Tarian Outcast (Page 10)

Katy narrowed her eyes at her friend and parted her lips to tell her how weird she was being, but the dinging of the front door bell sounded, and a strange feeling came over her. It was like that butterflies-in-the-stomach, flustered, hopeful, excited feeling that only happened when Kannon was around.

She twisted on the bar stool and, son of a biscuit eater, there he was—the shifter of her dreams.

He gave her a smoldering smile and then made his way to a table in the darkest corner, sat down, stretched out his leg and nodded a hello to Josiah.

“The usual?” Josiah asked.

“Yep.”

Huh. Josiah wasn’t giving him hell for being a shifter like he’d done to Abel. Maybe they knew each other better. Or were friends? Cheeks heating because she knew he could see the elation on her face at seeing him, she averted her gaze and tried her best to play it cool. She tried to take a sip, but missed the straw three times and probably looked like a fish. And when she did connect, her drink was empty and she slurped loudly. Oh, God, she would never get laid again.

Drea was staring at her like she’d grown eight nipples on her face.

“What?” she whispered.

“Uuuuh, pretend you have game and go say hi to him. He’s clearly waiting for you to go over there.”

“Well…maybe he should come to me. He’s the man and all.”

“I’m Drea!” she called across the bar. “Katy has told me all about you.”

“OhmyGodstoptalkingtohim,” she hissed out.

“I don’t want to interrupt your lady date, or I would’ve already come over there. Since I’m the man and all.” Kannon’s grin turned absolutely naughty.

Great, she forgot he could hear everything! Clearing her throat delicately, she nodded to him. “If you would like to join us, that would be acceptable, but know this. I have already had two margaritas, and that stuff is truth serum for me, so if you aren’t good with call-outs and truth…stuff…then you should probably stay over there.” Dear goodness, what had she even just said?

“Truth serum sounds fun.” Kannon stood and sauntered over to them. “First off, who’s driving home?” he asked.

Drea was making an “eeeee” face.

“That’s what I thought. Jo, cancel my drink. I’m good with water today.”

“Are you going to drive us?” Drea asked. Whoo, she looked impressed.

“If you don’t mind riding with a stranger.”

“Are you creepy?” Drea asked.

“Drea,” Katy admonished.

“If I was creepy, I wouldn’t have just told the bartender I was your designated driver.”

“Oh.” Drea smiled. “Well, we are going to be here for a while, so you could probably do a beer.”

Kannon nodded and sat in the chair next to Katy. “You heard the lady,” he said to Josiah.

“Chhhh,” Jo said. “I was going to say, I’ve never served you water. Was going to ask if you were sick or something.”

“I thought you were working,” Katy murmured.

“Off at two. I have to be in for my shift at the crack of dawn, but I like it. I’m an early riser.”

“He said early riser,” Drea said, waggling her eyebrows. Oh God, here we go.

He reached over Katy and offered his hand for a shake. “I’m Kannon. I’ve seen you around town, but we haven’t officially met.”

Drea narrowed her eyes and tried to look severe, but her lips gave away her good mood as they were curved up in a playful smile. As she shook his hand, she told him, “Katy’s bestie. And as Katy’s bestie, I have questions.”

Kannon nodded very seriously and thanked Josiah for the beer and the ice water he slid in front of him. “I’m ready.”

“Is it true that shifters have bigger than average dicks and more stamina and a higher sex drive?”

Katy just sat there with both cheeks on fire, staring ahead, frozen.

Kannon laughed. “Uuuuuuh, maybe, yes, and probably.”

“Huh. Well, Katy, you’ll never be deprived in the bedroom.”

“Hey, Jo, can I borrow that Glock?” she asked.

Josiah just laughed. So did Kannon and Drea, and everything was awful.

“Is it true you like my bestie?” Drea asked him next.

“She’s very nice.”

Kill. Me.

“I mean do you like like her?” Drea pushed.

“Can I have one more margarita?” Katy asked Jo. Why was he chuckling? None of this was even remotely funny.

Kannon’s deep laugh was so damn sexy. “If we’re doing twenty questions, we have to switch off. It’s my turn.”

“Okay, we’re ready,” Drea said.

“We’re?” Katy asked. “There is no ‘we’re ready’. I’m not ready for anything. I need nachos.”

