“Hello, Savage,” she greeted as she came to stand next to him at the bar. Ever since Savage had kicked her ex’s ass, she’d been more open and less shy. The thought of that son of a bitch tearing her down so much that she was afraid to talk to anyone set him and his panther on edge.
“Good afternoon, sweetheart.” He winked, causing a beautiful blush to paint her cheeks. She didn’t say anything as she grabbed an order pad and made her way back to the employee breakroom.
The beast inside him demanded he follow her to see if he could catch her alone, but that would probably scare her. She’d been a little skittish around him over the past several months, but at least now she was opening up some and would speak to him before he spoke first. If he did go back to the breakroom and found her staring at herself in disgust again, Savage honestly thought he’d find ole Frank again and kill the son of a bitch for good this time.
It wasn’t but a few minutes before some of the Guardians started coming through the door. Savage took his whiskey and found his way to the large table in the back corner of the bar. It was their usual seat and he figured they could hang out there until Talon arrived. He had a feeling they’d need Liberty’s office for the announcement he had about the strange scientist in the area.
Storm and Ranger grabbed a beer at the bar and made their way over to the table. Winter came in shortly after with Nova and, after a claiming kiss, joined the rest of them. Savage caught sight of Mary Grace leaving the kitchen with a tray of food and she smiled warmly at them as she passed.
“Where’s the fire?” Booth asked as soon as he took a seat across from Savage.
“Wait until the boss is here,” Savage grumbled as he watched Mary Grace setting plates in front of a few construction workers two tables over.
One of them looked at Mary Grace with lust in his eyes and Savage didn’t even realize he’d started out of his seat to go kill the fucker until Noah clamped a hand on his forearm. “Whoa, Savage.”
“She’s fine,” Winter said, walking up to the table.
“If she were mine,” Savage growled, “she wouldn’t have to deal with these assholes.”
“But she’s not yours,” Ranger reminded, but raised an inquisitive brow. “Unless?”
“No,” Savage said, shaking his head. “I haven’t touched her.”
“Haven’t or won’t?” Winter asked. “I think I remember some of you giving me hell for not touching Nova.”
“Well, you were a dumbass,” Savage grunted.
Savage was saved by their alpha entering the building. Talon’s presence was a thick authority that clouded the air. Even the humans sat up straighter when he was near. It was the alpha’s power that made him such a force.
Liberty met him in front of the bar and after a few whispered words, she nodded and looked toward the table of Guardians. Talon tossed his head to the side, and that was all the panthers needed to see to know they were being summoned for the meeting that might just change the way they lived.
“What’s going on with them?” Mary Grace asked Liberty as she slid an empty tray into the window so Moe could fill it with the next order.
“Panther meeting.” Liberty shrugged. “I figured if it was really important, he’d have let me know.”
“Okay.” Mary Grace smiled. “I’ll see you out on the floor.”
She left her boss standing by the kitchen and pulled an order pad out of her back pocket as she walked toward the front of the building. Some old southern rock music played over the speakers and she found herself tapping her foot to the beat as she took the table’s order.
“Hey, Mac,” she said cheerfully. “What can I get you?”
“Cheeseburger, fries, and a beer.” The old man smiled. “How ya been, Mary Grace?” Mac was an old friend of her late grandfather, and she’d known him for as long as she could remember.
“I’ve been great,” she said, speaking honestly for once. Ever since she’d kicked Frank out, she’d been smiling a lot more; and for once in just under a year, actually felt good about herself.
She asked around the table of men who were there with Mac for a late lunch, jotting down their orders. After a promise to get their beers poured, Mary Grace stopped by the kitchen window and placed the order on the turnstile and hollered at Moe, “Order!”
Moe grumbled some sort of reply but she didn’t stick around to make small talk. The bar was filling up and it was time to work. She was only working dinner after pulling a double the day before. She had been working longer shifts ever since Liberty finally fired Nicole for being a snot-nosed little twit. Mary Grace never did like that girl anyway.
