Page 9 of Knot Quite Ready

Soon after, we put out feelers to the shifter community, and what started as self-defense classes morphed into fight nights. After a few short months, it all paid for itself ten times over, and that was just from the income of the lovingly dubbed "Shifter Wars." On weekends, we operated as a shifter dance club; a steel trap covered the sunken fight floor, and the surrounding area was scrubbed so well you would never notice that anything other than bumping and grinding was happening here. I made the Lake District my home, and despite all the bullshit I had to run away from, I was happy and all the better for it.

"We always do," I take a sip of my drink as the two fighters go at it furiously. To anyone observing, these two osprey shifters, Lance and Onyx, have a real issue with one another. In truth, despite their large stature, they're teen twin brothers who, despite being birds of prey, have a human step-mom trying to get them to convert to veganism. They're so worked up from the lack of meat in their house and having to sneak out to eat what they want that their packmates often sneak them meat as well, and they have a lot of pent-up rage. The Osprey pack is one of the few packs that allow human-shifter relationships, especially after a mate passes away. Their frustrations, although hilarious, are understandable.

Their story, despite being a tad strange, is adorable, and it brings a smile to my lips every time I think about it. When a shifter loses their mate, they can go a bit crazy. Some even go feral and have to be put down or locked up for safety. It's truly heartbreaking, especially for those who have younger children. In the twins' case, they were fortunate; their father Luke took off into the forest and grieved in solitude. Their step-mom, Cassandra, stumbled across Luke, literally, while he was in shifted form.

Feeling terrible, Cassandra took him home and nursed him back to health. It was a shock to her when one day, he shifted back to human form, and the rest was history. Their story convinced their pack that relationships with humans were possible, and I was glad. Cassandra was honestly one of the sweetest and kindest people I have ever met, making it her business to stop into the bookshop to load up on new releases every two weeks, have a chat, and drink a cup or six of tea. I could see why their father fell in love with her; everyone did.

So, the twins, not wanting to upset her but so worked up from the lack of meat in their home, took out their frustrations elsewhere, like Shifter Wars, and a few times a week showed up at our apartment for dinner.

"The twins look extra on edge today. I think Onyx just punched Lance's eye shut!" Storm shakes her head and laughs.

"Yeah, Cassandra made them vegan meatballs out of some new corn mix that just hit the vegan stores, and they were not pleased," we chuckle as their fight comes to an end and the cage goes up, Storm grabbing the mic to make her after-fight announcements.

I watch as she leans over the railing and nods at one of our closest friends, Lynsday, a persuasion witch who works at the club with us, usually behind the bar. She looks behind Lynsday with a scowl before nodding. Lynsday takes the mic from her hand, stepping onto the platform in Storm's stead.

I frown as Storm walks over to me, fire in her eyes.

"You know that little rat-fucker, Larry, that we graced with a warning for coming in high but not actually having drugs on him?"

I nod, "What about him?" I immediately let my senses sharpen as I look around the club and, within seconds, pinpoint said rat shifter toward the back of the club, near the restrooms, twitching.

I feel my claws dig into the soft skin of my palms and bite back a growl. He's definitely tweaking on something, which is dangerous enough, but to do it out in the open? The last time he just came in high, and not only did we give him a very gracious warning, but I also paid for one of the top rehab facilities for him when his mate reached out to me shortly after he was kicked out of the club. We had a hard rule, one backed by the Council in every territory.

Shifters don't do well with drugs; they damage a shifter's senses and mess with a shifter's mind. Since we have a stronger connection to our animal side, it makes it impossible to control our shifts. Picture a honey badger, that's rabid, and asking for the manager because their coffee is cold. Yeah. Dangerous.

With him back doing this shit, not only were we running the risk of coming under heat for the suspicion of selling, but I also had strict rules in place. Looking weak in any shifter community, despite the camaraderie Cabria Falls has cultivated, wasn't ideal. Especially as a predator shifter. Fucking shit.

"Well, not only is his greasy ass high again, but he also just snorted something that has his body fighting to shift. The wards won't let his body complete the shift, but…" her voice trails off as she looks back with a curse. He's starting to draw attention.

I stand up with a growl and weave my way through the bodies excited for the next fight. He won't be able to shift in the club; I'm the only one who could. A shifter would have to be exceptionally strong to bypass the wards our witches put around the club. Which means that his body will either shut down and knock him out, or the combination of magic and unnatural substance will make his heart stop.

Unfortunately for him, he broke the rules of my club and the council, and by my rules, his life was forfeit. And since he was in my "territory" since I owned the establishment, it was my job to dole out the punishment.

Reaching his twitching body, I wrinkle my nose in disgust as the smell wafting from his unwashed body assaults my sensitive nose. Without hesitation, I easily grab him by the back of his greasy shirt, and everyone clears the way with a sad shake of their head as I drag him toward the back rooms to my office. Whether the sadness was for Larry's current state or his limited future, I don't know, but what I do know is that there was no love lost between my regulars and Larry. He was a sneaky little bastard. Rats were already considered lowly shifters, but his penchant for lying and trying to convince newcomers that he could guarantee them a win with tips made him less than low.

How he ended up mated to the one decent rat shifter I have ever met was beyond me. But fate works in fucked-up ways. I would have to let his mate know, but she knew the rules of the shifter world. There was no way around this.

With a sigh, I touch the two-way pager on my chest, "Colette, can you come to my office, please?"

"10-4, boss, on my way," Colette responds immediately.

Colette was a godsend; well, all of the witches in my employ were. Even more so, over the years, we had all become close friends. While shifters and witches tended to have a symbiotic relationship, we had moved beyond that. Witches tended to get a bad rap, especially when those with particular specialties caused some to become uncomfortable. It was a new age, and Cabria Falls was a place that accepted that. At the end of the day, there were good and bad in every magical and non-magical community, same with shifter communities. The bad would weed themselves out; nature worked out a balance.

Colette, in particular, was a medical witch, handy to have when people were often getting bloody and injured during fight nights, especially for those wounds that even our abilities took longer than normal to heal, like a missing arm. While we don't encourage predator shifters to fight with non-predators, it happened a few times in the past. Those injuries were always a tad more gruesome.

While my decision wouldn't be swayed, I was hoping Colette could clear Larry's mind enough for me to talk directly to his animal counter-part, since the human side was dead set on self-destruct mode.

I turn my head to look behind me, "Storm, can you text his mate and tell her the score?" I ask, and Storm nods.

"Oh, Aneira! Fancy meeting you here," Larry gives a high-pitched laugh tinged with hysteria as we arrive at my office and close the door behind us. I shake my head and drop him to the floor as his twitches become more pronounced.

Moments later, Colette knocks softly and walks in.

She wrinkles her nose in disgust as the smell coming from Larry assaults her. "I figured this is why you needed me. Need to talk to the shifter part?" She guesses accurately, and at my nod, moves closer to Larry and murmurs a few words that have Larry calm immediately.

She moves back, and I kneel at Larry's side. "You know the rules of my club, Larry. I gave you a chance before, but you disrespected me by coming into my territory and blatantly breaking the rules. You know what happens next?"

His eyes flash from brown and start to glow slightly, his animal counterpart coming to the forefront. "I have warned him of the consequences of his actions. But he has fallen too deeply. Today, he has hurt our mate…" he trails off, his voice roughening with anger and sadness.

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