Chapter 35

Chapter 35

ALASTAIR

I was a fucking idiot not to promote Ferus earlier, Alastair thought, looking over the order sheets from the last few months. Who would have thought the Wolf he’d brought in to run security would be so damned organized?

In the two years since his promotion, Ferus had turned The Last Drop into a perfectly oiled machine, meticulously tracking their earnings, spending, and the workers’ schedules. The damned Wolf was not only saving him a fortune every month, but he’d also managed to do everything so efficiently that Alastair didn’t have any work to do most nights.

And now, when he needed a distraction, when he needed something, anything , to get his mind off the hunger gnawing at his guts, now was when everything was running perfectly smooth. Just his fucking luck.

Alastair took a sip from the glass of whiskey on his desk and nearly spat it back out.

Fuck the Goddess, that stuff was awful. He scowled at the label, turning the bottle toward him to read it. It was top shelf, aged, and the Wolf running the VIP bar last night had said it was spectacular. One of their most expensive bottles .

Why did it taste like backwash to him, then?

A knock on his open office door made him glance up. Jasper. Great. And his luck officially just got shittier. Swallowing his rising anger, Alastair looked back down at his paperwork.

Jasper didn’t wait to be invited in. He walked right in without a word and closed the office door behind him.

“I have that open for a reason, you know,” Alastair grumbled, not looking up from his paperwork.

“Yeah. And now I’ve closed it for a reason,” Jasper answered. He took a few steps into the room and stopped before Alastair’s desk. “We need to talk.”

Alastair raised an eyebrow, glancing up just long enough for Jasper to appreciate it. “Shouldn’t you be at the bar?” he asked.

Jasper shrugged. “It’s a Thursday night, boss. The place is empty. Sid and Mara can handle it. And since when do you care, anyway? You used to be fine with me taking a few minutes off to play with a pretty girl if she caught my eye.”

Alastair grunted, turning back to his paperwork.

“You’re avoiding me,” Jasper said.

He was. Had been ever since that night in the stockroom when he’d lost control.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Alastair said, adding a notation to the ordering form.

“I’m not being ridiculous,” Jasper insisted. His voice was infuriatingly calm. “You’re avoiding me.”

“I’ve been busy, Jasper. I don’t always have time to swing by just to chat.”

“Oh, really?” Jasper snatched the paper out from under Alastair’s pen, ignoring his snarl and flipping it around to read it. “Busy annotating… the liquor orders from two quarters ago?” He raised an eyebrow at Alastair in challenge. “Yeah… I can see why such an important piece of work has been keeping you locked up here. And why you can’t even stop by the bar for one drink.”

Jasper’s gaze fell on the bottle on Alastair’s desk, and he curled his lip in disgust. “ Blended whiskey , boss? You can’t stand blended whiskey. ”

“I’ve developed a taste for it,” Alastair lied. Leaning back in his chair, he lifted the full glass to his lips and took a gulp.

It tasted so awful he almost couldn’t swallow it.

“Delicious,” Alastair purred.

Jasper rolled his eyes.

“Ferus says you’ve had him triple check the last month’s orders already. But here you are, doing it again. You don’t come down to the main bar anymore, you only go to the VIP bar and only if I’m not working it. Because you’re avoiding me. Just admit it.”

Alastair stood. He was only a fraction taller than Jasper, but he used every bit of that height to his advantage now, straightening his back and staring down at the Wolf across his desk.

“And why,” Alastair asked in a deadly voice, “would I be avoiding you?”

Jasper didn’t back down. “That’s what I’m hoping you’ll tell me,” Jasper said, staring back at him and crossing his arms over his thick chest. “And I don’t plan on leaving here until you do.”

“You’re being ridiculous, Jasper, and if this is all you came up here for?—”

“Is this about what happened?” Jasper interrupted. “Is this about what we did together? You, me, and Fey?”

The world tilted around Alastair, and something very dark was rising inside of him. It was getting harder to hold it back.

“Because that’s when this started,” Jasper continued, tapping the desk between them. “That’s when you started avoiding me. So, what is it, Alastair? Was it seeing me with Fey? Was it watching someone else touch her?”

Alastair snorted a laugh. “You know very well that wasn’t my first threesome, Jasper, and I doubt it will be my last, considering how much Fey enjoyed herself. You can take your paranoid fantasies somewhere else.”

“And it can be different when it’s someone you love,” Jasper insisted. He rounded the desk, coming around to Alastair’s side to face him. “I’ve known Shifters who won't let anyone touch their mate once they’ve found them. It bothered you, didn’t it? Is that why you freaked out in the stockroom? ”

“Fey and I have discussed what happened that day, and I have apologized.”

“Not to me,” Jasper said. He held Alastair’s gaze, seemingly oblivious to the danger lurking there. Oblivious to the anger roiling through the Vamp standing in front of him. The hunger. “You never said one damned word to me about what happened.”

Alastair bared his fangs. “I didn’t realize I had to apologize to my employee .” He spat the words at Jasper, pushing him to back down, but the Wolf refused.

“Don’t give me that shit. I wasn’t just your employee when you finger fucked her in front of me, was I? You did that to her to teach me a lesson,” Jasper continued. “So, if it wasn’t jealousy, then what was the lesson, boss? Because if the three of us are going to work, you need to?—”

“The three of us?” Alastair asked incredulously, temper flaring. “Let’s get one thing straight, puppy, there is no three of us. There is me and Fey.” He stalked closer. “And then there is you . Off in a completely different stratosphere.”

Jasper blinked slowly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t?—”

“But you did . That’s the fucking problem, Jasper. You did mean it that way. Because that’s how you’re starting to see it, isn’t it? The three of us .”

