Page 140 of Liar Witch

I grin, flicking a blade out of the sheath on my arm. “Sounds good to me.”

An unearthly growl echoes from behind me, and the man looks over our shoulders and pales.

Nos is standing there, rigid with the presence of his beast. I don’t have to be a shifter to feel the dominance he’s putting out, though the men in front of us clearly are. When Cas’s beast joins in, they almost shit themselves in their haste to lower their gazes, submitting.

“No fee,” the first chokes out.

“You better guard my fucking ship with your lives for that stunt,” Valorean grumbles, still not stepping off the gangplank.

The shifters, as one, look at the twins.

“Do as he says,” Cas snaps.

“Yes, alphas.”

The twins push down the plank towards the group, still bristling with shifter aggression. Their motion jostles Val forwards.

I’m pretty sure he holds his breath as his foot hits the dock for the first time. He definitely sways, but that could be more to do with his sea legs than anything else.

The twins grab one of my arms each and march me towards the ramshackle wooden buildings, forcing Val to hurry to catch up or risk getting too far away from me. I watch over my shoulder as he takes step after step away from his beloved ship, looking slightly more lost with each one. Only Klaus trailing behind him, and Kier and Rysen on each side, seem to keep him from losing it completely.

“Fucking dolphin shifters… mercenary assholes, the lot of them. Their pods are the bloody gangsters of the sea, worse than Galmeri vampires,” Cas mutters, chucking a glance back at Rysen. “No offence, man.”

Ry shrugs, indifferent. “None taken.”

“Where are we going?” I ask, only to shut up as we’re forced to step over a woman lying across the dock, giggling as she tips rum into the open beak of a pelican below. “Is Cirio’s always this… wild?”

“You’ve not seen anything yet,” Klaus mutters as we leave the dock and step onto the world’s most confusing street. The buildings are so mashed together that they’re almost falling into one another. The architecture is almost as drunk as the people hanging from the windows above us.

“Casimir, you feral shit!” A voice booms from the building to our right. “You’ve been gone too long.”

The man who steps out of the alehouse is already bleeding from a bust nose. His blond sideburns make his smile seem even wider, somehow, and the delight in his expression as he trips his way to us, tankard in hand, makes up for the stains all over his clothes.

“Fergus.” Cas whistles. “You’re drunker than usual.”

“I’m sober!” Fergus cries. “Sober enough to put you on your ass in a decent match. You shifted before I could win the last one.”

“Match?” I ask.

Nos leans down to nuzzle my ear before whispering, “Rugby.”

I want to snort. “Pirate rugby?”

“It’s more fun when cheating is actively encouraged,” Cas winks. “Sure, why not? Loser buys the beer.”

Fergus’s grin is spectacular as he turns and bellows back into the room. “Oi, you wasted shit brains, our rematch has arrived!”

“They can’t really mean to play like this?” I mutter, but Nos just shushes me, already pulling me into the building.

“Being immortal makes it fun, being drunk makes itinteresting.” He grins, and my stomach churns as I realise he’s going to play as well. With his beast acting up, that seems more than a little risky.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to…”

But Nos has already caught up with Cas ahead of us, leaving me to trail behind as the rest of my men push through the alehouse and through a back door, already back-slapping and shit-talking with the pirates I assume are all a part of this. Rysen looks juiced and even Kier looks excited—no, that’s the wrong word—Kier looks anticipatory.

Somehow, I end up between Val and Klaus, the only two who haven’t been sucked into the crowd of men now tripping their way out into the space beyond.

“Are either of you playing?” I ask.