His Perfect Wolf (Mystic Wolves Book 2) (10 page)

“Good idea,” Alaina
agreed.

He pointed to the
closest ladies room and then told her where she could find him. Once he made
his way to the bar, he located one of his waitresses, Lisa, and asked her
to go wait for his girl. The Spanish beauty smiled, said
something he pretended not to hear, and then sauntered off to do his bidding.
He watched her go. She was wearing what the rest of the waitresses wore, with a
twist.
A pair of ass-less chaps
with a pa
ir of boy shorts underneath and a crop top
with the bars logo on it.
Some of the ladies chose to wear
thongs, while some went for tight jeans. Niall and Zayn didn’t care what they
chose to wear under the chaps, but he definitely appreciated the view.

“Hey,
boss, who was the chic you were all but screwing?” Torq
asked.

Turning to his friend
he saw the humor he didn’t try to hide.

“I think there’s a
toilet that needs to be cleaned, Torq. You want that job?” Niall smiled.

Torq raised his arms.
“Nope, you know
what. I didn’t see or smell
anything.”

Niall laughed, lifting
the heavy countertop and walking behind to help serve drinks. He and Torq
worked well together, but tonight he figured he’d only have half his mind on
the job since Alaina would be there.

“Man,
you need to chill. You’re all but growling. Actually,
scratch that. You are growling, you just haven’t showed fang, yet.” Torq nudged
his shoulder.

Torq wasn’t quite as
tall as Niall, but he was every bit as built, and was one hell of a scrapper
when it came down to a fight in skin or fur. Niall trusted the other man to
keep his head if Niall lost his. That reason he saw was walking toward him with
Li
sa. The two ladies were chatting like old friends.
He was glad he’d never tried to get in the waitress’ pants, especially when
Alaina looked up and smiled at him, as if she was reading his mind. He shook
his head, unable to control the grin that crossed hi
s
face. One day he’d have that connection with her, if she accepted him and his
wolf.

“You are so whipped,”
Jett said, slapping his back. “I’m thinking the man who’s notorious for giving
no fucks, has just found something to give a fuck about.”

Years of di
scipline kept him from ripping his friend’s arm off. He
hadn’t heard Jett move behind the bar, which made him angry. Jett’s words were
spoken too low for anyone but him to hear. Just as he was opening his mouth to
respond he smelled the unique scent of Ala
ina and he
shut his mouth as she approached.

“Hi,” Alaina said
nervously.

Niall nodded, not
trusting himself to speak.

“What can I get you to
drink, darling?” Torq asked.

Alaina looked from
Niall to Torq.
“A Long Island Iced
Tea, please.”
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a fifty
dollar bill.

Torq shook his head.
“This one is on the house.”

She smiled at him,
then
looked at Niall for confirmation.

He turned away from
her to grab a couple beers for customers, and by the time h
e looked back, she was sipping on her drink with her back
to the bar. Her body language was screaming hurt, but he didn’t trust himself
to go over and talk to her without losing focus on his job.

When the band walked
out on stage, with Jett the last to go
up, the crowd
went wild. He lost sight of Alaina as she wound her way up to stand at the
front of the stage.

Niall motioned Lisa
over to him. “Keep an eye on Alaina for me.” He nodded at the front of the bar
where the band was warming up. Lisa gave him a s
aucy
salute but did as instructed.

Bronx was by the front
door acting as bouncer, at six foot five, he was a big bastard most humans
didn’t want to fuck with, drunk or sober. He caught Niall’s eye and made a
motion that he had his eyes on the front as well
.

He didn’t have to
speak on their private path, as their alpha, they knew what he wanted.

Jett started hitting
the drums to a fast beat. The rest of the band caught up, while the singer
started belting out the lyrics to one of the crowds’ favorite songs,
Bad
Girl Friend
by
Theory of a
Deadman
.

The night went by in a
blur. Every half hour or so he’d catch a glimpse of Alaina shaking her fine ass
on the dance floor, or at the bar getting a refill. Not once did he smell her
arousal, keeping all the men around
her from losing
an arm or hand.

A new scent reached
him, a group of unknown shifters had the hair on the back of his neck rising.
He noticed Bronx standing, instead of perched on top of the stool. Niall nodded
for Bronx to follow them. He called out to Za
yn and
the rest of the pack, putting them all on alert. An unneeded warning as they
all came to stand by the bar. Twins, Raydon and River, crossed as one, their
dark stare menacing as they stalked up to the counter, standing behind him.
Next to come was Fa
llon, usually the most laid back
of the group, looking ready to kick ass, and ask questions later.

“Let’s see if they do
the right thing and approach me before we head their way,” Niall said.

Niall watched the
three men’s heads swivel their way, catching t
heir
eye,
the leader indicated they follow him.
They
were all
big men, but none as big as Bronx, nor
did they look nearly as tame. The first was a bonus, the last a worry.

“How’s it going?
You boys just passing through?”
Niall asked, keeping his tone neutr
al.

“Something
like
that. We’re on vacation, thought we’d
stop in and get a drink. You got a problem with that?”

