She’d never understood why so many shifters loved clubs. The music was too loud, the air too clouded with perfume, sweat, and pheromones. She bore it when she wanted to find someone to fuck, but that couldn’t be any further from her mind today. Her cat hissed at males trying to rub themselves against her, refusing to even look at them, because they weren’t Rygan Wayland.

But the girls had asked, and then pouted when she’d said no. What had convinced her was the fact that the world was a dangerous place when Vivicia Crawley, Faith Howell, and Rain Philips were bored and horny.

So there she was, in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with the wolf, the raven, and the witch who’d been the first to answer her call. They lived down in California, just a few hours away, so Ace had expected them to arrive before everyone else. She just hadn’t thought that they’d drop everything they were working on and rush to her aid immediately.

Although she should have expected just that. Ace didn’t form friendships easily, but, when she did, it was with people who were loyal to a fault. She would have jumped into a car, or a plane, if any of them had asked for her help - it wasn’t surprising that they’d done it for her.

She’d briefed them on the situation, and they’d expressed their feelings differently, in manners that reflected their personalities. Vivicia had shifted and gone out to hunt something down, Faith went to her laptop and checked out the closest gun shop in the area, while Rain had started smiling because she didn’t often have the leisure of using more than a sliver of her powers. This time, she was pretty sure no one would begrudge her for killing everything in her path.

When the exotic beauty with long, golden limbs came back, a rabbit in hand, blood all over her naked skin, she announced, “We’re going out tonight. We’ll meet your pride in the morning.”

Vivicia often took charge. She wasn’t the most dominant of them, but Faith generally didn’t care, and Rain ignored what she didn’t want to do. Out of the four of them, Ace was the only who went against Vivicia - normally, the others took her side, but, in this instance, they all agreed that they needed to wind down before it all started. So here they were, at the club.

“Try touching my ass again and you won’t have a finger left,” she growled at the idiot who wasn’t taking a hint.

“Come on, sweetheart, chill.”

Why didn’t they listen? Ace grabbed the idiot by the throat and threw him at the nearest wall. In another club, that might have been noticed, but they were at Trance, the most popular sup club in Portland. There was a fight breaking out every other hour, on a quiet night.

“I’ll go get some air,” she shouted in Vivicia’s ear, before making her way through the sea of bodies, to get to the smoker’s area behind the club.

She’d never been a club bunny, but she hadn’t hated them before, either; now, she really, really did. Or rather, she hated feeling all those males touching her.

What the fuck? Aisling was no prude. Shifters needed sex and she made no apologies for it. Sure, she wasn’t easy, and she never settled for anyone she didn’t fancy - but tonight, she hadn’t even been looking. Normally, the males she didn’t want bored her. They didn’t infuriate her like they did tonight.

She’d known her cat - and herself, if she was honest - wanted Rye, but she hadn’t realized that it wanted no one else.

Maybe she could ask Rain if there was a potion against that.

Ace grabbed the phone ringing in her pocket and rolled her eyes when she saw the name flashing on the screen; Rygan. Of course.

“Good evening.”

Being an alpha male, the man immediately asked, “What’s that noise in the background? Where are you?”

And, as she was Ace Cross, she shot back, “What makes you think you have the right to know?”

“Aisling.”

His tone was warning her; she found it amusing.

“Aww. You really do think you can intimidate me. Look at you, still delusional.”

“Where are you?” he growled threateningly.

“None of your business. Any reason why you called?”

He did manage to surprise her, by just hanging up on her. She was still staring at the phone in disbelief when it rang again.

“Trance, Aisling? Really?”

She had a positively awesome snarky repartee at the ready, so she sighed when he hung up again.

Aisling spent the next hour considering whether she should text him, call him back - and maybe tease him for being so easily ruffled - or just wait until morning, when she felt a presence behind her.

She hadn’t seen that coming at all, believing that he’d be completely focused on his territory and his pride, yet there was no mistaking that particular musk, or the way her cat behaved when it smelled him.

“Rye.”

She didn’t have to turn to know it was him.

“What are you doing here, Ace?” he sounded frustrated, yet resigned. Hopefully, he’d come to terms with the fact that he didn’t have the authority to boss her around.

“And that’s your problem because?”

She knew she probably shouldn’t push his buttons, but it was just so much fun.

Rye walked around her and pinned her under his intense gaze again. She managed to prevent herself from squirming, but only just.

“Because I care about you. And because, for now, I consider you mine.”

She snorted, which served to amuse him. The Alpha took another step, getting right in her personal space, and leaned towards her.

“You want to play this game? Fine. I’ll go in right now, grab the first girl who throws herself at me, and screw her in the restroom. How would you like that?”

She knew he was just playing her, she knew it, and she should have been able to shrug indifferently – but, before her brain had kicked in, her cat was hissing and digging its claws into his arm, almost deep enough to mark.

“That’s what I thought.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“You like it in the asshole? Good to know.”

She groaned. “Please, Rygan- I swear I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just don’t ever attempt to joke again.”

He smiled, relaxed, and started playing with her hair. Strangely, she let him.

“A few friends of mine made it early. Only three of them, but they’re going to make a difference, even if no one else turns up.”

“I know. Daunte is here - he recognized one of the girls. He’s currently trying to talk to her.”

That made Ace wince. Daunte had been trying to get into Vivicia’s pants for years - she shot him down so harshly each time, Ace was embarrassed on his behalf.

“So, what made you crash our girls’ night out?”

“I might not have, if you’d just told me it was a girls’ night out.”

Touché.

“I didn’t think you’d leave your territory, with everything happening right now.”

“Jas came back - she, Ian, Coveney, Ola, and Tracy can handle things for an hour. We’re not far.”

She nodded, then, because she was pretty sure he wouldn’t catch the drift without a hint, she added, “You know, I would probably be a little less difficult if you didn’t attempt to boss me around.”

He shrugged unapologetically. “I’ll still try. You’ll shoot me down each time. Might as well get used to it. Come on, dance with me, pretty cat.”