Chapter 8

When the doors opened for the public, at least twenty people immediately filed into the club. Between the two of them, Tasha and Ruby were able to handle the small number of customers and get them their drinks within a few minutes. There was still a learning curve for Ruby, despite Tasha’s training, and she took much longer than Tasha to get a few orders in, but no one seemed to mind. Within the hour, there were about forty people, and Ruby struggled to keep up with the flow of people requesting a mixed drink. Tasha swooped in and had a few of the drinks already made, for those that were regular customers, to assist her. It was much appreciated since one of them got snarky that it took longer than usual for her drink to be in front of her. Ruby was thankful for her Shifter hearing as the club grew extremely loud with the music, but she could still hear the she-wolf complaining.

“You must be new. I usually have my drink within a minute after I order it.” The snarky she-wolf curled her lip as Ruby set the pink fruity drink in front of her.

Ruby smiled sweetly at her. “I am, actually. I apologize for the wait.”

“Well if it takes that long again, I’m not tipping you.”

I could easily swipe my claw across this she-wolf’s throat.

We could, but let’s not.

You’re no fun.

“I understand.”

Ruby moved on to another customer, and the she-wolf did not think that was the right thing to do. She began snapping her fingers to get Ruby’s attention. When Ruby looked her way, she pointed at the drink.

“This is entirely too much grenadine. Replace this one with a new one.”

Ruby gave her best customer service smile at the she-wolf, “right away.”

Ruby walked over to the liquor counter just as Tasha did. Tasha noticed that Ruby was making the same exact drink she had a moment ago.

Tasha scoffed. “Ugh, Stacy giving you a hard time?”

“I can handle her.”

“Let me know if she gets to be too much. She was a bitch when she first started coming here, constantly making me remake drinks because they weren’t to her specifications.”

“Or not given to her in under a minute?”

Tasha rolled her eyes. “Yep. Deak will escort her out if she harps on you.”

“I got this.”

Ruby finished making the drink and walked over to the she-wolf. When she handed over the drink, the she-wolf had a resting bitch face plastered on her face. She grabbed the glass from Ruby and quickly took a drink. After she took a sip, she smiled as if she was unhappy.

Looks like I got it right.

“Don’t make the mistake again. I know the owner of this club. I can get you fired for incompetency.” Stacy said with a vicious grin.

Funny, I did not smell her on him or him on her. She does not bear his mark. Nor did I smell her in his vicinity.

Trying to say her words are inaccurate?

More like she is implying that she KNOWS Ryker. Yet I don’t believe her.

“I’ll be sure to be more tentative with your drink the next time you order. Hope you enjoy the club!”

Ruby moved on to the next customer as Stacy glared at her. This time, the customer did not give Ruby a hard time at all. The wolf was polite and even thanked her for getting his beer to him quickly. Ruby flashed him a smile, and then she heard a growl. Just over the wolf’s shoulders was Ryker with a scowl on his face. The wolf before her must not have heard him or decided to ignore it as he drank his beer without acknowledging the growl. Ruby had no idea what was going on, so she moved on to the next person who needed to be waited on.

Ryker walked up to the bar and leaned over it, “rule number one in this club. Never flirt with the customers.” He practically snarled.

“I wasn’t flirting. I smiled since he complimented me. I don’t want to be rude.”

“You’re an unmated she-wolf. A smile will send a male the wrong signals.”

“Do you want me to just keep a resting bitch face while serving drinks?”

“If it is a male, yes.”

Ruby looked over at Tasha who happened to be smiling as she handed over a drink to a male. Ruby looked back over to Ryker, “she’s smiling at males!”

“She is mated!”

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Ryker and let out a growl. She realized what this is about. “You aren’t my mate, Ryker. Stop with this territorial bullshit!”

Ryker opened his mouth to say something else, but Deacon walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Sims, there is an altercation going on in the men’s bathroom. They must outrank all of us because they haven’t stopped.”

Ryker gave a curt nod and walked toward the bathrooms. Deacon looked at Ruby and cocked an eyebrow at her. “What was going on here?”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Nothing.” Then she moved her head to the side slightly with a small smile playing at her lips. “I thought you could hear everything. Why did you ask if you had such amazing hearing?”

