Chapter Nineteen
Joe woke from a nightmare, the memory of the dream indistinct and fading fast. He felt Axel press up against his back, the alpha’s arm across his waist. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift back to sleep.
When he woke again, he turned over onto his back, finding himself alone in their bed. The sun was up, the room bathed in light. He stretched lazily and wondered if he should get up. He could hear Axel in the kitchen, hear the clinking of cups.
A minute later the door pushed open and Axel appeared, carrying two steaming mugs.
“Coffee?” he offered. Grinning, Joe sat up, accepting the cup his alpha held out to him. He took a sip and made a sound of appreciation.
“Good?” Axel asked.
“Hell, yes. You make great coffee.”
He also cooked, a skill Joe was appreciating more with each passing day. It was lovely to come home from a busy day to a home-cooked meal.
“See, that’s why I’m happy that Dex is alpha and not me. He’s had years of Dad insisting he learn all the stuff an alpha is supposed to know. All I had to do was keep up my training so I could fight. Occasionally, I got dragged in for other stuff but mostly got left to my own devices.”
Axel sat down on the bed, and Joe held his coffee between his hands and listened.
“Which left time for the stuff I liked to do. Sketching and painting, cooking, making outstanding coffee.”
“And perfecting your modesty,” Joe said with a grin, taking another sip from his mug.
“So, it’ll be quiet today.”
There’d been an event the previous day, which meant most of the omegas would be having a rest and recharge day, as would those who’d been there to help them.
“Did you have something in mind?”
“I did, but Hunter called over a few minutes ago. Something’s come up, about Liam.”
Joe listened as Axel explained about Liam’s previous pack and alpha.
“Poor Liam. We knew things had been bad before he came here, but he must have been really terrified if it’s taken this long for him to tell anyone. What can we do to help?”
“Jensen’s with Liam, so I think he’s got that base covered. Hunter and Max are heading out to retrace Liam’s path here, make sure no one’s been sniffing around.”
“That sounds sensible. What about you?”
“I thought I might do some human form reconnaissance.”
“Huh?”
“Cody’s. It’s a bar in the city where shifters hang out sometimes. Seth’s uncle, the one who left the pack, runs it. I’ve been there a few times when I needed some space. It’s a good place to hear stuff about the shifter world.”
Joe had never heard of it and said so.
“You know what the wolves are like about people who left for the cities. They’d rather we pretend they never existed.”
“Can I come with you?”
Axel seemed surprised.
“You want to come?”
“You shouldn’t go by yourself. And I can shift now, so I guess that makes me helpful in a fight.”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “I was thinking we’d go for a drink. I wasn’t planning on a fight.”
“Better prepared than surprised.”
That brought a laugh from the alpha. “Okay, then. I’d love some company. Just promise me you won’t throw the first punch.”
Joe laughed. “I’ll do my best not to incite violence.”
Axel had explained that the dress code was casual but not quite Joe’s normal casual. Davyn and Ollie had kitted him out with a pair of dark wash jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket. He liked how he looked, staring at himself in the mirror. Axel came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Joe’s waist.
“You scrub up well.”
He knew the alpha was teasing. Turning in Axel’s arms, he looked him up and down.
“You, too.”
“Hey, this is how I normally dress.” Joe held his gaze and Axel rolled his eyes. “I mean, when I’m trying to fit in with the humans.”
They took Axel’s car, leaving after lunch. Joe was both anxious and excited. He and Axel had never really taken a trip anywhere that wasn’t the Cove or Hilltop. And he’d never been to a bar.
“It’ll be fine,” Axel assured him. “We’ll hole up in some corner booth with a couple of beers and listen out for any gossip. Catch up with Cody, maybe throw some darts or shoot some pool.”
It actually sounded like fun. Different to shifter fun. More like the stuff humans were always doing in movies and tv shows.
They arrived in the early evening, pulling up into the parking lot.
“That’s it?” Joe asked, staring at the building.
“That’s it,” Axel replied. “You still feeling up to this?”
“Definitely. I want to see how the other half lives.” He’d always wondered how the shifters living in the human world got on. It seemed to alien, so distant.
Joe followed Axel inside. The alpha walked right up to the bar and greeted the bartender. The man was too young to be Cody but he seemed to know Axel, obligingly pulling two beers.
Axel handed over some money and took the two drinks, carrying them back into a quiet corner.
Joe followed, trying not to do too much glancing around. From what he could tell, the few patrons already there were a mixture of human and shifter. Axel had told him there were rules that included no shifting in the bar, for any reason.
An hour passed, then two. Axel got them some refills and some snacks to pass the time. More people arrived, more shifters, and they listen to the conversations happening around them. There was no mention of omega or lion shifters.
At some signal from the bartender, Axel straightened.
