“Nice to meet you, Gabe,” Melnick said as they shook hands.
“It’s Gabriel,” he corrected.
“Only I get to call him Gabe,” Vicky laughed. “Oh, who’s your … friend?”
Crap. Turning around, he saw Temperance shrink away from them, anxiety rolling off her in waves. This really wasn’t how he wanted this night to turn out. Of all the fucking places and times Vicky could have shown up, it had to be tonight?
“This is my date,” he said, emphasizing the last word as he placed an arm around her. “Temperance Pettigrew.”
Temperance flinched when his arm landed on her shoulder, but at least she didn’t shrug it off. “Hello,” she said in a soft voice. She didn’t look at Vicky or Tom, but instead, kept the right side of her face and body away from them.
Vicky’s perfectly shaped blonde brow rose high. “Pettigrew? Are you one of the Long Island Pettigrews?”
“I …” Temperance shook her head. “No, I’m from Chicago originally.”
“Really? Which part?” Vicky prodded.
“A suburb you probably wouldn’t know,” she said with a nervous laugh.
Vicky’s nose wrinkled at the mention of the suburbs. “I’m sure I don’t,” the lioness said with disinterest.
“Don’t you have a table?” Gabriel snapped at her. He was not going to play Vicky’s games. Not anymore.
“We do, actually,” Melnick said, clearing his throat. “Vicky?”
Flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder, Vicky pasted a big smile on her face. “I’ll see you around, Gabe.”
As the other couple walked away, Temperance ducked her head and shook his arm off. “I need to use the ladies’ room,” she said before quickly scampering away, not even looking up at him.
Gabriel cursed inwardly. Downing his beer, he signaled the bartender for another one. Why he ever got involved with that crazy lioness, he didn’t know. Maybe because he was young and stupid, and their families encouraged it.
The Woolworth’s lineage was just as blue as the Russel’s, and everyone had expected them to get married. But after a while, he realized that she was, indeed, a few cards short of a deck. Still, it took him a while to fully get rid of her. But every now and then, she popped up like a nasty rash. He usually shut her down quickly, blocking her and avoiding any places where she might show up.
He knew growing up what his purpose in life was as the only male in his family of notoriously matriarchal shifters. In the past few years, he’d managed to avoid it all, even rebelling with his choice of career. He could have his choice of cushy jobs in the Lyon Industries organizational chart, but he didn’t want to be involved in all that, and for the most part, his sisters had left him alone.
But a few months ago, Gen started getting on his case about “family duty” and all that shit. Oh, he knew why his eldest sister had been calling and leaving numerous voice mails lately. Vicky sliding into his DMs and now bumping into her seemed suspiciously coincidental.
Minutes ticked by, and he realized he had finished his second beer already. Where the heck was that hostess with that table? On second thought, maybe it would be a good idea to find another place to eat.
“You’re still here, Gabe?”
Fuck.
Whirling around, he fixed a neutral expression on face. “Don’t you have a date you have to go back to?”
The corner of her lips turned up. “Why? Are you jealous?” Leaning over, she trailed her fingers up his arm. “You know it gets me hot when you are.”
Christ, nothing had changed in in five years. Vicky was still a raging lunatic. “Don’t start, Vicky.” Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he pulled her claws off. “And stop contacting me. Newsflash: when someone blocks your number and social media accounts, they generally don’t want to hear from you.”
“But we were so good together,” she said with a pout, leaning forward to take up his personal space. A hand crept up his chest. “Surely, you don’t want that weak little human? Are you just waiting to get her in the sack?” She scoffed. “She’s a nobody. And those disgusting scars—”
“Shut the fuck up!” His lion, too, was seeing red at the insult to their mate. His hands gripped at her arms, trapping her against the bar with his body. “You’re not even worth a fraction of her.”
They stood there for a few seconds as he waited for her to push him away. Instead, she slinked her torso up against him. “I knew you still had it in you.” Her gaze flickered to something behind him, and she smirked. “Oh, Gabe, we were always so good together.”
He pushed off her and raked his fingers through his hair. “What the fuck are you—” He froze, then whirled back to Vicky. “How did you know about her scars?”
Vicky smoothed her perfectly-manicured hands down her dress but didn’t say anything.
A pit formed in his gut. “Where the hell is my table?” he barked as the hostess passed by them.
The young woman started, then hugged the menus she was carrying to her chest like a shield. “S-sir? I thought you changed your mind.” She cocked her head at the exit. “Your date … she left.”
A murderous feeling crept into him as he put together what could have happened. “Goddammit! You planned this,” he growled at Vicky.
Fear flashed in the lioness’s face for a brief second. “Gabe! Don’t you dare—”
Ignoring Vicky, he dashed out of the restaurant. “Temperance!” he called. There was a faint trace of her scent in the air, but there was no sign of her. However, the sound of a door closing and then a car driving away caught his attention, and he saw a car idling across the street. Goddammit! As the sedan pulled away, he thought to run after it, but he knew better. Besides, if Temperance had called for a ride, he already knew where she was going.
He sprinted to the car garage where he’d parked, then drove as
