Jennifer sighed, tugging off the pants she couldn’t button around her waist and digging around in her drawer for a pair of leggings. She was going to have to go maternity shopping at some point, and soon. She was running out of decent outfits to wear. If she waited too long, everybody was going to start noticing she was pregnant.
She had a significant baby belly at this point; her abdomen protruding forward proudly as if the little bear-shifter hybrid within her body was already asserting itself out in the world. He was definitely going to take after his father.
Thoughts of Dax made her shrivel inside. Everything had been going so well during that dinner they had shared so many weeks ago. How could it have all changed in just a matter of seconds?. She still had the flier he had made her advertising his house that was for sale and she’d fought the urge many times to drive by and speak with him.
The way they had ended things the last time made her think he felt like he was better off without her. Nobody who had a care toward anybody else would treat them so badly, would they? It had seemed over the top and out of line. Still, she wanted more than anything to talk to him about it, to find out just what the hell that had been about. Somehow, she knew his outburst hadn’t just harmed her, but him as well.
Jennifer shook the thought away. Bear shifters didn’t get hurt by things the way humans did, did they? It was more likely something the bear had picked up on. Had he somehow discovered she was pregnant?
The thought was terrifying. If he had, he hadn’t contacted her about it. And why would he? Having a child out of wedlock would have probably cost him the promotion he had needed.
Speaking of, she had been wondering how that had gone. There weren’t any announcements about it or anything, and neither of them had come to her bar for victory drinks. The lingering question popped into her head time and again. There was no way of finding out without going directly to Dax and asking him about it.
Once she was dressed, she headed in to work. She had been dreading going back to the bar; the bear shifters had treated her so much more differently since she’d become pregnant. Most of the regulars had a tendency to lust after the barmaid. Maybe some part of them had sensed she’d been claimed. Her body was nurturing a child that none of them had fathered.
“Beer!”
Jennifer’s skin crawled. It was the man Dax had practically thrown out of the bar when they’d first met. He hadn’t dared to show his face since then. So why now?
“Here,” she said, filling a glass with a non-alcoholic beer. Hopefully, the guy wouldn’t throw it in her face but if he insisted on drinking, there he was going to drink what she served him or get the hell out. It was risky, but there wasn’t anything else she could do about it besides call the manager. In her condition, it was even more dangerous to get herself in situations she couldn’t handle.
“I’m not drinking this piss,” the man growled. “Give me a real beer or you’re going to regret it. You think you can fool my nose? I’m a bear-shifter, lady!”
“You shouldn’t even be in here after how you behaved before,” Jennifer said with a sigh. “You can take what I give you or find some other establishment to drink at.”
“Fuckin’ bitch.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Jennifer’s heart thudded hard and she whipped around, only to face Vince, who was smiling arrogantly at her.
“There will be if this bitch doesn’t get my beer!”
Vince turned to Jennifer, his silver eyes sparkling. “Is this man bothering you? He’s known around the mountain to be quite the drunk. He’s not very gentle with the ladies either… unlike myself.”
Jennifer’s skin crawled. Who the hell did Vince think he was?
“Well, he’s not my favorite customer, I can tell you that much. He tried to attack me a few months ago.”
“Oh did he?”
Vince turned to the man, his eyes fiery.
“You are hereby ordered by the newest member of the elder’s council to leave this bar and never come back.”
“Newest…” the man seemed as shocked by the news as Jennifer was. Dax hadn’t gotten the promotion, Vince had. She suddenly felt sick and turned to the old man with a deep frown on her face.
“That’s right,” Vince said, flashing the pin on his lapel at the man. “If you don’t heed my warning, you’re going to have far bigger problems than getting a beer, I can promise you that.”
“You guys are pricks,” the old man growled, getting heavily off his stool and walking slowly to the door. Jennifer watched him go, relieved she wouldn’t have to deal with him any longer but horrified that it meant she was now alone with Vince, who had received the promotion that she knew Dax had deserved.
“Well, he might now be allowed to have a beer, but what about me?” Vince asked, looking at Jennifer with a dark gleam in his eyes.
“Sure,” she said, trying to be as noncommittal as possible. She didn’t want to give him any ego-stroking. It was disgustingly obvious he was expecting her to bend over backwards to thank him for throwing his power in the old man’s face. Was she supposed to be impressed? She was relieved, yes, but there was nothing Vince could ever do that would impress her.
“You’ve been working here a while. What do you think of the bear-shifters around here?”
“You think I’d be honest with one if I didn’t like them?”
“Well, I wouldn’t blame you for disliking all the old drunks,” Vince said with a harsh laugh. “But what about the good guys? There are a few out there.”
She had already learned that much, and she knew enough to know that Vince wasn’t one of them. In fact, he was the last person that she wanted to be making small talk with.
“I don’t have an issue with bear-shifters in general. I think everything is situational. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course,” Vince said, taking the frothy mug of beer from her and taking a long drink. “You know, I’ve never been with a human before.”
Another pang of nausea electrified Jennifer and she backed away from the bar a little. She didn’t like the look in his eye, or the suggestion he might be interested in her.
“Well, that’s not surprising. From the looks of that ridiculously expensive ring on your finger, it appears you’re married, and I doubt your wife is a human.”
Vince scoffed, a cocky smile that faltered as he looked down at his beer. “No, of course not. My family is pure bear-shifter. We aren’t big fans on mixing and matching. Although who knows… it could be fun.”
A lewd smile stretched across his face and a wave of anger swept over Jennifer.
“Too bad you’ll never know, considering you’re the kind of stand-up guy the elders would want on their council, right? That’s a real shame.”
Vince chuckled, eyeing her coldly as he downed the rest of his beer and slammed the mug on the table. She felt unsure of herself for a moment, rejecting him the way he had, but it had been done in a way that probably wouldn’t hurt his ego if the conversation were replayed back at him.
“Yeah,” he said, thumping his money on the counter and turning from the bar to leave without another look at her. “A real shame.”