Cowl
He glanced at the clock on the bedside again.
2:37
Dammit. Hurry up and change already.
Cowl had been sitting on his bed for almost forty minutes, waiting until it was closer to an appropriate time to leave. Andria had told him to be there the next day at three, and he didn’t want to seem too overeager. It was tough. Leaving his mate at the end of the day had been hard as well.
It went against his senses to let her out of his sight. Knowing that this Jake fellow was out there, Cowl had thought about asking if he could walk her home. As it turned out, she had a car. Following her had been out of the question. Cowl could have kept up, but that would have caused a scene, and he’d been advised to keep his dragon status under wraps. The mass population wasn’t ready to know about them yet.
The choices hadn’t been ideal, but asking to go home with her simply was out of the question. Cowl knew enough about humans and about women to know that would not go over very well. Andria enjoyed having him around, but they weren’t ready for that. Not yet.
The clock finally hit quarter to three and Cowl was out the door to his bedroom before the lights had barely finished changing. He sped toward the elevator, only to come to a sliding halt as Caine blocked his path, having beaten him there.
“Where ya going, little brother?” he drawled, resting one hand against a nearby support pillar.
“Out. I have to go to work.”
Caine blinked. “Work? Like, a job?”
“Exactly.”
“You. Have a job. Already? Doing what?”
Ivore sauntered over, arms crossed over his powerful chest. “We’ve been here two days. How did you get a job?”
“I went out and looked,” he said dryly. “Unlike you two.”
Caine growled. “What job do you have?”
“I’m a…” he paused. What was he?
“You’re a what?”
Cowl glared at his eldest brother. “Don’t be a prick. I work in a bar.”
“Doing what?”
“Um. Like. Stocking. And, uh, cleaning.”
“You have no idea, do you?”
He looked back and forth between the two other dragons. “Why does it matter? I have a job, isn’t that the big thing?”
“Cleaning tables,” Ivore teased. “Truly worthy of a dragon.”
“It matters, little brother,” Caine began, “because it’s so like you. Always jumping head-first into any situation, without really giving it any thought. That’s why we have to keep looking out for you. Even after a couple of centuries, you just don’t get it yet.”
He pushed his way between the two of them as they laughed at his expense. They loved him, he knew that, but sometimes they sure had terrible ways of showing it. Maybe they were just jealous. That was it, he decided—they were jealous he had a job and they didn’t. Serves them right for doing nothing but staying in the apartment and arguing over whether we should fight or not. As if that was ever really a question.
The streets outside were much busier now, full of cars and pedestrians both. Cowl marveled at the variety in human dress and method of transportation. There was so much color. Blacks mixed with reds and blues, neon oranges, and rose-reds. Watery blues and foresty greens. Everywhere he looked the world was awash with color and fun.
What a world!
Absorbed in the magic of the city he almost missed the side street where he’d found the bar.
Cowl sauntered up, eying the neon sign. Mcguiver’s Pub. He wondered who or what a Mcguiver was. Making a note to ask Andria, he pushed the door open.
Immediately he was plagued with a sense of déjà vu. A couple of tables to his left were occupied, along with three seats at the bar. It was what was straight ahead of him that drew his immediate attention.
Jake and his two bootlickers were lounging against the wood. The lead ruffian was once more leaning in, talking to Andria, who was nodding to whatever he said. She looked petrified; the fun, almost boisterous person he’d met the night before was wiped away, replaced by someone else. Someone that only Jake could bring out in her.
Cowl snarled and headed right for him, even as his henchmen moved to intervene. The rafters rumbled, vibrating in time with his chest as he filled the room with noise.
“I thought I told you to leave her alone,” he snapped, leveling a single finger in Jake’s face. He noted the leader hadn’t shaved today, looking scruffier than before. Both of his followers looked ill as well, paler versions of what he remembered. Maybe. Cowl couldn’t recall if he’d noticed their skin that clearly the first night. He’d been a little distracted.
Jake pushed it aside. “Get that out of my face before you regret it.”
“Get out of my bar.” Cowl stood his ground, arms flexing.
