Walking the short distance to the bathrooms required some agility, ducking intoxicated and angry or celebrating people. I made it quickly enough then headed down the mostly deserted corridor to the bathrooms. Just as I reached out my hand to push open the ladies room door, a meaty paw landed on my shoulder, spinning me around.

“Well, well. Look what I’ve found.” It was the man from the gun range, Sergei, and he grinned gleefully as though he’d just won the lottery. “Emily, wasn’t it? I don’t think I’ve seen your man around here anywhere tonight...” His leer promised all sorts of bad things, and I bit back a snappy retort, remembering the simpering idiot act I had put on when we met.

“Oh, hi!” I gave him my best vacant doe eyes and batted my long lashes. “Sergei, right? What are you doing here?”

He ignored my question, a cruel smile on his face. “You know, places like this aren’t safe for little girls like you. Anyone could just snatch you right up, and no one would say a word.” He crept in closer to me, boxing me against the door. I debated my options, fairly sure I might need to break character and feed this guy his nuts in order to get out of this situation. Right in the nick of time, a bloodied hand snaked between us and yanked me out from under my would-be captor’s sweaty gaze.

Sergei looked up at my savior, surprised and a little wary. “Cole. Good fight, my friend. I always know my money is safe on you.”

Cole glared his scary death stare as his fingers clamped tight on my hip.

“Sergei.” Cole sneered the smaller man’s name with distaste. “Can I ask what you think you’re doing with my girlfriend?” Crap. River hadn’t told him about my prior run in with Sergei.

“Your girlfriend?” He grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I thought she was River’s girlfriend?”

The low rumble from Cole’s chest frightened even me, but I stepped in a little closer to him, instinctively drawn to the sound.

“We like to share.” He glowered at Sergei without so much as missing a beat. “Now fuck off.”

Sergei flicked a nervous look at the still wet blood on the hand clamped possessively over my hip, then gave me a parting leer.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Emily.” Then he scurried back down the hallway as though chased by the sound of Cole’s growl.

Evidently I wasn’t off the hook yet as Cole turned his angry gaze on me, pinning me to the spot. Yeah, I shouldn’t have left the chair.

“I had to move,” I defended myself before he could start. “There was a fight breaking out right in front of me, and I didn’t want to be trampled!” He gave me another long stare, then shocked the hell out of me by sweeping me up in a huge hug.

“Don’t scare me like that again, Vixen. I went to get my shit, and you were gone... There are some seriously dangerous people here tonight,” he muttered, not putting me down yet.

“I’m sorry,” I squeaked, patting his huge shoulders. “I thought I’d be back before you noticed.”

He continued to hug me for a second, his hot, sweaty body dampening my shirt, then gently lowered me back to the floor.

“Let’s get out of here.” He grunted, picking up his pile of clothes where he had dropped them, then tugging me further down the hallway and out through a fire escape, which led into a different alleyway. He pulled his leather jacket back on then paused to tie his boots. He must have just stuffed his feet in them before coming to find me downstairs. I inspected his bloodied hands for injuries, but they seemed to just be a little bruised around the knuckles, so the blood must have been from Odin.

“Nice of River to have mentioned you’ve already run into Sergei,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at me as if expecting an explanation, but I just shrugged.

“He’s not the sort of guy you want taking an interest in you,” Cole continued. “He’s mixed up in this human trafficking job.”

“I assumed as much when River used a fake name for me.” I dropped the hand I was still holding. Whoops. “Quick thinking on the whole ‘we share a girlfriend’ thing, though.”

He gave me a long look, the corner of his mouth twitching, then wrapped his massive paw around my cold hand and tugged me along behind him.

“We better get back before they send out a search party,” he commented, heading towards where we had left his bike earlier in the day. As we walked, he pulled me in closer and tucked me under his massive biceps, his hand resting once more on my hip, and I got another warm fuzzy inside.

"Um, Cole?” I asked, biting my lip and not wanting to ruin the moment. Unfortunately, my bladder had other plans.

“Hmm?” He replied, looking down at me.

“I never got to pee… I doubt I’ll survive the drive back to Cascade Falls.” Actually, I doubted I would make it far at all.

He gave me a confused frown for a second, then coughed out a gruff laugh. “Sure thing, Vixen. Let’s stop for dessert somewhere that has a bathroom.”