Chapter 6

GLORY HELD CLOSE the memory of those words as she prepped the bar the following night.

The best version of ourselves we can be. 

Was that all it would require of her? Their mating? Their love? To just be the best bear she could? Max didn’t expect her to change, so maybe that meant he liked her just the way she was – big and lumbering, but still Glory.

“Tonight’s going to be crazy,” Cassie said as she bustled around.

“Insane,” Phoenix agreed.

Crap. Glory had forgotten tonight was the full moon. Oh, the actual full moon would only last about a minute, but the two days leading up to a full moon weren’t anywhere near as crazy as the actual night of the full moon or the one following it. 

“Maybe we can just close the bar,” Glory suggested.

“Are you crazy?” Travis exclaimed. “If those wolves don’t come here to blow off steam, they’ll probably end up revealing us all to the humans.”

“I seriously doubt it, Travis. I mean, the wolves did survive without a Shenanigans in the area for, well, centuries.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “Just suck it up, Glory. You’re on Max duty tonight.”

“What? I am not going to be responsible for reigning in that crazy wolf!” That crazy, sexy wolf she couldn’t stop thinking about. That sweet, caring, goofy wolf she was starting to think she’d do anything to keep. 

“He’s your mate, isn’t he?”

Glory glared at Travis. No way was she going to agree to this. If she had to stick by Max’s side all night, she’d never get any work–

“Fine,” Travis said. “Cassie, you’re on–”

Glory growled. “Don’t even finish that sentence.” Max was hers.

Travis grinned.

“Interfering bear.” She stomped off.

* * *

One moment Glory was standing at the counter, waiting for Travis to fill her tray with the shots she’d requested, and the next a set of arms had wrapped around her, pulling her tight against a warm and solid chest. 

“Glory, my love.” Max’s voice sounded deeper than normal. He buried his nose in her neck and inhaled.

She shivered in desire, then cleared her throat. “Did you just smell me?”

“You’re intoxicating,” he muttered and scraped his teeth along her neck.

“Jeez, Max. Come on!” Travis slammed several shots onto the tray in front of them. “Glory’s working and you’re in public for god’s sake. And she’s my sister. Hands off!”

Max rumbled and glared at Travis.

For a moment, Glory feared the two of them would get into it, but then Max stepped back and allowed Glory to pick up her tray. 

“I’ll walk with you,” he said.

She rolled her eyes and led the way across the room to a table of horny wolves. She knew they were horny because the scent was overwhelming. And it didn’t help that the bar was packed with she-wolves too. The mated pairs were busy making out, adding to the scent of crazy, while the unmated singles were hooking up or looking to hook up. 

Wolves. 

They were all such dogs.

She started handing out shots and beers when one of the men behind her cried out. She whirled and saw that Max had the poor wolf on the ground, with his foot on his throat. 

She started back toward them. “Max, let the poor boy up.”

Max looked up at her and she caught her breath at the look in his eyes. They were all wolf. 

She strode right up into his space and reaching up, laid a palm on his cheek. “Let him go, baby.”

He blinked and his eyes slowly reverted back to normal. He looked down at the wolf-boy and growled, “She’s mine.”

The boy nodded quickly and Max stepped back to let him up. The boy scrambled to his feet. “Sorry, Max,” he said as he backed away. “I-I didn’t –” his voice failed him and he turned and fled.

Glory sighed. “Really, Max? Terrifying cubs now, are you?”

“That boy’s not a cub. He’s twenty-five and he had his eyes where they absolutely didn’t belong.”

Glory rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”

At that moment, a roar came from the opposite side of the room. They all glanced over just in time to see Travis barrel over the bar in bear form. 

“Great,” Glory said. “We’ll probably end up having to replace more tables and chairs.”

A couple wolves went flying, then a couple more, then a few more until finally the mass of writhing, fighting wolves was reduced to two at the bottom of the stack.

The two wolves stared up at Travis’ bear, eyes wide.

The bear stood on his hind legs and slowly shrank back down to Travis. 

Glory groaned and spun around, horrified that once again, through no fault of her own, she’d managed to catch of a glimpse of her own brother’s hairy ass. 

“No fighting!” Travis roared behind her.

“What’s he doing?” Glory asked Max. “Is he back behind the counter? Can I turn around now? Or is he still waving in the wind?”

Max laughed. “He’s behind the bar. And apparently he’s learned a few things since last time because he’s got some clothes back there he’s pulling on.”

“That’s not Travis’ doing,” Glory scoffed. “That’s all Phoenix. And believe me, I’m grateful.”

