Page 19 of Shaken Knot Stirred

That was a goddamn lie, and we both knew it. He conducted business on three continents every single day. He didn’t need my sorry ass in Port Haven. He just wanted the control. Which was one of the many reasons I had taken this little vacation.

Pay had taunted me when he found out I had left, calling me a brat and spoiled. He insisted all I needed was a night with a Paragon at the heat hotel, and I’d be right as rain.

I curled my fingers around the steering wheel and cracked my knuckles. A Paragon wasn’t the solution. Paragons didn’t form packs. They couldn’t form packs. They were the only creatures on Earth that couldn’t bond. Or wouldn’t. I wasn’t quite sure how that worked.

Whatever. I knew the outcome of Win’s adventures with lawyers would result in telling me, yet again, that my only solution was to join a pack. And that was the last thing I wanted.

Chapter 10

Nico Front

My fingers dug intoher arm. She looked soft and easily damaged, but I knew she was hard to bruise.

“No free samples,” I wasn’t saying it to her. I was saying it to him. Lana wasn’t that kind of girl. I didn’t want her to be that kind of girl. But we didn’t get what we wanted, we got what we deserved.

“How much?” he asked.

“More than you have.”

“A prop bet. You put her up against my penthouse. We get in the ring. We go for first blood. Then I lay you out and take everything you have.”

Jokes on him. I didn’t have anything. But that wasn’t what my rep said.

“Carl, I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

“It’s Blaze.”

I raised an eyebrow at him and rolled my eyes. “Ooo, so cocky now that you got jumped into a flea-bitten pack.”

Blaze. As if. I knew Carl from Clifford Heights back when he’d smelled of suburban emo mall rats, petty crime, and teenage desperation. It was probably why he was riding my dick so hard now, wanting to knock my memory of his past right out of my head. Another joke on him. My head was too hard for that shit.

I gave him my back before his rootin’ tootin’ spitting mad alpha drama really got rolling.

“Back to work,” I nodded Lana toward the back room, giving her an out.

She flashed me The Look. The same look that had drawn me over here. Lana hated me. I was the reason she was here. She resented I was the only thing that stood between her and things even worse, like Carl.

“Fuck you, Nico.” Carl spat out.

“I didn’t want to fuck you when we were 16. What makes you think I want you now?” I said, putting my body between him and Lana’s exit. I’d learned how to derail a puffed up alpha from the best. It was too early in the night for him to throw down. Predictably, he bashed my shoulder as he stormed away.

I tracked Lana as she made her way through the club. She moved effortlessly like she could see in the dark, pulling on her sugar mama attitude like comfy sweats. Lana stopped at a table full of young alphas. They weren’t tanked yet, but Lana would fix that. They punched each other to shove over to makeroom for her. She didn’t take them up on that offer. And she wouldn’t, if she could avoid it. She tapped something on the table and taunted one who looked to be the ringleader of this wannabe gang. He pulled out his wallet; it would be lighter than necessary. Lana collected the bills and tucked them into the top of her knee-high boot, giving the boys a glimpse of thigh. That alone would probably have them coming back for more. More of Lana, more of the coke, and Disco she had just sold them.

Two of the boys peeled out of the booth to hit the head. The Pax was very comfortable with looking the other way, but management preferred you did the illegal stuff out of sight. Even in Vig, the VIP-only lounge, we had to keep up appearances.

Lana stepped away from the boys, the dealmaker following her with his tongue hanging out. A growl boiled up from the pit of my stomach. Alphas like this kid had more money than sense. He hadn’t been an alpha long enough to learn better manners. Hopefully, he’d learn quick, or he’d be knocking heads in barely legal fight pits like Carl. Blaze. Whatever.

Lana turned back to me when she got to the employees-only door with that look again. I followed the same path she took. As I passed the table of boys, I threw out as much menace as I dared. With the Dinghy Races and a fight night coming, all of Pleasant Street was vibrating with tense energy. An alpha throwing their aura around could easily topple the Pax’s house of cards. Vig was usually more sedate, but still.

I closed the employee door behind me. Lana leaned against the locked door. She had her arms crossed, her perfect manicure resting on her bicep. I cringed inside. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, calling back to how I’d manhandled her. A lump rose in my throat, choking off an apology. This was not how you should have to treat your packmates to keep them alive.

“He sent a text.” Her voice was like a dream, complete with a slight Southern drawl she couldn’t totally get rid of. Thank fuck.

“What about?” It was one of his sick games. He never texted me, only Lana. It forced us to interact, and he believed we hated each other.

“He says he has a surprise for you.”

“Fucking great.”

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