To his surprise, Jake didn’t back down. He swayed to Cowl’s left and then slowly back to his right, sizing him up. “You think you’re a tough guy, do you?”
“No. I just know an asshole in need of a beating when I see one.” Cowl smiled broadly, letting his teeth show. It was a predatory move, designed to inflict fear.
Jake, to his surprise, responded with a similar look. “If I didn’t have somewhere more important to be, we’d settle this right here and right now, and you’d be begging for my mercy in five seconds flat.”
Cowl snorted. “Good luck with that. You’d be off your feet in one.”
The two stood scant inches apart, neither willing to make the first move. Cowl, because he knew it wasn’t fair to Jake, and because he didn’t want to upset Andria. Regardless of what Jake was doing to her, violence in her bar and presence was something he would try his absolute hardest to avoid.
What drew his attention most, however, was Jake’s unwillingness to back down. He didn’t know Cowl was a dragon shifter of course, and he had the numbers on his side. That made for a dangerous combination in someone as cocky as him, and Cowl knew that one wrong move right now would start a fight he would have no choice but to finish. He could only hope that Jake was serious about having other places to go.
“Come on, Jake, let’s go. We don’t want to be late to meet your father.” The alcoholic with dark hair put his hand on Jake’s shoulder, but the bigger man threw it off violently.
“No, we don’t,” he said, continuing to stare at Cowl, forced to look up at him just a little bit. “Nobody wants to be piss my father off.” He winked at Cowl. “You’d better keep that in mind before you keep talking more shit.”
He snapped his fingers and pointed one at Cowl, almost flicking it against his chest as he pushed past, heading out into the afternoon sun.
“Someone has daddy issues,” Cowl growled, turning to look at Andria. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She managed to nod her head, but he saw the tremors running up and down her arms, the fingers tapping nervously against the bar. “Yeah I’m fine.”
Cowl reached out to rest one of his hands atop hers, stilling the shakes instantly. “It’s fine. He’s gone now.”
“I know.”
“What the hell was that all about? Why is he bothering you so much?”
“It’s nothing,” Andria said much too quickly. “Just some drama he won’t let go of. It’s fine.”
It most definitely was not fine. Not when someone was talking to and treating his mate like that. Cowl wanted to push the issue, but he had to respect Andria’s right to privacy. They’d only met the day before; he couldn’t go pushing her just yet.
“What was the comment about his father?”
“He’s a punk like that. Trades on his father’s name to act bigger than he is.” Andria rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing though, unless you actually fight him, which you shouldn’t. He’s got lots of friends.”
“They seem more like parasites than friends.” Cowl had observed the way they hung off of Jake, like leeches trying to gain a bit of blood for themselves, but worthless on their own.
Andria shared her first smile since Jake had left. “That’s actually a pretty good way to put it.”
Cowl stared into her face, unashamed at his brazenness. His eyes roamed over her delicate skin, memorizing every curve and line, imprinting it on his memory. This was a look he wanted to be able to cherish, to call upon in the darkest of times. The smile of his mate could brighten his worst day, and fend off the worst of enemies.
The moment was amplified by the continued contact between them. Andria had yet to slip her hand out from under his when he’d placed it there. He wondered if she’d forgotten about it. He didn’t want to allow himself to begin to think she was into him as well. It was too soon.
“Anyway,” Andria said abruptly, sliding her hand gently out from under his.
At least she hadn’t yanked it away like he was on fire.
“Time to work?”
She nodded. “Time to work. See those?”
He followed her finger. “The cases of empty bottles I brought up? Yes.”
“Those aren’t empties. Those are all full. Can you take them downstairs?”
Cowl’s head drooped. Dammit. He would take them downstairs. Then he’d bring them right back up if needed. Anything his mate needed, he would do it. If it allowed him to get to know her better, to talk to her, then he would consider that worth the cost.
Besides, it gave him a chance to show off his muscles, and he’d seen her checking him out before. That part, at least, he wasn’t worried about.
Now all he had to do was figure out what was going on with Jake.