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Chapter Three
A Nana Walks into a Bar…
Bellamy
“You should come out for a drink with us,” Brad suggested a couple days later. “You’ve been glued to that desk ever since Barrett left for his mate moon.”
I scrubbed my hand over my beard. “We’ve never been this busy before.”
Most of the week had been spent getting the guys up to speed on their new cases. Barrett had trusted me to assign them. There were a few smaller things I’d taken care of, and now I was working on pre-screening for a new season of The Real Werewives .
“And it will probably stay this way, now that everyone knows we exist.” Brad was one of newer recruits who was showing the most promise. Even though he didn’t earn the honorary title of second-in-command, I’d given him the most complicated case to see what he could do with it.
Wasn’t quite sure what to do with Beau yet. Maybe giving him extra responsibility wasn’t the answer.
“You can’t work around the clock. You’ll start missing details. And you know they matter.”
“True.” I rose from the desk. The guys would assume I was trying to impress Barrett by overworking myself, but the real reason I’d thrown myself into these Werewife background checks that anyone on the crew could handle was to keep my mind off Clover Crowley.
Was it working? Hell no.
My bear had been fantasizing about those dangerous curves and what it would be like to have her in our bed again.
Maybe a hate fuck is just the thing to get her out of your system , he suggested.
And he was never, ever going to find out. There was a piece of me who wanted to show up on clan land, locket in hand, and be the one to fix everything. Almost everything. It wouldn’t fix that I didn’t have a mate.
“Is everyone headed to The Stepchild?” I asked.
Brad’s face brightened. “Fuck yeah we are. And the guys owe me a drink because they didn’t think I’d actually get you to say yes.”
That’s why you don’t have a mate , my bear said. All work and no play makes for a dull bear .
A couple of drinks should shut him up for the night.
The Stepchild was a rowdy bar on the edge of town run by the local wolf pack. Didn’t matter that it was a weeknight—music from the live band spilled out into the parking lot, along with clusters of humans and shifters.
I waved to a few wolves who’d worked with us on many cases on the way in and looked for my guys. No surprise they were lined up along the bar, with shot glasses in front of them.
“Boss is here!” Beau announced. “Next round’s on him.”
“You’re not getting out of buying drinks for Brad that easily.” I flagged the bartender for a beer.
“No shots for the big guy?” Brad asked. “We saved one for you.”
“I know better than to tangle with that shit.” I laughed. I was forty-two years old, and the effects of hard alcohol tended to linger. “Plus, I have a feeling I’ll have to keep all of you in line tonight when things get wild.”
Beau raised his brows. “Is Bellamy gonna take someone to Red Heaven tonight?”
Don’t rule out the possibility , my bear practically begged. It doesn’t have to be forever. Fucking Clover out of your system ? —
“We’ll see.” Red Heaven was the private area behind the stage at The Stepchild where absolutely everything goes. A place for shifters to get truly wild.
“We gotta get him back there.” Beau high-fived Brad.
“I’m more concerned with getting me back there than anyone else.” Brad nodded toward the crowd. “C’mon, let’s go see who’s here tonight.”
“Good luck.”
“We’ll see you back there.” Beau waggled his brows before he disappeared into the crowd.
I leaned back on my bar stool and took a deep sip of my beer, taking in the night. I didn’t come here so often anymore. The crowd kept getting younger. My priorities had changed.
You’ve given up on finding a mate , my bear said.
I hadn’t, but I wasn’t hedging my bets of finding her in a rowdy bar and taking her to the sex room.
Tonight, my only focus was enjoying this well-deserved beer, watching the show, and making sure the guys didn’t get into trouble. Didn’t need the business getting a bad rep while the boss was out of town.
Someone took the stool next to me. I turned and almost jumped out of my seat when I realized who it was.
“Bellamy, how did you get even more handsome?”
My mouth dropped as she gave me cheek kisses.
“Nana Shirley.” It was Clover’s grandmother. She had to be pushing ninety, but she didn’t look a day over sixty. Her hair was still as red as her granddaughter’s, and she’d put on a sparkly jacket for the occasion. “What are you doing here?”
She’ll probably make it to Red Heaven before you do.
Shut up, bear.
“Everyone said I’d find you here.” She cackled. “Good thing I didn’t have to drag the two of you out of Red Heaven.”
Shirley waved her hand. “Don’t you act shocked. Of course I’ve been back there. It’s been years, but I could probably go for another round.” She let out a hoot, and then narrowed her eyes, looked behind me, and frowned. “Where’s Clover? Let me guess. She’s already back there, and you’ve forgotten what a firecracker my granddaughter can be.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” I’d do anything for that luxury. “And Clover’s not here.”
At least, I didn’t think she was…
Now it was Shirley’s turn to stare at me in open-mouthed disbelief. “Oh, sweet moon. I would’ve sworn by every stone I have in my collection that the two of you had finally come to your senses after all these years. I knew losing the Goddess Locket would hex us all. If she’s not with you, where is she?”
Great. Now I had to tell this spectacular, powerful woman that I’d stone-cold turned Clover down. This wasn’t gonna go well.
“No idea.” Then it sunk in. “She didn’t go home after she came here?”
“She didn’t.” Shirley frowned as a drink was put in front of her. Looked like a Long Island Iced Tea. “But she did come here?”
I nodded.
“So you’re in? You’ll help us find the locket?”
Damn it. There was no way I could say no to Shirley. She was too powerful, too important. And the worst part was, she knew it.
“Something tells me we need to find Clover first.” Because I had a feeling she was in danger, and there was no way Shirley or my bear would let anything happen to her.