Ryan’s hand closed around the highball glass and squeezed. Kate was leaning in to that glasses-wearing jerk-off, who still had his damn hands all over her. Dee cocked her head and pressed her shoulder against his.

“You should settle down,” she said, her tone calming like she was talking to a frisky filly. “You’re going to break that glass.”

“I’m not,” he gritted out, downing the last little bit of the whisky and slamming the highball onto the bar. When the bartender came back around with the bottle, Ryan covered the top of the glass. He didn’t want to get drunk, but he’d needed to take the edge off after watching the VonBrandts manhandle Kate.

Should not matter. You practically gave her to Julian.

But Julian VonBrandt was a stand-up guy. He wasn’t the most social of the Somewhere wolves, but he was a decent man. He would do well by Kate.

Or so his logical mind said. His instincts told a different story.

But maybe he’d gotten it wrong. With a little laugh and a wink in Ryan’s direction, the flirty blonde left Julian and walked out onto the dance floor. And holy hell, the professor was on his way over to Ryan and Dee.

Julian sidled up to the bar and called out, “Shiner.” He didn’t look at Ryan or at Dee, but he was close enough to hear their conversation if they spoke.

Dee poked Ryan’s arm and he looked over to see her cell phone glowing. She turned the face around to show him a text from Adam. Meet me in the library at midnight, it said. Come alone.

Her tension was palpable, and she stuffed the phone into her pocket. “I have to go, don’t I?”

“I told you, Dee. He knows about the tattoos. He doesn’t want a hookup.”

“Then why didn’t he come over here when he was in the bar? Why come all this way just to talk to Kate Quade for ten minutes, and ignore me completely?”

Ryan shook his head, his eyes never leaving Kate as she made her way through the crowd on the dance floor. “You saw the text. He wants to talk to you alone.”

“But if he knows about the tattoos…”

“Then he won’t try any funny business.” Ryan uncovered the glass and signaled to the bartender, who was taking Julian’s cash for the dark bottle of beer. Turned out, he needed a little more of the edge off after all. “You know Adam better than I do. Is he the type to try to have sex with a mated wolf?”

“No.”

“Then go meet him.”

The bartender poured him another two fingers of whiskey and Ryan pushed a bill across the counter, waving him off. He didn’t care about change. He was trying to keep his eyes on Kate.

She’d moved into a group of cowboys, whom she seemed to know. Wolves? Ryan concentrated hard on the air around them. He could faintly see the signature, like a faint shimmer, of Kate’s wolf. But the men around her were human.

One particular cowboy pulled her into his arms and started moving to the slow beat of the sad country song. The kind where you’d do better to play it backward, because that was the only way you were gonna get your horse back and your wife back and your house back. That kinda sad-sack shit.

Remember why it needs to be this way.

It was his private shame, the legacy his father had left for the Travis family. Pops wouldn’t have seen it that way. He believed he was doing the right thing. But he was the reason Ryan had to take over as alpha.

“She’s a firecracker, isn’t she?” came a male voice off to his right and Ryan turned to see Julian VonBrandt.

He followed the other wolf’s gaze, out to where Kate was gyrating with the cowboy. They were talking, with their heads too close. Much too close.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Ryan said, trying to avoid the topic of Kate. “You are?”

“Julian VonBrandt.” The shifter extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Ryan shook his hand, even though he didn’t particularly want to. Just like he didn’t want to talk about Kate. He wanted to drink in peace and keep an eye on her from a distance. That was all.

“How do you know Kate?” asked Julian, one brow up.

“I’m her…” Ryan paused, unsure of whether he should finish the sentence the way he wanted to. I’m her mate was just about the strangest thing he could say to say to the other wolf while the two of them watched her grind on another man.

“She applied for my job,” Dee chimed in. A little beep sounded on her phone, reminding her of the message she’d ignored.

“You should go back to the ranch,” he said, pointing to the door. “Bracken wants you to fix this with Adam.”

“What about you?” she asked, pushing on his shoulder again. “You don’t seem like you’re doing okay, Ryan.”

“I’ll be fine.” He waved her off. “Make it right with Adam, and then I’ll have a chance to sell him on the horse tomorrow.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she left him, just the same. It would take her twenty minutes to get back out to the ranch, and she needed to get there before the midnight deadline. They needed Adam in a good mood.

“What happened between her and Adam?” Julian asked, sipping his beer.

“They broke up.” Ryan swilled some more of his whiskey.

Out on the dance floor, the song sped up, and Ryan felt himself relax. He hadn’t liked watching Kate hanging on to some strange human, talking into his ear so intimately. It was better when she danced fast. Watching her dance was like pressing his nose up against a candy shop. It only fuelled his desire, but he knew he’d have to walk by, unsatisfied.

