By the time I got to the bar, I was really feeling the lack of sleep. I wasn’t a two-hundred-year old child any longer. Girl needed a bed.

Balancing my massive mug of coffee courtesy of Momma R, I brushed my hand over the warded handle and found… the magical guard missing. I huffed and lowered the carafe to the ground, making sure it wasn’t gonna fall over before I released it. So help me, if zombies or vamps were inside, I’d burn the whole place to the fucking ground.

Maybe.

Remember Chicago…

Well, I had better control today. Better control and I wished I’d hauled my blades along, but zombie blood was a bitch to remove once it dried, and Momma R was a master at cleaning them. Which meant I was left with whatever weapons filled the bar.

After fishing the key out of my pocket, I slid it into the lock and listened for movement inside. No moaning or shuffle of feet on the bare concrete. So, no zombies. Maybe. Vamps were still a possibility. Too bad wearing a cross didn’t do a damned thing.

That had been a painful lesson. It also stopped Papa Leth from buying me crosses for every birthday.

I let my mind flip through the layout of the club—the sword that rested atop the beam above the front door along with the three foot long, two by four to the left of the entry. Then the gun—

The lock flipped and the door wrenched open to reveal…

“Are you gonna stand out here all day?” Drek, leader of the local thelacs. Great.

And the young idiot from last night lurked behind the commander. Lovely.

“I was contemplating how I was gonna kick your ass,” I growled and without hesitation, punched the massive thelac in the chest. I was gratified when the seven-foot male stumbled backward. “Fortunately for you, I’m about blood-covered out.”

Drek narrowed his eyes, and stepped back. “That’s why we’re here.”

I sighed and bent down to snare my travel mug of steaming coffee. “Does everyone in town know about last night?” I grumbled and took a sip of my morning wake-up call. Burning hot. Not hellfire hot, but still delicious. “You’d think a girl could have a little privacy.”

Drek slammed the front door, the vibrations shaking the entire building.

The entire wrecked building.

My gaze scanned the open space and I noted the still shattered tables, the glass that littered the ground, and the splotches of blood that coated the concrete. The damage was the standard Hell’s Chapel fare. None of it was difficult to clean by the brownies. So why the hell was my bar still a disaster area?

“What the fuck?”

Drek’s rumbling voice vibrated through me. “We wondered the same thing. But you never know with you, and who am I to question the mistress of our town.”

I snorted. “That never stopped you before.”

He chuckled. “True. But I am about to annoy you, so I’d like to get on your good side first.”

With a groan, I turned back to the two thelac warriors. “What now? I didn’t mark the puppy and he’s still breathing.” I gestured at the younger male. “What more do you want from me?”

The massive man smiled, exposing his deadly, poisonous fangs. If a thelac couldn’t beat you to death, injecting you with his toxin would do the job.

“You misunderstand. I do not wish to take, I wish to give.” I raised a single brow in question and Drek pointed at the warrior puppy. “Edzard is appointing himself your guardian.”

“Hell save me from interfering males.” I dropped my head back, glancing at the wooden crossbeams. Damn, blood got all the way up there, too. “I don’t need a guardian.”

“We disagree,” Drek countered.

“Disagree all you want, but I don’t want him.”

“I was not clear. High Witch Helene Renard disagrees.”

Now I groaned. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” A single syllable that sealed my fate.

“Fine,” I grumbled. It wasn’t like I could refuse an order from Momma R. “He stays, but he helps. Obviously, the brownies took a vacay, and I gotta get the bar ready for tonight. My liquor delivery will be here in an hour.”

Of course, the local liquor supplier was wolf owned and I knew how protective and chest beating the pack could be. Ugh.

Hearing my decree had Edzard grimacing, but he nodded. “If it means you will allow me to protect you, then yes.”

I chuckled. “You say that as if you had a choice.” I turned my attention to Drek. “Leave the puppy here. I’ll send him home when I’m done with him.”

The smile he flashed said he knew something I didn’t. I opened my mouth to ask, but Drek presented me with his back and promptly left the bar.

Great.

