“Yeah.”
“He only paid half because Liam-who happened to be at the restaurant-made me leave. He says Aidan is a major creeper. Is it true?”
Everest’s face creased, in concentration or in surprise or maybe in something else entirely.
“What?” I asked, combing the air to push away the thick smoke billowing from a food truck.
Slowly, as though he were trying out the words for size, he said, “Aidan Michaels hated Heath.”
Bass jolted from nearby amplifiers, making my heart skip a beat. If Aidan hated Heath and I hated Heath, then maybe Aidan wasn’t such a bad man.
“But is he a creeper?”
“I’d stay away from him.” Everest rubbed his hands on his jeans. “Want a beer?”
“Sure.”
He marched ahead of me toward a bar truck. Hollers and whistles pierced the purple air as the server filled two large plastic cups with the foamy liquid. I pulled a long swallow, then licked my lips. Exactly what I needed.
We traipsed through the thickening crowd. The opening notes of one of the band’s most popular songs rang out, and people went crazy. Bodies writhed, people shrieked, hands came up and pumped the air. I drank more of my beer so that it wouldn’t slosh all over me as we neared the stage. The drummer pounded on the percussions, and the orange-mulleted singer jumped in the air, belting out the lyrics.
I shifted my hips and raised one of my hands. The alcohol flowed through my veins, swirled through my body, and muted the thoughts and worries running on a loop inside my head. I drank deeper from my cup. By the third song, the entire content of my cup swished inside me, heightening the delicious beat and smoky voice of the band.
I felt a tiny bit happy. Even Everest smiled. He didn’t dance, but his head was bobbing to the tune. I bumped my elbow into his side.
“Thanks for taking me! This is awesome!” I yelled so he would hear me over the group of chanting girls.
He grinned, then grabbed my empty cup. “I’ll go get us refills. Don’t move, or I’ll never find you.”
“Not going anywhere.” I swung my head from side to side, the music thrumming against my bones. The night air was warm and pungent with a thousand smells-hot dogs, ketchup, grass, beer, sweat, jasmine, apricot…
I looked for the origin of that scent, fearing I’d find Amanda. Sure enough, she was standing a couple feet away, enclosed in Matt’s beefy arms. Next to them stood the rest of the pack. A couple of the guys looked my way, eyes glowing in the darkness. Tamara was grinding up against Liam’s rigid build. His hands didn’t touch her body, but that didn’t deter her. Maybe he wasn’t into public displays of affection.
I’d promised Everest I wouldn’t move, so I stayed put and tried to pretend they weren’t all right there. As I directed my attention back toward the stage, my gaze landed on some guy in a white wifebeater and low-slung jeans. Instead of facing the stage, he was looking at me, and so were his two friends. I frowned when I saw them raise their chins and sniff the air. They whispered to each other, then casually approached me.
My spine clicked into alignment, all of my nerves on high alert. Before they’d even reached me, I knew they were wolves.
“Ness Clark?” Wifebeater asked.
I squared my shoulders. “And you are?”
“We heard the pack bitch was back, but damn, we hadn’t heard how hot she was.”
For the first time since I’d returned to Boulder, I disliked someone more than Liam and Lucas. “You might call your females bitches, but I prefer she-wolf.”
Wifebeater smirked and took another step in my direction.
“Come any closer,” I hissed, “and I’ll make sure you can never breed.”
“The bitch has attitude.”
Anger dripped inside my veins like fuel. My limbs hummed. “Just leave me alone.”
He raised his palms in the air. “One question, and then we go.”
“I’m not answering any questions.”
His head was so close to mine I could smell his ripe breath. “Is your ass very sore from being the only bitch in your pack?”
My gaze narrowed to a sharp point. I punched his Adam’s apple and kneed his groin. Hard. And then arms were hauling me back, and a wall of bodies darkened the space between me and the asshole. I tried to shrug away from the arms, but they banded tighter.
“What did he say to you?” Liam’s voice was low.
Like I would ever tell him. He’d probably wonder why I’d turned violent at such a petty taunt. Or worse, he’d use it as ammunition against me.
“Nothing,” I grumbled.
“Justin Summix is an asshole, Ness. So I repeat, what did he say to you?”
Justin Summix. I committed the name to memory. “It doesn’t matter.”
Liam finally released me, and I turned to scan the sea of faces for Everest. When I couldn’t locate him, I stared back at Liam, caught him nodding. I pivoted, just as Matt tore through the line of bodies.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“My ass, it was nothing.”
His pupils throbbed in the gleam of the strobe lights. “You don’t talk; I don’t talk.”
“Ugh.” I growled, raking my hands through my hair.
Yelps rose around me as the pack moved through the field of festivalgoers, chasing Justin and the other two. And then three security guards broke away from their postings around the stage to jog after the boys.
“They’re going to get arrested!” I bellowed.
Liam gazed intently at his crew, lips thin, jaw set.
“Liam, call them off.”
“I’m not Alpha. I don’t give them orders.”
And yet, that’s exactly what he’d just done.
The singer from The Lemons stumbled on one of the lyrics as he witnessed the crush of bodies at the edge of the field, but then he flung his attention back to his twisting crowd and smoothed out the lyrics.
“Have you seen Everest?” I asked.