Sitting at his desk for the rest of the afternoon seemed more tortuous than normal. He barely made it through lunch with Edgar and Benedict before Edgar told him to go check on business at Natalia's restaurant. He was in the back office at the restaurant when Ruby called, and her husky voice sent shivers all the way through him. He also felt like a kid, hiding in the storeroom so no one would overhear, in case he sounded like a love-struck idiot. And then the anticipation of seeing her that evening, being with her in public, distracted him for the rest of the day.
He remembered to call Edgar to verify whether his older brother was behind the flowers and candy, and Edgar just laughed. Apparently Logan failed at figuring out how to send flowers, so Edgar took over and added a bit just to complicate Carter's life as well. But Carter knew he owed Edgar one.
Carter managed to put together a few recommendations for Ruby's business plan, and changed into jeans and a sweater at the office before heading to the bar around seven. They all kept wardrobes at every possible place they would stop in the city, mostly because shifting ruined a lot of clothes. And with the long hours at the office when the business world woke up in Tokyo and London, variety in clothing choices made all the difference. So he was at least wearing comfortable clothes as he drove to O'Shea's.
When he walked in, Ruby stood behind the bar, leaning on her elbows as she talked to some strange dude. The lion immediately wanted to kill the guy. Or at least roar enough to scare him off. But Carter only gripped the business portfolio containing his notes until his nails punched through the leather. Rafe waved at him but Carter barely noticed, making a beeline to the bar.
She straightened as he approached, and a smile slid across her face. It made him think of breakfast in her kitchen. Syrup. They could try syrup next time. Get sticky in all the right places. Ruby's head tilted and her cheeks grew pink. Maybe she could read his mind.
Carter took a stool farther down the bar, nodding at her. "Beer, if you don't mind."
"Sure." She pulled a pint glass, but gave him an odd look. "Why are you all scowly?"
He frowned, about to argue, but she put a coaster on the bar, tossed salt across it, and put the beer in front of him. Her eyes sparked gold, and her head tilted just slightly enough to indicate the skinny dude at the other end of the bar. "Don't tell me it was our friend the jackal?"
Carter concentrated on the beer, draining the pint glass before setting the empty in front of her. "Of course not. One more, please."
Half her mouth curled in a smile. "Come on, Chase. Admit it. You're jealous."
He killed the second beer before he opened the portfolio, but kept his voice low, in case the jackal had prying ears. "Why would I be jealous? It's not like you're mine."
Something changed in her expression, as if he'd rejected her, and Ruby started wiping down the bar a few feet away. "Right. I'm not."
Carter leaned over the bar to grab her wrist, drawing her closer, close enough he could breathe, "If you were, yes. I would be jealous. I would rip that guy's fucking throat out, because he was staring down your shirt and probably thinking unclean thoughts."
He met her gaze long enough for her to see the lion peering out, for her to hear the growl that rumbled from the animal side of him, and when her lips parted and her cheeks flushed, he released her. Sat back on the stool and sipped his third beer. He glanced at her as Ruby rubbed her arm and set out a bowl of popcorn at his elbow. Carter said, "You guys ready to talk business?"
"This is a business meeting?" He thought he saw disappointment in her eyes, but couldn't be sure. Ruby shrugged. "Sure."
She called Rafe over, and he shook Carter's hand with a smile. "Good to see you, man. Heard you're working out with Kaiser's guys these days. Expecting some fights in the near future?"
"Maybe." Carter tried not to think of Ruby, of fighting for Ruby. He'd get in the ring for her. He'd face down the bears or her entire pack, if that's what it took. "Mostly, it's good business sense. The bears want to train some MMA fighters, try to get someone on the circuit. It's a good investment. If you have some extra cash lying around, you might want to point it toward Kaiser."
"No extra cash, friend." Rafe grimaced, his dark eyebrows heavy enough to nearly conceal his eyes. "Ruby said you were looking into some other business planning for us?"
"Yep." Carter opened the folio and handed them a couple of proposals. Somehow it was easier, less disconcerting, to address Rafe more than Ruby. At least Rafe couldn't set his heart racing, or make his lion purr with just a look. Carter cleared his throat. "Here's the thing. O'Shea's appeals to a certain clientele. You've designed it for yourselves and your friends, but that doesn't necessarily draw in the money. If you want to expand, you're going to have to appeal to a larger demographic."
Ruby got a guarded look on her face, watching him even though she held up the papers to read. "What kind of demographic?"
"People with money." Rafe snorted, shaking his head, and looked around the bar. "This is a dive, Carter. It's always been a dive. We like it that way."
"Exactly. If it's a dive, you're not going to get the traffic you need to increase revenue. Without increased revenue, you can't expand to other locations or enterprises. Ruby said you didn't want to take on a bank loan or other investors. If that's not the case, let me know because that changes our calculus considerably. If that is the case, well. Your options are limited to making changes here."
