Page 11 of Bartender Mate

Radon nodded, leaning back in his chair, more relaxed than I was used to. “Blood will be spilled before the Earth's star crests the horizon.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed at my mate. “You could just say sunrise, you melodramatic idiot. Or do you plan to take up a position of bard rather than warrior here on Earth?”

“Please,” my mate scoffed. “Who wakes up grumpy if no one will cuddle him? Who pokes me in the ass if he’s not getting enough attention during our down time? I am not the melodramatic one.” In a swift move which dried the spit in my mouth, Radon suddenly had me by the neck and was drawing me slightly up and out of the chair toward him so he could brush his lips on my throat. His breath bathed the marking site of our bond, which pulsed eagerly under his possessive touch. The skin flared for a moment, sending shivers of arousal through my blood. Promising that one day, perhaps one day soon, the permanent blessing of the stars would claim its rightful place on my skin. “Who throws a temper tantrum if our fun times get interrupted, whining about his poor untouching cock?”

“I think you just proved my point, mate.”

My chuckle was thick and throaty as he released me with a scoff and my ass fell back into the chair. I kept the happy bubbling in my veins with me, though, hoarding his public claiming for the treasure it was. Radon might try to play it off, cool and untouchable, but every now and then he let his real feelings out and they blistered as hot as any pool of magma.

A cold glass, sweating thick beads of water down the sides, was dropped unceremoniously onto the slab in front of me. “Bartender says it's like Vedian ale. Stinks like seabrine, but you get what you get.” Asteroid dropped his ass in the chair next to me, taking a long pull from his own glass. “They have something called Sprite. I’ve been told it will suit your tastes, mate.” He raised a brow at our third, who just picked up the glass he’d been handed, giving Asteroid a curt nod of thanks.

Our third had barely sat down when a roar went up at the bar. Argon and Zinc stood, toe to toe, snarls on both of their faces and their tales thrashing. A cheer went up as Cadmium pulled them apart, nodding at the door. My mate wasted no time joining them. Cadmium snarled at his proximity but allowed his assistance in shepherding the two powerhouses from the room. Asteroid’s eyes remained fixed on Argon and Zinc, but they flicked once back to our table–eyes loaded with meaning–before he disappeared from view.

My beast grumbled inside me. Hating the thought of Asteroid anywhere near the warring beasts without backup. I thought Radon would be the first one up and going after them, but instead he picked up his drink, taking a sip like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world. That was my fucking job. I growled, slamming back the rank beer that Asteroid had given me and stood.

“It’s fucking happening,” I shouted over the dull roar that was filling the bar, even though most of the MC had left through the front doors. “Get up.”

“You know.” Radon took another drink from his glass. “This actually isn’t that bad.” He gave it a sniff, and then stood. “You want a taste?”

“What?” Blood was singing in my ears, a rush that I had only felt on very rare occasions, making me jittery. I watched in disbelief as my cranky and dark mate casually held out his drink to me, despite our dumb asses being the last two Drakons in the bar. The only exception was Samantha. She still hadn’t moved from whatever was so fascinating on her device, her thumbs flying. “They’re going to fight.”

“Argon doesn’t want the top,” Radon replied as he sauntered towards the door, taking his unfinished drink with him. “Zinc knows it, too, but his beast is a proud motherfucker. It needs to stretch its wings, show off a bit. Traveling in that junker of a spacecraft got him extra motivated. And you apparently didn’t suck our mate’s dick well enough, ‘cause he’s zeroed in on one of the most decorated second officers this side of the cosmos. Asteroid is looking to play second to a warrior who is still an unknown to us. Zinc was a capable enough captain on ship, but something’s ticking in that skull of his. Something’s not quite right. You’ve seen the way he denies his own mates, even as his scales continue to brighten to that warm pink.” He took a long drink and set the glass on the table just inside the doors. “This isn’t going to be settled tonight.”

“You figured all of that from just watching for an hour?” I asked. “What the hell?”

“This is what I’m good at, mate.” He shrugged and I nodded, giving him his due. Radon could read a battle like no one ever. His spacefaring specialty was navigation, but his brain was wired for strategy. “Now, let’s go see if first blood has been spilled. Whether it’s resolved tonight or not, this one is going to curl your scales.”

Zinc and Argon were still circling each other when we got there, but Asteroid didn’t look like he gave a fuck. He was ready to throw down with Cadmium’s golden beast. His chest was puffed up, his pupils were reptilian slits, and his breath was heaving with the effort it tooknotto change.

Then Zinc made the first move, right as an earthbound shuttle came screaming through the woods. Samantha came tearing out of the MC bar and ran over to the van, yanking open the passenger door before climbing up onto the roof of that vehicle to draw a quick marking on its metallic surface. The magic rose quickly into the air to surround her in a throbbing energy bubble. Huh, I guess the scribe had hidden talents other than staring at a blue screen for hours on end.

“This has to wait.” Samantha stood, hands fisted at her sides, bearing proud and forceful. I could feel the beat of magic helping carry her demand on the wind. “Drakon Hunters are hitting the Last Chance Bar on the other side of town.”

Hunters.

My blood boiled under my skin, the agitation I had been feeling since stepping foot on Earth came to a head, and my vision went red.

It didn’t matter who they were after, and why the name of a bar I had never been to had my instincts dialing up to eleven. I’d learnt a lot about Earth culture by watching through a large selection of cultural artifacts in my downtime on that hunk of space junk. I had to admit, their bards were good. The Drakon Hunters sure had a nasty surprise coming.

The Stellar Misfits weren’t a little club any longer. Our arrival had nearly tripled the MC in size, and my claws itched to draw blood.

In the back of my mind, I remembered the streak of fire in the sky as our star had fallen to the ground, showing us the way to our third. I desperately wanted to follow the comet’s tail to our destiny, but my beast was more than ready to kill a few witches on the way. After all, the direction the scribe had pointed was the same one where our comet had landed.

Once we dealt with the Hunters, we would scour those woods for our fourth because nothing on this wee blue planet was going to get in the way of me claiming my final fated mate.

5

Tess

The world behind my eyelids was a soul-sucking black, punctuated by bright spots of garish red and white explosions of pain. Everything was murky and dense and loud. Way too loud. Felt as though someone had been screaming heavy metal directly into my brain while I was out.

A sense of terrible urgency rode me as my sluggish brain struggled to come back online. Dan’s scream of outrage seemed to be echoing on repeat behind my ears. Begging me to wake up, to do something–anything–to help.

But why did Dan need my help?

Reality leered up and smacked me in the face like a cold fish. I gasped as all the jumbled up thoughts suddenly crystalized into alarming clarity. Dan was in danger. Hell,Iwas in danger. Big fucking danger. My employee. My bar. Myworldwas under attack.

The Drakon Hunters MC were here to take it all away from me–everything I’d worked so hard to build back up from scratch–and it looked like they were more than happy to do so by force.

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