Iron: Blue Collar Wolves #1 (Mating Season Collection) (6 page)

W
hat a fucking
difference twenty-four hours made. Yesterday at this time, he’d seen Bella sashaying that ass into his bar and had been thinking he was in for a night of torture.

And he was right. Bella was capable of the most delicious torture he’d ever experienced. Fucking riding him but stopping when he was just about to come, not letting him touch her breasts or stomach.

How the
fuck
was a man supposed to keep his hands to himself when all that lusciousness was right there for the taking?

Iron breathed deep through his nose, shaking off the thoughts that
should not
be dwelled on when his ass was behind the bar.

Time was fucking going backwards tonight. Iron could have sworn he’d already seen the damn hand pass eleven, but no, there it was, on the dot, and growling at every customer would not make time go faster, or encourage any of the customers to come back. As it was, the sign on the door already said the bar was closing at midnight. One more hour. One more hour of pure torture, because Bella had decided to come to the bar and while away the hours here instead of waiting for him at home, looking at him with teasing eyes and moving that sinful body in ways designed to drive him crazy.

The only thing making it bearable was tonight he damn sure would be bending her over that pool table, see if he fucking didn’t.

This crowd was working his fucking nerves, though. Less crowded tonight than last night and at least tonight everyone was either wolf or connected to the pack, but tonight also had several unfamiliar wolves from some of the outlying packs, all of them looking young and dumb.

Steel’s pack was largest by far, but there were a few splinter groups. None of them caused enough trouble that Steel had to step in to avoid bringing attention from outsiders on the wolves, but that didn’t change the fact most were in the splinter groups because they thought many of the old laws should still be in effect.

Normally no problem, the bar was outside any territory and had always been somewhat neutral, despite his dad and then him owning it. As long as the wolves from other packs didn’t cause shit, they were welcome to spend their money. Tonight though, with the mating season in motion and the moon strong, with the fact the males here were unmated and hungry-looking, Iron half-wished he had said screw it and stayed home in bed.

Worse, Steel wasn’t around, which he should have been. Neither were Brick or House, though of course they’d be with Mel. Back-up would be helpful about now, but who?

The bell chimed to signal the door opening, and Iron bit back that sigh of relief. “Fuck man, you psychic or something? Perfect timing.”

Razor sat on the bar stool in front of Iron, one black eyebrow arching up over green eyes, amused confusion plain on his features. “Does this timing thing get me a beer? You having problems or something?”

“I’ve got strange wolves that I’m getting bad vibes from.” Iron placed the bottle in front of the wolf who was only second to Brick in terms of sheer size and gave a quick nod to the wolves in the back. “Too much mating season fever and kids who look like they want to swing their dicks in everyone’s face. Glad you’re here to help me slap anyone who gets out of line.”

“Fuck yeah, sounds like a perfect Saturday night.” A long swig of beer, which Razor promptly did a spit-take with when he saw the woman by the pool table. “Is that Bella?”

Fuck
. Now he had to deal with this shit all over again. Worse, because he had slept with Bella, and Razor would fucking know it, and probably open his bitch-ass gossip mouth and tell everyone. “Yeah, that’s Bella.”

The smile that grew over Razor’s face was blinding in its intent to needle and humiliate, but before Iron could slam the asshole down in a preemptive strike, the one-two punch of the overwhelming scent of a wolf ready to mate along with the stark, acrid scent of Bella’s fear had him jumping over the bar and going to her.

One of the wolves who looked like he was barely out of high school was crowding her, while his group of friends formed a semi-circle around them. Bella was all calm gestures and low voice. If he couldn’t smell her revulsion, he’d think she was bored. “…I’m not interested, but thank you,” Iron caught her saying as he came close. He vaguely realized Razor had followed and was right behind him, but his full attention was on Bella.

Bella didn’t get scared easily, so the fucker had done something. Without preamble, Iron said, “Get the fuck out.”

The little punk-ass hid his surprise at Iron’s command well, giving only the smallest of flinches before twisting to look over his shoulder and smirk at him. The other four members of his gang turned so they were now facing Iron and Razor. The scene was wrong though. They were older than the kid, dressed different. This didn’t have the vibe of a group of friends hanging together. The kid’s smirk carried through into his voice and set Iron’s teeth on edge. “I’m kinda talking. Don’t interrupt unless you want to get hurt.”

Rage burned and raced through Iron, the wolf snarling and demanding blood. “One more time.
Get out.
”

The kid’s smirk grew, the same face every coddled spoiled brat made. “You’re not alpha, and you don’t know who you’re fucking with. Keep talking to me might mean starting war over this whore, and how will your alpha like that?”

Iron punched the kid like he was trying to go through the kid’s jaw and grab his skull from the back.

Chaos erupted. The kid’s gang jumped in while the kid struggled to get up from the ground, clutching his jaw. They were skilled, and mean, and landed some nasty blows before Razor barreled into the fray.

Around the bar people were crowding into corners, leaving, a myriad of voices shouting and breaking chairs and glass shattering.

Iron punched someone away when a wolf jumped him.

Instinct took over. He shifted, and the wolf wanted blood. Teeth gnashed, grabbing on and digging deep, the whimpers of the wolf between his jaws welcome. Blood flooded his mouth, and he bit deeper, harder.

The digging of teeth into his side and the wolf yelped, letting go of his prey. He turned to the wolf who had attacked him and snapped, fangs ripping into neck.

A sharp crack of noise and all the wolves froze before springing apart. Another
crack, crack
and the small human voice within Iron whispered
gunshot
. The wolves scattered, and next to him approached
mate. Protect mate
. The wolf curled around its female, nuzzling into her to assure himself of her safety, her well-being.

