Once Rejected Then Desired

He barely touches his drink just watches the bar with a

Not in the obvious way most m

self. My hands tremble, not from fear, but from something

"Go hydrate or scream into a m

ace my hands on the sink. His gaze still li

ook at me lik

does it make my chest

s stool is empty.

e that,

-

the hateful blare of my phone

r, grabbing it befor

te Ca

only mean

er, voice scra

the last two p

ors don't do

it this month. Bus

t our problem.

sing my finger

for it. I

use.

your father is. Next time, we

ne goe

r hasn't stepped foot in my life in years, but somehow he

wolves. Debts with monsters who don't

d

eping up the sh

-

hen I unlock the d

s later, coffee in one ha

ks, eyeing the sha

eachy,"

push it aside once

a blur of spilled liquor, br

. Comf

he com

ool. Sa

he didn't come her

ask, sliding him

ooking away. "Maybe I

ire hazard wiring or the const

smi

you earn, not the

ike

bl

forward.

eople off," I mutter,

yes locked on mine.

No k

in gray or black, always exuding that same calm do

s I start it, but when he

?" he says one night, watching me clean blood

e. "Exc

. "You're wolfing. Probably been doing it for years. Your

s. "You think y

ne wolf holding yourself together with duct tape and gri

w accurat

ate that h

know what my wo

the answer's obvious.

st

y from your pack,

lver Fang doesn't tie its alphas

omach

d respected packs in the region. Neutr

d to wander into my b

looking for

d it

n't waver. "G

way he says it mak

en I forget how many receipts I've already counted.

painful parts, just enough to make me

ks

ture in my bar and, if I'

erything go

-

ot enough patience. Ellie's running drinks like a machine. I'm mid-flirt wit

vement just bey

up. And

-shadowed by the streetlig

ne beside him, probably a pack mem

rt stu

ince he looked at me like he knew me and I d

t

e h

eyes

ath ca

hing unreadable and beneath it, somethi

I remember. And noth

opped moving until Lucian's

is

't an

gaze. His energy

l it: the weight of power. Not bar-fl

a Lu

says, voic

the Blacks

cks

lse p

ional to the point of cruelty. A pack that values streng

ys neutral, but h

w him?"

e says. "He's not

at the window, Rona

esn't loo

the one that raises

e bar has noticed

he

ward t

n the sidewalk.

ving mine until th

ses, he glanc

ok the

vol

ecogn

resp

va

es, m

ething

uld know?" I ask

him disappear

tay away from

hy

me, sharp an

t like the way

ou look at me

smi

e's no h

n't plan o