by Jessie Lynn
He was at his last hope of finding Ed and he wasn't all that excited about going inside. The Meat Locker. What an appropriate name. The Meat Locker was an all nude strip club the werewolves owned. It was of course a fine upstanding establishment. Yeah, he couldn't even think that with a straight face. If you wanted to lose your money just looking at pussy, and if you had enough of the green stuff to get pussy, then this was the place to be. Rafe didn't care too much to have to pay for his pussy when he had plenty for free. And now that he had a sexy little mate, the only pussy he wanted was hers, period.
So of course being owned by the fleabags meant it was crawling with fleabags. Oh goodie. Now he really didn't hate the mangy mutts, on the contrary, he actually respected a few of them. He tolerated a few more too. Did he want to be surrounded by the ornery fuckers though? Hell. Fucking. No! Especially not in the mood he was in. Hell, he didn't ever like being surrounded by them in whatever mood he was in. But right now, it was just even more dangerous. For them of course. Now he wasn't afraid of a wolf or you know fifty mind you. Just afraid of getting fleas.
The few that he respected were of course the few League enforcers of the werewolf community. The few he tolerated were the enforcers who haven't had the chance to go through the trials. For the most part, they were good guys; they were just unlucky enough to have been born too late. The strike against them was that the community hadn't officially accepted them, so therefore they weren't 100% on the League's side. Ergo they couldn't totally be trusted with your fellow League enforcers' lives. Yeah he was a judgmental son of a bitch, but in his line of work, he had to be.
Taking his last breath of semi fresh air, he opened the door and was immediately confronted by a big bad wolf. Oh my. And of course, wolfie started huffing and puffing as soon as he locked eyes on Rafe and realized what he was. Man he so didn't have the patience for this shit. All he needed was to find his beautiful mate and get both their asses to his bed where they would spend the next six months, no make that the next year. Shit, if he had to deal with much more than it'd be the next ten. Dammit!
"You lost blood sucker?"
"Well aren't you Mr. original. Did you think of that all by yourself Fido?" Rafe responded. If he had a dollar for every time he'd heard that one. Well you know the rest. "Where's Dominic?”
"I'll rip your fangs out for you, leach and we'll see how cocky you are then asshole." Was wolfie's even more intelligent come back.
Rafe just rolled his eyes and looked to the door girl. Hoping she could at least not make him feel like he was losing precious brain cells being in the same room with her. He talked to her instead.
"Hi sweetheart, I'm sure I'll at least get an intelligent response from you. Is Dominic here, and if he is could you please let him know he has a visitor?" He said smiling at her. She wasn't a wolf, but she obviously knew about them. So if he had to make a guess, he'd say she was a nymph. Yeah not gonna get much better outta her. Lovely. Just lovely. That's about all she was actually, pretty little puppet to play with. Too bad, he was losing patience by the second.
"Hey leach, I wasn't done talking to you." Wolfie said putting his big paw he thought was a good enough impression of a hand on Rafe's chest and pushed.
Rafe looked at the mitt still attached to his shirt and sighed. He really really really wasn't in the fucking mood for this shit! Shaking his head, he slowly looked back up at the mutt.
"Look, you really don't want to do this with me right now lassie. So I'm going to say this one time nicely. Get your nasty fucking paw off me before I break it off of you. Oh and tell me where the fuck Dominic is before you waste any more of my time and piss me off."
Rafe was actually very proud of himself for how calmly and rationally he'd just spoken to block head; and for the fact, he actually gave the fleabag a chance to keep his hand. Thankfully Sloan, Dom's beta came out to keep his flunky alive.
"Carl I suggest you do as he says before he does as he said. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you stop the bleeding cause I'll be laughing too hard. Just so you know." Sloan turned his attention to Rafe and crossing his arms across his chest, he said. "Rafe you’re a long way from home there vamp. You sure you’re feeling alright man? Cause I'm afraid you might have been hit in the head too hard and maybe lost your way."
