Locke’s eyes narrowed before showing his playful smile.
“Well, then, that means we have to celebrate then. I say we decorate the entire bar.” He slapped his hand on a nearby chair.
“The fuck we do that for?” Bear yelled from a table. “Just because we have one human member now?”
Locke scoffed and stood on a chair. “Nah man, we have humans that work in this bar. We can do it for them, too.”
“You are full of it,” Sizzle snorted, walking out of the security room. “You are decorating to get some fresh meat in here and find your mate. He’s already got flyers on the other side of town that says ‘Ladies Night, come party with the Iron Fang Bikers on Christmas Eve’ on it. I think it’s a bad idea. Women are trouble. No offense, Journey.”
Journey laughed, shaking her head. “Maybe some will find a lucky lady or gentleman and then pray for some help,” she said hopefully.
I patted my mate’s head, happy to see she was hopeful. Locke was doing what he could for others to find their mates, but unless the humans prayed, there wouldn’t be a spark. Yet my Journey believed that Delilah and Hawke were mates, so an attraction must be there despite the bond.
“It’s a great idea,” I announced. “What do we need to do to get started?”
Chapter Thirty Nine
Journey
Foronce,weleftthe bar in an uproar of excitement.
Locke advertising a Christmas party to the local women in the town was a first step that he believed there could be mates for them. He just didn’t believe that he needed to open his soul again.
“Things will work out,” Grim said, grabbing my thigh.
Grim borrowed a dingy red, rust-corroded truck from the garage. It was rarely used. It squeaked every time we hit a hole in the road, and I wasn’t even sure if the tires still had any tread left. Every bump and swerve were exaggerated by the shot suspension. But it could also be because Grim wasn’t used to riding on four wheels and distracted himself by keeping his large hand on my thigh.
“You could use two hands,” I said.
He bobbed his head. “I could. But I won’t.” He winked at me and continued driving down the familiar path I’d come to know. He parked at the overlook.
Instead of a clear night sky with the moon hanging over the valley, the clouds hid the setting sun.
We spent too much of our afternoon at the bar. Locke called all the human servers and waitresses and had them pitch some ideas about creating the perfect Christmas party. They even went as far as calling their favorite band and asking if they would play Christmas music.
The band, of course, laughed in their faces and refused to play any Christmas songs on their instruments but offered to at least DJ. Something about “vampires don’t do jolly shit” was said over the phone.
Vampires. Yeah, they’re real. I don’t know why that shocked me but still. I hadn’t officially met one yet, so they still seemed like magical creatures to me.
And yet I had met the goddess of souls and was still fascinated by damned vampires.
Grim slammed the truck door shut, shaking off the remaining snow from the top of the cab. He walked around to my side, a grin plastered on his face. He said it was hard to open the rickety door, but I think he just wanted to be chivalrous like some human gentleman.
He picked me up by my waist and set me down, leading me over to the half-broken bench we had sat on once before. Grim looked out over the forest, took an enormous breath in, and put his hands on his hips.
We had a job to get a tree, a rather large tree for the bar to decorate, as well as a tree for our home. Grim was hoping for a thick spruce, but he worried about any squirrels that might be inside. Leif didn’t like squirrels and didn’t want Leif gnawing on one in the middle of the night and scaring me.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” Grim asked suddenly.
I blinked. “A ride?”
“Yeah, a ride.” He pulled me closer, placing a kiss on my forehead.
I looked around, we weren’t that far from the road, and anyone could just pull up and decide to come take a scenic look.
“I don’t know if that’s wise. Someone might see.”
“They won’t see anything.” Grim shrugged his shoulders, taking his shirt off. I licked my lips at the sight of his rippling muscles, and I fumbled nervously with my jacket.
