by R. E. Butler
“It’s a shifter bar?” she asked.
Mercy nodded. “Yep. It’s called Tails. Isn’t that awesome? Anyway, my client was telling me that they have a great house band, and Fridays are Ladies Nights, so we can get a couple of free drinks, and maybe get felt up by some shifter guys. How does that sound?”
“Like you’re hoping to get laid.”
“Aren’t you? When’s the last time someone cleared the bats out of the attic for you?”
A blush heated her cheeks. “Merc,” she said, her voice dropping to a warning tone.
Mercy waved her hand dismissively. “You really need to get over yourself. Just because you picked a couple of losers, doesn’t mean that the next guy you find will also be one.”
“I’m not looking for anything right now.”
Which was true, but also not true. Ree would love to be in a relationship, but she had a hard time trusting any guys. Maybe because their dad ran off on them when she was in elementary school, and their mom had never really gotten over her broken heart. Or maybe it was because her last boyfriend had waited until she went to work, snuck into her apartment, and sold all her electronics. The one before that had cheated on her, and then blamed her for his actions.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to go out to a bar tomorrow.”
“Don’t make me call in the favor.”
Ree’s eyes narrowed. The favor, as it had come to be known, was the one thing that the sisters would do for each other, no matter what. They’d both promised to give each other one such favor. Ree had cashed in hers when she’d asked Mercy to move across the hall so she could have some privacy. She’d lived with her sister from the time they were little, and when they moved away from home and into the same apartment, Ree had felt stifled. She liked having Mercy close, just not sharing a bathroom.
“Really? That’s what you want to waste your favor on? You could ask me for anything and you’re asking me to go out for a drink.”
The corner of Mercy’s mouth quirked up. “I think it will be good for you. And I know for dang sure you wouldn’t let me go to a shifter bar all by my lonesome.”
Of course, her sister was right. Ree would never let her go to a bar by herself, let alone a shifter bar. She’d never actually been to a shifter bar, but she’d heard stories from her coworkers, who always talked about shifters being more aggressive than humans. Not that Mercy couldn’t handle herself, but that didn’t mean that Ree wouldn’t be there just in case.
Knowing that Mercy wouldn’t let this one go, she gave up fighting. “Okay. But I’m driving, you don’t bring home any strange men, and when I’m ready to go, you leave with me without any complaint.”
Judging by the triumphant glint in her baby blues, Mercy knew she’d won. “I’ll be over after work tomorrow to pick out your outfit. And you’ll let me do your hair, of course.”
“Fine. Nothing too crazy, though.”
She tilted her head. “Would I ever do anything crazy to your hair?”
“You once melted a chunk of my hair off when you got distracted while you were straightening it!”
Sniffing, Mercy said, “Yeah, but I fixed it by giving you that cute, short cut.”
It had taken ages for Ree’s hair to grow back to the length she loved, which was well past her shoulders.
“Nothing. Crazy.”
Mercy put one hand over her heart. “Promise.”
* * *
Ree studied herself in the bathroom mirror. Mercy had been waiting at her door when she got home from work at six, her arms laden with clothing, shoes, and a bag of hair implements. Although she’d hoped that her sister had changed her mind about going to Tails, it hadn’t surprised her that she’d been grinning like an idiot and practically bouncing on her feet.
The outfit that Mercy had chosen was simple and, dare she say, sexy – a pretty black lace dress with a flowing skirt, and a cropped jean jacket. The black, strappy sandals had a wedge heel which brought her five-four height closer to five-six. Understated makeup, and a curling iron that had turned her straight hair into a glorious mass of curls.
“Well?” Mercy asked from the doorway. Ree glanced at her sister’s outfit, a much more daring short jean skirt, paired with a fitted tank.
Turning her attention back to the mirror, Ree said, “It’s perfect.”
“I know.”
“You’re so arrogant,” she said with a chuckle. “How are we even related?”
“I’m just awesome. There’s nothing wrong with knowing you’re good at something and flaunting that knowledge to everyone. I think you’re going to break some hearts tonight.”
Just don’t let mine get broken.
Clearing her throat over the sudden, emotional lump, she said, “Just remember the rules.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I’m serious, Merc.”
“Me, too. Would you relax, woman? We’re going to a bar to have a couple of drinks and dance the night away with sexy shifters. What could possibly go wrong?”
“That phrase is surely etched on a thousand tombstones.”
Rolling her eyes, Mercy grunted. “Let’s. Go.”
Taking one last look at her curvy frame in the mirror, she flipped off the light and followed her sister out into the family room, where she grabbed her keys, ID, and cash.
* * *
The parking lot of Tails was packed, and there was a line out the door of people waiting to get in it. Mercy assured Ree that they’d have zero trouble making their way into the club, because women were always allowed to go to the front of the line. They passed by the line on their way to the door which was manned by two large men wearing black shirts with the bar name on the front. Ree glanced at the people they passed, and like Ree had said, most of them were men. There were some women among them, so she suspected they were with their husbands or boyfriends and they wouldn’t go in without their men.
