September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(17)

Nobody made an attempt to jump in or separate them. In fact, only a few people continued to watch after first glance. This kind of thing must happen a lot at Doghead.

The scent of blood only caused the fight to escalate. The two men crashed into a table, knocking it over, sending glassware and other items scattering across the floor. I shouted at Shaz to stop, but my command went unheeded.

Power rose up like a breath of wind inside me. I squelched the urge to use it. The scent of heady Were blood was tempting. Thankfully I’d recently fed that ugly hunger.

Shaz managed to get his hands around the other guy’s throat. He slammed the guy into our table, squeezing until his face turned purple.

“Shaz, stop this shit right now,” I shouted.

Grabbing a hold of his forearm, I tugged hard, but he wouldn’t be budged. Instead, he flung me off like I was little more than an annoying insect. With one hand, he gave me a shove, barely looking at me as I flew backwards. I landed hard in the mess of broken glass and table debris.

Glass shards sliced into my palms as I pushed to my feet. Shock and fear threatened to undo my composure. I could feel sad about Shaz’s reaction later. Now, I had to stop him from killing a Doghead pack member.

Dayne arrived on the scene with an angry shout that had people moving as far away from us as possible. I had to act fast, before he got his hands on Shaz.

Knowing I might regret it later, I grabbed Shaz’s arm again, this time letting the force brewing inside me flow. I didn’t take it easy on him. With a slam of power, I forced him away from the other wolf and into the closest chair that was still standing.

“You’re lucky I respect you so much, or I’d have you on your knees,” I hissed between my four fangs. I maintained my hold despite the pained sounds it forced from him.

Turning to Dayne with apologies already spilling out, I found him unleashing fists on the wolf Shaz had nearly killed. The wolf dropped to the floor, submitting entirely to his Alpha.

Most of those watching did their best to pretend they weren’t. A few wore obvious expressions of glee at seeing the troublemaker cowed before their leader. After a few more angry words from Dayne, the wolf slunk off to lick his wounds somewhere in private.

“It seems our boys can’t play too well together,” Dayne said. His eyes were pure wolf, and his fangs gave his already hard face an additional sense of menace. “I apologize. I don’t doubt that my wolf started that brawl.”

“I’m sorry too.” I winced as I plucked a piece of glass from my palm. “I never intended for anything like that to happen.”

“I believe you.” Dayne regarded me thoughtfully. His wolf seemed to scrutinize me, searching for signs of weakness. “You should probably leave.”

He was kicking us out? Son of a bitch.

“And our alliance?” I asked, refusing to go without an answer.

“We don’t have one. I’m not convinced that’s in our best interest right now.” Dayne tilted his head to the side, watching me expectantly like the curious animal he was.

I searched the bar for Hanna. She had been my best chance of having Dayne take me seriously. But she was nowhere to be seen. I had no choice but to take her absence as her answer.

I wanted to argue, to beg him to take me seriously. Instead, I spun on my heel and headed for the door, fully expecting Shaz to follow. He did. So did Dayne who came to the door to ensure we left.

A rage unlike any I’d known in some time threatened my control. The wolf was pushing against my insides, seeking release. Being around so many wolves had really stirred up my beast. I wanted nothing more than to be furry on four legs, chasing Shaz through the night.

Ignoring Shaz when he called my name, I stalked across the parking lot, seething. He caught up to me, grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face him.

“Get off me.” I jerked my arm away and took a few steps back.

“Lex, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I just lost it.” Shaz ran a hand through his platinum hair a few times before reaching for me again.

I stepped away to avoid him and threw up a hand to ward him off. “Don’t. Just f*cking don’t. I don’t know what’s gotten into you recently, but I don’t like it. You blew it in there, Shaz.”

His gorgeous green eyes were all wolf. The wolf didn’t give a damn about the fight, but I could see Shaz struggling to show remorse. It would have worked if he’d been feeling it. He wasn’t sorry.

“I know. There’s nothing I can say. I get that. But I am sorry.”

Too furious to speak, I got in the car with a loud slam of the door. My fingers shook with rage as I tried to slip the key into the ignition. Blood made my fingers slippery, and I had to fish some fast food napkins out of the glove box to wipe my hands.

Shaz got into the car looking both mad and guilty, a difficult feat I was sure. “Are you ok? I’m sorry I pushed you.”

“Fine,” I said, short and clipped. “It’s already healing.”

We sat there in silence while I struggled to take deep, calming breaths. It was too late for regrets, though I wished I’d come alone.

“I’ll fix this. We can come back, talk to Dayne after this blows over. It will work out.” Shaz didn’t sound convinced.

I wanted to slap him. Somehow I kept my hands to myself. “What you did in there, that’s something Arys would do. You used to be the calm, cool one. Remember? What happened to that?”