Page 92 of Soul of the Chaos

My gaze slid across the room to meet the Prez, as though Grimm had some sort of fucking gravitational pull on my eyeballs. The alpha sat in his usual spot, perched on the back of one of the booths, overseeing the joyful chaos. His scowl didn’t exactly lift as I met his beating stare. If anything his eyes narrowed even further but, after a few seconds, he gave me a nod of welcome.

I ripped my eyes from his, unlocking the feet I didn’t even realize were frozen beneath me. I colored with annoyance. Fucking ridiculous. One man—shifter or human—shouldn’t wield this much power over anyone. And yet, Grimm did, owning it gracefully like it was his Gods-given right.

Fucking know-it-all alphas.

Silver huffed a sigh of relief and ushered me straight to the breakfast bar, chattering away as he piled our plates high with food. It all smelled delicious but my stomach turned uneasily, still feeling the weight of the alpha’s attention from across the room.

Once we were back at our usual booth—a few sweetbutts and a couple of prospects had quickly vacated themselves when they saw us coming—Mongrel hauled me straight onto his lap. I squeaked at being relocated so suddenly and my face began to burn anew, even as I tried to wriggle away.

“No,” Mongrel commanded, squeezing my ass in reprimand. I bit back a moan as his soft growl went straight to my pussy. “Stay.”

Honestly, I’d never wanted to obey a command so much in my life.

I was torn between wanting to scoot off Mongrel’s knee so Grimm would cease with the death stare and wanting to please my giant of a mate. Mongrel did something to me when he was like this, using his natural dominance to take care of me. Transforming my independent steel into melted putty which he could mold any which way he liked.

My stomach rumbled, loudly. In truth, the three of us hadn’t gotten much sleep and we were plenty starving. Mongrel held up a big, juicy slice of bacon and fixed me with a baleful look. My mouth watered but I held my jaw shut and shook my head.

I was not going to be fed in front of the whole dining room. In front of him.

“Eat,” my beta mate rumbled. “Please?”

Before I could reply, and while I was darting a quick look across the dining room to see if the Prez was still watching, Silver snatched the bacon and began chewing on it loudly. “And to think you used to do that for me, Mongrel,” he teased. “Where’s the love?”

“Plenty of room for both of my mates,” Mongrel growled, shifting his stance a bit and patting his other leg.

Clearly considering the offer which I was sure had been sarcastic, Silver munched thoughtfully on his stolen bacon while I glared at him. I wanted that juicy strip of meat so bad now. I watched as Silver sucked his fingers clean, teasing me with every lick he swallowed and I groaned.

Why hadn’t I grabbed it from Mongrel again? Oh yeah, Grimm.

The giant man beneath me sighed at our omega’s antics and fished a new slice of bacon off one of the plates, holding it up for me with a hopeful eyebrow tilt.

Sadly, my stomach did a long, slow roll and my heart leapt into my throat as I felt the alpha stirring. Like a storm, Grimm swept across the dining room and everyone fell silent in his wake.

Mongrel bunched in readiness beneath me but he didn’t move a muscle. Not even to lower the bacon. Silver winked at me, not at all concerned, perhaps because this time he wasn’t the one in the hot seat. Grimm’s attention was fixated on me and his Sgt. at Arms.

I ducked my head in embarrassment and cursed myself. I knew I should’ve skipped breakfast but Silver had pouted so prettily, I’d relented.

“Here,” Grimm rumbled.

Something metallic rattled in his hand as he shook it over the table. I risked a peek and my head whipped up to get a better look. I recognized that keychain. The tasteless topless ladies’ nipples winked in silhouette at me. Those were my uncle’s keys. The keys to my bar. Well, technically, I guess it was Victor’s, but that shithead had been run out of town, right?

“Are those?” I breathed, fingers itching.

The hope was almost too much to bear. It climbed up my throat and coated the thick silence in the room like honey.

Grimm smirked at me. His smile was so fast and beautiful, yet snatched away so quickly, I was sure I’d imagined it. “Yup. Dear Old Uncle Vick asked me to give these to you. Thought you might want to take your people for a poke around.”

I blinked up at him, my mind furiously working a mile a minute to put together all the dots. “So, the Soul Reapers are taking over my family business, huh?”

My tone was perhaps a little drier than I’d intended.

Grimm’s easy stance went rigid. There were a few shocked gasps, a few discontented rumbles, and a couple of idiotic titters of expectation from the nastier sweetbutts. Silver’s smile never faded but it got a little brittle round the edges and Mongrel’s hand clenched tighter on my thigh.

Whoops. I guess that had been the wrong thing to say. Still, I wasn’t the sort of girl to take something back, even if it was unpopular. I meant what I said, so I simply raised an eyebrow and waited for Grimm to reply.

The Prez placed both hands on the table and leaned over so that he was nose to nose with me. His hot breath billowed over my cheeks. He was so close it would have taken only a slight push forward for me to capture those lips with my own. And boy did I want to.

My tongue snuck out to run nervously over my tingling lips and Grimm’s blazing gaze hunted the movement.

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