"Do you guys know what you want?" Faolan and Theo had been sitting with the menus for a few minutes but he had hardly looked at it. He kept staring at the bar hoping its mistress would return. She had come out just one other time talking to the girl with all the books to which the girl promptly packed all her things and left.
"Hey man, do you know what you want?"
The spell was broken when Faolan heard his name and his gaze returned to his friend across from him.
"Hmm..what?" Theo raised his eyebrow at him. Faolan was obviously distracted. Theo thought it better to just order for the both of them. Turning to Susan he answered the waitress who was politely waiting.
"Let's just get two tavern burger baskets please. And a pint of anything on tap." Suzan jotted down the order with a smile and ran towards the kitchen. Before she got far Faolan had an idea.
"...MILKSHAKES!" He practically yelled at the poor lady, who was obviously startled as she turned around and smiled at Faolan.
"Milkshakes?"
"Yes two giant milkshakes."
"Ok....what flavor" Flavor?... oh he hadn't thought that far.
"Um...chocolate?" Theo was outright gawking at him. Calm and calculating Faolan Whiteclaw, Alpha King of all wolves was acting like a blubbering idiot. Maybe it was good to take a break before the gathering. His friend was obviously loosing it.
"We can do chocolate," Suzy confirmed. Faolan turned toward his friend with a triumphant smile while Theo just scowled and shook his head. "...what?" Faolan wasn't sure what he did to earn his friend's displeasure.
"You're acting weird man. I'm going to blame it on traveling but I hope you come to your senses tomorrow. I don't need you going crazy on me till after our big shindig." Faolan guessed he was acting a little impulsive. He just wanted to see that woman one more time. It wasn't as if he was going to do anything with her. He didn't even know if she was a wolf at all. She just caught his interest and he wanted to know more. Completely innocent.
A few minutes later Suzan returned with two milkshakes and two pints of beer.
"Your baskets all almost ready. I'll bring them out in a few minutes." Theo immediate started on his beer while Faolan just stared at his milkshake. "Something wrong with you milkshake sir?" Yes. You were the one who brought it. But to actually say that to Suzan would be rude especially since she had done nothing at fault. Before Faolan made his excuses the tavern door opened followed by several male voices hollering.
"Wooooo. The boys are back!" Four males came tumbling in yelling and not minding who it disturbed. They were barely old enough to grow scruff so they must have been just recently out of high school. The stench that came with them told Faolan that they were wolves although very stupid ones.
"Crap," Suzan mumbled. Faolan turn his gaze towards her as she stared at the invaders. She gave a "if you'll excuse me..." and dashed to meet the young wolves. "Gentleman I would ask you to keep it down. There are other patrons."
"Oh come on Susie," the tallest of the ruffians with black hair and bushy eyebrows wrapped his arm around Susan while he spoke to her. "Admit it you love us."
"Just please be courteous to the other guests," Susan begged before untangling herself and walking away. A loud slap sounded as Susan froze. The whole tavern went silent. The boy with the bushy brows had his hand lowered from where he spanked poor Susan. The smirk on his face showed he had no remorse. Faolan let out a growl. Only pathetic scum treated a female so lowly.
"Don't be so hasty." Theo interrupted his thoughts. "I want to beat the idiots heads together as much as you do, but the more noise you make the less you'll be able to fly under the radar." Faolan didn't care. Those pups needed to be taught a lesson about respect, and he was about to do just that when he was interrupted!
"Gentleman!" They voice caused the hoodlums to freeze and face towards the kitchen where the lady from the bar stood with her hand on her hip. The voice she used demanded they heed her. The four boys stopped to stare at its command. "I suggest you boys find a seat. The kitchen will be closing soon, so you better get your orders in before then." Although her voice was calm and hospitable the ice in her eyes held enough frost to know that her words weren't just a suggestion. All four wolves stared at her as they moved to sit at the booth behind Theo and Faolan.
"Did you see that?" asked Theo. "The manager was able to control those four with a bark followed by a few veiled words...and they listened. Does that seem odd to you?" Faolan nodded. His mystery woman was becoming more interesting to him.
"Do you think she's a wolf? Maybe an enforcer from the local pack?"
"Nah, that can't be it." Theo shook his head. "The local pack doesn't have any female enforcers. Plus she doesn't smell like a wolf. Maybe she has witches blood."
The mystery woman was now back behind the bar getting refills for various patrons. Faolan was able to stare at her without too much suspicion. Theo was right. He couldn't smell wolf on her. In fact he couldn't smell anything on her. It was like she was a blank space. Maybe Theo had it right with the witch's blood.
"Way to go idiot," One of the hooligans, the one with a bit too much acne, whined. "You had to pull off a macho power move when the Magpie was working. We'll be lucky if we even get our orders in before we get kicked out." Magpie high? Faolan assumed they were talking about the brunette that held his interest.
"How was I suppose to know she was working?" Bushy eyebrows protested. "She wasn't behind the bar when we came in."
"She works almost every night. That's what happens when you're the fucking manager you idiot." Although didn't like the immature group he was at least getting some good info out of them.
"Here you go boys." Suzan popped up at their booth with two basket of burgers and fries. "Careful the fries are fresh out of the fryer." Theo and Faolan both dived in to their burger and each could not help but to let out the satisfied moans they illicited.