Kannon frowned and slid his hand to her thigh, squeezed slightly. “This is all fun. You can veto any question. Besides…you’ll never see me again. Relax.”

With a sigh, she pressed her face into his shoulder and inhaled his scent. Cologne and oil and grease from the garage. Yummy, yummy man. “Okay. Let’s play twenty questions.”

Did he just press his lips to the top of her head? It was fast…but did he? Drea was making an “aaaaw” face when Katy looked at her, so maybe? Okay, she had butterflies at the possibility.

Kannon took a swig of his beer. “Where did you two ladies first meet?”

It was Katy who answered this one. “Fourth grade. I’d been picked on for a solid year by this girl named Patricia. She was tall and strong, so recess was my personal Hell—”

“And then there’s me,” Drea cut in. “I’m a year older, same recess, trying to mind my own business and do my homework so I could take care of my sister when I got home… But every single day, I watched this giant redhead pushing this little mousey brunette around. And not quietly. Patricia was a loud kid. And her bullying was interrupting my school work so one day—"

“I’ll never forget it for as long as I live. Patricia pushed me off the jungle gym, and I scraped my knee and it hurt so bad, but she told me, ‘You better not cry and tell the teacher.’ I’m lying on the ground, looking up at her angry red face and this…angel!…appears and grabs Patricia by the hair and pushes her right into the metal pole you slide down. She stood over her and said, ‘If you ever touch my friend again, I’m gonna knock all your teeth out.’ I had a moment there, just staring up at this girl with perfect braids and a mean frown on her face for Patricia. And on my behalf! I fell in friend-love instantly. She was just…my hero. And she stayed that way. ”

Kannon looked over at Drea and nodded once. “You’re a good one.”

The bell above the front door dinged again, and Katy turned to find three women walking into the bar.

Kannon called out, “Rose! Over here.”

“Do you know them?” Katy asked him.

“Oh, yeah, these are the main ladies in my Pride.”

“Hey, I know them, too,” Drea said, waving to the silver-haired woman in front. “They’re starting to supply my shop with local flowers.”

The women came over, and Kannon introduced them. “This is Rose, Emerald, and Sora. “What are you doing here?”

It was the silver-haired beauty named Rose who answered. “We started doing a girls’ day once a week. We decided to try this place today. Heard they have good mimosas and nachos.”

“You heard correctly,” Josiah said. “But like I told Abel earlier, no shifter shit. I’m tired of breaking up fights and fixing broken windows.”

“Wait,” Kannon said. “Abel was here?”

Josiah nodded his head. “He sure was. Why?”

“Well,” Rose murmured, “because we thought he was dead.”

Josiah held up his hands in surrender and murmured, “I’m out of all this. I don’t hear nothin’, I don’t see nothin’,” but Kannon looked utterly disturbed as he exchanged looks with Rose.

“Did he say anything to you?” he asked Katy low.

“A little. I thought he was part of your Pride.”

“Nope,” the black-haired, green-eyed beauty, Emerald, said. “He’s an Old Tarian.”

Okay, Katy definitely didn’t understand the Pride dynamics. “As opposed to…?”

“New Tarians,” Kannon murmured. “The Pride split a year back, and we’ve been fighting for the territory and the Tarian name ever since.” Kannon cleared his throat and lowered his voice even more. “The War ended a couple of months ago.”

“How did it end?”

But just as Kannon’s pupils constricted and his eyes turned gold, his face twisting into a terrifying one she didn’t recognize, she remembered Abel’s deep scars down his face. Kannon didn’t elaborate, but she probably didn’t want to know. Blood made her squeamish, and she was starting to realize that being a shifter was very bloody work.

The blond-haired woman, Sora, kept looking down at her shoes and blushing while everyone was talking. The movement caught Katy’s attention over and over. Why? Because she had a problem with that, too. Or she had around Dayton, dropping her gaze when she was uncomfortable. Or when she wished she could speak up but knew she would be teased or reprimanded. That submissive moment when she’d tried to be invisible. Katy felt a connection to her because she’d been like her before, cowed and uncertain. So when she stood to go to the restroom, Katy excused herself as well. A big problem when being that submissive was bars. It was bars! Men in bars were like wolves hunting a herd of caribou, and if they sensed one was weak, they would pounce. And a lot of boys had been filtering in over the last hour, probably getting off work.