I sighed and met Edzard’s gaze. “All right, puppy, let’s get the bar into shape.”

“I’m not a dog,” he snarled, flashing his fangs.

I stepped past him, pausing long enough to pat his large bicep. “Keep telling yourself that, but the fact you had to tell me proves my point.”

Was I ever that young?

Probably, but I’d never admit that aloud.

“I’m going to call Dead Nettle to see what the hell happened last night and then I’m starting on the worst of it. Straighten out what you can and start a pile of junk near the front door. We’ll have the brownies haul it away once I get them here.” Those little fuckers better be dying in a ditch. All fifty of them. I rounded the end of the scratched and pitted bar and reached for the phone. I dialed the number from memory. It rang, and rang again, the trilling sound continuing until the answering machine picked up. I ignored the rambling request to leave a message and then the long tone told me I could give him a piece of my mind.

“Dead Nettle, it’s Caith. What happened to you guys last night? Hell’s Chapel is a disaster area. Call me when you get this message. I need your crew here ASAP.”

With that, I dropped the handle into the cradle and returned my attention to the mess that was my bar. It was going to take forever to get things sorted.

No time like the present.

I bent over and snared half a table, the other piece nearby was nothing more than kindling. Well, at least I could burn this stuff after hours. A quick shot of hellfire and poof.

That wouldn’t solve my lack of tables and chairs. Dammit, what was up with the brownies?

The annoying buzzer announced someone was at the back door and I sighed. Okay, check in the liquor order and then clean. I went toward the bar, focusing on the doorway hidden behind the curtain, only to be brought up short by a snarling thelac.

“Stay back, it could be a trap.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet.” I patted his back. “But the green-eyed monsters are a little stealthier. That’s just my order. You stay put.” I scooted around him and resumed my path, leaving a growling puppy in my wake.

As I suspected, it was merely the delivery, and Ellery was waiting with his clipboard as always. I met his easy smile. At least he seemed happy to see me and wasn’t intent on protecting me from everything bad in the world.

And then… Ellery’s nostrils flared and a different expression filled his gaze. His eyes yellowed with the presence of his wolf, and gray fur slid free of his pores. The scent of his arousal struck me and then I remembered…

Remembered I should have showered—again—before leaving Momma R’s.

I took a step back, putting space between me and Ellery. I really hated this about werewolves. If they scented an unmated, aroused female wolf, they were all about getting their groove on. For some reason, due to my make up, they really really wanted me.

It was one of the reasons I stayed the hell away from the local pack after my split from the alpha. A girl couldn’t look at a hot guy without getting my leg humped.

“No, Ellery, I don’t want you.” I took another step.

“Yes,” he growled. “You do.”

“Ellery, I would really like to just get my order and go back inside. So why don’t you look at your happy little clipboard, count out my cases and we’ll get this done.”

He licked his lips, tongue flicking his sharpened fangs. “You’re unclaimed.”

“But I’m not really a wolf, remember? Just a mutt. Isn’t that right?” I normally kicked a wolf’s ass for saying those words, but I had to do what I had to do.

“You’d still carry pups.” He came closer.

“Last chance, Ellery. I know I smell good, but that was because of some gel. I swear.”

That had the wolf snorting. “You and a gel? Never happen. This is for me. You want me, Caith.”

Yes, me and a gel. For at least a few hours anyway. Then he’d been a dick and destroyed my wolf’s hopes. My hopes, really. But fuck him. Thinking about him wasn’t going to solve my current problem.

Ellery flexed his hands, claws replacing his human fingers and I internally groaned. “You asked for it. Remember that. When your alpha drags your sorry ass off, you remember to tell him I gave you a warning.”

He smiled widely, exposing those wicked fangs. “Come to me, little bitch.”

Bitch? Hell no. I was gonna make this one hurt.

It took two strikes. Okay, it took one strike, and the second was because he pissed me off. Then he was out like a light. I dragged Ellery to the brick wall and propped him against the scratchy surface. Now, for good measure, I licked the pad of my thumb and pressed it against the wolf’s forehead. A burning tingle filled the digit and Ellery’s skin glowed with my power. When I removed my touch, the spot glowed, and pulsed a deep red before finally fading into nothingness.

