Page 9 of Flesh and Fury

Chapter Three

EOGHAN

After their little talk, they’d contacted Priest who’d confirmed Eoghan’s suspicions that she wasn’t only sending them north to Bishop to help two werewolf packs negotiate peace. In fact, Alpha Alvin Walters had promised her help with their vampire problem if they were successful. He’d also promised to talk to Oscar Garcia, the Hawthorne Alpha if they could negotiate peace between the packs.

And Joe Two Trees had called with good news. The Tahoe pack was willing to send as many predator shifters as they wanted to help John Townsend get his clan back. It had taken several meetings with the tribe and their tribal council, but in the end, they’d been successful in convincing them that helping a friendly vampire king was better than eventually being overrun by a bad vampire clan.

By the time they arrived in Bishop, it was late afternoon. They’d stopped mid-morning and grabbed breakfast but Ari was starting to get grumpy, so Eoghan figured the first thing on the list of things to do was to find a decent place to eat. To his delight, several new places had opened up since the last time he and Gladys had driven through town. After perusing the available options, he realized that someone on the town council probably thought the way to attract tourists was first to appeal to the small-town bed and breakfast atmosphere as well as opening some good restaurants. There were actually several breweries in town now. They settled on one called theMountain Rambler Brewery and they’d walked in right as the restaurant was doing Hoppy Happy Hour. They sat at the bar, excited to try a beer from the busy brewery attached to the restaurant.

Eoghan watched Ari’s eyes light up as he greedily perused the happy hour menu, finally settling on beef, mozzarella, sauteed onion, and tomato empanadas with homemade chimichurri sauce. Since his partner always had good taste, Eoghan decided on the same thing. They paired their meals with a Scottish ale called Seven Gables for Ari and Peaklet Porter, an oatmeal porter for him. He loved the dark, nutty flavor but the company of his grumpy partner was the best thing of all. Watching Ari turn back into his adorable, loving, happy-go-lucky self as their early dinner was consumed was highly entertaining.

“You’re not talking much,” Ari said, looking up after taking another sip of his beer.

Eoghan grinned at him. “I was enjoying watching you eat. The level of focus you put into eating when you’re hungry is like nothing I’ve ever seen before and trust me, in my line of work, I think I’ve seen it all.”

Ari grinned. “Aw, look who thinks he’s funny. Like you don’t enjoy a good meal when we’ve only stopped driving once—to pee—all day.”

Eoghan shrugged. “You have a point.” He pulled out his phone and set it on the table, making sure the faraday cage was in place. He watched Ari do the same.

“Did you have any idea the chief was sending us north to get the two werewolf packs to help us with Townsend?” Ari asked now that they were free to talk.

Eoghan shook his head. “No, but I’ve known the chief a while now and Priest is very cunning if you haven’t already guessed. Just because she hasn’t told us everything she’s beendoing about our mole problem; doesn’t mean she hasn’t been working on it. Although I fully expected her to quietly work to gather as many clans and tribes and even individuals as she can to help us. But, I’m still not convinced it will work because werewolves and vampires are almost always enemies. Still, Walters promised he’d do his best to get everyone to agree. Whether he’s successful remains to be seen. The chief may have won his cooperation in a different way. I’ve seen her do it before.”

“In what way?” Ari asked.

“She’s a really good negotiator and sometimes she comes up with something that sounds completely insane, but it works.” Eoghan sat back, grinning widely. “Honestly, some of the stuff she does, reminds me of you.”

Ari frowned at him. “Like what?”

“Like you with the centipede suggestion and Beauregard Champayne.” He shook his head, chuckling. “I still laugh over that.”

Ari snorted. “Thinking on my toes, that’s all.”

Eoghan slapped his knee, swiveling his barstool to stare at his partner’s handsome, bearded face. “Punny guy. See? That’s what I mean. You’re funny. Priest on the other hand…well, she doesn’t have the sense of humor you do but she has, I don’t know, other things. Let’s just say, she’s convincing. I know she’s been keeping in touch with King John and holding that mess together. It’s not like the guy has any choice but to have us work toward gathering allies together but still, I know the reason he hasn’t exposed himself is all because of her.”

“Is she usually so…I don’t even know the word for it.”

“Private?” Eoghan asked.

“Sneaky,” Ari said, grinning.

He smiled back and nodded. “Well, I wouldn’t say sneaky but come to think of it, yeah, she’s definitely clever in that way.”

“Oh, do tell,” Ari said, leaning an elbow on the bar and turning to almost fully face him.

Eoghan opened his mouth to reply when a shout rang out from across the room. He and Ari both swiveled to see what the noise was. A wooden chair clattered to the slate tile floor as one man stood and swayed, looking slightly inebriated. He pointed at another man at the table, leaning forward and grabbing the table for balance. Eoghan’s gaze focused on the three empty pint glasses in front of his place setting, absently wondering if all three belonged to the inebriated man. The other two people at the table, a younger couple, had half full wine glasses in front of them.

“What’s going on?” Ari asked, looking just as interested as Eoghan.

“Don’t know.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, Walters!” the man slurred, stabbing a finger with each word at the man’s face.

The younger man and woman were early twenties if Eoghan had to guess, definitely younger than himself. He couldn’t catch every word the man was saying but the way he held up both palms in a placating gesture, trying to get the irate man to calm down, was clear as day. The woman at the table had turned a bright pink hue and was glancing around at other patrons, clearly embarrassed by the older man’s outburst.

“Don’t know who you think you are,” the man shouted. “Not gonna treat my little granddaughter like that.” He lunged for the younger man who scooted back out of reach before standing.

“Sit down and stop this foolishness!” the younger man said. “You’re only hurting your granddaughter. Make her marry the baby’s father. Don’t force me into it!”

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