Chapter Six: The Shifter Dive

The next few days went by fast. Shar and Dustin spent most of their days and nights making love. When Shar went back to work, Dustin stayed with her. Her boss hadn’t spotted him yet, but when he did, the Kraftman Brothers Security was popular. All she would get was a bunch of questions about why she needed a bodyguard.

On Friday, he told her what to expect at the bar that night, and she felt ready to meet his world.

He warned her she still had the smell of a mate, so some may get crazy, but as long as she stayed near him, she would be fine.

He helped her pick out an outfit and smiled when she came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to meet his friends.

“I knew that was the perfect outfit,” he said, his silver eyes glowing as he looked her up and down.

Shar looked down at her short jean shorts and tank top. Her cork sandals made her legs look long and sexy.

“You look so good—I want to eat you,” he growled as he pulled her into his arms.

She looked up at him and smiled. “If you do, you know we’ll never get out of here.”

He playfully growled and captured her mouth in a hard kiss.

“We can’t do that, now can we?” he grumbled against her mouth.

Sharissa laughed.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded.

They walked out to his car, and he held the door for her. She smiled at him as she climbed into the passenger seat. He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.

“Now, don’t forget. Stay with my brothers and me,” he said as he started the motor.

She nodded, “yes, sir.”

He smiled at her as he pulled out of his drive.

Dustin kept his eyes on the road as he drove toward the shifter bar, occasionally looking at his mate. It had only been a few days since he’d found her, but it felt like a lifetime. He has never been as happy to stay home with a woman wrapped in his arms. Even following her to work didn’t bother him as much as you’d think it would. Dustin was already falling in love with Sharissa; he knew she felt the same. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him.

Dustin pulled into the bar’s parking lot and turned off the motor, then took a deep breath and let it out as he turned to his mate.

“Are you ready for this?”

She looked at him and nodded.

He could see the fear in her eyes, but she was putting on a brave face.

“You’ll be okay,” he promised as he took her hand.

She nodded. But Dustin could see he was not very convincing.

“They’ll love you,” he assured her.

She snorted, and he chuckled.

“Sure, I’ll be okay. I’m stepping into a shifter bar. It will be full of different shifters, and yeah, sure, they’ll love me—for dinner.”

He shook his head, “what an imagination you have.”

She looked at him and smiled. “I was told I should write children’s stories.”

He chuckled, “maybe you should.” He opened his door and got out of the car.

Shar looked up at Dustin as he opened the door for her with a sweet smile. She accepted his hand and giggled when he pulled her against his chest.

“You’ll be fine,” he promised.

She nodded and replied, “I know. Because I have you.”

He grinned and said, “as well as half a dozen other men who will protect you with their lives.”

She nodded. “Yep, a bunch of shifters, ready to protect me—because I’m your mate.”

He stopped walking and turned to her. “Is that what you think?”

She shrugged.

“Look here, missy,” he said, tipping her chin up, so she looked at him. “My brothers like you, even if you weren’t my mate. You, my dear, shine wherever you go.”

She chuckled, “you should be a poet.”

“Oh beauty, be mine, till the day I die….”

“Okay, maybe not.”

He laughed and kissed her before he led her through the door.

Dustin stared around the room as they entered the bar. ‘Damn, it’s crowded. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring her here tonight.’

Everyone in the bar stopped what they were doing and sniffed the air.

He knew what they were smelling… human Fated mate.

Several men got to their feet when they saw Sharissa. Their eyes traveled over her body and stopped at her pretty face.

“Dustin!”

Dustin found his brothers waving at him to join them at their table.

“Stop right there, Dustin Kraftman.”

Dustin stopped and turned to the bar where the owner, Marry-Beth Andrews, stood—glaring at him.

“Shit,” Dustin mumbled.

He’d hoped she was off tonight. Bum his luck.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, bringing a human into my bar? And an unclaimed mate at that….”

Dustin walked over to the bar, Sharissa at his side.

“Take another sniff, Marry-Beth. She is not unclaimed.”

Marry-Beth sniffed the air, then stared at their wrists when he placed their joined hands on the bar.

“What the hell?” she said as she grabbed their hands. “I’ve never seen this before, but I know what it is.” She smiled as she looked at Sharissa. “My, aren’t you a pretty little thing? Is Dusty taking excellent care of you?”

Sharissa nodded, “yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, so formal. I like her,” Marry-Beth said with a smile. “You can call me Marry-Beth or Marry if you’d like.”

Sharissa smiled, “you can call me Shar.”

“Shar… interesting,” Marry-Beth mused.

“It’s short for Sharissa.”

Marry-Beth smiled, “pretty. So, what can I get you to drink?”

“A screwdriver?”

“My kind of girl.” Marry-Beth winked at Sharissa as she moved away from the bar and fixed their drinks. “I know what you drink, Dustin.”

Dustin smiled as he looked down at Sharissa and mouthed. ‘See, safe.’

Shar smiled up at her mate. Yes, things were going okay so far, but she still didn’t feel safe here.

“It’s packed tonight,” Dustin said as he accepted the drinks from Marry-Beth.

Marry-Beth nodded and said, “Sebastian and his band are performing tonight.”

“Oh, great.” Dustin smiled and looked down at Shar. “Sebastian is an old friend of mine. He’s the lead singer and guitarist for his band, The Runarounds.”

Shar smiled. “Sounds like fun. What kind of music do they play?”

Dustin grinned and replied, “rock, baby. This place wouldn’t accept anything else.”

Shar nodded, “thought so. I love rock. Especially old rock.”

Dustin grinned as he led Shar to the table his brothers sat at. “Then you’ll love The Runarounds. They play a lot of old-style rock. Some new wave too, but the old stuff is more popular here, being most of us were alive when Elvis was king.”

