Page 3

CHAPTER THREE

logan

V ixen’s was the designated shifter hangout in Willow Creek, and I strolled in, pleased to see most of my construction crews already waited on the barstools and in the booths.

When I stepped up to the counter of the “rustic-chic bar,” as Sheila called it, a dozen of my employees gathered around me to place their orders. Sheila knew about my rule of two drinks per employee, so she always made them pay for anything more. Beer steins started sliding down the bar.

Boss’s Buy Friday was a tradition for my construction crews.

Whether or not I saw them during the week, each Friday night, I would buy a couple of drinks each at Vixen’s for anybody of age on the crew.

It’d been a helluva week. We’d wrapped two jobs and started another, and my new foremen had taken most of the responsibility for day-to-day operations, so it was a good way to send them off on their weekend, and it helped my cousin’s bottom line.

No matter what happened in the shifter clans—or how worried I might be about the disappearing shifters, Boss’s Buy Friday was a nice reminder of what we were trying to save. And saving our packs from whatever Acheron, the dark sorcerer, had up his sleeve wasn’t something easy for me to forget.

We had to find the multimorph… It was the only way to keep Acheron from growing in power. I had a suspicion that others of the shifter clans were working with him, but I didn’t understand what Acheron could have promised them to get them to betray their kind.

The AC/DC tribute band was warming up, and the familiar soft hum of conversations and the chink of glasses warmed me. Sheila was already behind the bar, slinging drinks and chatting with patrons.

Sheila glanced up from the tap for a locally brewed beer and grinned at me. “Good day in construction?”

“Another day, another dollar,” I said, rubbing my hand over the stubble on my chin. My beard grew faster than most humans’, so by the end of a workday, I always needed another shave.

Sheila swiped a highball glass from the dishwasher and dried it before she motioned me over with her head. “What’re you having?”

“What would you suggest?”

“Beer?”

“No, something stronger tonight.”

“How about an Animal Doctor? ”

My gaze narrowed as I studied her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a new drink on my menu. We call it ‘the Emma.’”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’ll knock you on your ass and have you begging for more. Interested?”

“Sure.” It felt like we were talking about something other than alcohol, and I wasn’t sure what else to say.

Before I could decide, she placed the washed glass on the shelf where it belonged and leaned over the bar. She gestured me closer.

When I obliged, she lowered her voice. “Listen. I think you should make nice with our friendly vet, and I invited her down here tonight after she saved Callie’s cat today.

If you play your cards right, you might be able to get her number.

She likes the outdoors, and she recently got a new motorcycle, so make conversation when she gets here, okay? ”

I sighed. “I don’t think she likes me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I think I do.”

She’d smelled pissed and turned on when I’d met her in the waiting room earlier. The turned-on part intrigued me, and I’d been fantasizing about her since I’d stepped out of the waiting room.

“Give her a chance,” she said.

“Fine. Can I get that drink?”

Between the matchmakers in my pack and Sheila out here in the human world, I never stood a chance, but the vet had interested me for a while.

All that strong and sassy enticed me. However, I didn’t have time for anything serious, not with the threat of Acheron looming over all the shifter clans, and I didn’t know Emma Carter, DVM, well enough to suggest a booty call as our main form of relationship.

“You know I have too much going on to actually date anyone,” I added.

“What about the nurses around town and whoever the other one was?”

“Dates don’t mean relationship. Or even sex,” I muttered.

Sheila shrugged. “Don’t be an idiot. Bumping into her isn’t a relationship at all.”

“If you like her so well, why don’t you ask her out?”

Sheila quirked an eyebrow at me, and the side of her mouth twisted up, making the stars around her eyes more into other shapes. “I considered it, but I think she’s perfect for you. She’s sweet, and she likes animals, and you’re already attracted to her. What’s the harm?”

I shot her a dark look, secretly relieved I didn’t have to compete with Sheila for Emma’s attention tonight. “So how ‘bout that drink?”

“One Animal Doctor coming up,” she said.

Sheila’s mom had been a shifter, but her dad had been a human, so she hadn’t inherited the ability—so far as we knew.

The more shifter magic somebody had in their blood, the sooner they shifted for the first time.

Usually. The ability could still manifest at any time of great emotional impact, but the more time passed, the less probable it was.

Sheila had been sworn to secrecy when she inadvertently discovered her mom’s shifter secret.

Now, Sheila devoured everything she could about shifter lore from Dr. Eleanor Wise, the sixty-something-year-old historian for most of the shifter clans in Louisiana.

Dr. Wise didn’t like to share much information, but it was enough to keep Sheila happy and coming back for more.

Dr. Wise allowed it because she knew what it was like to be around shifters without having the gift.

Since Sheila knew and kept her mouth shut, Vixen’s was the de facto base camp for most shifters who dared to show up in Willow Creek.

When Sheila placed the large cocktail in front of me, I understood the name. Layers of color danced in the high-ball glass. Each one matched a shade of the vet’s signature hair. A rainbow drink for a rainbow-haired woman… at Vixen’s.

