That felt right.
The door swung open and in walked trouble. Petite Emma, with those sexy curves shoved into tight jeans and that little spaghetti-strap silk shirt. Make-up on point, fresh lip gloss, hair pulled back in a ponytail that gave him a boner on account of it being a beautiful mess, just like his Emma. He'd gotten her hair all ratted like that. She'd let him inside of her. Not like with the other girls she'd mentioned. They were all fucks he needed when pack life got too hard or his wolf became unmanageable.
Sex with Emma was different. It was better.
"Why are you staring at my vagina?" she asked. Her voice was thick and a little slurred, but he'd meant it when he'd told Emma her voice was perfect. No other girl he'd ever met sounded like her. He would recognize the tone of her voice from across a busy street.
Dustin cleared his throat and ripped his gaze away from the zipper of her jeans. "Are you here to blow me?"
Emma snorted and knelt down in front of him. "No. You didn't do the bat signal." She shoved her finger a couple of times into a hole she made with her other hand.
Dustin wanted to hold onto his worry for a little while longer, but it was impossible with his dainty little human making lewd gestures like that.
The smile dipped from her lips. "You okay?"
"Fine. Why?"
"You're on the floor like your world just ended."
Dustin took stock of his body. Crap, she was seeing him in a really vulnerable position. "Just dealing with some wolf shit. I'm good."
Emma canted her head, and her delicate eyebrows went into the cutest fucking frown he'd ever seen, right before she scooted between his legs and hugged his waist. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. "I bought you a drink. It's something called a Pink Panty Dropper, and it has extra maraschino cherries and a purple umbrella."
Dustin snorted a laugh. "You better not have."
"I roofied it so I can seduce you easier," she murmured, but there was a smile in her voice.
"The girl of my dreams," he muttered. He said it like a joke, but underneath the tease, he absolutely meant it. Emma was flawless.
He inhaled deeply and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You really do smell like sex. That's a compliment."
"Well, it's a terrible compliment."
"Thank you."
She shook her head against his shoulder, and he imagined her rolling her eyes. She did that a lot, but with a smile that said she wasn't that annoyed with him.
The door swung open, and Winter stumbled in with a pair of pink girly drinks in her hands and her eyes closed tightly. She was wobbling on her heels and smelled like a brewery. "Stop fooling around. I have to talk to y'all." Winter cracked an eye open and sighed with relief. Then she leaned against the wall beside them and slid down, landing a little too hard. Some of her drink spilled on the dingy tile floor.
"Sloppy drinker," Dustin accused.
Winter responded by handing him the drink, which had, in fact, five maraschino cherries sitting in the bottom and a purple miniature umbrella.
Emma was cracking up at herself.
"You're the worst," he muttered, but he took the horrid drink like a shot, because manners. Werewolves sometimes had them.
Logan kicked open the door and came in holding two more pink drinks and looking pissed. "She fucking ordered them for everyone." He sat down beside Winter with the grumpiest frown on his face.
Dustin snorted, and now Emma was really laughing in his arms, shoulders shaking. God he loved her.
Beast came in four seconds later with two more girl-drinks. He smelled angry. And like maraschino cherries. And last but not least to this bathroom party were Kane and Rowan. How many monsters could they fit in one tiny bathroom? Here was the answer.
Beast handed Kane the fruity drinks and stumbled over to the urinals on the wall. A jingle of his belt and the rip of his zipper, his back to them, Beast started pissing.
"Dude," Logan growled. "There are girls in here."
"Girls pee, too," Rowan slurred.
"How much have you had to drink?" Dustin asked the crowd.
"Enough," Kane muttered, as he sat on Dustin's other side and handed him another pink drink.
"Hard pass," Dustin said.
"Fucking drink it. I'm going to puke if I have to drink both."
Dustin growled but chugged the nasty drink as Rowan settled on the other side of Kane. He felt heavy and terrifying so Dustin shifted his weight toward Winter so he wouldn't barf at the raw dominance wafting from the dragon.
With a snarl, Logan leaned over his mate and shoved Dustin's head. "Back off. Mine."
"I strongly dislike all of you," Dustin groused. "Not you Emma. You're pretty and let me have sex with you, and Winter, you're only annoying in the mornings."
"I second that," Beast said, turning from his piddle-session. "Fuck mornings."
"Did you know public restrooms are one of the filthiest places in the world?" Winter asked. "I read that somewhere."
Emma was slurping out of Kane's remaining drink in his hand while the alpha sucked on his mate's neck. Tonight was weird.
No. As Winter chattered on with the most useless facts on the planet and Beast agreed with everything as he washed his hands, while Kane and Rowan sucked face, and Emma hugged him closer, Dustin thought maybe tonight wasn't weird, but perfect instead. The perfect follow-up to the fear that his pack would catch up to them and hurt Emma.
Sure, the Blackwing Crew would eventually find him out and probably kill him in some torturous way, but for now, they felt a lot safer than the pack. Safe. He huffed a breath and massaged the back of Emma's head.
Safe was just a word, and words meant nothing.
But for Emma?
Dustin frowned down at her. She finished off Kane's drink with a loud slurp. She smiled up at him and looked so proud and so naughty. Yeah, she was safe. She had to be. He would make sure of it. He didn't know how, but he was going to get her out of the trouble that clung to him like a second skin. He would bring hell to earth to make sure no one hurt his little human. She was his to protect, and this was the moment he accepted it. Accepted that she was his priority, that her breaths were more important than his, that her heartbeat was more vital to him than his own. It was the moment he made a silent oath to go to war for her, no matter what it cost him. Because she had to be okay. If Emma existed on this earth, Dustin could believe in goodness.
She poked both corners of his lips with her forefingers and shoved them up into a smile. When he chuckled, Emma sighed a happy sound.
"Why are we all hanging out in the bathroom?" Winter asked suddenly, looking around like she was confused about how she'd gotten there. Sloppy, sloppy.
"Why wouldn't the Blackwings hang out in a dirty bathroom for their first celebration?" Kane asked blandly. "Seems fitting enough to me."
"Agree," Logan said, lifting his full drink. When the umbrella fell out and fluttered to the ground, he stomped on it like a roach.
Winter's face went all mushy, and she cuddled up to the lunatic like he was cute.
"Wait, the Blackwings?" Emma asked Kane.
"Yeah, you've all been invited now. I mean, you still have to bite this lying asshole to get in." Kane tossed Dustin a hate-filled look. "But you all got the folders."
"Didn't you know we were celebrating as a crew tonight?" Rowan asked from the other side of her mate.
"But Beast hasn't gotten one," Emma pointed out.
Beast slammed a pink drink back and gulped. "I got one the other day."
"What?" Logan asked too loud. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Beast shrugged his massive shoulders. "No one asked."
Everyone sat frozen in silence, staring at the scar-faced behemoth.
Emma was the first to snort, and Winter and Rowan followed. Their quiet snickers turned to laughter, and even Logan chuckled. Beast looked pissed and crossed his arms as he glared at them. Kane shook his head and sighed the saddest sound, and now Dustin couldn't help laughing either.
"To the worst crew in the world," Dustin toasted them. "To the D-Team."
The others repeated in unison, "To the D-Team."
And then they downed the rest of the girly drinks.
Chapter Nine
Emma blew on her newly painted nails and carefully turned the page in the celebrity gossip magazine with the pad of her pointer finger. Why were all the lies about celebrities boring this week? Or maybe not boring, but pretty tame compared to the crazy last few days she'd had.