“Yes. Unless she’s harmed. Then it’ll be a problem.”
I took two fistfuls of Austin’s shirt and leaned against his strong back, feeling the play of muscle as he braced and altered his weight, not at all worried about what would happen, even though logic dictated that I should be worried.
“What is happening to me?” I asked myself, pushing away from Austin, struggling out from under his arm.
I stepped out from behind him, but his arm flared, creating a divider between me and Sir Stares-a-Lot, who did not tear his focus away from Austin.
“It’s fine.” I pushed at his arm. It didn’t budge.
Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded curtly, and his muscles relaxed little by little. Austin followed suit, as though they were doing the shifter equivalent of putting down their swords. Kace had stayed where Austin had left him, hunched a little, his eyes downcast.
“You can let everyone back in, Jess,” Austin said, and his arm loosened, dropping to his side.
“Wait.” Sir Stares-a-Lot’s focus was on me again. “What happened here?”
“Sit.” Austin jerked his head toward Niamh. “I’ll join you. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Sir Stares-a-Lot nodded again, his gaze shrewd, and made his way toward Niamh.
“Me too, or…” I pointed at my chest.
Austin turned to face me, deliciously close. “Of course you. I don’t see any blood. Did you finally do it?”
My mood fell.
“Oops.” His smile was a welcome sight after all the hard faces. “I struck a nerve. Go sit. I’ll be right there.”
I made my way over, moving very slowly because I wasn’t in a hurry to sit so close to Sir Stares-a-Lot. One wrong word and I might incite some sort of riot. I glanced back, feeling Austin move toward Kace.
Austin stopped just in front of him, hands at his sides, giving the other man some breathing room this time.
“I apologize, alpha. I didn’t know,” Kace said.
“Neither does she,” Austin said. “For a long while, neither did I. You’re blameless. I should’ve gone about this differently, but…”
“I would’ve reacted the same way you did, alpha. Probably worse. Bad timing. It’s good to see you, sir.” Kace stuck out his hand.
Austin took it, and he pulled the other man in for a bro hug, with a chest bump and much beating each other on the backs.
“Do you eavesdrop on private moments often?” Sir Stares-a-Lot asked, and I realized I’d wandered a bit too close without realizing it. He was leaning away from me on his chair to avoid touching me.
I jerked my arm the other way, happy to follow suit. “Yeah, when it’s juicy stuff. Don’t you?”
I wrestled Faith’s chair away, then pulled mine out a little so I had more space. Once sitting, I picked up my drink.
“Today has been a shitshow. What did he mean, Niamh, ‘neither did she’? What don’t I know?”
“How much time have ye got?” she replied.
“Right. Great. You’re in one of those moods, are you?”
“Yes, I am. Go around the bar and get me a drink, won’t ya? I’d do it, but I don’t want to set that eejit off again.”
“I got it.” Austin sauntered around the bar, his T-shirt showing off his perfect upper body, his hair messy, like he’d just gotten out of bed. I soaked in his easy grace, the power in each movement.
“What don’t I know?” I asked him.
“As it concerns the magical world, I think it would take every night for the better part of a month to tackle that,” he teased, and though part of me was annoyed, a larger part welcomed his light tone. “No wine?”
“She’s going to get langers tonight, just ye wait,” Niamh said. “If she doesn’t have to be carried home, I haven’t done my job.”
“No.” I pointed at her. “No. A lovely buzz, then home.”
“Sure, yeah.” Niamh nodded dutifully.
Sir Stares-a-Lot studied each of us in turn, his eyes coming back to me the most, sticking for way too long. If he kept it up, I would either start squirming, or lose it and blast him off his stool.
Austin handed a Bud across the bar, and Sir Stares-a-Lot leaned forward to grab it. Next up, he finished pouring what was left in my bottle of beer, and backed me up with another. Niamh got two bottles of cider. For himself he poured a whiskey.
Austin came back around the bar, stopping behind me and reaching over me to put his drink next to mine. His smell stole over me—clean cotton, sweet spice, and a little sweat mixed in. Masculine. He pulled a chair over and settled onto it, his knee rubbing against mine. “Let them in, Jess.”
I tugged away the spells and opened the bar door. “I didn’t know it would’ve been okay to let them stay.”
“No, you did good. Kace submitted quickly. It calmed things down.”
Speaking of whom, Kace didn’t leave the bar. He took a seat at the other end, ripped shirt and all, quickly joined by two others. I hoped he wasn’t embarrassed.