Page 306 of Labor of Love

Michelle has been publishing LGBTQIA+ Romance since 2018. Her works include M/M and F/F romance in the paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary genres.

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BLURB

A stinky dog has been circling around me lately. He’s a Golden Retriever shifter who smells like the sun and everything good. I try my best to stay away, but then he tells me we’re fated mates and asks me to spend his rut with him. Now I can’t stop thinking about having his babies…

1

ONYX

Astinky dog had been circling around me recently.

I glanced over my shoulder to look outside the large café windows and spotted said dog shifter with his nose practically pressed against the clean glass windows.

When he saw me looking his way, his Golden Retriever ears poofed out through his shaggy blond curls. A large, fluffy tail, the same color as his hair, wagged wildly behind him.

I merely shook my head at the sight. As an adult, he knew better than to display his animal traits out in the open like that. As civilized shifters, we were taught strict control over our instincts, or else we’d be no better than the animals we’d evolved from thousands of years ago. Maintaining our human forms was the basis of our society. Only children or those who couldn’t keep their emotions in check let their animal traits slip through in public.

“The little puppy’s sniffed you out again,” Asher said in a teasing tone. My best friend glanced between me and the man in question with a smirk.

Asher worked at my bar, so he’d been there to witness my disastrous meeting with this Golden Retriever.

Luca had walked into my bar last week, where he proceeded to get shitfaced. Even before he’d started downing all those drinks, everyone’s eyes were on him.

Firstly, it was because my bar really wasn’t the kind of place one went to get blackout drunk. Not when a drink at my establishment was almost three times the price of the seedy bars lining the streets a couple of blocks down. People came to my bar for the vibes, my delicious cocktails, and the experience. It helped that Asher made killer food that paired well with the drinks I whipped up.

And second, Luca was absolutely stunning, even I had to admit that. He was tall and muscular, but not too bulky. He was an omega’s wet dream, walking straight off the front cover of an underwear magazine. So, it wasn’t surprising he’d gotten all that attention.

Even from the back of the bar, where I was taking care of some miscellaneous tasks, I could see there was something special about him.

I’d watched as he’d ordered shot after shot from my part-time omega bartender. Lumi’s eyes were literal stars as he served the alpha endless alcohol. He was so smitten, I feared it had clouded his judgment on how much a person couldreasonably drink in such a short period.

Lumi usually knew when to cut someone off, but this time, it wasn’t until I stepped in to check if our customer was okay that Lumi realized the dire situation. By then, the blond alpha was already wasted and had let his control slip.

Golden dog ears popped through his mess of blond curls, and I remembered thinking his being a Golden Retriever shifter matched his appearance perfectly. Not to mention his delicious scent that somehow smelled like the sun and everything good on a cloudless day.

That was the last thought I had before the alpha turned my way, shot me the most devastating smile, and then promptly threw up all over me before slumping over the bar in blissful sleep.

Then the whole bar was staring at himandme, now for an entirely different reason. Thankfully, my staff were quick on their feet to remedy the situation. Lumi cleaned up the mess while Asher helped me lug the giant,dead-on-his-feet alpha upstairs to my living quarters.

It was the first time I’d had to bring a drunk customer into my private space. I could have left him sprawled over my bar, and he would have deserved it after projectile vomiting all over me. But he’d already made enough of a scene, and I figured removing him was the quickest way to get on with the night.

Centuries ago, there was a popular belief that cats and dogs were mortal enemies—fighting like cats and dogs, I believe the saying was. Maybe there was some truth in that, and my approaching him had somehow caused all the bad luck to fall on my shoulders.

As a black cat shifter, I was supposed to bring bad luck to others, not the other way around. Or maybe it was because I hadn’t been around many dog shifters before—they found me too stuffy and dull—that bad luck never had a chance to find me.

The next morning, a more clear-minded Luca acted like the perfect gentleman as he profusely apologized for his behavior the previous night. He was appalled to know he’d made a mess out of me and my bar and had generously reimbursed me for the trouble.

I thought that would be the end of it, and I could put the entire distasteful experience to the back of my mind. But my thoughts were far from reality.

Luca had returned to the bar that night and every night since. He was always dressed like a fucking superstar, each ofhis moves drawing everyone’s eyes. At least he never got drunk enough to cause another scene.

I learned from Lumi that the reason he’d gotten so drunk the first night was because he’d broken up with his ex. To know that he was so heartbroken over someone he loved, I wished Lumi had never told me. Partly because something inside me ached at knowing he was hurt, and another part was filled with irrational jealousy that a man I barely knew had once belonged to someone else.

It was best to stay clear of him.

He would always keep a respectable distance from me, but he had no qualms about chatting merrily with the rest of my staff. And when he thought I wasn’t looking, I’d find him watching me with eyes that were filled with a mixture of what looked like guilt and something else I couldn’t pinpoint.

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