After I took a gulp, the alcohol swirled in my mouth, each fruity taste mixing until it became something else entirely.

“What do you think?” Sheila asked.

“Not too bland, not too sweet.” I took another drink, ignoring how jubilant my cousin seemed, as though liking the cocktail meant I’d like Emma herself. Draining the glass was easy, and I eyed the cherry in the bottom.

“Another?”

“Sure,” I said, convincing myself two wouldn’t be one too many.

It landed on the bar in front of me as I fished the cherry out of the first one. Already, though, my inner wolf paced in my head. I had a feeling I was going to be in for an unexpected night.

Thirty minutes later, Emma strolled into the noisy bar, wearing slacks and a low-cut shirt. The swing of her hips and the swell of her breasts hinted at her tightly leashed passion. She smelled of blueberries, sage, and antiseptic.

My stomach clenched, and my spine went ramrod straight. A flush covered my skin, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. My wolf whined in my head and scratched at the door of my self-control.

All from a woman… who had already made it clear she didn’t like me.

But I could bend her over her desk and make her scream my name…

Another empty glass had done its work. Control was going to be a problem tonight. Shit.

Emma stopped at the closest end of the bar, near one of the few seats my employees hadn’t taken, her expression strained. Had she not wanted to come? What had Sheila told her?

Sheila hustled toward the vet. “Hey, you. Want to try your drink? We named it after you, after all.”

Emma grinned, but her mouth remained tight. “I do. It’s the first time I’ve had a drink named after me.”

“It’s a strong one.” Sheila busied herself with making the drink.

“Hopefully, that’s good,” Emma said, scanning the bar around her. When her gaze landed on me, her eyes widened. “Hello, Logan.”

I nodded toward her. She made the two syllables of my name so sexy, tangling around her tongue, and the desire I’d been nursing all day erupted like a volcano, lava-hot.

She glanced at the empty swivel stool beside me and back to my face, so I gestured toward it, inviting her to sit but anticipating her refusal.

Indecision marred her features, and her eyebrows pinched. Tension snapped through me, mirroring hers, and I realized I wanted her to sit beside me, and I wanted to hit on her, flirt with her, and win her over.

Her expression smoothed, and she moved toward the spot beside me.

I held as still as possible, showing no reaction. How unexpected. No way she knew how attractive she was in this moment… or how I already wanted to back her against the wall and devour her until her hands fisted in my hair and she called my name, her voice raspy from orgasm.

For fuck’s sake. Easy, boy. I had to slow down, but how could I? She’d been in my head all afternoon, screaming my name. I was five dates into a relationship with this woman, and she didn’t even know she liked me yet.

Emma stopped beside me and tapped the low back of the stool. “Anybody sitting here?”

“You are,” I said, turning it toward her with my foot.

“Great,” she said, easily straddling the stool, and I wondered what it would be like if she wrapped her long legs around me like that. She dropped my credit card on the bar between us. “I wasn’t sure when I’d run into you or Sheila again, so I went back and grabbed it before I left the office.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you want to know how much it was?”

“Don’t care. You have it in your system now, so you can charge it whenever Sully comes in. If that doesn’t work out, call me.”

Appreciation and admiration warmed her eyes, and she laid her hand on my forearm. “I’ll do that.”

Her touch seared my skin, sending my brain to feral places.

I broke the contact by standing up to fish my wallet out of my pocket, but I didn’t miss it when her gaze dropped to my belt buckle, and I hid my smile as I returned to my seat.

Lack of self-control was about to be a problem— or a solution —for both of us.

Sheila appeared with Emma’s drink, deposited a small napkin square in front of her seat, and then placed the drink on it.

Emma gasped. “It’s like my hair.”

“Nothing less for our Rainbow Vet.”

Emma snapped a photo. “For social media later,” she murmured, and then she took a swig, a long one. When she placed the drink back on the napkin, she grinned. “It’s delicious.”

“Need a menu?” Sheila asked, glancing at me.

“I’d better, or I’ll be tipsy in five seconds,” Emma said. “I skipped lunch.”

Sheila turned to me. “What about you?”

Instead of answering Sheila, I leaned closer to Emma. “Would it bother you if I ate you?” I paused, realizing my slip up. “If I ate beside you?”

“Not at all,” she said, hesitating. Then she added, “I think I’d like that.”

“I’ll take a menu,” I said, giving Sheila a glare, hoping a dose of ire would dim her glee.

Did it take the edge off my cousin’s smile? Hell no.

At least she hurried away before she ruined everything. “Let me grab those menus.”

Emma pointed to the nearly empty glass in front of me. “What are you drinking?”

“I’m devouring a mouthwatering Animal Doctor.” I held up the drink and drained the last of it. “It’s one of the best things I’ve tasted in a long time.”

“Is that so?” Her pupils dilated, and she took an unsteady breath. Had she shuddered? Her next swallow nearly emptied her own glass. “Do you like to devour Animal Doctors?”

Oh, fuckity, fuck, fuck.

My dick’s in trouble.