silence you by ripping out your throat."

"He doesn't mean that," Dennis said to Leif, reaching up to pat the wolf's cheek.

"Ooh, nope," Leif agreed, nodding. "His tail's wagging a mile a minute. I'm going to take a shot and guess that he's into scent-play?"

"Yes. Big Bad here turns to putty around sweaty, masculine scents. Armpits and underwear moreso than socks or feet, and goes double if you smell like spunk."

"Alright, Dee, it's time for us to go to your office and have a talk about oversharing. Also, your gyoza is getting cold."

"Jack, wait! Before you go?"

While Jack turned back towards him, Leif hopped onto a stepstool and reached a hand up to scratch the wolf shifter between his ears. The man made a low rumble, which deepened when Leif started leaning more and more into it, and not-coincidentally putting the muzzle into his armpit .

"It's good to see you both!" Leif said at last, hopping down and moving to the end of the bar where it looked like he had a customer. He watched Dennis drag a distracted Jack away. "Hi, there! What can I get for ya?"

Like every busy Saturday shift, the evening passed rapidly.

There were plenty of friendly men willing to strike up a conversation between tasks, and regulars to catch up with.

Apparently in a good mood, Dennis even took up a spot behind the bar at one point and showcased some elaborate serving techniques, juggling shakers, bottles, glasses, and pours like it was nothing. Leif cheered alongside the rest.

There was one sour point when an unsteady patron started yelling at Leif after he had to cut him off, but then Jack and his muscles made a wordless appearance. After that, the young man was easily coaxed away from the bar by his friends.

Before long, two o'clock rolled around and the doors were locked, the till was counted, and the floor cleaned. While Leif and Dennis finished restocking a few liquors for the next day, Jack rested on a stool with his back to the wall, eyes closed.

Leif paused after a final check to make sure he had his things. "Hey, Dee?"

The wonderful man who'd given a job to a homeless eighteen-year-old gay kid, sight unseen, made an inquisitive sound, but didn't stop scratching the sides of Jack's muzzle.

"You've only been scheduling me on the weekends, lately."

"Those are the busiest days, chickadee."

"Uh-huh. And, um, Jack? Weren't you going to, like, travel around, now that you're retired from DOMA?"

The former executive director yawned widely, then stood up, wrapping an arm easily around his beau's waist as he walked over. "I'm still deciding on where to go. Besides, it'd take me away from this devilish delight of a man."

Leif waited until the two had finished sharing a kiss. "I understand that. It's just, um, Mr. Clairmont—"

"Jack," he reminded him gruffly. "Try not to slip again, or I'll have to bend you over my knee… which, hmm, probably isn't a threat, now that I hear myself say it out loud."

"It's really, really not, but I get what you mean. Jack, you've been here for every shift I've worked since Valentine's, alongside Dennis."

Jack looked at him wordlessly, while Dennis laughed, running a hand through the werewolf's chest fur. "Nothing wrong with a man wanting to spend time with his divine boyfriend, is there boo bear?"

"I get what you're hinting at," Jack said, ignoring the look Dennis was trying to give him, but did reach down to grab his hand and link their fingers together. "Yes, we've been keeping an eye on you. Just in case."

"Alright, well, DOMA stopped warding my home, so it's probably fine now."

"Did they?" Jack frowned. "I hesitate to speculate that they might have decided to use you for bait, but no, that's just my own biases doing the talking. I wouldn't believe it of Fang."

"Well, I've been keeping an eye on you, because I don't like the idea of some floozy waltzing into my bar and using magic on my favorite employee. But yes, Leif, Jack was just obliging this old queen her momma hen tendencies. Will you ever, ever, forgive me?"

Leif sighed, but then smiled, and came in to hug Dennis. A moment later, Jack joined in, hugging them both. "Course I can, Dee, but only if you promise you'll let Jack take his vacation. Maybe you should take one, too? You've got enough of us trained that we can handle opening and closing."

"I'll think about it, chickadee. I suppose there's not much I could do against a sorceress, other than give her a scathing read, of course. I'll bet she dresses like a peahen . And anyways, you have yourself two fine young men who would come to your rescue, right?"

"Tucker and Rahul are the best, for sure."

"They're good men, and talented," Jack said with the certainty that came from years spent as their former boss.

"And on a personal note, I'm really glad that they're back together after my part in driving them apart.

If I haven't said it yet, thank you, Leif.

I hear you're the one that pointed them in the right direction. "

"Oh! Um, thanks. It just kind of happened."

"Don't degenerate yourself," Dennis said sternly. "You deserve all the happiness and loving cocks in the world. I'm sure I'll be hearing wedding bells soon!"

"Dee! Come on, we haven't even been dating a year yet. Maybe they'll get tired of me."

"Not a chance," Jack said firmly. "I was there with them both when you were kidnapped, and also when you were rescued. Those boys are absolutely head over heels for you. Have faith, okay?"

Leif nodded, said some last goodbyes, then trudged out into a chill wind to get to his car.

When he arrived home, he doffed his clothing at the entryway, then walked into the living room to stare at his bar, as he sometimes did after a bartending shift when he was feeling pensive .

It hadn't started out as much, back when Rahul and Tucker had first bought it for him the day they'd become an established throuple, just a single glass top counter with space for a few liquors and tools.

Last month, though, his boyfriends had decided that even with the storage additions they'd added, it simply wasn't good enough.

Over a long weekend, they'd cleared out china cabinets for space and swapped out the "pathetically cheap bar" with a spacious mahogany setup that included an actual backbar—sturdy, too, just in case a certain rambunctious puppy happened to run into it during a chase.

He ran a hand over the installed shelving, then appraised the customizations they'd completed that made everything more accessible to his height. He looked at the permanency of it, and any lingering worries that he had that his boyfriends weren't in it for the long haul with him drained away.

With a smile and a rap on the bar, he headed upstairs to join them in sleep.