Disclaimer: This work is inspired by the MC shifter romance novels coauthored by Renee Rose and Lee Savino. Krissy, Jase, Malcolm and Mort are characters of my creation. All others named belong to the published authors. As of writing this story, I've only read as far as the first six books in the series, therefore some of the cannon may differ. This is meant as a tribute to their work. I do not profit from this.

Also, this is designed for a MATURE audience. As in 18. Readers beware.

Krissy

I don't know why I agreed to come here.

Eclipse was loud, crowded and dark, like any other nightclub. But there was something else about this club in particular, something…foreboding.

But still, I had squeezed into a less than modest dress, swept up my hair, applied full makeup and taken the Lyft.

Getting in was no effort either, as my squad had left my name with the bouncer standing at the door. Of course they were not yet here to meet me, they were fashionably late.

Now with every step I took towards a seat at the bar, feeling as if every male eye in the room was turning to me, I was rethinking my choices.

I stopped in my tracks, gave my head a shake, took a breath.

Hoist those big girl panties and stop being paranoid, Krystal Ann. You work hard and deserve a night out. So sit your sweet ass down and order a goddamn drink!

Giving myself a curt nod, I strode the last few feet to an empty bar stool and took the perch with a hop, swivelling to face the bartender.

Like nearly every employee at Eclipse seemed to be, the bartender was male. He was muscular, but he wasn't quite as tall or wide as most of the others. Covered in tattoos like his coworkers, though I couldn't be certain, I thought that his ink seemed to be covering up a number of scars. He had short, spiky blonde hair and his blue eyes were framed by a frown as they took me in, as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of me.

When he continued to stare, I leaned in and raised my voice over the music to order my drink.

"Honey Jack Daniels and Diet Coke, please. Short glass, lots of ice and a wedge of lemon."

The bartender just lifted a brow, as if he didn't believe that was my real order.

"I got it, Sam." Came a smooth voice.

I shifted my eyes to the source of the voice and stilled at the sight.

How had I missed him when I walked in?!

The man next to Sam was a lot more like the bouncers in the club. I thought, in fact, he perhaps was supposed to be one of the bouncers, as I registered him donning the black SECURITY t-shirt the others wore, it's fabric straining against the mass of muscle. He was at least a foot taller, broader shoulders, full sleeves of ink on both arms. His hair was dark and long, tied back in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. His skin was tanned—a natural bronze like he grew up in the sunshine, not some fake orange spray—rich and creamy like caramel.

Wonder if it would taste like it too?

I sucked in a sharp breath I had forgotten to take. Naughty, naughty thoughts! The nuns back in Catholic school would have belted me for sure.

He slid the drink I ordered in front of me. I was so busy watching him I hadn't seen him making it.

Did that even make any sense?

I met his eyes, which were a deep brown and currently studying me in an approving fashion.

"Thank you." I offered in a voice that didn't quite feel like my own. I fumbled to squeeze and stir the juice of the lemon into my drink before picking it up to take a generous sip. I could not seem to break eye contact.

I felt a flutter deep in my belly and had to remember to take a breath again. I registered him leaning over the counter towards me and I leaned closer as well.

Then his nostrils twitched and he straightened up. His look of approval shifted to something like scrutiny.

I blinked, the spell broken.

What in the hell just happened? Shit, did I forget deodorant or something?

I took another gulp of my drink, turning to search the club for the two women I was supposed to meet, while trying to discreetly get a whiff of my armpit. Nope, I was all good there. Breath check. Well behind the whiskey I'd just inhaled I was fine. Again I wondered what the hell? I could still feel his gaze burning a hole in my cheek, but I tried to ignore him and the flush I felt creeping up my neck towards my face.

Remy and Tayla were two thirds of a dance trio that packed this club to the limits on Saturday nights with their go-go style routines. Lately, the final third, Angelina, was busy with either her new dance studio, or her ever evolving stage shows. And most of her free time was spent with her new fiancé, Jared, who was apparently another bouncer here. The other girls were fully involved with the studio and shows, but they were single. In the last few weeks, Tayla and Remy had decided I was the right fit to fill the void when Angelina wasn't available.

All I had done was take a free dance workshop.

I was a veterinarian by profession. Taking care of animals was my passion in life. But I had always enjoyed and appreciated dance as well. The energy and athleticism, the freedom of movement and expression. Growing up the way I had, I didn't get much opportunity to do it. According to the trio, I happened to be a natural at it. Not trying to brag about it, of course, just taking their word for it.

I was fairly new to Tucson and Arizona, and wanted an activity outside of work to socialize. A month ago I found a flyer promoting Angelina's dance studio, offering a free workshop for Jazz style dancing. When I arrived that day, I met the girls and they took a shining to me. They were just so kind and enthusiastic, I couldn't resist agreeing to sign up for a regular class. And then agreeing again this afternoon to coming out for drinks at Eclipse.

They had ambushed me at my clinic on my lunch break, eyelashes batting, Angelina telling me I was doing her a favour because she had to do something with Jared. What choice did I have?

I was now getting impatient. To the point that I had almost forgotten the bizarre interaction with the bartender…except then he spoke.

"Waiting for your mate?"

I whipped my head around, meeting his gaze with a frown crinkling my forehead. "Mate? You mean like a boyfriend? No, I don't have a boyfriend." Why was I so quick to tell him that? "I'm meeting Remy and Tayla. You know, the dancers?"

He nodded but my answer didn't seem to satisfy him. "So you're married then."

My frown deepened and my mouth briefly fell open. "What?! No!"

