Chapter Fourteen
The music at Red Cap was loud enough to hear through the walls as Seraphina followed Rod up the sidewalk to the entrance. He had her hand in his, and it was shaking. His was steady. Like he wasn’t afraid of Maxim at all. Had he forgotten the male was a fox shifter? Or maybe he just didn’t care.
The guns blazing attitude was kind of sexy. For a minute. Until she thought about how badly he could be hurt over her.
This wasn’t what she wanted.
She pulled him to a stop just before he reached for the door.
“Wait. Let’s think about this. You don’t have to fight him. We could go somewhere for the weekend and let the others handle Maxim. He could be gone by the time we get back.”
The corner of Rod’s mouth tipped up, giving her that lazy grin he wore a lot. Half rebellion half amusement. “As good as that sounds, sweets, it won’t work. There’s Ma to think of. And I have to fight him for you to be mine, right? By your customs. If another male wants you before we’re mated, we fight. Isn’t that how it goes?”
Seraphina nodded. “To the death though.” And Rod wasn’t a killer.
With his thumb on her chin, he tipped her head back and gave her another one of those bone meltingly sweet kisses. Who knew a meeting of the lips could make her entire body go liquid.
“I got this, vixen.” His eyes flared with adrenaline, and for a breath, she actually worried about the other guy. Maxim wouldn’t go down easy, but Rod looked ferocious in that moment. “Stay close.”
He yanked the door open and strolled into the bar looking cooler than James Dean. Like this was his element. This was his place.
And it was.
Red Cap was as much a home to him as the house he shared with his mom. It was his turf. He had the home field advantage.
Seraphina looked around, seeing her girls and their humans.
Sally was being slutty at the pool table. Barb was bumping hips with her and sloshing beer over the top of the mug she held above her head. Rider stood next to the juke box, eyes a little dazed but on his mate. Adam was pacing a weird pattern eight around the girls, his eyes all big and wild. Ragan glared on from a dark corner, occasionally sipping at a drink while Mac hovered nearby. Lexington bent over the pool table to take a shot, but she didn’t look casual. She looked deadly. Poor eight ball.
A small smile crept up Seraphina’s lips.
Maxim and his foxes had come to the wrong place.
The door swung open behind her and Aaron charged inside, almost knocking her over.
“Shit, sorry,” he cursed, but his gaze scanned the room until he found Lexington. Then he breathed out a sigh of relief and pressed his lips together angrily.
Finally looking over at Seraphina, his frown went from a slight sag to full-on Shar Pei. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be hiding.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Vixens don’t hide. How do you not know that by now?” She left off the part where she begged Rod to leave not even five minutes ago.
Aaron grumbled something about vixens never listening and then stomped over to his mate.
Rod pulled her toward the pool table, nodding to Punk, Beast’s mate, to bring him his usual.
“Oh hayyyyyyy there, Hot Squat Turner,” Barb drawled, loud and lazy.
“That’s the worst one you’ve come up with yet.” Rod smirked. “Doesn’t even rhyme.”
Barb grinned big like he’d complimented her. She held two pool balls in her palm, pretending to fondle them, before turning her gaze on Seraphina.
“You came out for the fun, didn’t you, honey! I knew like I knew like I knew you wouldn’t stay away for this. Not my Sera. Nope. She’s a badass in disguise.”
“Stay away for what?” Rod asked.
“Oh, didn’t you hear? Sally, tell ‘em.”
“We’re going to run the foxes out of town. Well, not all the foxes. We ain’t going anywhere. Just the male ones. Because they stink, and I don’t want to smell them no more.”
“Run them out?” Adam piped up. “So that’s what the plan is?”
“Well, no,” Sally said low, letting the music nearly drown her out. “The plan is to make them think we’re too sloshed to put up any fight. Then we’ll get close, and twist their balls until they scream. Then run them out of town.”
“Wait a goddamn minute,” Rider cut in, frowning. “You said nothing about getting close to anyone’s balls.”
