Page 27 of Bartender Mate

“Anytime, bitch.” Eden smirked right back. “And I’m telling Argon you are officially sacked from recruiting duty, scribe. I know you have your own shit going on, but it’s time to shut your pie hole. Got it?”

With a brusk nod, Samantha blew out a shaky breath and stalked outside, muttering a string of curse words too low for me to hear. Grabbing the bottle and Samantha’s glass, Raven and Quill offered me apologetic smiles before following the fuming witch out.

“Ignore her,” Eden advised. “She’s got her own drama to deal with.”

I did just as she suggested, hunched over the bar with my head in my hands, feeling utterly wrecked. There was nothing else I could do. I felt bad for Samantha, sure, and I knew I should go and find out what was troubling my friend… but I didn’t seem to have a lick of go-go-juice left in me.

My feet were dead weights where they sat propped up on the bar stool’s footrest.

My head hurt like a wrecking ball had gone through it with wild abandon.

And my nerves? Yeah, those were shot to shit.

I felt like a planet which had suddenly been knocked from its axis and was now spinning numbly off into the void of space.

Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing. Fated mates? Otherworldly hotties who would literally die or at least become bloodthirsty maniacs if I didn’t do the dirty tango with them and agree to be their ride-or-die seven hours after meeting their gorgeous pricks? That was just nuts. Right? Right?!

“Look, babe. Forget about all of that.” Eden tucked her arm through mine and started leading me up the stairs. My shoulders slumped in defeat as I allowed her to guide me away from all of the deadly thought bombs currently doing their best to explode my brain matter. “You’ve only just found out magic is real. You now know your former classmates are badass witches. You have three spunky extraterrestrial suitors who wear leather and–bonus–turn into mythological beasts. You don’t need to worry about what will happen if you don’t accept the bond. What you need to do is get into bed, let that nice lick of alcohol you just consumed do the trick, and float off into la-la-land. I promise everything is going to look a whole lot better in the morning.”

“I’m not sure you can make that promise,” I muttered. “The Stellar Misfits will still be camped outside my bar in the morning.”

“Yeah they will, you horny bitch,” grinned Eden. “And I know you’ll be up and at ‘em bright and early just so you can cop an eyeful while you scorch their hides with your sharp tongue.”

I winced. Damnit, the foul-mouthed witch wasn’t wrong.

10

Quasar

Radon said nothing as he and Asteroid dragged one of the surplus bed kits into the main room of Last Chance Bar. We’d all decided that if our mate was going to sleep upstairs in her own bed, then we would guard her six by taking up residence in the bar itself. While Tess no longer looked at us like we were going to pounce on her at any moment, she was less than inclined to let three males she had just met into her personal space.

I both understood, and felt the ache of that decision.

The bar smelled like our newest and final mate. Her scent permeated every surface of the building, only disturbed by the stench of the Hunter’s blood which stained the floor. Tess’s blossoming lust was driving me slowly insane.

I shoved the last of the small bar tables out of the way and stood back to watch Radon and Asteroid as they unfurled the bed from its tight packing. My mates had both divested themselves of their shirts and cuts as they worked. Our bodies ran warmer than the average human, radiating our very natures from our cores, so I did my best to enjoy the sensational view.

Yet the absence ofherseemed to haunt the space, making a mockery of the licks of need I felt pinging back at me from the connection I shared with my bonded mates.

No, I couldn’t think like that.

Tess hadn’t rejected us. She simply didn’t have the context, yet, for what it meant to be honored by the claiming magic. But I’d seen the wild lust and the even deeper longing in her eye. In that first moment when she’d caught sight of the three of us, the force of her recognition had summoned the marks right to the surface of our skins in a blazing burst of power, stealing my breath and turning my guts to liquid fire.

Our Earth-bound mate may not have grown up knowing about fated mates, but her soul recognized what we were to each other without being told. Tess needed us every bit as much as we needed her. Of that, I was certain. Perhaps it was the force ofherlonging which had guided the mating comet so urgently across the galaxies to plough into her mountain.

Upon our return to Tess’ territory, I’d examined the trenches left by the artificial space rock. Damned thing had nearly taken out our mate’s lodgings and place of business. The magitech knew what it was about. It had led us to her side right when our enemies were closing in and I was fucking grateful.

My faith in the stars hadn’t been shaken by recent events. Oh, no. It had been set on fire with the assurance of the all-consuming power of fate.

Still, even though I ached to feel the sweet press of her soft human flesh upon mine, I couldn’t deny the allure of my bonded mates. The bunch and stretch of the muscles along my mates’ backs had me biting my lip in want. The shiver of ardor pulsating down to my cock, which twitched in the tight sheath of my jeans and caused the zipper to press its sharp teeth into the sensitive skin.

“You just going to watch, mate?” Asteroid teased, catching my eye through the reflection of the bar window. Night had fallen quickly, giving me a watered down glimpse of the gleam in my mate’s eyes. “Not your usual preference.”

“All this muscle on display? I would rather watch than do the hard work, lover.” I blew him a kiss as I made a show of watching, leaning back on the table I had only just moved, and folding my arms over my chest.

“Typical, Quasar,” Radon muttered under his breath, but the look I caught from him wasn’t the least bit teasing. “Making the other males do all the heavy lifting.” He had a haunted look in his eyes which made me want to bundle him up and hold him like a youngling until memories of the dark times left him in peace. “Flashing that dangerous grin and making everyone fall to the ground at your feet.”

“Didn’t work on you,” I said, sauntering over to the taciturn male. “You resisted, didn’t you?”

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