The bartender's expression became a frown to match mine. "You're telling the truth." It was a statement but he sounded surprised.

I gaped at him. "Should I be lying? I don't even know why I would tell you anything to begin with." I could feel my pale skin slowly heat to pink and red. "I don't know why I'm still talking now!"

Confused and flustered, I jumped down from my seat and fled to the ladies room.

Jase

Well I fucked that up.

My wolf under the surface snorted. He was in complete agreement, and annoyed the leggy redhead was running away. He wanted to hurtle over the bar top and chase after her. Wolves loved the chase.

The moment she had stepped through the doors, the eyes of every wolf shifter working zeroed in. It was her scent, I was sure. She smelled of shifter.

But I hadn't the slightest clue of what kind.

To me, her scent was like the four seasons layered together. Like the first snow of winter back in The Rockies of Jasper where I spent my teens, and the summer fruiting orange trees in the groves of California where I was born. Spring rain, drying autumn leaves, it was all there, all at once. And then another scent behind all of that. One that sent the other wolves back to their business, yet I hadn't spotted right away.

She was marked.

It was faint, but it was there.

Cat shifter. I thought. Cougar to be specific.

But she had said she wasn't mated, and I could hear the truth to her words in her heartbeat as well.

Was she widowed? My wolf seemed gleeful at the idea. He liked her. Didn't seem to care she was marked.

The green eyes she'd matched her dress to had mesmerized me unlike any female before. Or rather ever.

I was mere months into living in Tucson, not even officially a member of Garrett's pack. I was what one calls "Alpha material", I could easily lead a pack of my own. The drive to lead just wasn't in me though. I had actually made my way down the Rockies and west to Arizona, arriving in Phoenix first, where I asked to join the pack of Garrett's father, Emmett. But he thought it a better fit for me to come to Tucson. Until the last year or so, it had been a pack of bachelors, with the one exception of Garrett's younger sister. Lately it seemed as though many of them were finding their mates. Some of them with humans, no less. Perhaps the elder alpha hoped the same for me, even though it was unlikely he had a human in mind. Humans weren't supposed to know our secret. If one was to find out, their memories of it were meant to be wiped by a vampire.

Garrett had found a way around that law a couple of times now. Perhaps because of his distaste of working with vampires at all. Not that it mattered. I had never found any female, human or shifter, that I was interested in for more than a night.

She's different.

"She's trouble."

Sam's voice broke my gaze from the last place I'd seen the redhead in the crowd.

"You're paranoid." I retorted. "You think anyone outside the pack is trouble."

Sam bartended at Eclipse, but he wasn't exactly pack any more than I was right now. He was part of a sort of mini pack, settled out by the Catalinas. He only lived with one other wolf and two panthers. And his tiger mate. Oh yeah, and there was a toddler as well. Complicated, sure. Not much more complicated than the fox shifter, psychic and human female that had all mated into Garrett's pack. Nah, that was child's play.

"Paranoid doesn't make me wrong, Jase." Sam continued. "You caught that scent. It's strange, off somehow. Not to mention she's marked."

"Yeah." I didn't want to totally dismiss what Sam was saying. In his troubled youth he's been around a lot of different kinds of shifters. I'd been around a few too. None of them were like her.

I also had to note to myself that she had no visible tattoos on the plethora of skin she was showing, a light dusting of freckles were all that decorated the creamy flesh. Most shifters could be identified by the ink they sported, usually around the arms. Sort of like a family crest.

In the case of Garrett's pack it was a wolf's paw print on the shoulder and the phases of the moon on the knuckles of one hand.

I myself had a howling wolf's silhouette on my shoulder. Just like my father's.

Still, my wolf didn't seem to care. His interest was piqued. Guess that meant so was mine.

My nostrils flared as the redhead's scent grew stronger. She was coming back this way. I scanned the crowded space towards the washrooms and quickly found her. She was waving in the direction of the front doors. Looking myself, I saw the two dancers she had mentioned before. They weren't dressed to perform tonight, at least not to perform the way they usually did. It did look like they were still planning on putting on a show of sorts.

Adding that fact to seeing the redhead joining them at a table by the dance floor and my wolf growled. He didn't like the image of the guys who would surely ogle her.

I shoved the wolf back. I wasn't going to act like a jealous asshole over a complete stranger. Instead I made her a fresh drink and mixed two cosmos for the dancers. Waving Damian over, I set the drinks on a serving tray. When he's in front of me I point out the three women.

"Tell them it's on the house."

Damian looked a little confused. "It's not their show night."

"I know." I look over at the redhead. "Tell the one in the tight green dress it's an apology."

Damian still looked confused but took the tray.

When the drinks reached their table and I saw Damian repeating my words, the girls looked over to me. Remy and Tayla smiled wide and waved at me excitedly. The redhead gave me a half-hearted gesture of a toast, her facial expression indecipherable.

"Can we get back to working now?" Sam asked, aggravated.

Right. Nightclub. Booze. Merriment.

I did my best to focus on mixing drinks, but the trio was soon on the dance floor, and the redhead was a sight to be seen.

I hadn't noticed the stilettos before. They didn't seem to hinder her movement at all, not even dancing now. Her legs were already stacked, the shoes just accentuated them more. They made her perfect ass stand out too.

This time it wasn't my wolf that responded, it was my dick.

Right there I should have forced myself to look away. Something told me that's just what she didn't want.

As she moved with the song, she twirled and the pieces of her hair that had freedom to move flicked as if they were actually flames on her head.

Was that a warning that she'll burn me?

I didn't care.