Drowning itself in her scent while she was low sweet sounds and soft strokes, and the wolf nuzzled closer. Nothing would hurt her.

The human was stirring, though the wolf only wanted its mate. The human pulled his way forward, and Iron opened his eyes to see Bella above him, her hand stroking through his hair.

Fucking shit.

He pushed away, breath seizing in his throat, his eyes never leaving hers.

She was too calm. She stared back at him – no crying, no screaming. Her eyes were steady and her breathing even. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Her mouth tightened, but she lifted her chin. “I know, Iron. I’ve always known.”

She couldn’t know. He had made it his life’s mission to protect her from this secret world. The only promise he ever made Mel make was the promise she’d never tell Bella anything. “You can’t.”

Only now was anger starting to cloud her scent, darken her eyes. “Why out of everything does the fact I know upset you? Shouldn’t you be happy I’m not running screaming into the night?”

He ignored the question. Fuck whatever truth was trying to poke through and answer her. “No one should have told you.”

“Because you decreed it?”

“Because you’re under my protection. It’s pack way, that anything to do with you would have to be cleared through me.”

“And so, what? It wasn’t just the opportunity never came to tell me – you were trying to deliberately keep me from knowing?” True anger was building through her words, making the lines of her body rigid and unyielding. “Why? Why wouldn’t you want me to know? Why wouldn’t you share with me? We were friends, before anything else. I would do anything for you, and I always took care of Steel. Why would you push me away in something so huge?”

“Because you weren’t meant to be involved with the pack. It was best to keep you away.”

“Keep me away?” Her voice was cracking, tears leaking through the tones. “What did I do to deserve to be treated like that, like an
outsider
? What horrific thing did I say or do that made you think I was untrustworthy?”

“You aren’t like us!”

“
HOW?
We grew up
together
.”

He shattered, and everything poured forth, every
fucking shit
piece of truth that meant from day one he was going to have to let her go. “You know what you’re
meant
for? You’re meant for
Sam
. You’re meant for townhouses and country clubs and gated communities and thousand-dollar bottles of champagne. You aren’t
meant
for a bar that serves guys who work in
flannel
. You aren’t
meant
to be living in the middle of
bumfuck nowhere!
What
was I supposed to say? Here’s my deepest secret and it getting out can destroy all of us, so please don’t share it with your important friends?”

Her body was shaking, her head at his words. “You don’t think that about me – You don’t
think that about me!
What about you and me? Who we are to each other? You and me…it’s always been you and me.”

He had to get her away. He had to end this now, because if she stayed any longer, he wouldn’t be able to let her go. “You’re not the first woman to think a good dicking was something permanent.”

With that, Bella’s mouth grew slack for a moment, but
damn
, his woman was pure badass, because she didn’t let that break her. No, she was straight and tall and fuck if she didn’t own him when she said, voice clear and concise, “My mistake. I won’t bother you again.”

‡

I
ron had just
downed his sixth shot of whiskey when Steel came through the door, the alpha looking wired and fidgeting in a way that suggested something extreme going down. Beta instincts overrode Iron’s own misery, straightening his back and clearing his head. “Alpha?”

Steel was looking at the collection of broken furniture and glass shards that littered the inside of the bar, but at Iron’s tone, Steel’s head snapped to him, and as if he understood Iron’s question, the man gave a shake of his head, taking a deep breath and visibly relaxing himself. Not back to his usual level of unflappable, but it brought Iron down from the worry over the pack—

—and back to his own misery.

Fuck it. Who cared if the pack was going to shit? Not like he had anything to protect within it. Iron brought the whiskey bottle to his mouth and took a long swig.

Steel had come down enough from whatever he was hopped on to crouch in front of Iron. Didn’t say anything, just stared, as though that stare could break through Iron’s brain and root around in the crap to be found there.

Iron broke the tense stand-off. “You mainlining something, man? Sit the fuck down and quit looking deep into my eyes like you want to be my girlfriend.”

“If we get together, I’m going to be the fucking decorator.” Steel sat on the floor, one knee bent in front of him. “What happened?”

Iron shrugged. “Made love to Bella, and it all went to hell, just like I knew it would.”

“Do you wanna expand on that a bit?”

Not really.
Partly to avoid answering, Iron took Steel in from head to toe, and then almost wished he didn’t. Steel looked like shit – worse than Iron imagined himself looking. Some serious crap was going down right now, whether Steel admitted it or not. Probably why it took him so long to get to the bar. Someone had to have gotten in contact with him the minute he challenged the younger wolf. Normally Steel would have been here before the fight even ended.

Iron held out the whiskey bottle to Steel, and Steel grabbed it, took his own big swig, several long gulps the same way a half-drowned man gulped air. “Why you worrying about my problems when you got your own?”

Steel didn’t play stupid, asking what Iron meant. Instead, he handed the bottle back to the beta. “Your problems are easy. Mine are fucked.”

“Don’t feel easy to me.”

“It’s not ’cause they’re hard. It’s ’cause you let history rule your life. Always looking back, that’s you.”

The liquor dulled the physical side of the anger. It still boiled, but instead of the desire to get up and punch, well, Iron much rather have another drink. “Rather poetic.”

“Regular Shakespeare, that’s me.”

“Glad we got that straight.”

His dad’s bar was wrecked, the carnage surrounding them like so much flotsam. He’d destroyed it, this place which was more home than home. He’d come here to escape the outside world – the fights, and the silence which was worse than the fights. Escape non-pack, who all of them had been taught to keep far away from, because no one could know their secrets. Escape the fact his life was set, and the one person he wanted beside him was destined for greater things than being a fucking bar owner’s wife with a houseful of kids, living far away from everything fine and fancy.