Rafe looked at Carl. "Sloan man, I think your guard dog here may have a hearing problem. Maybe you should go ahead and seek medical attention for him while I test his pain threshold."
Sloan growled and his eyes changed right before he grabbed Carl by the back of his neck. He shook the guy like a misbehaving puppy then threw him into the wall. He stalked over to crouch down in front of him and looked him in the eye. Sloan had apparently been able to knock a little sense into the dumb ass because Carl kept his eyes lowered and wouldn't look straight at him.
"Do we have a problem Carl? Do you and I need to have a little lesson on who's who in this relationship we've got here between us?" Sloan asked him.
He grabbed Carl by the throat again in a show of dominance. He leaned over pushing Carl's head back daring him to look Sloan in the eye. If the idiot actually grew the balls to do it, he was a dead man and they both knew it. Sloan was actually hoping he'd do it too. It'd been a while since he'd been able to kick the shit head's ass for him and he'd just plain been bored lately. Somebody had to give him a break here soon before he went bonkers. Sloan slammed Carl's head into the wall for emphasis.
"Answer me you piece of shit before I rip your fucking head off out of principle.”
"No Sloan I understand completely. I'm sorry for the disrespect my beta." Carl said lowering his head in respect.
"Well well it looks you do have a few brain cells after all. There's a good boy. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind." Sloan said releasing Carl after one last shake just for the fun of it. He did kinda look like a bobble head doll while they were having their little getting reacquainted meeting there.
Sloan got up and turned back to Rafe. "So to what do we owe the displeasure of your presence vampire?"
"Never a party in my book to see you too there Sloan." Rafe said back with a big grin showing lots of fang.
They both walked toward each other hand extended. Grabbing each other’s forearm and embracing to slap each other on the back. When they separated, they laughed smiling at each other.
"Sloan how have you been? Still mangy as ever I see." Rafe said
"Says the man who makes Casper look tan." Sloan replied. Slapping Rafe on the back again, he said. "Come on, Dom knows your here and he's waiting on me to bring your punk ass in to see him."
"Hey fleabag I'm not that white, and that was just a low blow man.” He said looking down at himself then back up to Sloan’s laughing face. “Dude seriously what the hell? Did you run out of half intelligent candidates for butler duty? Wasn't Alfred free?" Rafe said laughing as they walked into the main part of the club. "Or is the nymph too tempting to the respectable patrons you have coming to your fine establishment that they can't keep their hands to themselves? So now you have to have a guard dog watch out for her."
Sloan didn't reply to that one, he just shook his head and walked through the ropes to the club. Rafe followed Sloan through the club feeling every werewolf trying to give him the stink eye. Like that would make his fangs chatter in fear. Sure in like no universe. Ever. Rafe didn't even bother to acknowledge them; he just kept walking with Sloan through the club. They could glare all they want. Hell, maybe he'd get lucky and they'd go cross eyed because they had to be idiots and try to intimidate him.
That was the thing with wolves; they had to show you they were bad asses all the time. Let's get that straight. All the freaking time. That's the main reason he couldn't stand being around the damn mutts. Other than that huge character flaw, he still really didn't like most of the fucktards. Yeah he wasn't kidding anybody on that one, not even himself. Oh well he really did try. Really he didn't.
A few of the dancers and waitresses tried to get his atte
ntion, but he just ignored them too. He had no interest in dealing with them mainly because he wanted his mate, and all they wanted was his money. Although judging by the way most of the marks looked, he didn't blame them for wanting to have to be all over something that didn't have a beer gut.
No wonder this place was the busiest strip club in DFW, the scheisty bastards had nymphs as the dancers and the waitresses. Nymphs were a part of the supernatural community by default only. Really, the only thing they were good at was looking pretty. Yes, they were smokin hot, and yes because of that, they were able to convince most pathetic human bastards to give them everything they wanted. But as far as real powers go, they had zip. Nada. Zilch.