It wasn’t long before Liberty’s husband came out of the back with all of his Guardians following him. Each one of them were larger than life, and it didn’t take a genius to know they were all predators. Their faces were set in stone, as if whatever Talon had said had put them on edge. She started to turn away but froze when Savage rounded the corner and their eyes met. He stopped and leaned against the wall where the end of the hallway opened up into the dining area of the bar. Those tattooed arms flexed as he crossed them over his chest, and he didn’t take his eyes off of her. Savage made her nervous and sexually frustrated at the same time.
There was something about the way he smelled whenever he was near her. Mary Grace couldn’t even identify its uniqueness. Savage Corvera was a man who was in control of every aspect of his life and the confidence showed just by the way he carried himself. The woodsy scent on his skin was so appealing, she found herself floating on a contented high for hours after she’d go home, swearing his perfume was imbedded in her skin, but knowing it was only her mind playing tricks on her. Savage had never touched her and she was pretty sure he never would.
Liberty had explained things to all of her employees when she’d mated the leader of the panthers. The men didn’t touch women openly because that was a surefire way for their kind to find their soul mates. The Guardians usually kept their distance, preferring to only touch a woman when they were sure she was the one.
It wasn’t like they never touched a woman. She’d overheard a few of the Guardians talking in hushed tones about hooking up with females they’d found an interest in on a lonely night. Guardian Ranger recently met a woman who he took to his bed, but made it perfectly clear to her that he wasn’t going to see her again after he’d touched her and realized she wasn’t his mate. She guessed that everyone had an itch that needed scratching every once in a while, no matter your species.
Mary Grace filed away that information for later. Working in a bar, she heard all of the deep and dirty secrets that floated through the place during each shift. There were things she knew about every one of the regulars. Just like how Red Mason was coming in to drown his sorrows in a pitcher of beer every night because his wife had left him for a man who made more money and could give her the life she wanted. Poor Red was devastated.
“Hey, sugar,” a customer called out. “Can I get a beer?”
“Sure,” she said as she nodded. The music blasting over the speakers was a song about a guy’s reputation and it was one that she liked. As she waited for Cole to hand over the drink, she tapped her foot to the beat. She could still feel Savage watching her, but she didn’t have the nerve to look and see if he’d moved from his spot.
“You good?” Cole asked, his brow furrowed as he looked around the bar. “We need to hire another waitress. You and Della cannot handle these crowds on the weekends.”
“Um, no. We don’t need another waitress,” Mary Grace chuckled. “I like the tips.”
Cole laughed and shook his head as he dried a glass behind the bar. A few people came in to grab two seats at the bar and Mary Grace fell into a routine for the next few hours. The Guardians all hovered around their big table at the back of the bar. Della was working the other half of the bar and pretty much kept to herself.
Talon and Winter were playing a game of pool while both of them watched their wives from the corner of their eyes.
It was sweet, but Mary Grace had a moment of sadness. She wished she had a man who loved her as much as those two men loved Liberty and Nova.
“Hey guys,” Mary Grace said as she approached the table of shifters. Savage was there, only inches from where she was standing. He turned slightly in his seat and her cheeks heated when his gaze roamed up and down her body. “What can I get for you?”
Her gaze flickered over to the other Guardians, then back toward Savage. She stifled a gasp when his eyes started to change. Just like her bosses, this man was also a shifter. His other half was obviously causing the sparks in his eyes. She had to shake herself to keep from staring at him and making an absolute fool of herself.
“Round of beers,” Savage said, nodding toward the others. Each one rattled off an order for food and Mary Grace wanted to get away so she didn’t have to make small talk with Savage. He made her uncomfortable and very, very hot.
“I’ll be back with your drinks,” she mumbled.