Sally grinned, going up on her tiptoes to kiss his chin. “Of course not, peach. Then you would have tried to stop us. But don’t worry. We’re using Barb for bait. I won’t be close to any balls. Except yours that is. Later. Mmm.”
“That’s right baybayyyyyy,” Barb hooted, tossing back some of her beer and shooting Seraphina a wink.
“What do you think?” Lexington murmured to Aaron. “She look drunk enough yet?”
“I think you’re going to have some fucking explaining to do when we get home,” he answered.
She waved him off. “Oh, the Dogs won’t care that we took the trash out on our own.”
“I care,” he growled, and she finally looked at him.
Seraphina looked away, letting them have their moment.
“Wait,” Adam said, pushing his way through the circle of bodies until he was right behind Barb and Sally. “What the hell do you mean Barb is bait?”
“She’s the only Vixen not spoken for. It has to be her,” Sally explained.
“She is not. What about Ragan?”
“Ragan was already mated. None of those hounds will get close to her. They won’t be interested. It has to be Barb.”
“What do you mean,” he ground out, “interested?”
“You know…” Sally gyrated her hips. “In mating. That’s what these assholes are here for.”
Adam glanced at Seraphina. At Rod, who was scowling back at him. The two locked eyes and something unspoken passed between them. Rod nodded, a smile blooming on his face.
Punk brought his beer, but he didn’t drink it. Just held it in his hand. “You fucks are in so much trouble,” she whispered, her eyebrow jewelry flicking with her expression. “Message from Drake.”
“See,” Aaron muttered. “I told you.”
This only made Rod’s smile grow until it was bigger than Seraphina had ever seen.
For the first time since entering Red Cap, she let herself take in the rest of the place. Lots of regulars she knew by name, some she didn’t. People she recognized from the track. The place was full. But what caught her attention was the corner of the room most people seemed to be avoiding.
Most but not all.
A gaggle of scantily dressed females surrounded a small table. And through pairs of slender limbs, she could clearly make out three sets of shitkicker boots and leather pant legs.
One for each hound.
Her throat went dry at the crackle of energy she felt snap from the corner. As if… as if she’d just been scented.
A sharp whistle, and the ladies parted like a staff over flood waters to reveal three hulking tatted-up males wearing grim expressions. Maxim had the middle chair, like the other two had been shielding him from the females, and when his striking silver eyes landed on Seraphina, everything inside her went numb.
No, no, no, her fox whimpered.
But he didn’t move. Not a muscle. He stayed perfectly still, his eyes boring into her like it was his first time seeing… anything. Like a blind man seeing the sun.
No. He wasn’t supposed to look at her like he cared. He didn’t. Foxes didn’t do it like that. He wanted to drag her back to his skulk and breed her. That was their way.
She squeezed Rod’s hand so hard her knuckle popped, while she swallowed down her fear and surprise. He swung his arm loosely around her shoulders, letting his hand drape casually over one. And that’s when Maxim seemed to realize she wasn’t alone.
His gaze flicked to Rod and back to her, narrowing with an emotion that shocked her.
Maxim looked hurt. Betrayed.
The idea made her sad for him, but it had her wondering if they could walk away without a fight after all. Maybe Maxim wouldn’t fight for a mate who’d hurt him. Maybe he’d leave.
Maybe no one else had to get hurt.
But then it was gone with a quick blink, covered by a hardness she’d been expecting.
Slowly, he stood, towering over the table. He was as tall as Rod, and half a foot taller than she was. Broad. T-shirt and leather wrist cuffs. Long hair past his shoulders, just like she remembered.
“Mine,” he mouthed, and she knew Rod read his lips by the way he stiffened beside her.
Maxim would make a good strong mate for some female. But not for her. She’d found the one she wanted forever with. And yeah, they still had some details to straighten out, but Rod was hers. And she was his.