This time, Jasper didn’t deny it. “You can’t tell me that night didn’t mean anything to you, Alastair,” he said in a low voice.

Alastair’s answering laugh was nothing short of cruel. “Listen to me very closely when I tell you that’s exactly what it meant. We had fun. But you? You were there as a toy, never forget that. Hell, you were nothing more than a dildo with a pulse.”

“You’re lying,” Jasper told him, anger filling his voice. “You’re fucking lying.”

“And why the fuck would I?—”

“She’s my mate, Alastair,” Jasper breathed, eyes screwed shut. Like admitting it hurt him, somehow.

Alastair wasn’t sure he heard him right over the sudden roaring in his ears.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” he asked .

Jasper groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “It’s not… not just her. I think… I think it’s both of you. Together.”

Meeting Alastair’s cold stare, Jasper gave a halfhearted smile.

“Surprise?” He shrugged.

“Fuck you,” Alastair snapped.

“Look, it’s not a big deal,” Jasper explained with a placating gesture. “You and I have always been?—”

“You and I have never been anything,” Alastair interrupted.

“Sure.” Jasper rolled his eyes. “Right, there’s never been anything between us at all. Tell me something, boss—those three times you walked in on me with a woman in the stockroom, how many times did you join in?”

A dark and violent rage was brewing inside him, and Alastair wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold it back.

Twice. The answer was twice.

“Does Fey even know?” Jasper asked. He shifted a little closer. Close enough they were standing chest to chest. “Does she know that’s not the first time we’ve done that together? Shared a woman?”

Alastair shoved Jasper away so quickly the Wolf stumbled back against the wall.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Alastair warned.

Anger, hot and fast, rose in Jasper’s eyes. “Why not?” he pushed. “Are you scared you’ll like it?”

Alastair’s temper snapped. One moment he was staring at Jasper, and the next he had him pinned to the wall, hand around his throat.

“Say that again,” Alastair ordered, pushing down on Jasper’s throat. “Say it again, puppy. I fucking dare you.”

Jasper stared up at him, teeth bared, with only the briefest flicker of fear in his eyes. “Make me.”

Baring his sharp fangs, Alastair loosened his grip around Jasper’s throat and crashed their lips together.

He hadn’t meant to. He’d meant to drag the damned Shifter over to the door and throw him out on his ass. He’d meant to beat the shit out of him, to remind him who was in charge around here. He’d meant to tell him he was wrong.

But... he wasn’t .

Jasper froze under his kiss, shocked. Then Alastair felt his hands come up to grip him by the hair, pulling him closer with a moan. Alastair pushed closer, pinning Jasper against the wall.

How long had he wanted to do this? How long had ? —

Hunger, raw and angry, burned underneath his skin.

He desperately needed to feed.

Alastair pulled back with a jerk, breaking the kiss. Jasper stared at him with wide, wild eyes before bringing his fingers up to his own lips reverently, touching where Alastair’s lips had been.

“Fuck,” Alastair said, screwing his eyes shut. He felt a little breathless. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I knew it,” Jasper murmured. He licked his lips. “I fucking knew it. I can’t believe you… you had me thinking this was all in my head.”

“That was a mistake,” Alastair hissed. But he didn’t move. He kept Jasper pressed to the wall, kept himself pressed against him.

“Oh, really?” Jasper asked, smiling. He rolled his hips, and Alastair groaned as Jasper’s body rocked against his. There was no hiding what the kiss had done to him. “That right there? That doesn’t feel like you think it’s a mistake, boss.”

“Fuck,” Alastair said again. He pushed himself away from the wall, turning away from Jasper. He needed some distance, needed to catch his breath. He needed to think without this fucking hunger clouding his mind.

“You need to leave,” Alastair said, gesturing at the door. “This shouldn’t have happened. This can’t happen.”

Jasper laughed. He hadn’t moved, still leaning smugly against the wall, smirking. “What are you talking about? This is a good thing, isn’t it? You want me, too.” His eyes were bright. “I was right, wasn’t I? I can’t believe it. This is… the three of us we’re?—”

“Don’t you dare finish that fucking sentence.”

Jasper laughed again, shaking his head. “Alastair, are you really that repressed?”

Alastair shook his head. “I’ve fucked men before, Jasper. That’s not… that’s not the problem.”

“Then what?” Jasper closed the space between them, reaching up to clasp the back of Alastair’s neck. “The three of us could be so good together,” he whispered. “Goddess, just imagine it.”

Alastair angrily slapped Jasper’s hand away. “There’s no three of us. There’s no us. I love Fey. I can’t lose that. I can’t lose her.”

Jasper frowned. “So? I’m not trying to get between you and her. Don’t you get that? It’s us . The three of us. And once she hears about this?—”

“No.” Panic flooded his chest. “No, she can’t know what we just did. She can’t know any of this. I can’t risk losing her if she… if she doesn’t understand.”

Jasper’s face went cold, eyes darkening.

“This shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have touched you like that.”

“But you did,” Jasper said, voice dropping to a low growl.

“You fucking provoked me!” Alastair shouted. Enough. He’d put up with enough.

“Get out,” Alastair snapped, pointing toward the door. “Get out of my office. You’re fired.”

Jasper snorted a laugh, and Alastair ground his teeth together so hard his jaw cracked.

“I’m not kidding this time, Jasper,” he said, looking up. “You crossed a line. Get your shit and get the fuck off my property. You’re officially unemployed. Ferus can take you off the roster, but I don’t want to see you here again.”

Jasper’s smile slipped from his face, and the look of hurt that filled his eyes shattered something in Alastair’s chest.

“Fuck you,” Jasper said. Then he turned around and walked out of Alastair’s office, slamming the door behind him.