Deacon smiled at her. “Didn’t want to eavesdrop. I gotta get back into it. I’ll catch you later.”

Ruby shook her head at him. She looked down the side of the bar, and there were a few customers flagging her down. Tasha seemed to have taken over while she dealt with Ryker since there were many more than before he started on his shit.

Why the hell would he be territorial with me?

Maybe he likes what he sees. I know I do.

Can you not?

You’re no fun.

The encounter with Ryker threw Ruby off her game, and it took about a half hour before she found her groove again, but once she did, Ruby disregarded what Ryker said. She remained pleasant with the customers as they piled in at the bar. Majority of them were male, and most of them ordered a beer and a mixed drink. That told Ruby the males had either come with a female, or they had met one while here, and they were buying their drinks. The ones that were not buying two drinks at once were usually sitting at the bar…and starting up conversations with her.

One of them had dark, chocolate brown hair, and his brown eyes were so light that they almost looked as if they were wolf gold. His square face gave him a jawline that seemed like it would break someone’s hand if they connected a punch to it. He had thick shoulders and arms like Deacon, but his height made him look more lethal. It did not help that he seemed to give off a “I’ll kill you with my bare hands” kind of vibe.

At first, it was just small talk. What were each of their names, where they were originally from, how the club seemed busier than usual. He always asked something new each time she handed him a new beer. Ruby could not stop to talk for long, but when she did, it made her night, especially when he would tell her she was doing a good job after Stacy came back a few times to hassle her some more.

It was after midnight when the club got crazier. Not as many people were at the bar as each customer seemed to be double-fisting now so they did not have to come back every ten minutes. It gave Ruby a small break to catch her breath. When the break came, she made her way over to Buddy.

“So, Ruby. What brought you to this little slice of paradise?”

“Hitting me with the hard ones now?” she retorted as she washed and wiped down a glass.

He flashed her a toothy smile. “I ran out of the easy ones.”

“Well, my Alpha decided to use my body and then sick two of his wolves on me. I managed to kill them just outside of this town, and Sims found me before I died myself.”

Buddy let out a laugh as if her words were a joke. When he realized that Ruby wasn’t laughing, his eyes widened. “Wait, you aren’t kidding about that?”

“I wish I was.”

“Wow. I’m sorry. And here I thought she-wolves were treated better than that.”

Ruby barked out a laugh. “Not in this Sanction.”

Buddy’s eyes squinted as if he was pondering something. “Who was the Alpha?”

Should I tell the world what a piece of trash Tyson is, or should I keep that to myself?

I think you know my answer.

Is that petty?

Kind of. But he did try to kill you after his hump-n-dump.

How did you learn that phrase?

I was always with you; I just wasn’t able to talk to you. Mack had some funny lines.

“Considering you are debating on telling me the Alpha’s name, I think I already know who it is.” Buddy took a sip from his bottle of beer while keeping his eyes on Ruby.

“Considering you belong to a pack, I will not confirm nor deny any name you throw out there. Like I need that asshole to find out that I am still alive.”

He flashed her another smile. Ruby couldn’t help but smile back. This guy’s smile is so perfect that it is infectious.

I’ve seen better.

Don’t go there, Scar.

“I could keep you safe. My pack is from the Northeast part of the Sanction. I’m going to assume that it is nowhere near your ex-Alpha?”

Ruby raised her eyes a little at the flirtation. “Red Mountain Pack?”

“You know your stuff.” A smile and then another small sip from his beer.

Before Ruby could decline the offer, a growl pierced the moment of silence in between the songs. “How about you leave this bartender alone, Bud. She has customers to keep up with.”

Buddy turned around, and Ruby was surprised at the restraint the wolf was showing. Buddy seemed high-ranking from how he carried himself. If there was one thing that Ruby learned about being around male wolves, it was that the higher the rank, the more testosterone fueled arguments happened.

“I’m sorry, but is it against the rules to talk with the bartenders as they work?”

“Not unless it is slowing down turnover.”

Ryker locked eyes with Buddy and would not break it. This was a challenge of dominance in the Wolf world, and Ruby really did not want a fight to break out. Luckily, Buddy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He dropped his gaze, turned around while getting out his wallet, pulled out a few bills to cover his tab, and walked out without another word.

