Shadows of the Ancients (3 page)

Ashley laughed at me. “You freaking werewolves and your egos, I swear. I wish I could be that confident with myself.”

“I don’t know why you’re not. You’re gorgeous. Besides, don’t guys usually have a thing for redheads anyway?”

“Well, of course they do. You know us gingers… we have no soul. That’s sexy, because they think we’re up for anything. Sometimes, they’d be right.” I laughed as Ashley sauntered over to her vanity, hips swishing suggestively the whole way. She was definitely in one of her moods that said, we were either getting into a whole lot of fun or a shit load of trouble tonight, maybe a good bit of both. “Come here, let me do your makeup tonight. You need some seriously smoky eyes to go with that dress.”

“Yes ma’am.” I sat down in front of her and let Ash work her magic. She didn’t just stop with my makeup either. Ashley also had her way with my hair, curling it into soft chocolate waves that looked silky smooth to the touch. I dared not touch it though, afraid to break the spell of perfection she had cast upon me. My eyes were indeed smoky with the use of charcoals and a subtle undertone of purples that made my bright green eyes pop all the brighter. “Ashley, you are a genius. I look…”

“Amazing.” She tried to stifle a giggle so she wouldn’t poke her own eye out with her mascara brush, “I am so getting laid tonight.”

“Oh boy! And here I am stuck on your couch for the night. The last time we went out, you even had my hormones on overload.” She was giving me a knowing look, “Hell, I nearly barged in and demanded to be part of the shenanigans.”

“Oh, well… the last time was with Troy. He so would not have minded that.” We both laughed. “Seriously, I know your pack mates for life, but it’s not like those guys aren’t out sowing their wild oats and shit before they settle down. Why is it any different for you? You’re 21, you should be living a little before you get sucked into that life for good.”

“Believe me, there are moments where I’ve been close to giving in, but…”

“But…” she came over and gave me a hug then. “You’re just too adorable, and you’ve read one too many romance novels, hon!” She kissed the top of my head before stepping away and making sure she didn’t damage all the work she’d done to my hair earlier. “I love you for it, but for tonight… we’re tucking the virgin in you away and raising hell instead. Come on, let’s go break some hearts!”

I walked into Club Hypnotic just behind Ashley. It seemed like all eyes were on her as she made her entrance. I couldn’t blame them. If I swung that way, I’d totally snatch Ash up for my own. She was sex incarnate. Her red curls bounced around her shoulders as she laughed at the joke I’d made about the bouncer on the way in. Her bright blue eyes sparkled enchantingly under the neon lighting in the bar, and her perfect porcelain skin made her look every bit the goddess that the men always thought she was. While I knew my werewolf energy could affect the people in the room and make them sit up and take notice, I didn’t think that’s what had all the heads turning tonight. I was a full head taller than Ashley, but her curves, in that body hugging dress were definitely on display and being appreciated.

Ashley took my hand in hers and started guiding us through the crowd. I let her. Being an alpha meant I didn’t let too many people push or order me around, but there was a different air to what Ashley did. She wasn’t demanding my attention, she was pulling us into a partnership, if that made sense. It was the same feeling I’d always gotten around Ash. She saw us as equals, and everything I did reflected that. I let go of my wolf side in order to not offend her, long ago. Now, it was second nature. There was no top dog between us, we were just Ashley and Jessie.

We maneuvered our way toward the middle of the crowded bar, and found a little table off on the side. Ashley tossed her clutch up on the table, and I took a stool, waiting to see when the waitress would notice us. She noticed us alright, but she was going to make us wait. Jealousy was an ugly bitch.

“Well, looks like we’re gonna play hell with the service in here again. I’ll go grab the first round, you sit tight. I want at least one shot down before you up and leave me for all that!” I pointed out the myriad of hot bodies gyrating on the floor in front of us.

“Mmmhhmm,” she said as she licked her lips. “I’ll be waiting, but you really need to hurry. I haven’t had any since Troy took off on his trip, and my body is missing all the fun of being touched!”

“Dirty slut!” I laughed as I walked off toward the bar.

“You know it, hon!” She answered back. If I were a normal person, there’s no way I would have heard her over the din, but since I wasn’t normal, I just chuckled at her answer.

