“Better make your move, Anders,” Daniel said. “Looks like we’re not the only ones who noticed her.”
Damon whipped his head back to the bar. Two men had approached her and stood on either side, trying to engage her in conversation. But she didn’t acknowledge them and instead waved to Tim to refill her shot glass again.
Good.
Though she continued to ignore them and hunched further around her shot glass, the males didn’t seem to pay her disinterest any mind. They continued their efforts to gain her attention, their voices getting louder even as she pretended not to hear them and took another shot of tequila.
The glass in his hand cracked audibly as his fist tightened around it.
“Jesus, Damon, what the fuck?” Anders exclaimed as bits of broken glass exploded around them.
His entire body froze as one of the men drew closer, his arm going around her shoulders, which she shrugged right off. The snarl that escaped his throat was inhuman, and before he knew it, he was stalking back to the bar.
“… please get your hands off me,” she said in a polite tone even as she shrugged the man’s arm away again.
“Aww, darlin’, don’t be like that,” the man slurred. “I just wanna get to know—”
“The lady doesn’t want your company,” Damon growled.
The man’s spine stiffened, then he turned around. “Why don’t you mind your bus—Jesus Christ!”
Sweat and panic rolled off the man as Damon opened his mouth to bare his growing fangs. Human, Damon’s shifter senses told him. Probably a tourist wanting to have a look-see at the shifters living in Blackstone. The Den was a known shifter hangout, after all.
We can’t hurt him. They’d shred the man into ribbons without breaking a sweat.
But The Demon couldn’t be reasoned with, not in this state, not when it was seeing red. It wanted to rip the man’s arms off for touching what was theirs. Another inhuman growl rattled from his chest, and he knew that the muscles underneath his skin were moving as The Demon fought for control.
“Fuck!” The man yelped as a hand that was human, but now sprouting fur, wrapped around his neck. Black claws were extending from the tip, scraping against the man’s delicate skin.
“Damon, calm the fuck down.”
It sounded like Gabriel, but the blood roaring in Damon’s ears was too loud. The Demon was ready to kill.
A gigantic paw covered in white fur slammed down on the bar so hard, the various shot glasses and mugs clattered across the surface. “Can it, Chief,” Tim ordered. The older man was not someone to be messed with, both in human and polar bear form. “This is my bar, and you know the rules. No shifting.”
Despite the fear Damon could still taste in the air, the man smiled smugly at him. “You heard him. Let go of me.”
He bared his teeth one last time at the offending human, then loosened his grip and dropped his hands to his sides.
“I see you know your place.” The man spat on the ground. “Filthy animal.”
There was a loud roar, and though Damon thought it had come from him, he was wrong. It was Tim who let out the teeth-rattling, bone shaking growl.
“Oh shit!” Someone—Daniel, it sounded like—exclaimed before all hell broke loose.
Tim slammed both paws on the bar and then hopped over in one leap. For a huge man, who also turned into the largest bear in the world, he moved quickly, and soon he was advancing toward the two humans as his bones cracked and fur began to sprout all over his body.
“Fuck!” They couldn’t let Tim harm those humans. The anti-shifter organizations would be all over the place with their damn protests. “Guys—”
“We’re on it, Chief.” Anders cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, then charged toward Tim. The tiger shifter could be lethal even without shifting into his animal form.
Damon’s next concern, of course, was the woman. He had to get her out—
“What the hell?”
She was gone.
The Demon roared in urgency, and pushed him forward and out the door. He didn’t sniff her scent, so he couldn’t track her with his nose, but there was only one exit here.
It didn’t take him too long to find her; she was like a beacon in that gown as she walked out of the parking lot toward the darkened road. There was an oncoming truck that she didn’t see as she continued to lumber forward.
With his superhuman speed, he caught up to her just as she was about to step into the truck’s path, then grabbed her arm. Unfortunately, he forgot his own strength as he pulled her, sending them both to the ground. His back slammed into concrete as puffs of tulle and a soft body landed on top of him.
“Hey!”
Arms grappled his as she pushed herself off him. As she struggled to get up, he groaned as her knees hit his abdomen. At least she didn’t aim lower.
Her weight lifted off him as she scrambled to the side. He got to his feet and let out another groan as he felt a different pain from his nether regions. She was on all fours and her gown had pushed her cleavage up, breasts nearly bursting from the top of her neckline. Fuck, his zipper was practically imprinting on his dick.
Brushing herself off, she got up. “Whaddidya you do that for?” she slurred. “I … it’s you.”
The tequila was strong on her breath, and she swayed on her feet. “Are you okay, miss?”
“Me? I’m fiiiine …” She hiccupped. “I just … I don’t usually drink that much.” Her eyes were unfocused. “Are you …”
Her body fell forward, and he easily caught her. His arms slipped around her waist and pulled her against his chest. As her sweet scent wrapped around him, he cursed inwardly. The Demon, on the other hand, yowled with delight.
Yowl with delight? That damned