She swung around and took in the damage. “I guess it could be worse. Looks like he only crushed one table and two chairs or – I can’t tell. Maybe three.” 

Max chuckled. “Well, the night’s still young.”

Glory growled. “This night can’t end soon enough.”

“Are you kidding? I love full moons at Shenanigans!” Pete cried out from his table. “It’s always such a hoot!”

And that’s when the elevator music faded over into Full Moon’s A-Coming.

“Seriously?” Travis roared from the bar, only to be drowned out a minute later by all the howling wolves.

* * *

As the night wore on, it became evident to Glory that the wolves were only going to get more and more out of control. There were fights and break-ups, screaming matches and make-ups, wolves chasing tails and wolves jumping on tables, wolves following scent trails all over the bar and wolves sniffing butts everywhere. 

And those were the wolves still in human form.

Basically, they were all crazy.

Including Max.

He followed Glory everywhere, making it impossible for her to do her job effectively.

He kept sniffing at her neck and her hair, which was making her kind of paranoid. She’d showered that morning so she couldn’t understand his obsession with her scent tonight.

And then anytime she got too close to one of the other wolves, he’d drag her back. Sometimes he insisted on delivering the drinks, only he kept giving them to the wrong people and generally mucking everything up.

“Would you just go sit down?” Glory exploded after he sniffed her hair for the fifth time in ten minutes, making her absolutely crazy with lust.

“No,” he rumbled. “I’m staying here with you.” 

Glory huffed. Jeez.

She was about ten seconds from killing her own mate. 

Max glared around the room. “Protecting you.”

What? Did he seriously think she needed protecting? 

That was so sweet, especially considering she was bigger than almost everyone there! 

Maybe instead of killing him, she’d tackle him to the floor.

She froze at the thought. That was actually a much better plan. 

She stared at Max, eyeing him up and down, then glanced speculatively at the bar. Would Travis notice if she disappeared for about fifteen minutes? Maybe she could wear Max out, leave him upstairs.

“Don’t even think about it!” Travis yelled from the bar.

How’d he even know what she’d been thinking? She glared at him, but he didn’t even notice because he was too busy staring at Phoenix.

Right.

That was how he knew. Because he was probably having the same fantasy she was.

Great. 

Disgusting. 

Now she had her brother’s fantasies in her head.

“You suck!” She shouted back at him, then whirled to face Max. “Okay, if you want to help, you can. But there are going to be some ground rules.”

Max wasn’t even looking at her. He was too busy leaning forward and putting his nose into her cleavage. “What the—what are you doing?”

He inhaled deeply and muttered, “Mmmm. You smell delicious.” 

This made her shudder and not in a good way. 

It was hot in the bar and she was sweaty and her boobs were big which meant there were crevices where sweat was probably pooled in very gross ways and now he was sniffing her!

Ugh. 

She pushed his head away, but while doing so, her traitorous hands sifted through his silky, soft hair, petting him.

She cleared her throat and forced her hands to stop their caressing. “Anyway, like I said, there are ground rules.” 

Max shoved the top of his head against her hand, then shoved again. 

Dear god. Was he trying to get her to pet him?

She gave his head one tentative stroke, then stopped. A second later, he nudged her hand again. 

Glory bit her lip to keep from laughing. He was just so damn adorable. And apparently he needed petting. 

She huffed out a breath, gave his head two more strokes, then grabbed his chin and made him look her in the eyes. 

Jeez. Those puppy-dog eyes. They were killing her! 

“Max. Ground rules.”

He just blinked at her, then leaned forward and sniffed her hair again. Then he nuzzled her ear. “My mate,” he rumbled.

Lord. He was so damn goofy. 

And sexy. 

And hot.

And there was no way he was listening to anything she had to say at this point. He was too far gone. 

“All right.” She sighed. “Just try not to be too much of a menace, okay?” 

The rest of the night was an ordeal. 

Max was definitely a menace all night long. 

And now she had to wonder—was every full moon going to be like this for the rest of her life? Trying to serve men in the bar while keeping Max’s nose away from her cleavage and her butt crack? She just couldn’t do it!

“Don’t worry, honey,” Jenny told her when she saw the look on her face. “Once you two are truly mated, the effects will die down. Look at Pete and me. You’ll be settled like us in no time.”

Glory forced a smile. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Jenny.” She walked away as quickly as she could, trying desperately to ignore the vision that kept creeping into her head of Max chasing his tail and Glory patting him on the head and crooning, “There’s a good Maxie boy. Good boy.”