A growl rumbled up Jude's throat. Marrying you off tomorrow, brat.
Pocketing his phone, he turned to leave and came face to face with the one other woman who held power to disrupt his life.
Fuck, disruption wasn't even close to the right word.
Lily stood at the bar, delectable hips filling the space between two stools. A backless top and narrow skirt hugged her full figure, tempting him to dip his tongue into the dimples at her lower back.
She wore her thick, dark hair drawn back in some kind of twisted ponytail that brushed the tops of her shoulder blades. The style left the side of her face and the long, creamy slope of her neck exposed to his gaze. As he took in the red kiss of her mouth and the strong but delicate line of her jaw, he remembered what Summer had said.
Something cat-nippy about her. Yeah. Summer had been dead-damn-on and he was still reeling from the middle of the night discovery of his True Mate.
A woman who was so obviously freaked out by the whiplash power of their connection that even his lion had known to back off, back down, and feel things out instead of pouncing, pinning, and staking its claim.
Seeing here, dressed to kill in a crowd that boiled with sexual energy, pushed him to the limits of restraint. He was already there on the edge after that phone call when she'd let slip she was meeting someone. Now he felt fucking feral as he stared at the man occupying the stool beside her, his thigh so close to her hip, Jude actually gave some thought to letting his lion act on the desire to bite the guy's leg off.
But right then, she turned her head and caught him staring. The connection was right there when their eyes met, instant, a near physical thing. She swayed on her fuck-me heels and gripped the bar. As he took the long stride to close the distance between them, he willed her not to look away. Dared her to be the fierce woman who strutted around in those dick-hardening corsets she wore to work, the woman bold enough to outright ask him what he was. No, tell him. Because she hadn't asked, she'd just known he was a shifter, the same way he knew she belonged to him. With him.
Before either of them could say anything, the guy standing on her other side got up and left. Someone else moved in immediately and put his hand on her naked back.
Something primitive and violent woke up. Jude bared his teeth and looked past where Hawk leaned in closer and gave a challenging smirk.
Lily leaned forward until the bar dug into her chest. "Hands off."
"Aw, don't be that way, beautiful." Still watching Jude, Hawk slid his hand down toward her ass.
The lion snapped. Jude lashed out and grabbed Hawk's wrist. Side-stepping, he twisted the other man's arm so high behind his back, Hawk bent at the waist, cursing as Jude seized a fistful of hair and slammed his head onto the bar.
"Go," he growled at Lily, who had straightened and now stood staring at him with her beautiful red lips parted in surprise.
She recovered with her next breath. With a last inscrutable look, she gathered the trio of drinks that had appeared in front of her.
Hawk jerked against Jude's hold as Lily walked away and melted into the dark corner near the restrooms.
"Summer." The interfering little devil.
"Oh, yeah." Hawk laughed. "Pretty little sis is visiting, isn't she? I've seen her around at a few recent gigs. I think she's got her eye on me."
"Worry about your own eyes if you want to keep them in your head. My sister doesn't exist for you."
One of the bartenders came back to them. "You're on again, Hawk. Settle your shit on your own time."
She fixed Jude with a hard stare and jerked her head toward the door. "And you settle yours in your own litter box. We don't need the Jungle's trouble spilling over on us."
Jude shoved Hawk into the bar, but released him and stepped back. Apparently satisfied, the bartender moved away to take another drink order.
"I can leave little sis alone." Hawk glanced past Jude toward the bathrooms. "Got my mind on someone else now, anyway."
The scene at the bar hadn't gone unnoticed. When Lily got back to the crowded little table, Alexa raised her perfect eyebrows pointedly.
"Men in bars." The excuse sounded weak to her own ears. "Not even girls-only nights are completely free of them."
"Uh-huh. That looked like more than beer-powered testosterone from where I'm sitting."
It had felt like a whole lot more than that, too. Her hands shook noticeably as she pushed two of the three cocktails toward Alexa's friends, who were chatting with their heads together.
Picking up her own cranberry and vodka, she took a deep, fortifying drink. "From where you're sitting, all you can see is the men's room door."
"Don't underestimate these smoky eyes. I see things." Alexa twirled her nearly empty wine glass. "Did you call my guy?"