Chapter 8

Sheppard

My cell phone rang and came up with Jagger´s name on the ID. ¨Hello,¨ I said, gruffer than necessary, but no good could come from a call from Jagger.

“Alpha, we’ve got an issue. There’s a polar bear omega in here with your boys, and the creepers have their nuts out. I tried to keep them away from him, but it’s like trying to keep flies off shit.”

“What’s going on?” I stood, knocking my desk chair back, not even giving enough shits to pick it back up. I was burning the midnight oil, working on paying the monthly bills, my least favorite of all the tasks that came with the job. I always had to take care of it at night when no one would bother me or knock on the door for something stupid like someone had taken their cup at dinner or their favorite shirt was missing.

I hated the petty problems.

“Well, right now, your new polar bear has holed up in the bathroom to get away from Gary. You know how Gary is.”

I let the “your” go by. He was new to our pack.

And I did know how Gary was. If there was a sleazeball among men, it was Gary. He oozed predatory lust, and it made even the more dominant omegas keep their distance.

“What else? Are the other pack members helping the polar? He’s hanging out with them?” At the bar? He did not strike me as the roadhouse type.

And fuck, I sounded too eager. But I was eager. I wanted to know how he was getting on and if he was getting it on with any other males, though he didn’t strike me as the one-night stand type. Not that I had any right to tell him no after I rejected him so firmly and had not given him any reason to think that had changed.

“Nah, stayed by himself most of the night. He tried to move from the bar, and Gary sat across from him in the short booth. He got all wide-eyed, and I’d intended to try and get him away, but he bolted to the bathroom.”

I huffed out a growl. I didn’t like the sound of Gary or any other male around Toklo, but then again, I couldn't’ be around him all the time. “What about the other boys? You just calling to tell me about the polar, or are they up to shenanigans?”

“Listen to this.”

I heard the clinking of glasses and loud laughter, a crash or two. He must’ve put the phone on speaker and held it facing the room because the volume on the crowd rose, and I recognized more than one of my men as the culprits.

“Those are your pack boys being a little too rowdy. I’ve already had to cut most of them off, but they’re getting worse. If they start a fight in my bar, I’m gonna have to ban them, pack or not. You feel me?”

“Yeah. I’m coming down there. And keep an eye on that polar, okay?”

“I’ll do what I can if he comes out of the john. Get down here, asap,

Sheppard. I’m not about banning people, but I’m right on the edge of it.” “Okay. I’m on my way.”

I rushed downstairs and jumped in the extra-cab truck just in case I had to take a few pack members home. It took less than twenty minutes to reach the roadhouse, but every second dragged.

Toklo was foremost on my mind, despite my duties.

Yeah, my betas would have handled this. I could’ve asked them to go, but something inside me wanted to be his savior. Be his hero.

Besides, seeing the alpha come to straighten their asses out might send a good message that I was no longer putting up with any bullshit from them.

Never really had, but lately, they’d been flagrant about disobeying the rules. Enough was enough.

I threw the truck into park and barged into the bar, sending some of my alpha power out into the atmosphere around me. Every yell stopped. Every laugh ceased. Every face turned toward me.

That’s right, you jerks, look what you made Jagger do.

“There’s only one reason an alpha comes into a bar like this,” someone shouted. I didn’t recognize the voice.

Another one answered, “Yeah, and it’s not the fucking rum. Watch your omegas, men. Alpha’s on the prowl.”

I was not on the prowl. Well, kind of on the prowl for Toklo. Shit.

I let my growl carry to the far corners of the room. “Midnight Alder pack, out. That’s enough for tonight.”

There was a collective groaning, but they did as I said, paying up and then leaving one by one. I’d speak to them at home, in private. We did not air our dirty laundry in public. Not that they’d been the souls of discretion.

Jagger seemed pleased they had paid, and nodded at me once. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for the last of them to file out, each one baring their neck to me before walking out the door. The last out lifted a hand and pointed to his chest, letting me know he was the sober driver, although his lack of drinking probably hadn’t stopped him from being an ass. Shifters didn’t get drunk easily, but it was possible if they tried hard enough, and apparently, this was the first thing they’d worked hard at in a while.

“Any more?” I asked, and the bartender/owner’s eyes told me everything. I walked closer to the side of the bar where he met me. “Still in the bathroom?”

“Yep. Gary’s been watching that door like there’s a fucking steak in there.” First things first. I whirled and scanned the room for Gary. With beady eyes, he bored holes into the bathroom door while he bounced his knee. I pushed some of my alpha power toward him, and his shoulders slumped as he ticked his gaze at me. I met his stare second for second until he had the good sense to drop his eyes and turn away.

I knocked on the door three times and heard a yelp from inside. Yep, it was him all right. His sweet scent still lingered on the doorknob and wafted under the door.

“It’s just me…Sheppard.” Did he even know my name?

Shit. I was the cliché. I was the alpha who came into the bar for an omega. Not just any omega, it seemed.