Sharissa snickered. She’d forgotten for a moment how old Dustin was. Wow, to have been around when Elvis and Buddy Holly were famous. She envied them.

“Wasn’t there a band called The Runarounds back then?”

“Yeah, Sebastian was a founder of the group, though he hadn’t sung with them because shifters weren’t accepted back then. And two band members are descendants of the original group.”

Shar smiled, “wow, that’s so cool.”

“Shar!” the four Kraftman brothers hollered when she and Dustin made it to their table.

“Hello, boys,” Shar greeted.

Dustin set their drinks on the table, then pulled a chair out for her and sat down beside her.

“So, did you hear that The Runarounds are playing tonight?” Dylan asked, looking at his brother.

Dustin nodded and answered, “yeah, Marry-Beth just told me.”

“Haven’t seen Sebastian in a while,” Daryl said with a nod.

“Yeah, he called me two weeks ago. He was in Texas or something,” Dustin chuckled.

All four of his brothers laughed.

“A rock band in Texas?” Shar asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

Dustin pulled her against his side. “Yeah, I thought the same thing when he told me. They’d been traveling through when their van sprung a leak. So, they figured—why not? The crowd threw tomatoes at them.”

The group at their table burst into laughter.

“That’s horrible,” Shar said, still laughing her ass off.

“But funny,” Dylan laughed.

“They toned it down a bit and played their ballads, the fruit stopped coming at them, but they didn’t get any tips,” Dustin said; once his laughter had died down enough, he could talk.

“I need to go to the bathroom before the band starts,” Shar said as she got to her feet.

“I’ll escort you,” Dustin said as he stood.

She smiled up at him, “don’t follow me into the bathroom.”

Dustin chuckled at the memory of doing just that a few days ago when they were in Wal-Mart. They had gotten stuck in the stall for thirty minutes while women came in and out of the bathroom.

He grinned. “Nah. I don’t want to miss The Runarounds.”

She smiled as they left the table and headed for the restroom.

Dustin ensured Shar was safely in the bathroom, then turned and leaned against the wall beside the door.

“Hello, Dustin.”

Dustin looked up and grunted. His cougar growled in his head. He had to fight with him to keep from telling the woman to fuck off. She was someone he’d almost hooked up with two years ago, but Marry-Beth had warned him about her, and he’d gone home that night instead of her hotel room. Which turned out to be the same place she’d taken over half the men at this bar.

“Mable,” he said with a nod, not looking at her.

“I saw you come in with the human. Are you on another job?” she asked, batting her eyes at him.

Her long, fake lashes did nothing for him.

“Not tonight, I’m not.”

She stared up at him. “Then what are you doing with a human?”

He grinned and answered, “I took her out on the town.”

She snorted. “A human?”

He nodded, “a human.”

Dustin was so annoyed with Mable that he didn’t see his mate come out of the bathroom or the man on the other side of the door grab her arm and pull her away.

“Get your hands off me!”

Dustin jerked toward his mate’s voice.

“Leave her to him—he’ll please her,” Mable said as she leaned against him.

“Get out of my way, Mable. I don’t want to hurt you,” he growled as he tried to move around her to find his mate.

“Let her go. She’s just a stupid human,” Mable growled.

Dustin stopped and looked into her silver eyes. “You set this up.”

She smiled. “I heard them say something about her being a shifter mate and how turned on they were. I figured he and I could both get pleasure from it….”

“You bitch! She’s a claimed mate!” he hollered, shoving her away from him.

Dustin didn’t care that she fell to the floor on her ass or that her skirt rode up and exposed her panty-less crotch. He needed to find where that asshole had taken his mate.

“I said, get your filthy hands off me!” Shar screamed when the man continued to paw at her.

“Come on, baby. I know you’re a shifter mate. Mate with me—you won’t regret it.”

“No, but you will!” she screamed.

Shar felt a burst of energy and strength. She grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted it until she heard a snap.

“Fucking hell!” the man screamed. “How did you do that?”

“Look at my wrists, asshole. I’m claimed,” Shar spat out in his face.

His face paled when he saw the markings on her wrists.

“Well, I had planned to swoop in and rescue you,” Dustin said with a laugh when he found his mate.

He should have remembered her extra strength. It sure has made fucking interesting.

She looked over at him, a brilliant smile on her face. “Sorry, Mafilio. But I couldn’t stand his touch a second longer.”

Dustin smiled. He loved it when she called him that, and he planned to kiss Dylan for giving her the word.

“What the fuck is going on here?!” Marry-Beth bellowed as she walked up to them.

“This asshole attacked me,” Sharissa said, shaking the man’s broken wrist.

The man screeched in pain, and Sharissa smiled in pleasure.

Dustin held back a chuckle. His mate was very vindictive.

“I told you it was a terrible idea to have a human in here,” a server said, staring at Sharissa and her attacker.

Dustin cleared his throat. “Maybe we should make an announcement? Introduce her to everyone so they know she’s a claimed mate?”

Marry-Beth nodded in agreement. “Excellent idea.”

“Claimed?” The server asked, looking between Sharissa and Dustin.

Marry-Beth smiled. “How else do you think she was strong enough to stop a hyena shifter?”

“Hyena?” Sharissa asked, making a face. “No wonder he was all over me like I was his next meal.”

“You can let him go now, dear,” Marry-Beth said with an impressed smile.

Sharissa looked at the man’s swollen wrist, then dropped it and moved over to Dustin.

Dustin smiled as he pulled her into his arms. So proud of her.

“Out,” Marry-Beth told the hyena. “And don’t come back.”

The hyena made a sound that sounded like a half-choke-half-laugh as he left the bar.