Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears #1)(3)

“Did you get a haircut?” she asked lamely.

His steel blue eyes narrowed. “Not lately.”

“Oh. Well, I like it.” She tried to smile, but it fell off her face immediately with a nervous twitch.

“Did you need something?”

Confused, she said, “It’s me. Audrey.”

His eyebrows lifted, and he shot Kirk a quick glance, then held out his hand to her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, finally, right?”

Harrison froze mid-handshake and pursed his lips into a thin line. “Okay then.”

“That’s bear-speak for ‘vamoose,’” Clinton offered helpfully from down the bar.

“Shut the f*ck up,” Harrison growled, apparently good and done with Clinton for some reason.

“Uh, can I buy you a drink?” she asked Clinton, who was slurping loudly on his straw.

“It’s Shifter Night. I drink for free,” he said in a tone that said he thought she was the stupidest breathing organism on the planet.

Audrey curled her lips over her teeth before she could stop her inner animal and choked back yet another growl. She would be forced to Change soon.

Harrison took a step back and sat on the stool, looked at her dress and heels, then rubbed his hand on his smooth jaw. “Do you want a drink, Audrey?”

Clinton slapped his hand on the countertop. “Harrison, as Second—”

A ferocious snarl came from Harrison’s chest as he offered Clinton a death glare. “Not Second yet. You and Bash haven’t worked that out, and even if you were, you’re still not alpha. You reached for the crown and missed. Go ahead and piss me off some more tonight, Clinton. I’ll send you back to the Gray Backs so fast your f*ckin’ head will spin.”

“You wouldn’t—”

“Don’t test me.” Harrison’s eyes were a much brighter blue now, and Audrey hadn’t been able to draw a breath since Clinton had first spoken. The air was simply unbreathable. It filled her lungs like tar and froze her in place. Beaston had been dominant, but Harrison…Harrison was a monster.

Clinton dropped his gaze like a smart bear since Harrison looked like he was about to commit murder.

“Maybe I should come back later,” she whispered. Nope, getting in the middle of a bear fight was not how she’d seen this going.

“Sit. Please.” Harrison gestured to the bar stool between him and Kirk.

She was going to pass out if she didn’t get more oxygen to her body, and soon.

“You’re suffocating me, man,” Kirk said low.

Harrison cut off his growl, and the heaviness lifted. With one last fiery glance at Clinton, Harrison lifted a finger to the pretty blond bartender. “Layla, can I get a beer for the lady? Put it on a tab for me, will you?” His voice was way too gravelly, but at least his words were polite.

“Hallelujah, Harrison’s buying a lady a drink,” Layla muttered as she reached into the fridge for a beer. “Jake is going to crap his pants with happiness.”

She shouldn’t have heard that last part because of the noisy bar patrons around her, but for the first time in her life, Audrey was glad she had heightened senses. Apparently, Harrison didn’t buy many women drinks. Good.

“Hare-Bear,” a dolled up woman Audrey’s age whined from her group of buxom beauty friends. “I’ve been asking you to buy me a drink for a month straight. What makes her so special?”

Harrison’s profile was rigid as he rolled his eyes heavenward and strangled his half-full beer bottle.

“You’ll break it and cut your hand,” Audrey murmured, gently prying the glass from his grip.

He shot her a wary glare, but let it go easily enough. “Why do you care?”

“Because I like you.” Silly man, she’d told him that a dozen times already. Or rather, typed it to him.

“I would heal. Shifters do that, you know.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but Layla set the beer in front of her and gave a polite smile. The bartender shoved a laminated flyer over the counter to Audrey. Shifter Facts was typed in big neon letters across the top of a long list. “Jake takes Shifter Night super seriously.” Layla pointed to a bullet point explaining how fast shifters can heal from injuries, a fact Audrey knew first-hand.

“You wear a lot of perfume,” Harrison said, eyeing her as he took a swig of his beer.

Audrey choked down a gulp of the nasty drink and stifled the urge to barf. Beer wasn’t her favorite unless it tasted like a fruit—something she’d explained to Harrison as they’d joked back and forth online. Maybe he was testing her.

She hadn’t exactly told him what she was yet because, well, telling people about her inner animal usually caused them to flee. And if she was honest, she still wasn’t ready to tell Harrison, even though she was actually looking him in the face after two months of bonding. Being a shifter was a secret she liked to keep as hidden as she could. Perfume masked the scent of her fur, and from the confused look on Harrison’s face, it was working like a gem. She choked down another swig. “So good,” she rasped out.

“What kinda girl doesn’t like beer?” Harrison asked.

“Hare-Bear,” the groupie called again from much closer. She slid her arms over his shoulders and rested her cheek between his shoulder blades, a possessive smile on her face as she glared at Audrey.