He didn’t want to walk by. He wanted to fill… shit. That sentence started out in a different place than it ended up…

“You want to cut in on that action?” Julian asked.

Hell, yes. But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. The more he acknowledged that Kate belonged to him…the harder it would be to let her go on Saturday, when they had to go back to Oklahoma.

Without her.

“I don’t dance,” Ryan said, hoping Julian couldn’t hear the lie in his voice. The truth was, he could move pretty well on the dance floor. But it was better to pretend that he couldn’t. It gave him another excuse not to go out there and toss that damn cowboy over the fuckin’ mechanical bull.

He looked like he deserved it.

Putting his hands on Kate…

Settle. Ryan took a final swig of his whiskey. Still too much edge.

“Another,” he said, turning his back on the dance floor. It would be so much easier if he left the bar, but now that Adam and Dee were both gone, he didn’t have a ride back to the ranch.

Plus, he couldn’t leave her.

“More alcohol isn’t going to make it easier, y’know,” Julian said, the hard edge of truth in his voice.

“Fine, then. I’ll have a water,” he called out to the bartender.

“Y’know what will make it easier?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“Going out on that dance floor and getting your mate.”

Ryan’s chuckle started deep in his chest and rumbled up. “How do you know about that?”

“She told me.”

The words felt like they would slice him clean through. Kate had trusted Julian enough to tell him about what was going on between the two of them. On one hand, Ryan should probably be glad she’d opened up to the Texas wolf. That had been his plan, hadn’t it?

But his other hand wanted to close into a fist and punch the guy out. And then punch out the cowboy who still had his hands on Kate. And maybe the rest of the cowboy’s friends. They looked like they deserved it, too.

“What exactly did she tell you?” he asked, drinking down a bit of his water, his back still to the dance floor. But he could feel her back there, not too far away, buzzing with energy that called to him.

“She said you did it because you were trying to get her out of the way.” He placed the empty beer bottle on the bar and signaled to the bartender for another. “Your alpha said she could have Dee’s job if she got the horse from Adam, and you were trying to get the horse yourself.”

The truth had enough weight to smother him. “That’s only part of it,” he said, swirling his water in its glass. “But it’s okay for her to think that about me. Probably better if she hates me.”

Ryan closed his eyes and sniffed the air. With the jumble of smells around, he shouldn’t have been able to smell her citrusy shampoo, but he still could. It had practically imprinted on him in the truck cab.

“What’s the rest of the truth?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Not that easy.”

“Come on. She moved on to the next guy already. Shrugged me off like a fur coat in the sunshine.”

“I wish she hadn’t done that.” He rolled the empty whiskey glass around in his fingers, looking at the refracted neon lights and wishing he had the guts to turn around and look at Kate again.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted her to like you.” He let the words fall out of his mouth before he really thought about what he was saying. “You seem like a good guy. She’s a good girl. Yeah, I figured she’d get distracted from the horse thing, but she’s not stupid. I knew she would figure it out eventually. I thought you’d be interesting enough to charm her…to make her forget about me.”

“You don’t know her at all, then.” Julian made a clicking sound behind his teeth as he sucked on the beer. “I’ve only known her a few hours, and I already know she’s not going to forget about you.”

“Well, she should.” Ryan kept his face hidden as he slipped off the stool, trying not to look at Kate. She was gyrating with the new cowboy, and he didn’t trust himself after the way he’d acted with Beau earlier.

He didn’t even want to think about anyone else’s hands on her.

Except his.

As he passed the edge of the dance floor, Kate’s voice caressed his ears, from far enough away that he knew she wasn’t next to him. That she wasn’t talking to him. But it elicited this strange electricity, and it lit up his whole body.

“No, thanks, Johnny,” she said, her tight laughter hiding a little slip of fear underneath that told Ryan she’d already said no once. His chest constricted with the crazy, protective instinct to pummel the guy senseless. But he tried to fist his hands and grit his teeth through the feeling. She could hold her own against any human. He didn’t need to fix this for her.

“But we’re gonna have a blast,” said a man’s voice, insistent. “I promise, I’ll show you a good time, girl.”

His whole body was urging him to step in, to hit the guy and carry her off the damn dance floor and kiss her until she never said another name but Ryan Travis.

She’s mine.

Nope.

Time to go.

He slipped out without making eye contact with Kate, but as soon as he reached the alley, he fell against the side of the brick façade, panting and struggling to maintain control. He couldn’t let himself do something stupid and irresponsible. Something Beau would do.

There was a reason the pack wanted him, and not his brother—who was also single. Ryan had more control. He had a vision for what he wanted to do with his pack. That had to be his focus moving forward.

He couldn’t lose his mind over a girl.

Ryan Travis had a job to do.