Maxim sauntered over, the other two hulks in tow, the three of them looking out of place in Annie’s laid back bar.
“Change of plans, ladies,” Rod murmured.
“What are you talking about?” Barb hissed, and Adam stood taller beside her.
“Oh, just that in two seconds, I’ll be poking that beast right there.” He finally took a swig of his beer and then passed the bottle to Seraphina. He shook out his shoulders, smiling like a weirdo. “Prolly won’t be pretty either, if I had my guess. But that asshole ain’t calling her mine ever again. I guarantee ya that.”
“Wait,” Lexington said, “this wasn’t the plan.”
“Fuck the plan,” Adam muttered.
“Yeah.” Sally shrugged. “Fuck the plan. Fucking is fun, and plans are mostly not.”
Rod stepped in front of Seraphina just as Maxim and his crew reached them. “You the one hunting my woman like she’s a fucking ribeye?”
Seraphina peered around Rod’s shoulder to see Maxim’s jaw tick and his hands become fists. “She was promised to me by her father, the alpha. By custom, you’re interfering with our mate.”
Rod laughed a humorless sound, and looked to Adam. “You believe this guy?”
“Balls,” Adam clipped out.
“King Kong nuts,” Rod agreed, and turned back to Maxim. “See I don’t give one midget sized fuck what her father promised you. Around these parts, women get to choose who they spend time with. And she chose me. That means you’re gonna need to fuck off. Super fast.”
Maxim glanced sideways at one of the beefy hounds. They were ready to pound Rod, and no doubt her man would have given as much as they dished. But she was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering. These men weren’t playing. They were here to take her. They were here to win her. And Rod didn’t seem worried. Why wasn’t he worried?
“I need to hear it,” Maxim ground out. “Her choice from her mouth.” His gaze landed on Seraphina and softened. “My female, have you chosen… another mate?” The last word was spit from his mouth like he could barely say it.
Seraphina swallowed hard, ready to answer. Yes. Rod was her mate. He was hers. For better or worse, forever and ever.
But was she his?
She couldn’t find her voice. Memories from the hospital assaulted her, his denial, his despair. He didn’t see a future for them, that’s what he’d told his mom. Did his kiss afterward change all that?
A sob escaped her and she pressed her cheek to his shoulder blade.
He was standing up for her, but she couldn’t say what she needed to say. Truth was, she wasn’t claimed. She wasn’t marked. She was just… in love. And hurting. And needing. And bonding. And in love with a man who didn’t know how to let her love him.
Rod turned to murmur over his shoulder, “It’s okay, sweet Seraphina. I got this.” He stepped away from her, squaring right up to Maxim. Nose to nose with the shifter, eye to eye. “I’m issuing a spur.”
The word hit Seraphina square in the chest, forcing a shocked gasp through her lips.
“The hell you are,” growled Sally and she tried to push her way forward, but Rider held her back.
“Rod?” Was that small terrified voice Seraphina’s? She cleared her throat to make it stronger but Ragan spoke up first. She’d hadn’t been near the pool table, but now she was there, looking furious.
“Listen, will you?” she growled, keeping her distance from the hounds. “Just listen. This isn’t going to happen. We’re all going to pull back and go our separate ways. We leave, they leave. Everyone cools down. Understand? Right Lex, right?”
She glanced at their leader, but Lexington was wide-eyed, mouth hanging in surprise.
“Right?”
Lexington shook her head staring between Maxim and Rod. “I… think this is happening, Rae. Even if Rod wanted to take back the challenge…”
“… I wouldn’t be able to let him,” finished Maxim grimly, and with just a touch of satisfaction that left Seraphina feeling queasy. His animal would demand the spur be finished. His animal would fight Rod until the end.
Rod laughed, snapping Seraphina’s gaze back to him. How? How was he laughing about this. Did he realize he was going to have to kill Maxim? Had he lost his mind. They say Surge used to laugh manically like this. Before he mated. Because he was a little crazy.
