Page 49 of Take Me


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Mav waggled his finger at me. “We have to have fun and the only way we can do that is if we get Alpha drunk enough. Seeing you up here in this tight little number will do him in. Now let’s just hope you can actually sing.”

I swallowed hard. The only singing I did was in the shower. This was going to go south, and fast.

Knox grinned as he sat down beside the stage. I wondered if he was preparing himself to either catch me or run after me when I bolted from this stupid stage. My eyes shot daggers at Tracey again and all she did was laugh as Archer slid into the booth next to her and whispered something into her ear.

My anger somewhat fizzled out. Was that why she was putting off flirting with Knox? Was it Archer that held her captivated?

The music started up and my heart stopped. Mav started to bob his head to the beat and I could feel my face getting hot already. There weren’t very many people in the bar yet but I could feel Rafe’s eyes on me as I took a deep breath.

Mav started us off. “You are my fire,”

My turn. “My one desire,”

I didn’t know why I was so afraid. This was mysonggrowing up. I had spent countless sleepovers belting this out on the edge of a twin mattress. The few friends I had growing up would blast this while we laid on their carpeted floor and did our nails. It wasn’t very many times but the song brought me joy. When it was my turn again, I closed my eyes and leaned forward with the lyrics. I couldn’t help myself. The song was a winner. Mav was killing it with backup vocals and when the song came to an end and we were both breathing hard, I couldn’t help but grin at him. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

Tracey let out a cheer and stood up from the table. It was her turn. She chose “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. She belted out the lyrics like she was getting over a bad breakup. She closed her eyes and put her all into it. Every single emotion. She had me feeling things I wasn’t ready to feel. She made me want to dance and she made me want to cry, all at the same time. Knox looked pained from the side of the stage but she wasn’t a bad singer. In fact, she was an incredible singer. Her voice was full of soul and it made me envious for a minute. I could listen to her sing all night. Her number ended far too quickly. I cheered with everything in me. I was a proud best friend. But I wasn’t disappointed when Mav, Knox, and Gabriel got on the stage.

Tracey grinned from beside me. “This is gonna be good.”

“Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide

No escape from reality”Gabriel started us off strong with the one song that I knew everyone would all be singing together by the end of it. His voice wrapped around me like a symphony. His brown skin glimmered in the stage lighting and his tight curls on his head bounced as he leaned into the mic. They each took turns singing the long song as Tracey and I belted out the lyrics with them. They each had their arms wrapped around each other as they sang. I couldn’t believe how good they were at this. Were all werewolves just naturally good at everything they did? When the guitar solo came around they each played guitar like their lives depended on it. Knox and Mav pressed their backs together as they got down with the music. Sweat was beading on Knox’s brow and I was entirely too shocked. He didn’t break a sweat when jogging twelve miles, but he was breaking a sweat getting into a fake guitar solo? The men were committed. My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard and by the time the song was over, I had worked up enough courage to look at Rafe.

His yellow eyes were boring into mine. Was there a man behind the wolf? What color eyes did he have when his wolf wasn’t at the surface? Was his wolf always at the surface? All these questions were on the tip of my tongue and they were about to spill forward until Knox hopped on stage to do a solo. His eyes left mine and all the wondering in my head went silent.

Why did it matter anyway?

Knox grinned from behind the mic as he pointed to Tracey beside me. She was nursing her third drink and I could smell the wolfsbane on her skin. Her face was composed except for one eyebrow that rose up on her forehead. “This is for you babe!”

She rolled her eyes at that then flipped him off. It only made him smile bigger, which I hadn’t thought was possible.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall

Don't say it, 'cause I know I'm cute

Louis down to my drawers

LV all on my shoes.”

I couldn’t help myself. This was a good song. Before I knew it, I was dancing along to Knox’s subpar singing and laughing as Tracey twirled me around. She placed her cup on the bar and marched me out to the dance floor. She couldn’t help but be pulled in by the beat too. We danced against each other and laughed as the boys whistled across the room. I was going to have permanent wrinkles on my cheeks from this and I didn’t mind one bit. Joy overflowed from me as we moved around the dance floor. Yes, the men that had started to flood the bar were hot as sin but it was the last thing I was worried about. For too long I had been worried about the opposite sex. I had chased after it. I had craved it, but tonight I realized that all I needed was me. I could be happy without the bad boy. I could be happy with myself. I didn’t need anything else but maybe my best friend and these rowdy Guardians. I didn’t need the sex or the alcohol. All I needed was me.

Chapter 54

Jade Rivers

The boys took a break from the karaoke and we all sat at the bar as more people milled in. Tracey pointed out each of the supernatural races while we sat there and she ordered another drink. She pointed to a pale couple in the back. Their eyes flashed red before they blinked back to a dark color. “Those are vampires.”

I could have guessed that one. Then there was the group of grunge men and women. They had piercings in their faces and tattoos covering their skin where their leather and fishnets weren’t. They had intimidating hair cuts and from what I could see, most of the men wore eyeliner. Tracey held her glass up to one of the girls in greeting and they smiled. Their teeth were sharpened into points. “Those are witches.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “They are?”

Tracey shrugged. “Not all supernaturals are the same. There are different kinds of witches. I think those are bone witches. They use bones and hag stones to predict the future, or versions of it.”

“What about everyone else?” I whispered before I took a sip of my water.