Humans wouldn’t see the magical brand, but the tweens, dems, and gels? Yeah. Just as I’d tried to do to puppy last night, Ellery was now banned from Hell’s Chapel. No amount of force would allow him on the grounds once he drove away.

Wolf handled, I got to work, comparing Ellery’s inventory with my order and hauled the correct crates from his truck. It didn’t take long to unload and even less time to pull the rolling door down and secure it. I’d call for someone to haul him away and that would be that.

Brushing my hands off, I headed toward the main part of the bar, yelling to Edzard as I went. “Yo, Puppy.” I stomped toward the common area. “Give the local alpha a call and tell him I warned him and there’s an unconscious wolf in my—” I slid to a stop the moment I pushed past the curtain. “Oh, fuck.”

Those two words were met by a narrow-eyed stare from Papa Leth and a sigh from Papa Finn. Papa Eron raised a single brow, while pixie king Papa Percy grinned. I knew those four dads weren’t a big problem, but it was the fifth, werewolf, Papa Alrick, who was going to be a little difficult.

“The local alpha?” His voice was deceptively soft. “And what warning was he given? Is there a reason there is an unconscious wolf… Where is he?”

I scrunched my nose. He wasn’t mad at me. Just the opposite really. He was damned protective of me—they all were—but Papa Al had issues with the local pack being so… local.

“Well, the thing about it is…”

“Caith,” he snapped and I sighed. There was no getting around it.

“You know how werewolves get all bow chicka bow bow around girl werewolves and how that sometimes kinda sorta happens with—”

The rolling growl was not unexpected. Nor was the way he jumped to his feet or came barreling toward me. I did manage to block him. Sorta. I placed my hands on his chest, attempting to keep him at bay, and he had me sliding for a couple feet before he realized I wasn’t moving out of his path.

“I took care of it. He’s out like a light and banned from the grounds. That’s what I told the alpha I’d do if another wolf pulled a gimme-gimme. Now, if Puppy will call Justin so they can get him…” I glanced around, finally noticing there was one six-foot, black as midnight warrior missing. “What did you guys do with Puppy?” I turned my questioning look to Papa Leth.

The large male merely shrugged. “He wouldn’t let us in. I knocked him out. Your third father tied him up. We did allow your fourth father to put a smile on his face.”

The man looked as if he expected me to be happy about that.

“Papa Leth, quit numbering the dads,” that was one of the oldest arguments in the book.

“Why? I am your first father. I was granted the honor of visiting your mother’s bed before—”

I stuck my fingers in my ears. “I’m not listening to you. I was an immaculate conception, dammit.”

That earned me a glare from Papa Leth and I lowered my hands. “There was one Immaculate Conception and you were not it. Your mother took us into her—”

“Oh Hell, no.” I smacked my hands over my ears again. “We need to seriously change the topic here.”

It was my werewolf father who tugged my hands away. “We will return to the wolf in the alley.”

I winced. “Maybe we should go back to conception.”

“Why did he feel…”

“No. Just,” I shook my head and stepped around him. “Not going into why he felt the way he did. At all. Ever, even.”

“Is he worthy of you? This male who is not the wolf, yet you want him?” Papa Leth again. He was very old school, very big with the worthiness and power and ability to separate heads from bodies.

“It doesn’t matter, Papa Leth, because we’re not getting together ever again.”

And wrong thing to say, because I had all five—even my peace-loving father Eron—snarling about a male who used me and tossed me away.

Ignoring every growl and yell, I placed two fingers between my lips and released a loud whistle, silencing them before they picked up pitchforks and hunted Sam. “Let’s focus on why you’re here, okay. You five never visit me at the same time. This show of solidarity is…” Scary as Hell. “Surprising.”

Papa Leth glared at me as if he read my mind. “We brought your swords.”

“Aw, man. That means…”

“Helene called,” Papa Percy finished.

I looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Helene?”