As she waited for Cole to load the beers on her tray, Mary Grace’s phone rang from her back pocket. She slid it free and looked at the screen, stiffening when she saw that Frank was calling her. She wouldn’t answer that phone call for a million dollars. Gritting her teeth, she sent it to voicemail and turned around to look out over the bar, only to freeze in her place when Savage was standing right behind her and staring at her with glowing sparks in his eyes. His gaze flickered to her pocket and back to her face. She didn’t need that panther getting into her business any more than he already was. She was absolutely certain nothing good would come from it.
“Was that Frank?” he asked, his eyes shifting from ice blue to glowing amber and back again. That look honestly scared her…and it made her body melt where she stood. He surrounded her without even touching her. How he did that, she couldn’t even explain it. The sensations she felt when he was that close sent her into a lust filled dream of his touch.
“Yeah.” She paused to clear her throat. “Um, yeah.”
“Has he been bothering you?” Savage’s eyes roamed her body, examining from her head to her feet. She shivered from the look he gave her.
“That’s the first I’ve heard from him since…well, since that day.” She shifted nervously as Savage moved closer, but not close enough to touch. She did close her eyes when his unique scent reached her nose, but she only had a second to absorb it before he backed away.
“You will call me if he comes back around,” Savage ordered. That wasn’t a question. No, Mary Grace was certain that Savage wasn’t a man to ask for anything…he just demanded it. “I mean it, Mary Grace.”
“I really think he’s gone.” She shrugged, trying to calm the man in front of her. She could tell he was agitated, and she didn’t want to be the cause of his anger. “It’s going to be okay, Savage.”
“It better be okay,” he mumbled. “I don’t want that son of a bitch around you.”
“It’s okay, Savage,” she whispered.
“I’ll be watching,” he growled, turning around to return to his seat.
“Here’re your beers,” Cole said, interrupting her staring at Savage’s back as he walked away.
She delivered the beers and left to check on another table. After Talon and his Guardians ate, most of them left the bar, including Savage. She was a little sad he wasn’t there and she ended up feeling that loss for the rest of the night.
Savage intrigued her. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on. His hair was long and fell over his eyes as if he were either hiding from the world or just so much of a badass that he had to keep up with his appearance. Either way, Mary Grace wanted to run her fingers through the top of it to push it out of his ice blue eyes. She wanted to see him smile just for her and that thought right there needed to stop. She wasn’t intrigued by him…she was infatuated with him. Holy hell, every time he was around, she wanted to strip his clothes off and jump his bones.
That would never happen.
After the bar closed and everything was cleaned up, Mary Grace said her goodbyes and jumped into her car. She lived a town over from the bar and it usually took her about twenty minutes to get home. Once she arrived, she grabbed her purse from the backseat and locked up her vehicle.
The front porch light on her mobile home cast just enough light to see where she walked as she climbed the steps and unlocked the door. She flipped on the light switch inside the door to light up her living room and turned to close the front door when a boot wedged itself against the frame.
“Mary Grace,” Frank snarled, pushing the door wide open.
“What are you doing here?” she gasped, dropping her purse in the process. “Get out!”
“No,” he replied. “I have someone who wants to meet you.”
“It’s one in the morning, Frank,” she argued. “And what happened to your teeth?”
“That fucking panther,” he growled, reaching for her arm. “Come with me.”
Mary Grace was quicker and yanked her arm back before Frank got a good grip. She hurried into the kitchen, trying to put as much distance between them as she could. Her phone was in her purse that she had dropped when Frank rushed the door. She didn’t have any other way of calling for help.
“No, Frank,” she yelled, holding her hands out in front of her as if to stop him from coming after her. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“They’re paying me a bunch of money,” he answered, pausing to run his fingers through his thinning hairline. He wasn’t the best looking man in the world, but he wasn’t haggard, either. Frank Templeton was just…blah.
“Who’s paying you a bunch of money?” she questioned. Whatever nonsense he was spouting, she really didn’t want to know. She just wanted Frank out of her house so she could go to bed. “What’s going on?”