The guy speaking
looked Niall up and down. Their clothes screamed average working
man,
their posture showed they weren’t
afraid to throw-down i
f it came to it.

“We won’t have a
problem as long as you realize this is my territory. You plan on staying, you
talk to me. You got a problem, you talk to me. Is that gonna be an issue?”
Niall let his eyes shift, letting the other men know who was alpha.

“
I think I’ve seen all I needed to see here. If I have need
of you, I’ll let you know. What did you say your name was again?” the leader of
the group asked.

Niall smirked. “I
didn’t.”

Confusion crossed the
shorter man’s features. He’d probably be considered
handsome by most women, but Niall’s dickhead meter went off.

“This music must be
addling my brain. My name’s Rickard Willard. We’ll be staying in Deadwood for a
few days. Mind if we drop in from time to time. The eye-candy is quite nice.”
He turned to wat
ch one of the waitresses walk by in a
pair of ass-less chaps and panties, licking his lips like a hungry wolf.

“Don’t mind at all as
long as you keep in mind most of the clientele are human, and as such you keep
your nature hidden.” Niall nodded at the cro
wd.

Rickard scoffed. “How
can you stand to be surrounded by so many of them?” He made it sound as if
humans were disgusting.

Niall shrugged his
shoulders. “They help pay the bills and are good for many things.”

The other pack members
laughed and added a
few comments. Rickard promised to
keep his nature hidden and not alert humans to their presence, but when he
turned to leave he lifted his nose, scenting the air.

“Can I help you with
something else?” Niall asked.

Lisa walked by with a
tray full of drinks,
not able to miss bumping into
the big man who stepped into her path. The bottles and glasses slid backward,
but Torq’s fast reflexes kept the tray from spilling on her, instead the drinks
crashed to the floor. The heavy smell of alcohol wafted up.

“You
st
upid bitch.
Look what you did,” Rickard roared,
raising his hand.

Bronx grabbed
Rickard’s wrist. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His blue eyes flashed fire
and a promise of retribution at the two men with Rickard.

They all watched as
Rickard tried to b
reak Bronx’s hold on his wrist. If
Rickard had been human his bones would’ve been crushed to dust. Lisa stood
without moving a muscle, realizing she was in the middle of something. Torq
bent and whispered in her ear, she nodded then scooted around them.

Ni
all didn’t take his eyes off any of the men. The music was
still pumping, and he was thrilled that his woman had taken herself to the
front of the crowd to listen to the band. The last thing he needed was another
pack thinking he had a weakness. He shook o
ff
thoughts of Alaina, and focused on the trio of idiots. “I think it’s time you
boys left.”

Having let go of
Rickard, Bronx stepped next to Niall and crossed his arms over his wide chest.

Rickard looked at
Bronx’s tattooed arms and
chest,
a sneer lifted t
he corner of his lips. “Yeah, I do believe this isn’t our type of
establishment. We’ll be seeing you boys real soon.”

Turning, the trio
walked out without looking back.
A
sign that they weren’t scared of Niall and his pack.

“Raydon, you and River
go see wh
ere they are staying and report back. Try
not to be detected, and don’t get in a tussle with them. I have a feeling they
want to fight, and while I’m all for a good brawl, I like to know what we’re
fighting for first.”

“Why you gotta take
all the fun out o
f everything?” River asked with a
smile that showed the dimple in his right cheek. His twin had the exact same
dimple in his left one. The Boone twins were eerily identical, people couldn’t
tell them apart most of the time.

“Go follow the
dickheads,” Niall
said.

He shook his head as
Raydon and River saluted him.

“Boss, I’m sorry about
dumping that tray,” Lisa came up to his side.

Niall wrapped his arm
around her shoulder and gave her a hug. “No worries, little sister. It was the
asshat
’
s
fault not yours. Did you get hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head,
smiling up at him.

He could read the real
affection in her body language. She looked at him and the other guys as big
brothers. “Get back to work.” Niall gave her one last hug, and kissed t
he top of her head.

* * * *

Alaina made her way back to the
bar,
hoping Niall wasn’t waiting on another customer. Each time
she’d gotten a refill he’d been busy, and she hadn’t wanted to seem clingy.
Torq would make her a new drink, smile his blindingly
white
smile that probably made most women drop their panties right there on the bar.
The last thing she expected to see was her new friend being embraced by Niall.
Sure, they weren’t exclusive. Heck, she was only planning on staying for
another day or so,
but he could’ve at least not
brought her where he clearly had other women.

She
promised
herself she wasn’t going to cry or make a fool of herself,
nor was she going to lash out and let him know she saw him. Making up her mind,
she headed for the same door
she came in. She kept
people in between her and Niall, not wanting to see him, or let him see the
hurt she wasn’t able to hide just yet.

Outside she took a few
deep breaths. The fifty dollar bill she’d stuffed into her back pocket still
blessedly there. Sh
e wished she would’ve insisted on
bringing her own vehicle instead of riding in with Niall, but then she’d never
have experienced the freedom of riding on a motorcycle. Of course, now she’d
never be able to climb on another one without thinking of the blas
ted man again.