She cracked a grin and played along. "What kind of signal?"
"I don't know. Do some of that sign language stuff." He made a hole with one hand and stuck his other finger in the middle a few times. "Do that if you get horny. It'll be my bat signal."
"You're exhausting."
He turned the music down, then said, "Thank you," and gave her a megawatt grin that would've buckled her knees if she were standing. Dustin was trouble in a pretty package, for sure and for certain.
Whatever he was feeling back there with his old pack was dissipating by the second. And really, a part of her was relieved to be this close to the D-Team again. They were a mixed bag of nuts, but they had built some strange thread of loyalty to each other during this crew interview process. She was at least fifty-four percent certain they would have his back if Dustin's old pack moseyed on in here. Geez, no wonder he wanted to pledge to Kane's Crew. His brother was a grade-A asshole, and the way he talked about the others always putting him in his place, she was pretty sure she hated every douchebag in his old pack. And that was saying something because she hated very little in her life.
"I like your sex hair," Dustin said through a cheeky grin as she got out.
Emma looked at her reflection in the window and nearly choked on air. She looked like a lion on a bad hair day. And was that … ? Was that a leaf? She plucked a twig out of her hair and laughed.
"Wait, I want to keep that." He snatched it from her hand before she could throw it on the ground.
"Why?" she asked as she pulled her crazy hair into a high ponytail.
"Memories. That was our first bang, Shortcake. That's a pretty big fuckin' deal."
"Please, like you haven't been with a hundred other women."
"Yeah, but none of them got twigs stuck in their hair." Laughing like he was God's gift to humor, Dustin ducked away from her swat.
She thought he was joking, but he really shoved the little limb into his back pocket and then crooked his elbow out gallantly. "For the show," he announced.
"Oh, so we are a pretend couple tonight?"
"Why not?" he said recklessly.
Oh, that man had the devil in his smile. Emma loved it when he was like this, easy with her, eyes only on her, a real smile on his lips. Perfect hair tumbling down his cheeks, that skin-tight sweater all stuck to his muscles like he was walking the stage in some wet T-shirt contest, and his jeans sitting low on his hips. And his eyes … one green and one blue, and a part of her hoped that was genetic because if she ever had a baby, she would love one with bi-colored eyes, just like Dustin.
Babies? That had come out of nowhere. She needed to rein it in. This was just pretend, and she was getting lost in fantasies of playing house. Dustin had about a hundred too many secrets for her head to be on future babies. Besides, she would be a vampire within the next couple of years, and she'd seen the children of vampire/shifter couples-terrifying little critters with little control.
Dustin held open the door to Drat's for her, waited for her to pass, and followed shortly, fingertips on her lower back. "D-Team!" he called across the dark-wood bar with the old, rusty street signs decorating most of the walls.
Beast, Logan, and Winter turned around from where they sat at the bar. Aaand so did Kane and Rowan.
"Shit, abort mission," Dustin said, turning her toward the door.
"Bad dog," Emma said as she kept turning them in a full circle until they were facing the bar again. "You need to hang out with Kane and make amends, or we'll never get in the crew. Buy him a drink and kiss his butt."
"I don't know what dragons drink. Arsenic and people's souls?"
"I can hear you," Kane called in a bland voice. He still looked at Dustin like he wanted to burn him to ashes and eat him.
"He hates me," Dustin muttered as they walked toward the bar.
Emma patted his arm. "No, he doesn't."
"Yes, I do," Kane called.
Tonight was going to be awesome.
"If he tries to kill me, do that signature move of yours," Dustin said.
"What move?"
"You know, the one where you knee grown men in the ball sacks."
Emma giggled and shook her head. She had done that once to Dustin. She felt bad about it now, but at the time she thought he was trying to hurt her instead of help her. "I'll protect you."
"Good." Dustin growled at Beast and lunged at him.
The titan didn't move, but only arched one blond brow and looked bored. "You smell like sex."
"Beast!" Emma reprimanded him.
"What?" Beast asked with a deep frown. "Did you do it by the river?"
"Oh, my gosh, were you there?" Emma asked loudly as heat blasted into her cheeks.
"No. That's where Dustin always goes when he's pissed or confused."
"Wait, what?" Dustin asked.
Dustin was talking too quietly, and the noises from the busy bar were confusing her, so Emma diverted to reading lips.
"How do you know where I go?" Dustin asked, shifting his weight from side to side and looking decidedly uncomfortable. His eyes were glowing again.
"I like to stalk things," Beast said nonchalantly, then downed a shot of amber liquor neatly. "You're fun to follow. You don't pay attention, get lost in your head. Gonna get yourself killed."
"Newsflash, psycho, it's not supposed to be fun to stalk people. Stop following me."
"Don't worry, dog." Beast's bright blue eyes narrowed to slits. "I'll keep your secrets on one condition."
"What secrets?" Winter asked.
"Yeah, what secrets," Kane growled out.
Dustin crossed his arms over his chest. "What condition?"
Beast jerked his chin to Emma. "Don't hurt the human." Beast's eyes blazed gold, and his voice dipped to a snarl. "Hurt Emma-"
"Yeah, yeah, and you'll kill me. Take a number." Dustin pointed at Kane. "He wants to kill me." He dragged his finger to Logan. "Also threatens to kill me every day." Dustin snarled at Beast. "You aren't the first or the last to make the threat, werepussy, and I'm still breathing. Emma isn't your concern. And I'm serious, Beast, stop fucking following me." Dustin brushed past Emma without meeting her gaze. "I'm going to take a piss."
Chapter Eight
Dustin rinsed the soap off his hands and yanked a paper towel from the dispenser. Fuck! Beast had seen him with the pack, heard God knew what, and now he had something to hold over his head. He was too deep into this. Any second this could all blow up in his face, and it wasn't just him who would be hurt now. Emma was right in the line of fire because of his stupid suggestion to pretend to pair up. This was supposed to be make-believe, but today it had felt like the most real part of his life.
Being with her made him happy.
Jesus. Happy? What did that word even mean? It sure as hell didn't exist for werewolves, and especially not one like him.
But still … today had been incredible. She'd kept his mind off Axton and the pack, kept his mind off everything but her, really. Dangerous little creature, that Emma. He needed to keep it together because he was walking a very fine line. Death by the Valdoro Pack or death by the Blackwing Crew. Wolf or Dragon, either death would hurt. And now he would be leaving Emma behind. Something about that thought made his wolf revolt inside of him. Dustin growled and slammed his back against the tile bathroom wall, then slid down to a crouching position and gripped the back of his head. He had to stay human. No more running from the reality of the position he was in by Changing into the wolf. He'd done that tonight with Emma. Got mad, Changed, left her alone in the damn woods where Axton and Jace were. And what could he have done if they'd decided to attack her then? He was bottom rank and submissive. Could he have defended her? Shit, he didn't even know that answer.
She would be on their radar now unless he convinced them it was all a ploy to get into the crew like they'd planned. Maybe if they thought Emma didn't mean anything to him and she was just his ticket into the crew, they would leave her alone.
What was he doing?
He was in way over his head, getting pulled under crashing waves, and what had he done? Grabbed onto Emma's ankle so he could drag her down into the darkness with him. Selfish. Typical werewolf shit, and he hated that he'd put her in danger.
But …
He'd never felt like this. Like maybe everything would be okay somehow. It was nice to have her at his back, finishing his sentences, thinking along the same winding lines he did, smiling at the same stuff he found funny. So beautiful. She would make pretty pups. Girl pups. Ones that looked like her with long curls and big green eyes. He could be a good dad if he had someone like Emma keeping him from fucking everything up. Ours.