Ruby eyed him as she refilled his beer yet again, and Carter wondered for a split second if she wanted to get him drunk. Her septum piercing flashed as she leaned on the bar, giving him a peek at her generous cleavage. "Like what kinds of changes?"
He refused to look anywhere but her face, though the effort not to stare at her breasts probably took a year off his life. "Get a better chef to start, and expand the menu. Consider lunch and dinner hours and specials, as well as happy hour and after hours deals. Book live music as many nights as you can. Expand your beer selection, run some cocktail specials. Advertise more. Fancy up the décor, and replace some of the broken chairs. Move the pool table so you've got more room for tables and a dance floor."
"You trying to class this place up, Chase?" Rafe rubbed the back of his neck, already shaking his head. "That's not us. The O'Shea's are not classy. BloodMoon is a tough pack, not some fancy ass lion pride like you and your brothers. Blue collar."
"That's where we started," Ruby said under her breath, elbowing her brother. "That's not where we want to stay. Right?"
"Yeah, but come on. Bee, we won't even recognize this place if we change it that much."
Bee? Carter bit back a smile as Ruby gave him a sharp look, and he knew Rafe would get an earful for letting that cute nickname into the wild. Carter wanted to call her Bee. Make her buzz a little. He snorted to himself, and stared into his beer glass. Best not let that show on his face.
"That's the point," she said, tone dry. The bar towel swiped dangerously close to his glass and Carter bit the inside of his cheek. Ruby gestured at the rest of the bar. "If we want to make more, we have to do more, Rafe."
"Let's start with the kitchen," he said. "The menu can definitely use some improvement."
"What I would recommend," Carter said, tapping the bar near the other man's elbow. "Is to do it all and have a grand re-opening. Advertise across the city. Maybe run a special with Nat's restaurant – they have dinner at her place, then a free drink at yours. Start fresh without some of the old baggage."
"We don't have baggage." Rafe sounded indignant, sitting up and squaring his shoulders.
"We have a little baggage," Ruby said, and once again Carter snorted. She scowled and reached over the bar to poke him in the chest. "Quiet in the peanut gallery, Chase."
He held up his hands. "I'm just a disinterested third party. Unless you want me to be more."
She froze, eyes wide, a panicked look on her face. Like he would propose to her in the middle of her bar, and right in front of her brother. Carter wanted to laugh so badly, he had to gouge his thumbnail into his leg to keep a straight face. Rafe remained oblivious, shuffling through the papers. "What, you want to invest or something?"
"That would be part of it." He let the silence hang, just to torment Ruby a little more, then handed them the second business proposal. "And I would be your business manager, as well. I have some personal funds I would like to invest, and if you're willing to make some changes to the bar and follow these recommendations, I'd be happy to be your business partner."
Rafe grunted, scanning the new paperwork, and Ruby gave Carter the most evil look he could remember receiving. And he'd almost been paralyzed by Benedict's half-Medusa mate, Eloise. Turned out, she had some competition when Ruby got mad. Carter rubbed his mouth to hide the rest of his smile, not wanting to antagonize her any further. "Read it over, think it over, let me know. A grand re-opening ahead of the holidays would be best, so we'd need to get moving if you're interested in what I've proposed."
"Funny how you're going around proposing things," Ruby said, moving down the bar to pull pints for a couple of other customers. When she finished, she tossed the towel across her shoulder and eyed Carter askance. "I told you we didn't want to take out a loan."
"This isn't a loan." Carter half-turned on the stool as a commotion grew around the door, and a few newcomers entered the bar with a blast of cold air. "It's an investment."
Rafe's attention shifted to the newcomers as they hustled up the bar, and a frown drew down his substantial eyebrows. "What's going on?"
The skinny kid eyed Carter but answered the wolf alpha without hesitation. "Just heard something from one of Evershaw's guys."
Ruby went still, a gold sheen washing over her eyes.
The kid's throat bobbed as he gulped under the full weight of alpha attention. "SilverLine plans to petition the Council to mandate only one wolf pack in the city. All other packs would have to live outside the city limits, or petition Evershaw to remain in his territory."
A strangled noise escaped from Ruby, and her features twisted as she bared her teeth. "He what?"
The kid cowered and shuffled a little to half-hide behind Carter, talking faster. "He's already contacted some members of the Council and requested an emergency session. Evershaw claims it will help clarify territory and maintain order. He wants to implement it immediately."
"That son of a bitch," Rafe said. The white edges of his teeth showed as he stared across the bar with a distant look, his hands clenched into fists. Then his gold gaze shifted to Carter. "Did you hear about this?"