“ID,” one bouncer said from his perch on a wooden stool. Behind him, the other bouncer manned the door, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread so he pretty much took up the whole doorway.
She and Ree handed their IDs over, he looked at the plastic cards, looked at her and her sister, and then handed them back. “Ladies drink free on Fridays, have fun.”
The door-blocking bouncer stepped to the side to let them pass, but grasped Mercy’s arm and stopped her with a gentle tug. “I’m on break in an hour. Can I come find you?”
Mercy tossed her hair over her shoulder with a coy laugh. “We’ll see.”
He growled softly and released his hold on her. Ree’s heart kicked into high gear. They were literally walking into a lion’s den. Giving Mercy a nudge, Ree followed her down a short hallway, past a coat check with a woman leaning on the counter and chatting with a man, and into the bar. The band, playing a cover of a popular song, was loud but not overpowering, so she didn’t feel the need to cover her ears to protect them.
The bar was packed, couples and groups of women dancing in the center of the bar, lined on three sides by tables. A ring of booths lined the walls, except where the long, mahogany bar took up one whole wall. Four bartenders took orders, and waitresses were carrying trays of drinks to tables. The whole place was a hive of activity.
“What do you want?” Mercy asked as she pushed her way to the bar and leaned on the shiny counter.
“Coke.”
“You can have one drink. We’ll be here for hours.”
Ignoring the urge to roll her eyes, she said, “Designated drivers don’t drink, Merc. Be thankful I’m responsible.”
“It wouldn’t kill you to be a little irresponsible from time to time. It’s fun.”
Now she did roll her eyes. Mercy was a dreamer, and liked to have fun. There was a time when Ree had been more outgoing, but some bad relationships and low self-esteem had clipped those wings quickly. It did feel like she’d always been the responsible one, though.
“Just a Coke.”
Blowing out a breath
, Mercy leaned on the counter and gave her order to the bartender.
A chill crept up Ree’s neck, the hairs on her arms rising as her skin tingled. Curious, she turned away from the bar and looked at the crowd. It took only a heartbeat for her to lock eyes with a man on the other side of the bar. As their gazes clashed, everything inside her quieted for a profound moment, and then roared to awareness. She couldn’t explain why she suddenly felt so connected to a man she’d never met before, but she did.
Even across the bar, she saw his eyes flash. A bright golden color flared in the irises, and then he was on the move, never taking his gaze from hers. He stalked to her, every bit the predator that she instinctively knew he was. A shifter and a man mixed up together, maybe a lion. She’d never met a lion shifter before. She’d only met wolf shifters, because the bank she worked at handled the finances for a pack and they often came in to conduct business.
Part of her wanted to duck into the crowd and stay as far the hell away from the shifter coming for her as possible, but that part was drowned out by every feminine instinct in her body that was turned on beyond all reason.
He was coming for her.
And that’s all that mattered.
Chapter 3
Madison smiled at Duke from across the table, her teeth a perfect shade of pearl white. Next to him his parents were discussing the mating ceremony with her parents.
“Next weekend will be fine,” her father, alpha of their pride, said. “We’ll hold the ceremony here. There are banquet rooms large enough for both prides.”
“It’s lovely here,” Duke’s mom said.
“It’s run by humans,” Madison’s mom said with a slight sneer, “but they are very accommodating.”
“Because they’re afraid of us, Mother,” Madison said with a chuckle.
It had taken all of two seconds for Duke to know that he’d been entirely right about Madison before he even met her. She was pro-lion and anti-everything else, from other big cat shifters all the way down to humans, who she and her pride seemed to view as despicable. He briefly wondered if she realized that the bar was usually half-full of humans on any given night. Whatever she had against humans she’d have to get over. Although becoming alpha was what drove this mating in the first place, he enjoyed the bar and wanted to continue to see it thrive. He didn’t need a lioness coming in and scaring the humans off. They were a core piece of his business. Especially the females who came in on Fridays for the free drinks, and kept the unmated males in the pride occupied.
Not that any of his males would ever mate a human. Cross-mating with a human just simply wasn’t done. Pride law demanded that they mate within their own kind and produced pure race children so that their lines would continue on, undiluted. Hybrids, the mix of either two different shifters or a shifter and human, were thought of as second-class citizens, lower even than the humans themselves in the eyes of many lions. He supposed it was possible that a lion or lioness could find a heart-match with a human, but he’d never heard of it happening.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned his attention back to Madison, who was texting while she was talking to him about the ceremony and the mating night.
“I’ll have my things sent over this week,” she said, not looking up from her phone. “I’ll require the exclusive use of the master bedroom and bathroom, and if there isn’t enough closet space, you’ll need to fix that.”
His eye ticked. The alphas’ home was the center of pride territory, a large three-story mansion with eight bedrooms and a beautiful yard that he’d spent many precious years as a cub enjoying. The master was on the third floor, and his parents had designed the home themselves. They were planning to switch homes with him, taking his three-bedroom house after he mated Madison.
