Free Claiming the She Wolf by Louisa Bacio Page A

give her a little bit of breathing space, but I’m hoping she comes to her senses sooner rather than later.”
    After nodding in agreement, Paul pointed toward Yas’s food. While the meals at Gee’s were good, he figured he’d get mighty tired of them day in and day out if that was all he got. He should be eating beef potpie at Tala’s about now and gazing into her sparkling eyes.
    Damn it all. She had to hook him and then toss him like he was an underweight catch. As he ate, he eavesdropped on the various conversations happening. Most of the customers appeared to be pretty relaxed, but a group of three guys at the bar pounded the shots too quickly for his taste. In the space of half an hour, they’d ordered three rounds, and that was only what he’d seen. The tall, dark-haired guy on the end raised his hand at Gee, who shook his head and did a slash through the air with his palm. Yas recognized the universal signal for “done.” They’d been cut off.
    “Fuck that,” the speaker for the group said with a snarl. He tossed some bills down and swept his hand across the bar, punctuating his words by knocking off the empties. The glasses crashed onto the floor. “We’re outta here.”
    The jerk turned to survey the bar, probably checking out who was paying attention to the scene he’d created. The guy’s nose and face looked flat, pushed in, as if he’d broken it too many times and hadn’t bothered to get it reset. With such an attitude, it wouldn’t surprise him if he’d been in a few altercations.
    As Mr. Flat Face made eye contact with Yas, his eyes widened as if he recognized him. He elbowed the shorter dude next to him, and all three turned to check him out. A sense of unease soured Yas’s gut. How could they recognize him? The only way would be to see him in town, and without Tala by his side, they probably figured out she was alone.
    Gee came round the bar, arms crossed, and stared down the threesome. Laughing, they headed out. He was reading too much into the situation. Just because he’d had the fight with Tala, now he saw potential danger everywhere. She’d lived in this town her entire life. Because he wouldn’t be out there tonight didn’t mean anything was going to happen to her, right?
    No matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise, his gut clenched with determination. He pushed his plate aside and left some money to cover the bill on the table. By the time he reached the door, he was trotting. Paul swept up the broken glass, and Yas stopped for a moment.
    “I’m heading out there to make sure she’s all right,” he said. “Didn’t like something about those guys.”
    “There’s a lot not to like about them,” Gee agreed. He turned to wipe down the bar top.
    Did that mean he was doing the right thing by following them? He could interpret the cryptic words a few different ways. No time to decipher the meaning, he stepped out.
    The moon hung low over the rooftops, brightening the night’s sky. The glow reached its lighted tendrils out, bathing him in its magical qualities.
    For being so loud and obnoxious, the three guys were not to be found or heard. They reminded him of the frat boys he’d seen on campus. But, if they were as drunk as they’d seemed in the bar, they should still be fumbling somewhere close. Unless, they’d set off on a purpose.
    His inner wolf growled and wanted to come out. He weighed the odds of shifting and unleashing his uncontrollable side. In wolf form, he’d move faster. Reflecting upon the calm lessons of Tala, he shut his eyes and willed his body to shift.
    Nothing. He needed to do this now. A shiver crawled up his spine, and he shuddered in the cold night. He should be covered in fur about now, not freezing his white ass off in the middle of town.
    He pictured flat-face guy, his head thrown back, laughing as he knocked the shot glasses off the bar, and the knowledge that passed between them when they made eye contact. Despite common sense telling