"Evershaw didn't call us." Carter refused to cower or look away from the thunder brewing in Rafe's expression, or the lightning already sparking from Ruby. "We heard from the bears this morning that Evershaw called around to all the alphas to request the emergency session."
"You didn't tell me," Ruby said. As if Carter betrayed her.
Carter took a deep breath, shaking his head. "Edgar was working on more details. There wasn't much to say."
Rafe growled and smashed his fist on the bar. "I'll fucking kill Evershaw. We've been here longer than he has, the piece of shit."
Ruby looked at the messenger kid and said, "You can go." She waited until he retreated, every line in the kid's body radiating relief, then leaned closer to her brother. "And you're not going to fight Evershaw. I am."
Carter wanted to lurch forward, grab her, and drag her away to the mansion until she forgot about having anything to do with Miles Evershaw. He stared at the polished surface of the bar until he thought for sure smoke wisped out of it, but couldn't look at Ruby. He wasn't going to interfere. This was just part of her role as alpha. As much as the idea of her fighting anyone made his skin crawl and his lion roar, he had to keep his cool.
Rafe shook his head immediately. "No way. No way in hell."
"Evershaw can beat you." Ruby shot Carter a warning look and returned to the nearly-inaudible conference with her brother. "And we both know it. No ego, Rafe. I can beat Evershaw. I can. And he knows it."
"There's no way he'll face you in the ring to decide this."
Ruby shook her head, arms crossed. "He'll have to. We're both alpha. We decide who fights. If we decide I fight him, then I fight him."
"What if he refuses?" Rafe still looked on the verge of a shift, ready to run into the night to hunt down Miles Evershaw. "He'll claim he won't fight a woman. You know he will."
"We'll tell the Council he forfeits. If they want to go forward with this stupidity, they can't dictate all the rules."
Carter dug his fingers into his arm to keep from tackling her to protect her from even the implied threat of the other wolf pack. Maybe Logan could have a word with Evershaw and impress upon the asshole why games like these were the whole reason the Council existed. Every shifter in the city had enough of bullshit rank games. There was no reason two or even three wolf packs couldn't exist within the city limits. Except when one had an asshole for an alpha.
Rafe rubbed his jaw. "I don't like it, Bee. Especially with…what else he talked about earlier. What if this is just a ploy to get you to agree to that?"
"I will never mate with Evershaw," Ruby said, enunciating every syllable. "Ever. If this is some lame attempt to get my attention, then great. He's got my attention, and it's not the good kind. We are not running away from this."
"Of course we aren't." Rafe grumbled, then shot Carter a dark look. "Can we expect the Pride's support?"
"I can only speak for myself," Carter said. He hated to play the politics, and while he couldn't imagine Logan ever voting against the O'Shea pack in favor of Evershaw, he couldn't speak for Logan. "But of course I'm with your pack. And with how Natalia feels about Ruby, I'm guessing Logan will also side with you if he values his life."
Rafe snorted, then shoved to his feet. "I need to go for a run. Are you good to run the place tonight, Bee?"
"Yeah. Get out of here before I kill you for calling me 'Bee.'" Ruby threw the dirty towel at him.
Rafe strode to the back office and disappeared, leaving Ruby to eye Carter. He tried to look relaxed and calm, not as though his guts seethed with the desperate need to protect her. Ruby handed him another beer, her eyebrow arched. "You okay over there, Chase?"
"I've been better, Bee."
A hint of a smile touched her face and disappeared. "Then why have you gouged my bar?"
Carter looked down to see where his nails created rents in the smooth wood, and cleared his throat as he gingerly picked up the beer instead. "Because sometimes that's the only thing that keeps the lion inside, particularly when someone important is threatened."
She picked up another bar towel and snapped it in his direction. "Watch yourself. But good job. I didn't think you'd make it through that conversation."
"I'm serious." Carter shrugged and focused on the beer. "It's pack business, it's your business. As much as I would like to find Miles Evershaw, rip his heart out, and throw him into a wood-chipper feet-first, I acknowledge that type of reaction is not helpful for your pack relationships."
Ruby laughed. "Good job. You hungry?"
"I already ate." And the beer filled him up as well, the dark beer that was practically a meal in and of itself. "But thank you."
She leaned on the bar under the guise of examining the scratches, and her breath warmed his cheek as she murmured, "If you want to stick around, we can head back to my place after last call?"
"Sure." Carter concentrated on gathering his papers and putting them back in the folio. "I'll work on my homework."
Another smile flashed before she put on her serious face and handed him a towel. "Or I'll put you to work back here. Can you pull pints?"
He pushed to his feet, the lion content because he would be close to their mate, and slid around her into the narrow space behind the massive wooden bar. "I can do anything you need me to do."
"Don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash," she said under her breath, and he laughed.
He cracked his knuckles and started lining up pint glasses. She had no idea how much her mouth owed him, and he meant to collect.