Once I got up to the bar, I leaned in a little, weary of leaning too far and letting my ass fall out of the dress, but pushing my boobs far enough forward that the male bartender would take notice and come serve me. I was a virgin, but I absolutely knew that womanly wiles would get me served faster than standing around with a stick up my ass. Sure enough, the two guys he was serving started pointing down the bar to me, huge grins plastered across their already inebriated faces. The bartender tossed me a smile, and let me know he was on his way to me. The two guys he was serving said something to him before he came over.

“What can I do for you, beautiful?” I raised my eyebrow up at the endearment, but just smiled.

“Vodka cranberry and a Captain and Coke. Make the Captain a double.” I smiled back at him, nothing that meant more than, ‘please hurry with my drinks,’ but he seemed to take it more as a flirtation. He winked at me and started pulling the necessary glasses. When he finished making the drinks, with a little more liquor than called for, he pushed them forward and smiled again.

I started to hand him a twenty dollar bill, and he waved it off. “Your fan club paid for those.”

“Well, in that case,” I slipped a five out and dropped it in his tip jar. He thanked me, and I held the drinks up to acknowledge the guys who had paid for them, and I walked back to Ashley. “Heads up chica, we’re about to get company in 4, 3, 2…”

“Hey ladies!” The taller of the drunk guys from down the bar were right behind me as I slid Ashley her vodka cranberry.

“Drinks were on these guys,” I said to her as she took a sip, and gave me a questioning look.

“Ah, I see. Well thank you…” her southern draw was always a little bit thicker when she was using her manners, or flirting, but she paused waiting for them to give their names.

“Adrian,” the taller one said, then hit his friend in the chest, “and this is Bobby.”

“And this seems to be our lucky night,” Bobby interjected, looking back and forth between Ashley and I like he’d just won the lottery.

With that, I spit some of my Captain and Coke back into my glass. Ashley, on the other hand was the picture of poise and perfection. “Well, fellas, we just got here. So, why don’t you give us just a bit to unwind and have some girly downtime before we work on anything else, m’kay?”

They both looked confused, but nodded their heads and started to walk off when the couple next to us left their table. “What’d I tell ya? Lucky night!” Bobby shouted at his friend as they slipped into the stools at the table next to ours. They were being rather obvious with the ogling they were doing too.

“Oh God, leave it to you to make one little trip to the bar, and end up with stage 5 clingers!” Ashley laughed, her deep sultry laugh, and I joined her.

“What can I say, it’s a talent. All the douchebags want a piece of this!”

“Yeah, well… maybe we can at least find you a tall bit of sexy trouble for the night, because you would make whimpering idiots out of either of them.”

I heard laughter from over by the bar that didn’t sound entirely human. I looked up and caught the eyes of a guy in some faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt that was straining so hard against his muscular physique that it almost appeared to be a second skin. His hair was so dark it could have been black, but it was hard to tell in the club’s low level of lighting, even with wolf-vision enhancements. Some shorter pieces of hair fell out of the leather thong he had tying it all back in a ponytail. Those stray pieces framed his jaw to perfection, and I knew by the gleam in his eye, and the prickling sensation wrapping around my skin, that he was a Were and he was going to be my kind of trouble tonight.

“Oh my God! Holy sex on a bar stool, that is just the yummiest piece of man I have ever laid eyes on!” Ash spewed that little bit out before I gave her a warning shake of the head. Then I pointed to my ears to let her know he could hear her. She had the presence of mind to blush to the roots of her red hair. “Damn, seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said, without giving away what we were talking about. Another man, putting off just as much power strode up to the sexy thing that was still watching us, and after a moment of me pretending I wasn’t keeping an eye on him through my lowered lashes, he moved along to the back of the bar with his buddy. They must have been here to shoot some pool.

“So, looks like Zach has some competition after all. You couldn’t take your slutty little eyes off of him! I could almost see your thoughts, and there was nothing virginal going on up in there.” When I looked at her funny she kept going. “Oh, yeah, you had that look on your face. You know, the one where you’re ready to throw down right here, right now, in front of everyone and just not give a fuck. I guess giving a fuck would be more the point, actually.” Ashley was giggling into! her drink as she took a sip.

“Ha ha ha, I swear Ash, sometimes I don’t know where you get this shit. Maybe you need to read more real romance novels instead of the smut you prefer. Also, stop trying to pawn your dirty thoughts off on me like you weren’t thinking about it yourself!”

