Page 100 of Grim

“I would really like that. Maybe put some lights on it?” Her eyes sparkled. “I don’t want to do presents. I think you’re the best present I’ve ever received.” She batted her lashes at me.

My wolf purred deeply, nuzzling into her cheek as we walked.

“That was cheesy as fuck.” Sizzle rolled his eyes. “You gonna buy that shit, Grim?”

I growled back at him, baring my fangs. He stepped back, trying to avoid another broken nose, and I pulled my mate closer to me.

“I like cheesy. You can be as cheesy as you want,” I told her.

Even with Sizzle’s aversion to women, he still gave Journey a playful wink and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Dumb fuck.

Bones, Locke, and Sizzle traveled with us as we walked down our street. This side of town was usually empty at this time in the afternoon, except for humans coming to get their bikes or cars fixed at the garage.

We all looked like a bunch of roughnecks, but humans trusted our opinions on engines.

“How much farther?” my mate asked me, bundling herself in her coat.

I cursed myself, I should have borrowed the car back at the garage.

“Just up ahead,” Locke answered for me. “Sorry for the walk, Journey, but with the snow and cold air, you might turn into a little human popsicle if you rode a bike.”

“It’s fine,” Journey mumbled. “I just have seen nothing past that old church, and we have gone a few blocks past that.”

“Our territory extends for most of the town. They are under our protection, I guess you could say. The sheriff pays under the table for us to take care of some scum they can never get their hands on. With that, they leave us alone and don’t question the extra ‘citizens’ that come under our care.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Journey chuckled.

“Should be a bad thing,” Sizzle said. “They are lazy and incompetent. We run the town; they just turn a blind eye to it when we take on the dirty work. They only issue speeding tickets and take care of small civil disputes. We don’t get paid nearly enough.”

“That’s enough,” Locke silenced Sizzle. “If it weren’t for us, this town would have died years ago with all the shit the big city throws out. We’ve just made this place our own when no one else wanted it.”

“How long have you all been here, then?” Journey asked.

“Thirty-some years,” I replied. “Locke and I came here first, and then others followed when they heard Locke, the once big alpha of our old realm, bought this side of town with his inheritance.”

“Yeah,” Locke bragged. “I destroyed a rival pack and took all their money. Found Grim on the way out of the other realm and bought the largest plot I could find furthest away from the portal. Best decision I ever made.”

“It was,” Sizzle said. “The rest of us followed when we heard of Locke’s big rebellion and traveled miles to stay with him. I don’t think there is a rogue out there that doesn’t know about the Iron Fang. Everyone sees us as rogue felons in our world, but we are really a big family, now.”

“Does that mean all rogues get into the club?” Journey leaned closer to me, seeking my warmth.

Immediately, my wolf expelled as much heat as he could to keep her warm. Apparently, she was colder than she had let on.

“No,” I said gruffly. “They don’t. Some deserved to be rejected and alone. That is why there is a vetting process. We find out what happened to them, no matter how painful their past is. If they have crimes that could put the club at risk, they are immediately rejected.”

Journey stuffed her hands in her pocket.

“What sort of crimes?”

“Murder, cheating on a mate before a bond is completed, abuse to any of their kind, rejecting a mate bond, laws broken against the crowns of the royal council…and other things,” Locke said, gripping his fists. “We’re here.”

Once we reached six blocks from the church, we found ourselves in front of a once abandoned shop. When we first moved here, the glass was broken, the cabinets were overturned, and the stench of rotting bodies and sulfur dominated.

Now, it was a bustling shop that had done well for itself. The inside was dark, but the illumination of red candles lighting the window gave it just the appeal that Tajah was looking for. Other witches like her, or the few humans that believed they were practicing witches themselves, made for great customers.

The Burning Sage was one of the first shops that opened before the bar and mechanic shop. She used her magic to bring an appeal to her shop by using a glamor spell. It started out as just an essential oil shop which brought in the humans rather quickly.

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