“That’s it! Come here, woman,” Frank snapped. “I’ll drag you out of here, Mary Grace.”
He took a step toward her and she frantically looked around for something to use as a weapon. To her left was a butcher block and a big knife she used maybe once a year when she had to cook something for a potluck at work. Her fingers wrapped around the handle and the metal sliding free was drowned out by Frank’s heavy footfalls.
“Get out of here, Frank,” she warned one last time, holding the knife up in front of her. She honestly didn’t know how the hell she was going to scare him away. He knew she would never hurt him, or anyone for that matter.
“No,” he said, reaching for her arm.
He snagged her free wrist and pulled her body close to his. She could smell the horrible aftershave he’d used ever since she’d known him. Frank tried to grasp the arm that held the knife as he growled in her ear to hand over the blade. Mary Grace cursed as he tightened his hold on her. She wasn’t going to win this battle and she knew it. Trying one last time to get Frank away from her, she stomped on his foot, causing him to cry out in pain. He stumbled backwards toward the short hallway that led to her bedroom, pulling her as he fell. She tried to roll out of his hold, but she didn’t make it far.
With an ear shattering scream, Mary Grace cried out as the knife slid into her side. Frank let out a curse and scrambled to his feet, rushing out the door just as her vision blurred, but looked over his shoulder one last time with a panicked look on his face.
“I’m sorry…so sorry,” he whispered, closing the door as he fled.
Chapter Two
Evie waited until Calla and Malaki came by her home before heading down the gravel road to Kye’s mother’s place. They were all going to gather there for a quick lunch before taking a run. Evie was still leery about being on her own, and she was thankful the newest members of their pride understood exactly what she’d gone through during her captivity.
“You ready?” Malaki asked. He’d been the only one out of the three to shake the aftereffects of what had happened with the wolves. Evie was certain it was only because he took his role of big brother pretty seriously when it came to Calla.
“I
’m ready!” She smiled, closing the door to her cabin. Her mother and father were at another family’s home, visiting with a mate who’d just given birth to a new cub.
Evie and Calla walked side by side as they meandered toward Mrs. Shaw’s tiny cabin. She’d moved out of the alpha’s house when her husband, the former alpha, had been killed several years prior. Kye lived in the main house with his brother, Talon, who was now the leader of their pride.
Malaki walked behind them, staying close enough so he could protect them if needed. Evie was sure that once he came of age, Talon would be asking him to join the Guardians who kept them safe.
Evie heard the faint sounds of grunts and crunching leaves up ahead and slowed her steps. Her heart began to thunder in her chest as she had a moment of panic. Malaki immediately stepped up to their sides and his eyes flashed amber. “Stay close.”
As they moved closer toward the edge of the road, Calla pointed to a clearing set back in the trees. “Are they fighting?”
“They’re males,” Evie said, her heart slowing to a normal pace. Once she realized there was no danger, she rolled her eyes at the site before her. “They are almost of age to try to become Guardians. Talon picks his protectors at the Summer Solstice and I’m sure they are training for it.”
The males, once they turn twenty years of age, were able to try out for a spot with the Guardians. Talon didn’t pick everyone who showed interest. Only the best of the best were picked. Last year, only his brother, Noah, was left standing after the dominance fight on the Solstice.
“Can we watch?” Malaki asked, looking at his phone. “We have a few minutes.”
“Sure.” Evie nodded. This wasn’t her first time coming upon the males fighting and she’d watched Kye get into a few scuffles over the past few years. It was in the male panther’s nature to always fight for dominance as they grew older.
There were four males, all of them were close to reaching their full maturity. Twenty was the key age and a huge milestone in their world. Each and every one of the males were huge and Evie knew them well. They’d graduated from high school a few years prior with her brother.
Savage (Rise of the Pride, Book 3) Page 2
