Page 127 of Illusory

He started to laugh as though I was joking, but then he got quiet, his gaze assessing. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not joking.”

“Must be those killerwolfinstincts.”

He was about to say something back to me when something over his shoulder caught our attention.

A group of people had gotten rowdy toward the front of the bar and then suddenly the crowd was shuffling around and changing shape as though it were a single, sentient mass. A shot of excitement buzzed through me at the thought of another brawl breaking out. I’d already seen three since I’d arrived here, and since neither one had ended in bloodshed, they’d only served as tantalizing entertainment.

And then Ifeltthem, clear as the breath passing in and out of my lungs—Trace and Dominic.

I knew they were in the tavern even before I saw them shove their way through the large crowd, coming to a stop just a few feet in front of me, with a very pissed-off Gabriel at the center of their formation.

I should have been nervous for Tessa and myself, petrified of the consequences even, but all I did was smile and wave at them. Trace’s gaze darkened dangerously as his eyes flicked over my dress while Dominic looked around the room and smirked. On the surface, he appeared to be entertained by the scene, but I knew him better than that. He was scanning the number of wolves slowly closing in on us and mapping out all the possible exits.

“Where the hell is Tessa?” asked Gabriel, his teethpractically gnashing together from how firmly his jaw was wired shut.

The music cut before I could point her out and suddenly it seemed like everyone in the tavern was staring at us. Well, at them actually. Because unlike them,Iwas a welcome guest here.

“You have ten seconds to get your bloodsucking asses out of this bar before we ruin your night,” warned a burly guy with dark curly hair that I hadn’t noticed until just then. He was standing shoulder to shoulder with Aemon and neither of them looked friendly anymore.

My mouth was dry as I slid off the pool table and landed on unsteady feet.

“Do you know these guys?” asked Aemon, his glowing gold eyes never wavering from my guys.

I nodded nervously as my stomach churned from the sudden nose-dive our night had taken. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to get hurt. “Yeah. They’re my friends.”

“We’re not looking for any trouble,” assured Gabriel and then grabbed Trace’s shoulder as he tried to move toward me. His blue eyes were pitch black then and still fixed on me like a man possessed.

“We’re just here to get our ladies and we’ll be on our way,” added Dominic and then met my eyes pointedly, gesturing for me to join them where they stood. “Angel?”

Aemon’s arm came out, stopping me in my tracks as Trace’s eyes snapped to where he was touching me, a thunderous growl rumbling from his chest.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” informed Dominic, almost jovially and before I could even track him, Trace was lunging through the air toward Aemon and his burly friend, knocking them both to the ground as all hell broke loose in Bad Moon Rising.

41. BREAKING THE PACK

I wasn’t sure if it was the vast amount of alcohol I had consumed, or the fact that the bar brawl involved three lethal vampires and a room full of intoxicated werewolves, but I couldn’t seem to make a lick of sense out of anything. Bodies and blood seemed to be spilling all over the place as the sound of warring wild beasts permeated the air like a blowhorn.

What the hell just happened?

My panicked, unfocused eyes flew to Trace, who was exchanging blows with Aemon and two other wolves, but before I could say or do anything useful, another group of tussling Supernaturals slammed into the pool table I was leaning against, causing it to skid away from me. My ass hit the floor about two seconds before my head did.

Screams and growling expletives filled the air as I stared up at the ceiling and the wooden beams that lined it. All of which was spinning wildly out of focus. Tessa and her great ideas.

This was all her damn fault, and for what? She abandoned me twenty minutes into the night to go make out with her old flame, or whatever the hell Americo was to her. We should have stayed home like Gabriel told us to. Now God only knew what was going to happen to us and how badly the guys were going to get hurt, and worse, I was too inebriated to get up and be of any help to them.

Dammit, Jemma…stop wigging out and do something!I scolded myself as I continued laying there like a useless bag of dicks.Maybe if I take off my heels I could manage to—

A crushing foot slammed down against my thigh, makingme welp out in pain. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

I needed to get my butt up STAT, or I was going to wind up stomped to death on the floor of some werewolf tavern in the middle of nowhere. Of all the ways to go, that would easily be the most embarrassing.

And yet, all I could do was lay there, staring up at the spinning ceiling while begging my eyes to stop seeing double. Another body slammed against the ground to my left, drawing my attention to the floor beside me.

At least I had company. “Fancy meeting you here.”

The guy’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he groaned out in pain.

“Woah. Are you okay?” I asked stupidly because he obviously wasn’t okay, but instead of answering me, he shook away the stars from his eyes and then climbed back up to his feet, howling as if he was about to go do a keg stand. As if he was having…fun.

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