“Get back to work,” Ryker said curtly then disappeared within the crowd.

Tasha walked over to Ruby and scoffed in Ryker’s direction. “What the hell crawled up his dickhole?”

Ruby let out a laugh, “dickhole?”

“It’s a smaller hole than an ass, so only something crawling inside it would have to cause that level of grouchiness for no damn reason.”

“It’s not just me, then? This seems weird?”

“Oh yeah. This is not normal behavior for Sims. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this before.”

“Oh yippee. I just bring out the worst in men then. Maybe I should just leave… go join another pack in a different sanction.”

“Don’t talk like that. It’s just a few days after a full moon. Maybe his cycle is off.”

Ruby looked at Tasha with a questioning look. “What?”

“I swear, the moon cycles affect different people in weird ways.”

“Sure.”

Another wave of people came up to the bar. It seemed like another hour went by before Ruby and Tasha were able to take another break. They were able to relieve each other every so often throughout the night to go to the restroom and even eat, but in the last hour, not at all.

This time, it was a blond, tanned, and lanky wolf that engaged her into a conversation like Buddy did. Ruby looked around the club each time he asked a question to make sure Ryker was nowhere to be found. She did her best not to smile or seem flirtatious at all, so it would not cause another issue.

But that was not her luck tonight.

Dane, the blond wolf, seemed young to Ruby. She had checked his ID, and he was over eighteen, but barely. (The legal age to drink in their world.) He did his best to impress her by saying he was not a ranking wolf but managed to climb up to Kappa, the tenth of the pack. His dream one day was to have his own pack to lead, but Ruby highly doubted that would happen. After about ten minutes, Dane gave up and moved on to another she-wolf that was sipping on a vodka soda at the end of the bar.

That was when a Greek God of a wolf came up to the bar. His skin was deliciously tan, and his brown eyes looked like they would shine under the moonlight. He walked with confidence and purpose to where Ruby stopped in her tracks to admire him. Tasha walked over and whispered into her ear.

“That’s Elias Baros. He is the Alpha of the Amber Plains pack. Second Alpha of the Sanction.”

Ruby had to clasp her hands behind her back so she wouldn’t fan herself.

“You’re the single one. I’ll let you take this. He likes that dark beer on the bottom rack. Frosted glass with those.”

Ruby immediately bent down and grabbed the beer Tasha had pointed out. She opened the can, poured it into a frosted glass, and placed it onto the bar in front of Elias just as he sat down on one of the stools.

“You’re a new face. What’s your name?”

“Ruby.”

“I’m Elias of the Amber Plains Pack.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Never had service this good before. It was in front of me before I even sat down. What other kinds of services can you do that well?”

Ruby laughed it off, turned around to throw out the can, then heard a vicious snarl over the music. She turned around just in time to see Ryker yank Elias from the back of the neck and toss him onto the dance floor. Everyone around the Alpha screamed. Some scurried away and out the door. Others followed suit when Ryker leapt onto Elias and began throwing punches.

“How dare you treat her like a piece of meat!” Ryker growled as he was flipped onto his back.

Elias landed a punch to Ryker’s jaw “She wasn’t offended! Why are you?”

The club cleared out as the two males rolled around on the dance floor. Ruby heard the sickening thuds of fists slamming into bodies. She had no idea what to do. There was never a time where two men started fighting this way just because one said a double entendre. Deacon and the other two bouncers stayed against the walls, not daring to intervene.

How the hell do I get them to stop?! They are going to kill each other!

They are fighting over you… scream at them.

Ruby jumped on top of the bar, put her fingers in her mouth, and blew out a whistle. “STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

Ryker stopped mid punch as he sat on Elias’ body to keep him down. He turned toward her, blood all over his face, and his chest was moving rapidly.

“I have NO IDEA why you think this shit is okay, but it’s not, Ryker. Whether I am mated or not, you don’t own me. I am able to have a conversation with whoever the fuck I want. If you continue this shit, I will make you regret it.”

Ruby then jumped down on the other side of the bar and stormed out of the building.

How the hell do I end up around the stupidest men?