A Beast Among Gods (The Mac Tire Chronicles) by Garnet Davenport (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

“Oh.” She pulled away but kept her hands on my arms as if I was going to disappear. “I just can’t believe you’re back.” She put her hand softly on my cheek. “You’re staying this time, right?”

“I don’t know. I got a message that you needed me.” I turned around to introduce Nomad, but when I had, he was gone.

“From who?” Jean asked.

“A sorcerer I knew from a long time ago.”

“O’Dorcha?” Jefferies asked.

“Yeah. He sent someone to get me.”

“Where were you?” Jefferies asked.

“Tibet.”

“That’s a long way away.”

“I needed it,” I replied.

“I know. We just missed you.”

“I missed you too. How has it all been here since I’ve been gone?” I asked.

“Good, we hired a waitress to help with the busy nights. She comes from mac tire blood. And her cousin. He does some security for us. Things have been getting busy, and we’ve kind of become a hot spot on the weekends for the mystic community,” Jean explained.

“Sounds like everything is going well,” I said.

“It’s going. It hasn’t been the same since…” Jean started but trailed off.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Either way, you’ll meet them tonight. Good people. I’m glad their pack moved into the area. It’s been so sad here since our finich’s daughter died,” Jean said.

“When did that happen?” I asked.

“It’s been over a year now. That poor girl’s sister was murdered.”

A shiver climbed up my spine. I didn’t want to hear about this. It wasn’t something I could even comment about. If Taylor were to have been a twin, I’d be extremely overprotective of her. Especially now that I know what it’s like to be a father. Having had it taken from me was one of the worst moments of my life.

“Do you want some breakfast?” Jean asked.

“Sure. Can I help?”

“Always. Grab the eggs,” she said, giving me a smirk.

***

I met Travis and Connie. I could sense the mac tire in Travis but not the same way as with Connie. It was rare to find a true female mac tire. I had heard once that female mac tires only transitioned with god’s blood. And even then, it’s even rarer for females to be able to transition. There is only a few known to have the ability, and they have all died early deaths. Possibly too much stress on the female body. No one knows. They were all found bleeding out.

“Travis, nice to meet you,” Travis said, holding out his hand to greet me.

“Connie, Jean has told me a lot about you,” Connie said.

“Striker, yeah, good to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand and then hers.

“Jefferies told me you’ve been in Tibet. How was that?” Travis asked.

“It’s different. Kind of a break from my own life to figure out… things.”

“Yeah, I kinda wish I got to do something like that.”

“Traveling is nice, but home is home.”

“True.”

I stood looking around the bar just before we were getting ready to open.

“I can cover the front if you want to cover the floor,” I offered.

“Yeah, that would be great. I hate the door,” Travis replied.

“Most do.”

He chuckled.

***

The night was busy, and the bar was full. Music was playing loud, and drinks were being served. I had checked more than a few fake IDs from practically kids. Turning them away and only letting in the ones who were old enough to get in.

I had to start turning away people when we hit the max. Most of them mystics. I had some bear shifters and panther shifters that weren’t happy they weren’t allowed in. I didn’t care much about it, and you would think that the panther shifters would be the angrier of the two, but it’s the bears you’ve got to worry about. The saying about a mama bear and her cub isn’t a joke.

I heard a crashing from inside and turned around to see what was going on. Travis had a shifter up by the collar of his shirt, growling in his face. Connie was on the ground, looking scared and rubbing her wrist.

“You need to leave.” Travis growled.

“Do you know who I am?” the shifter asked. “I’m second to the finich.”

“I don’t care who you are. You don’t treat any female like that.” Travis growled back then let go of him.

The guy stumbled back two steps, and then I rushed to grab the guy and throw him out when Travis reared back and punched the guy. He laid out flat on the ground. I’d never seen anything like it. Travis got him in exactly the right spot to make sure he wasn’t going to get right back up. The three others he was there with started toward Travis, but they changed their mind when they saw me then took a step back and picked up their friend. Travis and I watched as they left the bar, and we checked on Connie.

We did last call somewhere around two in the morning and then locked up. Connie started to sweep and pull the bar chairs over the bar counter.

“Connie, why don’t you go home? It’s late, and we can handle this, right?” Travis said, turning back and forth between us.

“You should go home. I’ve seen you rub your wrist at least a dozen times since you got pushed. Go get some sleep and get it checked out,” I said.

“All right,” Connie said. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Let me walk you to your car,” Travis offered and then walked toward Connie, so he could walk her out. Over his shoulder, he called out, “I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah, okay.”

➣ Chapter 28

A Bear of a Beast

Banging from what sounded like the metal trashcans came from outside. I figured that it could have been raccoons or something. It wasn’t until I heard Travis call out in pain that I went running.

When I opened the door, I found Travis with an ax in his leg, bleeding out, while three of the biggest brown bears tried to rip at him, and one extremely large bear shifter in his human form