I shoved my way through the door of the restaurant and prayed this one wasn’t owned by fae, too. We weren’t in Lakesedge, but Bad Moon Café smelled of supernaturals, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were other supernatural establishments throughout the city. I didn’t have the patience to encounter any of Beryl’s subjects right now.
Trapped. Stuck. Screwed.
The words kept tumbling through my mind. I didn’t know how to escape this place anymore. Ness’s plight kept me here, like I was a man who knew how to do the right thing. I wasn’t. I hadn’t been that man for a while now. Why I felt the need to pretend to be him anymore was beyond me.
Connor couldn’t pester me while we were inside because this was, in fact, a human establishment. I grinned the whole time. His silence was a blessing for now. If he kept up his ways, I would smear his face on the concrete later. Ness might get mad at me, but she could deal with it.
He glowered at me from his spot near the door while I ordered fifteen waffles and a bucket of whipped cream.
“Hey,” I called back. “How does Ness feel about strawberries? Or would she prefer something like chicken on her waffles?”
Connor opened his mouth. Then, when his lips formed an O of confusion, he shut it again. His brows rippled as they arched and fell flat. I watched his shoulders droop in defeat. The man didn’t know.
I hoped that was enough to show him that he was out of line.
In the end, I left with several bags. I bought a little of everything, so we could make our own lunch. Something about buying Ness lunch almost felt like a date. I reminded myself that I didn’t have time for such things, but the beast growled.
The beast reminded me of what Ness had said moments before I’d left the café.
Maybe I want him in my pants.
The beast made my blood boil. Images of Ness in my shirt filled my mind. I growled, hungry for the taste of her skin. I had to shake myself to clear my thoughts. They kept coming back. No matter how I tried to clear the corners of my mind, I found Ness behind every shadow.
My brother would have laughed at me and told me to pursue her. Morgan would have told me that I deserved a mate with an attitude like Ness’s. Mom had always told me to find a mate capable of shaking me out of my head.
I couldn’t show Ness off to my family, though. Not that I wanted to. Ness was someone who could help me. She wasn’t my mate.
Connor stalked behind me. I glanced back to make sure he was still there.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I asked.
He gave the barest shake of his head. “Because of the shit that went down yesterday, I missed one too many days at work. Helping Ness cost me my job.”
I whirled on him and flicked him in the nose. He recoiled, stunned. After blinking away the pain, he turned his outrage on me. I didn’t give him time to say anything.
“Ness didn’t cause you to lose your job,” I growled. “That was your Alpha’s doing.”
I cocked my head and stared at this man. I didn’t get why Ness was so damned determined to save this pack. Back home, I’d known good people. They’d helped one another in the face of a greater, much stronger danger. Alvin was just a wolf.
He wasn’t a dragon stricken with Treasure Sickness.
These cowards could band together and take care of Alvin by themselves. They only had to overcome their own selfishness first. Maybe then, they would have a functioning pack rather than a bunch of insipid fools cowering before a tyrant.
“Just because you’re a dragon, you think you have everything figured out.” Connor sneered.
I gave him a look of warning. We were on the human side of the city. He needed to watch his words.
“You’re bigger and stronger than the rest of us, so you think you know how things should go down. It doesn’t occur to you to be frightened of someone beneath you. News flash, asshole. Alvin isn’t beneath us. He’s the strongest of us.”
I sucked my teeth and weighed the potential consequences of breaking this man’s teeth.
“No one wants to look like I did yesterday. They don’t want Alvin to slip when he puts the knife to their throats.”
A human woman walking by picked up pace to rush past us. She glanced back warily before scurrying around the nearest corner. Her attention on us made me bite my tongue. That forced me to take time to mull over Connor’s words.
Alone, they were weak. They were vulnerable. If only they would band together, though. I didn’t know how to tell him that they could be the changes they wanted to see.
Then again, my own clan couldn’t do what needed to be done. They had seen the evidence, hadn’t they? I’d told myself for so long that the clan hadn’t noticed the effects of the Treasure Sickness. After all, hadn’t I done everything in my power to keep it from them?