Rafe guessed that The Meat Locker was your typical strip club, not that he'd ever had the need or the want to go in one. There was a main stage that caught your eye as soon as you were allowed through the ropes. The biggest part of the stage had three poles spaced out across it. Then it had a runway that went out almost to the middle of the room. At the end of the runway, there was another pole. This one actually looked to be taller than the other three. He bet that one had to be a bitch to climb all the way up. The runway ended in a circle that had a dancer dancing at the edge of it surrounded by guys with bills in their hands.
She was blonde, go figure, and she was definitely earning her pay. She had a garter on each leg stuffed full of cash. And she had what Rafe guessed was supposed to be crotch less panties on. It was basically just string that she could put money in to hold. It too was stuffed full on the sides, because she wouldn't be all nude in an all nude strip club if you covered her crotch up with money. Jeez, that would just be asinine. She was on her back with her legs spread while some guy ran his bill up and down her slit a few times before he put it in her mouth.
Dumb ass looked like he was gonna blow in his shorts just from that little bit of action. Now that's just pathetic. Any idiot could tell it had done nothing for the girl. Seriously, they all were faking everything they did in reaction to the Johns. It's a good thing Rafe didn't have to work here. He wouldn't be able to not smack the losers upside the head on principal alone. This place was just ridiculous.
The stage and runway were surrounded by tables. In the back along two of the walls were bigger booths raised up on platforms so they could still see over the douche bags crowding the stage. There was a pretty good sized bar that faced the stage, but it was set almost in the middle of the place so it made a circle around the bartenders. On the other side of the bar were smaller stages that had dancers on them as well. Apparently that’s where the dancers went when their spotlight performance was through if they didn't find a douche to relieve of his money.
There was an elaborate staircase that flared out the closer it got to the floor facing the bar. The damn thing looked like it belonged in a hotel, not a strip club. But hey, what did Rafe know about decorating. And especially a strip club at that. The stairs were where Sloan was leading them. Rafe was fairly surprised at how busy the place was for a Monday night. But hey, when you had nymphs drawing in your customers, then it did kinda make sense.
CHAPTER 12
They reached the stairs without incident thank the Fates. He figured that was because he was being led by the beta, the second in command. Werewolves were all about dominance, like all the friggin time. That shit got old real quick. You had the alpha, the one in charge of everything, literally everything. If someone didn't agree with him on any little thing, he had every right to rip his throat out. Hell, he could rip anyone in his pack to shreds because he didn't like the way you said hello to him. Can you say barbaric much?
The beta was the second to only the alpha. When alpha wasn't around, what he said was law. He too was all about the “I am wolf hear me growl bull shit”. Rafe just didn't have the time to care about that crap. Guess that's why he wouldn't make a good werewolf, and wasn't that just a bummer. Ummm not. Rafe really didn't care about the pecking order after that. Hell, he didn't care about the pecking order period, but when in Rome.
At the top of the stairs, it opened up to a big open loft. There was another bar, but it was tucked in the corner up here. This level resembled more of a sports bar. There were pool tables and flat screen TV’s mounted on the walls. The whole club had a sound system that about blew your ear drums out. How the wolves could stand the ear splitting noise was beyond Rafe. His head hurt from the short amount of time he'd been here, course that probably had to do with the company he was having to be in too.
There were quite a few dancers up here working the gullible losers too. Rafe figured this was more of a VIP lounge cause they weren't dancing on stages. Nope they were dancing on laps; one was even sprawled out on one of the pool tables. And none of them were adhering to the no touching rule, not the nymphs and sure as hell not the guys paying for the nymphs. And oh lookie there, they had private rooms for private “dances". There were several halls full of them Rafe guessed.
They had another guard dog by the stairs that you had to get through once you reached the top. You could come see the action, but unless you had the funds to pay for it, than you were just shit outta luck. Rafe was sure it would cost you a whole lot to have fun up here. Especially since the dancers were way more touchy feely than down on the main level.