“Are you forgetting he’s a shifter and pretty damn hard to kill?” Barb squeaked, sounding more sober than ever.
Rod grinned. “Are you forgetting we’re in a roomful of humans. If I know my paranormal law like I think I do… that means no shifting. Amiright?”
“That’s right, peaches,” Sally piped up. “That’s fucking shifter canon right there.”
“Besides, I’m not killing him. Not tonight anyway. And he’s not killing me. He won’t chance going to jail. Amiright again, asshole?” he asked Maxim.
Maxim grinded his jaw until Seraphina could hear his teeth over the music sheltering nearby human ears from what was happening under their nose. “This isn’t a real spur if no one dies. It won’t make her yours.”
“Naw…” Rod smirked, jacking one shoulder up like he was barely holding himself back. His voice went low. Deadly. “Already made her mine once on the hood of my car. Gonna do it again tonight. In my bed.”
Maxim seethed, looking both hurt and angry at the same time.
Barb’s resulting grin was slow and saucy. “Damn boy. You’re savage. Go on. Make it official. Get your mate.” She fluttered her hand in the air like she was giving him permission.
An inhuman rumble from the fox’s chest filled the room and his two side arms stiffened with warning.
Rod shot Adam a look. Adam nodded. Rod smirked.
And then he threw the first punch, hitting Maxim squarely in the jaw, throwing his head back.
Seraphina screamed as Adam lunged forward, taking one of the hulks by surprise, and Aaron went for the other. She twisted to find all five Dirt Track Dogs standing at the entrance of the bar. Alpha looked furious, but also like he wanted in on the fun.
They charged forward, but the entire place had erupted, people shoving tables and chairs aside, drinks crashing to the floor. Rider took one to the jaw from a random human Seraphina didn’t know. Sally had some woman by the hair. Barb hopped up on the pool table, downing the rest of her drink and letting out a victorious whoop as Adam cracked the beast he was fighting in the nose, spewing blood across the felt.
The Dogs didn’t make it halfway across the room before they were taking hits and throwing their own. Surge let out a cackle as he served a beast of a man a swift uppercut. Blister growled, turning his burn-scarred face into a menacing mask as he wrapped up another drunken brawler. Someone grabbed Beast’s dreadlocks and as he swung around, Seraphina saw him mouth, “Oh no you didn’t,” before he slugged the guy. Drake and Diz were battling a duo who were using the glasses from the counter as weapons. Even Mac was ducking punches on the fringes, keeping his eye on the Vixens while he was at it.
Someone shoved Seraphina from behind and she practically landed on top of Ragan. Lexington got pushed too and they ended up in a weird dog pile situation.
“Oh, that’s it,” Lexington screamed. And then she was gone.
By the time Seraphina peeled herself off of Ragan, Lexington was clawing at one of the girls who’d been writhing on Maxim’s corner table.
Seraphina’s eyes raked the mass of people, looking for Rod. But when she found him, he was on the floor, straddling Maxim’s waist while he pummeled the fox’s face over and over.
And… oh, no. Oh hellllll no.
Seraphina’s mouth dropped in unbelief.
Another one of the leggy females was furiously kicking Rod. And when that didn’t slow him down, she started beating on his back. Which gave Maxim just what he needed to shove Rod off.
Seraphina jerked the female backward and swiped her legs out from under her. She toppled to the ground in a heap at Ragan’s feet.
Rod gave her a bloody smirk just before Maxim’s fist connected with his chin. And then they were at it again, disappearing into the throng of fists and fury.
Seraphina looked around. This wasn’t what she expected of a spur. But then again, Cedar Valley was a magical backwards place, and her human never played by any rules.
So, if he wanted to claim her by starting the most epic drunken bar fight of all time… well, okay. That was the Rod-est way ever to do it.
And she was going to grab on to his crazy with both hands, ride it up a ramp, and do a Three-Sixty. Hell, she’d even give him a Hart Attack.