“Cody’s arrived. Are you okay here by yourself for a few minutes while I go upstairs to talk to him?”
“I’ll be fine,” Joe assured him.
Axel was gone ten minutes when Joe started to get thirsty. Too many salty snacks. They’d been alternating beer and soda, so Joe went up to the bar to get another drink. While he was standing there, patiently waiting for the bartender to finish his conversation with another patron, the door opened behind him. Joe didn’t turn but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up a split second before the scent of lion reached him.
He paid for his drink and went to cross back to their booth, only to find his way blocked.
“Well, look what we have here. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
One of the lion shifters was standing in front of him. The other stepped up behind him. They were keeping their voices down, not attracting attention from the others at the bar.
Joe stayed quiet, not knowing where this was going.
“You’d have to wonder who’d be foolish enough to let a little guy like you out alone. Someone might just swoop in and carry you off,” the lion in front of him added and both of them laughed.
Swallowing hard, Joe spoke and tried to walk around them. “Excuse me.”
“He speaks. Here I was thinking the cat had got your tongue. I don’t imagine wolves play well with cats.”
The man stepped closer and Joe took a hurried step back only to bump into the shifter standing behind him.
He felt trapped and cast his eyes around for some help. If the other shifters in the bar had noticed his predicament, they were pretending not to. The humans definitely didn’t. Where was Axel?
As Joe’s fear ratcheted up, his wolf roiled uncertainly under his skin. Were they not out in the open, in full view of humans, he’d have shifted. That itself might have been enough to dissuade the lions. They weren’t alphas and he guessed they lacked the ability to shift since they couldn’t detect Axel’s scent, which by rights should have been all over him.
The shifter in front of him reached over, taking the glass from his hand and setting it down on a nearby table.
“Why don’t all three of us go outside and get better acquainted?”
It wasn’t an offer so much as a demand, the shifter behind him setting hands on his shoulders. “It would be a shame to leave a beauty like you all by your lonesome.”
“He’s not alone,” a voice said from behind them, loud and strong. Axel. Joe could have cried with relief.
“You’ll want to be taking your hands off him and getting the fuck out of his way now.”
There was no hiding the threat in Axel’s voice, and no denying his alpha nature. Both lions froze, the hands falling from his shoulders. Axel muscled his way past the one behind Joe, putting his own hands on the beta’s shoulders possessively.
The lion in front of them held up his hands. “We were just talking. Didn’t mean to step on your toes. You should keep him close.”
“He can hold his own,” Axel replied. “In a way we both know you can’t.”
The lion shifter snorted. “What would you know?”
Before the conversation could continue, a new voice interjected.
“Is there a problem here?” From the scent of wolf, Joe guessed this was Cody. He wasn’t what Joe had pictured, a little younger and more casually dressed that he’d expected.
“No problem,” the lion shifter said, his friend agreeing.
“Then order some drinks and find a seat or find somewhere else to be.”
There was steel in Cody’s voice and it had the desired effect. The lions headed to the bar and, with a nod to Cody, Axel picked up Joe’s drink and nudged him to start moving.
“Are you okay?” Axel asked softly when they’d returned to their seats.
“Yeah. Thanks. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come back.”
Axel leaned forward reaching for Joe’s hands. “I know that you can handle yourself.”
“If I could have shifted…”
“Shifting isn’t your only strength. And that kind of situation doesn’t need a snarling wolf to resolve, though it helps sometimes.”
“What should I have done?”
“Made some noise. Made a scene. This place, the rules, they’re there to protect everyone. But that doesn’t mean you’re at the mercy of any shifter or human who decides to put his hands on you.”
Joe hesitated. “But what if…”
“Think it through. You start kicking off, it draws eyes. Those guys get away with that because they’re banking on your not wanting to draw attention. Once the whole bar is invested in how things play out, most times they’ll back off.”
“I’m sorry.”
Axel waved off his apology. “No. You have no reason to apologize. That was not your fault and you followed your instincts. Just… instincts aren’t always right.”
He cupped Joe’s cheek and Joe nuzzled against his palm. That instinct felt right and not just to him. Axel’s eyes darkened. “When we get home…”
He left the rest unspoken.
They stayed another hour, but they were both conscious that as they were listening to the lions, the lions were also listening right back.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Axel stood, reaching for Joe’s hand. He took it, feeling the warmth of the alpha’s skin against his.
They got in the car and Joe waited until they were on the road before asking about what Axel had learned.
“What did Cody say?”
“He said he’d seen more lions over the past year or so but no change around the time Liam went missing. And no talk about missing omegas.”
“That’s good, right? They’re not looking for him.”
“Right,” Axel said. “We can bring home the good news. Hopefully, it means Liam and Jensen can sleep a little easier.”