Sitting on the counter, I was taller than Grim, and I wrapped my arms around his neck when I tried to hide my face.
“This young woman here says she can’t be my ‘old lady,’” Grim shouted playfully.
The bar patrons moaned disgruntledly, shaking their head and banging the glasses on the table.
“She says she’s too young,” he droned.
“Aye, that she is,” Locke interrupted. “And obviously too pretty for ya, too.” Locke’s scowl was gone, and he slapped Grim on the back. “I’ve got a better term we can give her. How about mate? Short for a soulmate?”
There were humans in the bar, ones that wore no vests, but they all raised their glasses in agreement. “Yeah, never liked it when bikers called their women ‘old.’ Made it seem like they had a ball and chain around their ankles,” a man shouted.
“It’s settled then. Mates only in this club, you hear?”
It was a statement not for the club members but for the humans that frequented the bar. There would be no question if the word was brought up now.
Locke cleared his throat when all the announcements were made. “Members to the church, we got business to attend to.”
Many chairs pushed away on the wooden floor. The jukebox played, and biker’s hit the balls on the pool tables, resuming their game. Grim pulled me down from the bar and tapped my butt to follow.
This was it.
Grim would give his speech, informing his friends that they could have what he had. I just hoped they listened.
Locke whispered harshly at Grim in the stage’s corner. The murmurs and chuckles echoed through the once abandoned church. The stained-glass windows were broken, letting in drafts that should had made me shiver. But I didn’t.
It was because I was covered in three or four layers of clothing. Grim had a weird fascination with keeping me warm.
“How are you doing, little human?” Sizzle sat next to me. His tall form hovered over me like a stone-cold statue. After gazing into his eyes, I couldn’t understand how I didn’t notice his slitted pupils.
He was a dragon and supposedly a large one at that.
“I’m fine.” I smiled.
He nudged me with his elbow and kept his sight on the stage.
“You know,” he began. “I’m moving out of the apartment next door. I think it’s time that you and Grim have a bigger place.”
The tattoo parlor was owned by Sizzle. He couldn’t possibly want to leave the business he’d built. I went to open my mouth, but he interrupted me.
“It’s already decided. I told Grim we were changing the upstairs into one giant apartment. A bear clan on the opposite side of the state has already been called in. They’re bringing lumber and building supplies.”
“They want to help the club?” From what Grim told me, no packs or tribes wanted to deal with any of the rogues.
“That they are. It is because we house their old clan member, Bear.”
I opened and closed my mouth. “That’s his name? A bear shifter named Bear? That’s original.” I giggled and covered my mouth.
Sizzle chuckled and put his arm around my shoulder. “That’s what I told him.” He nodded to the other side of the room.
Bear was everything a bear shifter human would look like—large, full beard, large torso cut into stone muscles. He had meat on him, and his torso was as thick as a tree trunk. He looked unmovable.
“But you don’t tell Bear what he can call himself. Never argue with a bear.”
Well, couldn’t quibble with that statement.
“Anyway, you guys need some space. The tattoo shop has a basement, and I’ll fix it up and stay down there. It’s better for a dragon to have a cave, anyway.” He turned his head, his chest rose, and I heard a muttering escape his mouth.
I should not have been able to hear that, especially what else came out of his mouth, “Because I can’t stand hearing the fucking all the time.”