No one called the woman by her first name. Except, apparently, Papa Percy.

Percy shrugged. “Until, or unless, your mother decides she wants another child, we are free to associate with other women.”

Of course, that brought me a nice mental image of Papa Percy and Momma R doing the wild thing and I gagged. “No, just no.” I shook my head. “Never say those words ever again.”

That had him grinning even wider.

Thankfully Papa Finn cut in. “She told us of your troubles and we swung by to pick up your father—”

“Fourth father,” Papa Leth interrupted.

“Fourth father,” Finn glared at Leth, “and your swords before coming to hear the words from your lips.”

“It really isn’t that big of a deal.” I got five skeptical glances. “All right, it was a semi-big deal, but I’m fine. Papa Al is poking his nose into people’s business and Momma R is looking into the green-eyed stuff.” I let my attention move from dad to dad. “I promise I’m okay. And I promise to call you if I run into trouble again. But for now, there’s not much I can do but work.” I finally settled on my warrior father. “I can’t sit and wait, Papa Leth. You didn’t teach me to run and wring my hands, and whining won’t solve anything.”

He glared at me, but finally gave up and sighed. “Fine. You will call and you will be careful.” Papa Leth kicked something, his boot colliding with—probably Edzard’s body. “And see if Drek will give you a better bodyguard.”

“He held his own.” Papa Al tossed that in, which was high praise coming from my father.

“Hmm…” My “first father” focused on me. “I suppose. Come, it is time to go.”

He rose to his feet and I slid past Papa Al then rounded the bar so I could go to him. He handed over my blades, bending low and whispering a prayer as he placed them in my hands.

Papa Finn pressed a cool kiss to my forehead, his innate purity burning my skin for a bare moment before he stepped back. Then Papa Eron tickled my cheeks with blades of grass that rose from his palms.

Papa Percy was next and despite his bright and frequent smiles, he was the most perceptive of the bunch. “You’re sad, little light.”

“I’m fine.”

“Helene told me someone helped you. That you brought him to her home.”

I sighed. “I thought he was— It doesn’t matter because he’s not and it’s okay.”

“Caith.” He pulled me into a tight hug and spoke into my ear. “Why?”

“Gels and dems don’t mix and he… he isn’t willing to leave On High for me. Which is fine.” Tears stung my eyes. I hated the vulnerability. “It’s fine.”

Percy pressed a kiss to my cheek and squeezed me a hint tighter. “You’re the best of us, Caith, and if a man can’t recognize that, he isn’t worthy of you. The man meant to stand at your side will throw away everything for you. Everything.”

“Yeah, I know.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I know.”

He pulled back and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “If you won’t call us, call Helene.”

I chuckled. “She’ll just call you five anyway.”

“True. Love you, little light.”

“Love you,” I murmured and turned toward where I’d left my “fifth father.”

He lowered the phone pressed to his ear and poked the screen before pocketing the cell. “The male behind the building has been handled.”

“You’re not having him killed, right?”

“That is still under negotiation.”

I groaned and stared at the ceiling. “Daaad, you can’t kill everyone who gives me trouble.”

“True, otherwise your gel would not be worrying about returning to On High.”

“Does everyone know about Sam?” No privacy. I had none.

“No, just me, Perceval, and Helene, but that does not mean I won’t tell them if you do not give me a true smile the next time I see you.” With that warning hanging in the air, he tugged me close and wrapped me in his arms.

My wolf huffed and chuffed, snuggling close to our father, our alpha. It was like coming home, his scent soothing the hurts Sam left behind. “I’ll do my best.”

And I prayed my best would be good enough.

I also prayed I wouldn’t see him. For a while. At least a hundred years. Maybe I’d be put back together by then.

My dads left, the front door banging closed and I padded around the corner, hunting for Edzard. I found him tied up with vines courtesy of Papa Eron and a large smile courtesy of Papa Percy. I had no doubt the trail of white blood came from a hit from Papa Leth. With a sigh, I tugged at the vines.

“C’mon, Puppy. We’ve got a lot of work to do before the bar opens.”