Page 13 of Bartender Mate

I wanted to fuck up that bastard so bad for hurting his own brother like that.

With a growl, I launched myself at the blank-faced prick, ready to wail on Claw with my puny fists.

Invisible bands of steel wrapped themselves around me, though, halting my forward momentum in its tracks. I grunted as the air compressed in around me, squeezing like a vice.

Shock radiated through me. This wasn’t right. I cried out, or would have, but all that came out of my mouth was a pained wheeze because that force–like a clammy hand–had crept up my neck and wrapped itself around my face, too. Sealing my lips shut even as I wanted to scream out in rage and fear.

What the actual fuck is happening right now?I railed, struggling against the invisible restraints.

My ass was now literally hovering, mid-air, just off the countertop. Gravity was still doing its best to drag my back down to Earth–yet something was holding me up, just as ferociously. The disgusting presence felt oily and wrong, and every fiber of my being absolutely hated coming into contact with it.

On instinct, my eyes zipped to the gloating Prez whose blackened gaze was dancing with malicious glee. The power–or whatever this was–was coming fromhim. I was sure of it. Smug ownership was oozing off the prick as he relished my bewildered reactions.

“Uh-uh-uh, Tess,” Axle Grinder mock-admonished. “You’re going to have to work on that temper of yours if we’re going to be business partners. Can’t have you taking it out on our best customers, now, can we?”

He relaxed his grip on my face, allowing me to reply as he cocked an eyebrow in demand. I still had no fucking clue what was happening–how or why–but for the moment all I could do was focus on my red hot rage lest I give into bone-melting fear and turn into some sort of blubbering idiot.

“And which customers would they be?” I growled. “You’ve gone and scared them all off.”

“Why, the Drakon Hunters, of course,” he smirked, holding his hands out to either side to indicate the only clientele still left in the bar. His people. “We’ll be frequenting this establishment from here on in.” The Prez winked at me. “It pays to keep a close eye on assets while they pay off their debts.”

I scoffed but bit back a blistering retort as my heart leapt into my throat. A familiar sounding van came hurtling up the driveway and hauled to a rough stop outside, backfiring once to lodge its complaint before the motor cut out.

“Sam,” I cried out, fighting against my restraints for all I was worth. “Stay back!”

Ignoring my warning, Samantha stormed into Last Chance Bar with her two librarian companions in tow–Quill and Raven–looking like fury incarnate as she braced for action.

The two librarians immediately dropped to the ground and began scribbling something in chalk. My eyes damned near popped out of my head. It looked like the pair were penning hieroglyphics of some kind on my floorboards. In the middle of a rumble.

What the fuck use is chalk at a time like this?

Not batting an eyelid, my friend took center stage between them, raising her hands in the air. Blazing tattoos which I’d never seen before seemed to bubble on the surface of her skin and lift off into the air, causing her hair to stand on end. The air crackled and popped like a gathering storm.

“Get away from my friend, Prez.”

Axle Grinder wasn’t grinning anymore. The smile had melted off his face at the intrusion. He took a lazy step away from me and toward his powerbase. In the same moment, whatever invisible force had been holding me in the air, suddenly released me.

My ass dropped to the countertop with a jarring thwack.

“Fuuuuuuck,” I wheezed, sucking in a shocked breath.

The world swam for a moment in a mix of tears and pain, then I grabbed hold of the ledge so I didn’t slide to the floor in an ungraceful heap when my knees gave out.

The Drakon Hunters wasted no time gathering behind their Prez as he stared down the trio of librarians, a ready snarl on his face and his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“This ain’t your battle, scribe,” Axle warned, low and full of menace. “We may have ceded the library to your newfriends” –he said the word like it was a dirty insult– “but the Stellar Misfits have no claim on this bar.”

“Oh,” breezed Samantha. “I think you’ll find the Stellar Misfits have a ratherbigclaim on this bar.”

The markings which had been rising into the air above my friend’s skin suddenly coalesced with an elegant movement of her long fingers into a ripple ofsomethingthat shot toward the Prez of the Drakon Hunters MC. He grunted in pain as he was knocked back a step before Axle flicked his wrists again–breaking free of whatever Samantha had done–to roll his shoulders back and down, then brace his legs more securely.

Veins popped along his neck and forearms with the effort it took to control his rising temper. “I said it’s not your fight,” Axle growled. “Out of respect for yourformercoven, this is your last chance. There’s only three of you and a dozen of us.”

“Ha. Fitting. And here we all are, waxing lyrical, at Last Chance Bar,” Samantha smirked. “Feels like kismet, doesn’t it, Prez? Do you think this meeting was written in the stars? Or were you and your lot too busy stabbing each other in the back last night to notice the comet blazing a trail right into the hills out back of my friend’s bar?”

Axle snarled, not liking her glib reference to last night’s fortuitous meteorological happenings. Though, what the fuck a near miss with a meteor had to do with tonight’s dangerous showdown was beyond me.

“Besides,” Samantha continued. “It’s not three against twelve, Axle. I might be book smart, but I’m not street stupid. I was just buying us some time for myfriendsto roll in.” Finally, the fierce librarian looked to me and whatever expression she found there had her face softening with sympathy. “It’ll be alright, Tess, promise. I’ll explain everything. Just as soon as we show these pricks the door.”

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