Three years later
Amelia
It was the third time in an hour that Paul’s hands accidentally brushed across my ass.
There was no point in glaring at him or pushing his hand away. He’d just give me a sleazy grin and mouth sorry. It was just a show for the customers, or at least those customers who didn’t know who I was. When we were alone, he didn’t even bother with the fake apology.
He didn’t have to apologize to me. I didn’t deserve it.
So I ignored him as I pulled the wine out of the cooler beneath the bar and smiled at the customer in front of me. “Our chicken caprese sliders would go great with this wine,” I said as I pulled the cork. After pouring his glass, I nudge the menu in front of him.
“Caprese, huh,” he grunted as he eyed me, the gleam of his wolf front and center.
I didn’t need my own wolf to tell me that he was more powerful than me. Everyone was more powerful than me, but he wouldn’t touch me. This wasn’t his territory, and he had no idea who I was.
Shifter politics aside, he was a customer, and I was his bartender.
“This used to be a simple cheeseburger joint.”
“Yup. That was also when we just served beer.” I tapped one manicured red nail against the wine glass. “But here you are, enjoying our expanded menu. Our new cook can do some amazing things with chicken.” Although he was also a complete and utter asshole. “If you’re worried that the meal is a little too fancy, we can always add a basket of our amazingly greasy fries.”
Snorting, he nodded. “Alright. Sounds good, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. What’s your name?”
“Amelia.” I moved to the computer to ring in his order. “I’ve been here for three years.”
“Three years, huh? I guess it’s been a while since I’ve swung back by here. You one of Lucien’s?”
My hand slipped, and I hit the wrong key. Cursing under my breath, I fixed it and took a deep breath. “I sure am.”
Lucien West. Owner of The Fanged Smiles bar. Alpha of the Black Diamond Valley wolf shifters.
Alpha of me.
Most wolves were loyal to their alphas. Submissive. Protective. Proud. Black Diamond was no different. They acted like Lucien was a god. The males wanted to be his right-hand man.
The females wanted to fuck him.
Scratch that. If rumors were to be believed, most of the females had fucked him. They wanted to mate with him.
Too freaking bad for them. Lucien West already had a mate. Me. Much to both of our dismays.
“Hard to believe he’d hide a pretty little thing like you in this little corner of his world,” the customer continued. “I don’t smell a wolf on you.”
It was all I could do to not roll my eyes. He was just another idiot who thought a female was only good for taking cock. “I like my little corner of the world,” I lied and shifted to avoid Paul’s wandering hands.
Truth be told, the bar wasn’t so bad. It sure beat the hell I’d been living with most of my life. Problem was that the bar had been run by a decent man. When Parker Hewitt was manager, he’d done the least decent thing a male wolf could do around a girl like me.
He’d kept his hands off me and made sure everyone else had done the same.
Unfortunately, Parker was dead. Two weeks now. I hadn’t even had time to mourn him properly. I was too busy fighting off Paul and the other assholes in the restaurant.
Instead of letting me go, Paul moved with me toward the beer taps and snaked a hand around my waist to pull me up against him.
“She’s Gary Holt’s daughter,” Paul said.
Cold slithered through me at the sound of my father’s name. The customer’s eyes widened, and he leaned forward, fascinated. “Is she now?”
Ah, even three years later, my father still held onto his reputation as the monster of Shadowed Moon Mountains.
I am never going to live out his blood legacy.
