Page 40 of The Thief

Montana’s cold stare turned to frustration, and he and the others held up their hands, guns aimed upward.

Argento turned on his heel to face them.

Calvin kept his gun aimed at the Mage. “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people who come into my bar and don’t order anything. It’s time you get your medieval-steampunk-wearing ass out of here. If you come back again, I can’t promise you’ll leave in one piece.”

Argento gave me a baleful look before striding out the door.

Calvin lowered his gun and directed his attention to my pack. “Who the fuck gave you permission to pull a gun in my bar? The next time you boys think about playing cowboys and Indians, I’m confiscating your weapons. Like I said, the only person allowed to kill anyone in the Rabbit Lounge is me. Now, order some expensive drinks and put those goddamn things away.” He stalked back to the bar. “Break time is over!”

I slumped in my chair.

Robyn and Joy rushed to the table.

“You okay?” Montana asked me. “I figured it was him by the hair.”

I replayed the last few seconds of my conversation with Argento and the way he’d moved as if to strike me. “Thanks for stepping in.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Krys scanned the room. Of the three men, he visually looked the most dangerous. His long hair, goatee, and leather painted him as the ultimate bad boy, but his steely gaze was the most unsettling. “Isn’t Bear supposed to be watching you?”

“He ran out for supplies.” I glanced at the doorway, my nerves shot. “Where did you boys come from?”

“We walked in a minute ago,” Montana replied. “Tak brought me up to speed about the situation and wanted us to buy a few guns from a local dealer. We just came from there.”

After holstering his weapon, Salem checked on his worried mate.

Resting his hands on the table, Montana asked, “Did you find out anything?”

There was no fast way to answer that except to lie. “Not really. Same elusive conversation as the last time.”

Until I found out more, I didn’t want to jeopardize my spot in the pack. My spot wasn’t guaranteed. Packmasters often made tough calls to oust people who violated rules, crossed lines, and broke trust. Sometimes they were simply traded away if the pack grew in size and there weren’t enough finances to acquire more land or feed everyone. The pack’s safety and future always came first. Sometimes they had to sacrifice one for the sake of many. Argento wanted to take a sledgehammer to my life. Was he bluffing? I couldn’t take the chance.

I was still reeling from the conversation. Hearing that I’d ruined lives for almost a century left me emotionally bereft. Was it true? Maybe there was more to it.

But what if there wasn’t? He didn’t seem to believe that I was telling the truth about my memory loss, so what reason would he have to lie?

After scooting out of my chair, I rounded the table and styled my hair with my fingers. I couldn’t remember if Krys and Salem had ever been in here, and this wasn’t the impression of my pack I wanted to leave with Calvin. “Is this your first time meeting my boss? You need to go over there and get on his good side.”

Krys holstered his weapon. “That ship has sailed.”

“Well, order a few drinks to start.”

Within no time, the attention on us ceased, and customers returned to their beers and billiard games. Filling orders and clearing tables distracted me from dwelling on my conversation with Argento. The jukebox changed over to a country song, stirring up half the customers in the room. When they started singing along, Calvin shook his head. One of these days, I was going to get that man to smile.

Just when orders picked up, Bear flung the door open. He struggled to push a wheeled bucket through the doorway, steering it one-handed by the mop handle. Lumbering in, he had a large box tucked under his other arm.

Robyn sidled up to the bar. “Are you okay? Montana said we need to watch out for that guy.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

Robyn’s face twisted in horror, and she shielded her eyes from the front of the room.

The bottom of Bear’s supply box ripped open, dropping bottles all over the floor. When he bent over to pick them up, I caught sight of what had Robyn shivering in disgust.

I pointed my finger at the nude man. “Kevin, put your pants on! You take one more step, and I’ll send you to the glue farm.”

A few people by the pool tables cackled.

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