Sloan nodded his head at the wolf stationed there. The guy gave Rafe the once over and growled low as he passed. Rafe couldn't help the laugh that came out in reaction to that. Well yeah, he could, but he didn't care enough to. Plus he knew that'd piss beef cake off more. Rafe had to get his jollies somehow, might as well make it at meat heads expense. He thought tough guy would do something there for a second, but the wolf thought better of it at the last possible moment. Probably cause Sloan turned around and growled back.
"Well aren't you my mighty protector.” Rafe said to Sloan.
"Can it Casper. I'm bored as hell around here and as much fun as it would be to watch you take a bite outta Dog, I sure as hell ain't letting you have any fun when I'm not. Not to mention Dom gets pissed when we break shit in front of the patrons." Sloan finished that last part with a laugh.
Yeah it sounded wrong to him to apparently. Hmm Dog wasn't that just a fitting name for a werewolf. Rafe couldn't have made that shit up if he tried. He was sooo going to have to tell Ethan bout that one. Ethan would never be able to stop laughing about it too so he better do it right before the sun came up. That way it wouldn't interfere with Ethan's work.
"You know Sloan you keep name calling, and I might just have to have my feelings hurt. I don't think we could be bff's anymore if that happens."
"How will I ever live with myself knowing I hurt you so." Sloan responded grabbing his heart as they came to a door that Rafe assumed was Dominic's office.
They had walked through the VIP section to one of the halls leading off it. Sloan stopped, grinned at Rafe before he knocked. The door opened immediately. Dominic was sitting behind a desk working on something Rafe guessed. Kinda hard to do with a naked nymph lying on it in front of him with her legs opened on either side of his chair. The desk was one of those big mahogany antique looking ones so her head barely hung off the edge. There were three other wolves Rafe didn't know lounging on the sofas arranged around the room facing the desk. Couple of them had nymphs on their laps as well. You might as well enjoy your merchandise while you had to be there.
As they walked in Sloan walked over to where there was a big lounge chair almost next to the desk with a nymph sitting in it. She got up immediately and he sat down pulling her into his lap. Guess she was keeping it warm for him. Sloan looked at Rafe and winked as he spread her legs open and started playing with her pussy. Yep you just had to enjoy your merchandise since it was free when you owned the place. Rafe stepped in a little more and the wolf that had been standing behind the door closed it. Was that supposed to scare him? See? All about the dominance shit get over it already. Rafe sure the hell was.
Rafe walked up to Dom's desk; which took him a second cause the room was surp
risingly large. Dom's office didn't look like one you'd find in a strip club either. It had floor to ceiling shelves mostly full of books and sculptures. There was an area rug in the middle where the desk sat. The couches arranged around it were all dark leather, not the cheap bachelor pad kind, but the expensive kind you'd find in a high end cigar lounge. There was a window behind Dom that looked down into the club below. The room looked like it belonged to the president of a billion dollar company. Business must be damn good for Dom.
Go figure! He was working after all. He had spreadsheets in front of him on the desk and propped up against the nymph's legs. Again not blocking his view of her crotch. Well duh, they were still in an all nude strip club even though it didn't feel like it in here. Dom looked up at him then and smiled a big wolfish grin that was all teeth.
“Rafe, old friend, I wasn't expecting you. Had I been, I would have made sure you were greeted with more respect. Please except my apologies on behalf of my ignorant pack member. And be assured he will be dealt with appropriately." Dom said getting up and coming around the desk to embrace Rafe.
"Dom, no apologies necessary. In fact, I apologize to you for my unexpected visit. I wouldn't have come into your territory unannounced, but I need your help on a very important matter." Rafe said embracing him back.
Dominic pulled back and looked at Rafe for a minute. He then said "All of you out now." without breaking eye contact. Every one of the occupants jumped up immediately except for Sloan. He just pushed his little snuggle bunny to her feet and smacked her ass to get her moving. As everyone was filing out Dom walked over to the wet bar, he turned back to Rafe.