He stifled the urge to grab her phone and squeeze it until it cracked. Reminding himself that this was exactly what he’d wanted – a business-mating – he forced himself to smile. Madison didn’t want romance; she wanted power. And they were not so different, since he wanted that as well. Now that he was faced with tying himself to a female who didn’t appear to have a compassionate bone in her body, he wondered if being alpha was worth it.
Could he grow to love her? Could she?
“Cubs?” her mother asked, her manicured fingertips rubbing lightly on a strand of pearls.
“Two,” Madison said, glancing up. “Unless they’re both females. I will bear you a son to carry on the alphaship.”
Duke nodded.
“I think that’s all the details,” Madison said, rising to her feet. He stood, and they met next to the table. “You’re very handsome. We’ll have beautiful cubs.”
She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, and Duke squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment and told his disgruntled lion to shut up. The ridiculous beast had been snarling at him ever since he’d met Madison.
This is business. Don’t you want to be alpha?
He pressed his lips to Madison’s, and she purred softly.
“If you’ll sign here,” Abbie said quietly behind him.
Breaking the kiss, that had all the passion of a root canal, he turned and looked down at the contract. This was his future, all laid out in black and white. He was vowing to mate Madison in a week, and nothing short of death would break the contract. A roar of fury in his mind nearly brought him to his knees. It was as if his cat was begging him not to sign.
“I was born for this,” he murmured.
“Were you?” Abbie asked, her gaze searching.
“What?” Madison asked. “Sign it already. I have an appointment at the spa.”
He didn’t voice how unhappy his cat was, because Duke was the boss of their lives, not the beast. After he mated Madison, and she wore his marks and they’d sealed their mating by having sex, his cat would fall in line.
Scribbling his signature on the line, he handed the pen to Madison. She had an elegant signature, which didn’t surprise him.
“There,” she said, leaving the pen on the contract, and turning to face him, “Make sure there are white roses in the master bedroom for our mating night. They’re my favorite.”
She tipped her cheek toward him and he kissed it. “Of course. Until next Saturday.”
“You have my number. You can text me anytime.”
With a wave of her fingers, she walked out with her mother. Her father stopped and shook Duke’s hand, and was gone just as quickly. Abbie gathered the contract and left, leaving Duke with his parents.
“She’s very beautiful,” his mom said.
“Yeah.”
“It’s what you wanted,” his dad said, pushing back in the chair and standing. He pulled his mother’s chair out and helped her to stand. “I’m not too old to be alpha. You could have waited and maybe met your heart-match.”
“I think I would have met her by now. I’m not sure I believe that everyone gets a heart-match.”
“I hope that Madison grows to love you,” his mom said, placing her hand on his cheek for a brief moment. “You’re worth loving.”
Duke wanted to believe that, but he wasn’t so sure that Madison would.
* * *
“You’ve got a week of freedom left,” Titus said as he sat across from Duke’s desk. The bar had a second floor with two offices and two small apartments. The two males had one office and one apartment to themselves, and Duke would often simply crash at the apartment instead of going home when the nights got late. Some things would change when he took over as alpha, but he intended to keep being a presence in the bar. Period.
“You say that like there’s an ax poised above my head,” Duke said.
Titus grinned. “Something like that. I still can’t believe you want to be alpha so badly that you’re contracting with a female you know nothing about.”
“I can’t be alpha without a mate. Ergo, I’m getting a mate.”
“Can’t you be happy being number two?”
“You weren’t born to take over, you can’t pos
sibly understand.” Duke pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and groaned.
“I guess I don’t. I wouldn’t mind starting a family myself, but I don’t want to have a contract-mating. I want there to be a spark between us. From what you told me about Madison, the only thing she’s sparking is high credit card and phone bills.”
Duke placed his hands on the desktop. “Look, she’s going to be your alpha female, so knock it off. I made a choice, and I’m bound by it now. The contract is binding, period.”
“Maybe.”
“No, not maybe. Definitely.”
“You could meet your heart-match. That would void the contract.”
Duke snorted so hard that he had to cough. “If I void the contract, I lose access to being alpha. You know our laws.”
While it was essentially true that a mating contract was binding for the life of the couple, there was one way to opt out – a heart-match. If either he or Madison met, mated, and marked their heart-match before the ceremony next Saturday, the contract was void. Madison would suffer no ill effects from mating with her heart-match because she was female. But Duke would be exiled from the pride, and lose out on being alpha. He’d just be a male mated to a female, alpha over no one.
“There are prides that don’t have such archaic laws, you know.”
“I know, but ours is the way it is.”
“Have you ever asked your dad to change the laws? Why can’t an alpha be unmated, anyway? I’ve never understood the need for the alpha to have a mate before he takes over.”
“The female balances the male. It’s just the way it’s always been done.”
“If I were alpha,” Titus said.
“But you’re not going to be,” Duke interjected.