“Sometimes, romance is overrated. That’s the kind of man, who’s gonna take charge, throw your ass down, and fuck you stupid.” She started fanning herself at that. “Mmm, mmm, mmm. Well, if you don’t want him, maybe you can convince him that my kind isn’t so bad. Hell that friend of his was all kinds of walking hotness too! I’d take either of them.”

“You’re horrible, Ash, and I need to stay clear of those two. I never believed for a minute that my dad was being serious about other wolves prowling around to snatch up females from other packs, but with the power rolling off of those two, they’d be able to do it.”

“Well, they disappeared in back, and didn’t bother coming back. I guess they weren’t interested in stealing your virtue away.” She thought for a minute, “I wonder if they can sniff out the fact that you’re still a virgin? Is that a thing?”

“Um, no.” I said, and suddenly I wasn’t so certain. That would be embarrassing.

We made it through two more rounds of drinks and a bunch of ‘get my mind off of Zach’ small talk before Ash let me know that if she didn’t start dancing off her buzz, I was going to be holding her hair for her later. I sometimes forgot what alcohol did to humans. Three drinks in didn’t even get me close to a buzz. I would have to slam shot after shot for that to happen, and even then, I wouldn’t stay drunk long. Werewolf metabolism burned off the alcohol too quickly. I followed Ashley out to the dance floor, and we started moving to the music. Ashley was a good dancer, if a little off balance thanks to the alcohol. I was an amazing dancer, because I was a werewolf. We had rhythm like no other. Ashley and I played off of each other. We were gyrating and swaying with the best of them. We were making a spectacle of ourselves, especially when as Ash started rolling her head, and flinging those wonderful read curls everywhere. I knew she was lost in the moment when she started doing that, and I just rolled with it, needing to get just as lost.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me close, spun around until she was behind me, back to back, and then she dropped inch by inch as she ground her butt into mine, and down my legs. I couldn’t see her facial expressions, but whatever she was doing back there was making more than a few guys on the dance floor drool like idiots. Just as suddenly as she started that, she rose right back up, spun around, and smacked the hell out of my ass. I let out a low growl that would have embarrassed me if we were around pack members, but there wasn’t anyone here who would have heard it, or paid attention. At least, that’s what I thought in the moment. I spun to face Ashley, and pulled her close, grinding down her body. She put her hands right on top of my head, as if to push me lower. By the time my head was level with her waist she threw her head back and yelped, as if she were in ecstasy.

I popped up quickly, and spun around her, giving her the smack back on her ass that she deserved for the pop she gave me moments ago. She actually squeaked when I did it. Looking around, I noticed we were definitely making a spectacle of ourselves. All the guys were thinking they were getting a freaky hot lesbian love show, and hoping they could be a part of it later. What they didn’t know was this was just playful dancing for Ash and I. As I wound back around to face Ashley, I felt that familiar tingle of power ripple over my body. I tried to ignore it, and snatched Ash up, and pulled her into a mock tango position. I scooted us three steps to the left, dipped her, and as she came back up I spun her toward the bar, “Your turn to buy,” I yelled at her. She flipped me off, as I turned to head back to our table.

Unfortunately, when I turned I ran right smack into a brick wall, or at least a chest that felt an awful lot like a brick wall. “Oh sorry, excuse me.” I said as I waited for him to back up a bit and let me pass. When he didn’t, I put my arm out, hand flat against the craziest set of abs I’d ever felt, and tried to push him back just a hair. He still didn’t move, but power trickled from those abs straight into my hand. I pulled back, feeling as though I’d been shocked. I retreated a step, something I would normally never do, just to be able to look up and see what I was dealing with. It was the guy from earlier at the bar. He still had loose hairs falling to frame his face. This close, I could see the scruff of a five o’clock shadow that adorned his jawline. When I finally made it past his scruffy jaw, and those lusciously thick, kissable lips, I thought I would drown in the cobalt blue depths of his eyes. I was feeling all kinds of week in the knees right about then. A feeling I certainly had never been familiar with before. His lips turned up at the corners as he reached forward to touch me, but I sidestepped him at the last minute, trying to get my distance. Something wasn’t right. I felt light headed, and damn near drunk, which was impossible. I started to the right of him, getting ready to head back to my table. He cut me off stepping in my way, still not saying a word to me. So, frustrated, I stepped back, huffed, and tried moving around the left side of him. Again, he was there before I could get passed him.