Free When A Lioness Snarls (A Lion's Pride Book 5) by Eve Langlais

around the same time this club opened was interesting, though.
    “We’re not going to figure anything out just standing here,” she observed. True. He let her grab him by the hand and lead him from this large chamber through a wide arch into a second one, where the music was still just as loud and the space even more packed with bodies.
    In here, there were no chairs or couches to lounge on. The ceiling overhead sparkled with dancing colored lights projected by disco balls. Along the left wall of the room stretched a long bar with no stools. People leaned against it, some nursing drinks, some just standing and staring at those gyrating on the dance floor.
    Here the separation of couples was less distinct, as bodies undulated in a mass frenzy, moving freely with the music.
    “I’m going to go deep. You keep watch.” Before Jeoff could say no, Luna shimmied away from him, thrusting herself in the midst of the moving and grooving bodies. Since he had no intention of joining her, Jeoff tossed back the rest of his beer and headed to the bar. In his experience, that was usually the best place to find information.
    He found himself a spot at one end of the counter for the bar. It took only a moment for the bartender tending this section—a big, dark-skinned fellow wearing only jeans that hung low on his hips, leaving his impressively muscled torso bare—to note him.
    The bartender placed his hand on the bar and leaned forward with a smile, his teeth a gleaming white with the exception of one capped in silver with a symbol etched on it. This close, Jeoff could smell bear; the bartender was definitely a shifter, a grizzly, he’d wager.
    “What can I do you for?” asked the bartender.
    “I’ll take whatever you have on tap.” Jeoff leaned an elbow on the bar, the picture of nonchalance as he let his gaze dance over the crowd, easily spotting Luna’s blonde mop bopping amidst them. She didn’t dance alone. On the contrary, she found herself surrounded by two women and two men. A lioness playing in the middle. It didn’t seem to bother her that there was a lot of bumping and grinding going on, as well as inappropriate sliding of body parts.
    It didn’t bother her, but it sure as hell bothered him. Why? Luna was a grown woman. If she wanted to dance, she could dance. If she wanted to let those perverts touch her, that was her prerogative too.
    No touching. Bite them.
    His wolf sounded just as annoyed as him. It didn’t help that his mind kept trying to make him realize something. Nope. He wouldn’t let it. For the moment, denial was his best friend.
    The bartender placed a glass in front of him filled almost to the brim with a golden liquid topped with a hint of froth. Jeoff noted nobody else trying to vie for his attention, so he thought, what better time to try to strike up a conversation? “I’m Jeoff.”
    “Malcolm,” offered the man behind the bar.
    “Hey, Malcolm. This is my first time here, and holy shit, I gotta say, this place is fucking busy.”
    “No shit. Of late, it’s been like this almost every single night. We’ve got people coming to see us from all over the country. Apparently, we are the number one spot for swingers. I take it you’re here with your old lady?”
    Wouldn’t Luna freak if she heard Malcolm call her old. “Yeah. She’s a frisky thing. Always dragging me out to try new shit.” Frisky being an understatement.
    “Nothing wrong with a little spice.”
    This went beyond a little spice in his mind. “You been working here long?” he asked.
    The bartender shook his head. “Nope. Just started last week. I was actually headhunted from a place I was working out on the West Coast. They made me an offer to come and bartend. Crazy shit, eh? Whoever heard of a bartender getting headhunted? But the money is good. And the tips even better.” Was that a subtle hint? Jeoff tossed a twenty down. The bartender smiled and tucked it in the waistband of his pants.
    “So other than this room