Page 20 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)

Vince

Carey meets us at our house before we all head over to Bite. I haven’t seen her since a few days after Kieran dropped the big bombshell on me, so when Nick and Jamie agreed to go to Bite, I invited her along with us.

It’s nice being in on the secret with her. She waggles her eyebrows when we reach the enormous bouncer at the door—I don’t know much, but even I can now tell he’s a wolf—and I grin when he looks me over.

He doesn’t take the bait, though. “In you get,” he says, and Jamie cackles as he trails me inside.

“That’s a burn,” he says, and I stick my middle finger up at him as Nick pays for entry for the four of us.

“He’s got a job to do,” I reply.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Jamie says.

I roll my eyes but exchange a smile with Nick when Carey drags Jamie off ahead of us. Jamie’s doing well today—he’s been excited about this night out all day, from what Nick told me—so hopefully, he’ll get the chance to let off a little steam.

They’re both at the bar by the time we reach them, and Jamie orders a round of shots along with our drinks. I take the shot without hesitating. Some of the classes have been hard this week. Quinn came to two but had to leave the second halfway through after he had a panic attack. It caused a bit of a ripple through some of the other wolves, though Cecile and Sam proved to be surprisingly adept at handling things.

Things will get better. Slowly, maybe, but they’ll improve with time.

We drink next to the dance floor for a while, and I take the chance to look around. I don’t expect to see Dax here—so I’m not surprised when I don’t—but there are clusters of wolves, none of whom I recognise.

“Things going well?” Carey says, sidling up to me. Nick nudges me as he and Jamie head off to dance.

“What d’you mean?”

“With the classes.”

“Yeah. You should come by sometime.” Carey pulls a face, and I frown. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, just…” She sighs, looking around before she speaks again, “I’m trying to work out whether I want to join Kieran’s pack or not.”

“You said you’re not—”

“I’m not a wolf, no,” she says. “But that’s not what Kieran’s pack’s about.”

I nod. I get that. “So what’s the problem?”

“I just need to decide. And I don’t want to get super involved in stuff before I do.”

“I’m involved in stuff.”

“You’re human.”

I roll my eyes and Carey laughs. “Besides,” she adds, “I think Kieran’s sort of adopted you anyway.”

“Adopted,” I scoff.

Carey grabs my hand when I finish my drink and drags me into the crowd. We find Nick and Jamie quickly and Jamie loses some of his tension when we arrive. I’m not surprised. Wolves tend to run kind of big—at least, from what I’ve seen—and there’s a group nearby who seem pretty intimidating.

Not that they’re doing anything. Jamie’s just on edge. Still is, a little bit, and Nick seems to notice.

He throws an arm around my shoulders. “I’ve got an idea for tonight.”

“Yeah?” I shout back, making sure the three of them can hear me over the music. “What is it?”

“We’re gonna get Vince laid!”

I groan even as Jamie and Carey laugh. Yeah, we’re not doing this. Glancing at Nick, I can tell he knows that, too. It’s just another thing to help keep Jamie distracted.

“C’mon,” Nick says, “it’s been like six months.”

I scowl at him—meaning it a little more this time—and Carey gasps.

“Really?” she says, then shakes her head, blushing a little. “Sorry, not that it’s my—”

“Yes, really,” I reply, cutting her off. Whatever. It’s not a big deal.

I just haven’t felt that spark in a while. It’s not like I’m not getting myself off. But the thought of coming out and finding anyone else… It’s not appealing to me right now. That’s fine.

“You’re being a dick,” I hiss in Nick’s ear. He winces.

It’s not like it’s about Dax either. Not really. I had a job and the classes I was running before I even met him, and the last few weeks have been hectic. When would I have the time to pick someone up?

“Sorry,” Nick mutters. “I’m worried about you, too.”

Jamie and Carey have turned their attention from us, and I shrug off Nick’s arm. “I’m fine,” I say and mean it. “Seriously.”

He purses his lips but is wise enough not to argue. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

He doesn’t believe me, but it doesn’t matter. Not tonight. No doubt we’ll have a blow-up about it some other time—that’s how me and Nick usually operate. Things are fine until we wind each other up too much, then we hash it out, and then things are back to normal.

For now, we dance. Nick pulls me close just to make me laugh, and when I grab Jamie, begging for him to save me, Carey grabs Nick’s hand, and he lets her tug him into a spin.

Jamie throws his arms around my shoulders. He’s a little drunker than the rest of us, just enough to make his smile wider and his eyes glitter in the club lights. More than one man—wolf—has looked his way, but they seem to be able to tell from the rest of us that he’s off-limits.

Ah, shit. Can they smell it on us?

“Having fun?” I shout.

“Yeah!” He giggles, then kisses my cheek before he pushes away to dance again. “This was such a good idea.”

“We know,” Nick says. He jerks his chin towards the bar. “Another round?”

Jamie nods straight away, and I know I’ll grab him a glass of water while I’m up there. Things have got really busy while we’ve been dancing, but that’s fine.

I open my mouth to ask Carey and Nick what they want but pause when the strangest sensation takes up residence in my chest. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I look over towards the entryway.

It’s not like I can smell the way they’ve all told me wolves can. I can’t hear that well, either. I’m human.

But my gaze snags on the sight of Dax coming in through Bite’s doors, Patch right at his side. As though he can somehow hear my thoughts, Dax lifts his head and meets my gaze.

The club falls away around us. All I can concentrate on are his eyes on mine, the way his expression shifts, hunger surging to the forefront.

Maybe we shouldn’t have come to Bite tonight.