"Um 'scuse me, ...Susan?" Acne face was trying to catch Suzan's attention. "Can we get some menus please? ...Ma'am?" The boys next to them seem to be finding their manners.
"Manager said the kitchen is closed so we have soda and milkshakes available for you but otherwise you're out of luck." The was a chorus of groans at Susan's declaration. One guy hit bushy brows outside the head claiming it was his fault. Faolan snickered quietly. They were getting what they deserved.
"Nope, I'm not dealing with this." Bushy brows didn't know to quit qhile ahead.
"Come on man. Don't make it worse. Let's just order some shakes and make the best of it." Acne face seemed to be the reasonable one.
"No! She obviously closed it to mess with us. I don't know why everyone listens to her. She's not even pack!" For a public bar the pup wasn't being subtle. "No I am not listen to some homeless runt. If she is going to live here she needs to learn to respect hierarchy."
Bushy brows darted out of the booth. Faolan whipped his hand out and grabbed bushy brows by the arm. Bushy brows whipped back around to Faolan with a snarl but came to an abrupt stop when he met the Alpha's eyes. Faolan's Alpha power rolled off of him. Not enough to give him away but enough to show the pup he meant buisiness. Bushy brows eye's grew wide with ill-hidden fear.
"If you were smart you you would listen to your buddies and just order the milkshakes." Faolan kept his voice low but deep. This pup was in need of a lesson. Faolan's wolf had his hair standing on end. It did not like the pup threatening the mystery woman. After a moment bushy brows thrashed away and Faolan let him go but continued to stare at him. When the boy started to walk back to his booth Faolan returned to his burger, but at the last minute bushy brows turned and stomped towards the bar.
"This is buillshit." He mumbled asa he walked by. Faolan moved to walked after him but Theo interrupted and grabbed his arm to stop him. Faolan glared at his friend who returned it with a simple shake with a low "Keep it cool man."
The mystery bar woman did not show any hesitation or fear as she met the eyes of bushy brown as he stomped towards her. She just continued to wipe down the glass she was holding calm as if the pubescent fueled display meant nothing to her.
"Alec, sit back down, before I throw you out," she called to him. Alec should have listened. Alec smirked at the bartender and in an instant grabbed the glass she was holding and threw behind her crashing against the wall. Faolan jumped to his feet a tower of rage. Theo had to grab him him both hands to yank him back down.
"Don't lose it man. He's just upset. We can't break cover unless he actually touched her. Bring up with his alpha later." Theo was right. They assumed this woman was in the know with wolves but they couldn't be too careful. If he did punish the pup and the woman didn't know everything, he would either reveal what they were or have to deal with local authorities when the woman called it in. Both weren't problems he wanted to deal with. Faolan's wolf didn't care. Didn't matter who this woman was, you don't disrespect a female like that.
Faolan looked at the woman and surprised to see how calm she remained. She had an almost full grown wolf panting in her face and she only showed a look of annoyance rather than fear. Alec was not impressed.
"You can't throw me out. You know who runs this town? If it weren't for you being buddy buddies with the Alpha's daughter you would have been run out of town years ago. Me and my buddies are hungry and we get angry when we are hungry. So you are going to find Suzie, and tell her to give us some menus and then we are going to order whatever we want or you are going to learn real quick what it means to go against a pack."
Alec glared at mystery woman breathing heavy after his yelling tirade. Mystery woman glared back. Not giving an inch. Faolan returned his glare to Theo who was still holding on to him.
"Look. She either is in the know already or this idiot just spilt a whole bunch of things that will need explaining. Either way the cat's out of the bag." Theo though for a beat before shrugging his eyebrows and letting Faolan go.
"His funeral.." was all he replied. Faolan unfolded himself from the booth and began tromping toward the pair. Before he could get there he her the woman behind the bar speak.
"Is that is Alec? Are you done?" Her facial expression still hadn't changed.
"Are you going to get us what we want?" He replied just as loud and obnoxious as his rant.
What happened next happened so fast Faolan almost missed it. Once moment the bartender was standing calm and collected, the next he saw the women grab Alec behind the head and slam it into the bar top. BAM!
Alec crumpled to the ground next to the bar groaning and holding his nose which was now gushing with blood. Foalan paused shocked at this new discovery and then started laughing. Who would have thought this tiny woman had such spunk? She caught the pup totally off guard with that move.
Alec's friends poured out of the booth and went to rush their friend. There was a chorus of concerns for poor Alec but none of them addressed the spunky bartender who just stood behind the bar shooting daggers at the group.
Alec slowly rose to his feet. still holding his nose, tears in his eyes.
"Your dead!" Alec was yelling but his voice waivered as he didn't have the confidence of before. "When the Alpha hears about this he's going to-"
"He's going to do what?" A low rumble of a voice interrupted Alec's cries and the entire room turned towards the source. Just inside the doorway stood a man in his fifties with a head of dark brown hair with silver on the sides. He wore jeans with a tucked in button down shirt and a pair of brown work boots. Faolan could feel the dominance the man was exerting on the group. The man slowly walked up to them. As he did each member moved backwards against the bar looking down not daring the meet the man's eyes.
The man stared down each boy who then seem to shrink even more.
"Everything alright Mags?" The man turned his gaze towards the bartender. The bartender met them without hesitance.
"Nothing I couldn't handle, Alpha."