Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Melting a little inside—God, she was turning into such a girl—Madisyn swallowed. “I’ll wake you before I leave the bed next time.”
He kissed her forehead, silently thanking her for what he knew wasn’t a reasonable concession. “Now, since I didn’t get my taste of you this morning”—he lifted her and sat her on the table—“I think I’ll have it now.”
“No, I don’t want more gouges in my table.”
Sitting on the chair, he gripped her thighs and pulled her toward him. “Then keep in those claws.”
But she didn’t.
That evening, blood buzzing with annoyance, Madisyn poured herself a shot of tequila and tossed it back, relishing the burn as it slid down her throat.
Ally’s mouth twitched into a smile. “You do know that, as my fellow barmaid, you should be serving drinks, not drinking them, right?”
“Either I drink a few shots of tequila to calm my fraying nerves, or I go slap that bitch around.” Madisyn gestured at Claudia Brookson, who was busy eye-fucking Bracken.
Ally winced. “Tequila it is.”
So Madisyn downed another shot. Whenever Claudia came to the club, she always sat in the same corner in the same seat, surrounded by the same male wolves—all of whom were members of her security team. Sometimes she’d attempt to talk to Bracken. Other times she wouldn’t. But she always did her best to, at the very least, catch his eye—flicking all that blue-black hair, thrusting out her breasts, continually crossing and uncrossing her long, slim legs. Thanks to the slit in the side of her dress, there was a lot of leg to see.
Bracken had been manning the door with Derren for most of the night, occasionally ducking his head inside the club to spare Madisyn a brief glance, checking on her. Then, half an hour ago, he’d switched with Eli so that he was patrolling the indoor perimeter of the club. Bracken had to be aware that Claudia spent a lot of her time watching him—the guy missed nothing—but he was paying the she-wolf no attention. That didn’t seem to bother Claudia at all, though.
“Maybe she thinks he’s playing hard to get as opposed to just plain ignoring her,” Madisyn mused.
Sitting on a stool, Gwen sipped her mojito. “Or maybe she likes that he’s not proving to be an easy conquest for her. Having guys fall at your feet with little effort on your part must get old after a while.”
One hand on her hip, Ally braced her other hand on the bar. “No, this isn’t just about her wanting to play hide the sausage with him. She’s determined to have him as her bodyguard.”
“Yeah, Zander mentioned that,” said Gwen. “Why is she so determined, though? I mean, I get that Bracken would make a good bodyguard, but so would lots of guys. Or is this just her having a problem with the word ‘no’?”
“I don’t think Daddy’s Princess is used to being denied things,” said Madisyn. “Also, Bracken really would be an excellent personal bodyguard. Extremists fear him. Shifters admire, respect, and fear him. Humans know of his story, and those who believe he executed the extremists don’t seem to judge him harshly for it, if at all.”
Gwen nodded. “I can speak on behalf of my fellow humans when I say we knew intellectually that extremists made such attacks. We also knew that the Movement retaliated. But we never had a personal story to follow before. The majority of humans feel bad for Bracken—he lost his entire family. There are photos of him at the scene of the attack, cradling his dead nephew. No one with a heart would be unmoved by that.”
“He made the extremists look like monsters to both shifters and humans,” said Madisyn. “Claudia likes to be seen with the right people. Having Bracken Slater as a bodyguard would say a lot about her. Not just to humans, but to shifters.”
Gwen placed her glass on the bar. “What do you think it will take for her to back off?”
“I don’t know.” Madisyn blew out a breath.
“Maybe it will be enough to know that he’s found his mate,” said Ally. “She won’t want him as a bodyguard if he’s mated. She’ll want his loyalty to be solely to her.”
“I heard she warned Shiloh away from him,” said Gwen.
“She did,” confirmed Ally. “Bracken wasn’t exhibiting any interest in resuming his pursuit of the margay, but Claudia apparently didn’t want to take any chances that Shiloh might make a move on him.”
Ally looked at Madisyn. “You didn’t need to worry about Shiloh, by the way. Honestly, she was never really into Bracken—and as an empath, I am sure of that. She liked him, was both impressed and exasperated by his stubbornness, and she might have eventually gone on a date with him. But she hasn’t been moping about his lack of contact. Doesn’t feel even a hint of longing when she looks at him. Just wisps of compassion.”