Chapter 2: Magic's Mate

Dimitri Everest just stared at the man, fighting the urge to reach out and break his nose. "Why the hell are you here, Bane? I thought I told you to leave this area." Dimitri could feel every muscle strain as his panther fought to rip out of him and attack the coyote in front of him "This is a peaceful place, and you aren't exactly the peaceful type."

Bane pushed past Dimitri and his friend, Josh Rayburn, and walked further into Everglades. "This is a shifter bar, is it not?" Bane asked as he looked around, his gray eyes taking in every detail with mock amazement. "I thought I would come in here and enjoy a drink with my kind."

"This is a bar where shifters hang out," Dimitri said. "Big difference from being a shifter bar. Everyone is welcome here. Wes makes sure of that."

Bane turned again, his grin annoying as he widened his eyes as if just realizing something. "Then I should be welcome here, right? I mean, I am part of everybody."

"There will be none of your hatred in here, Bane," Wes Stapleton said from behind the bar, both hands pressed down on the wooden top as if he was ready to leap over and take the coyote leader out himself. Dimitri could see the rage in the bear shifter's eyes and knew Wes had no choice, even though he didn't like it. People cannot fight prejudice with prejudice. "If you stay here, you leave the rest of my customers alone. Understood?"

"But of course," Bane said, his expression one of shock that anyone would suggest he would behave in any other way "We merely wish to enjoy your best scotch." He then looked at Wes, his brows furrowed in doubt. "You do serve scotch, right?"

Wes just growled at Bane, who only laughed as he walked toward the back of the bar, his mangy minions trailing behind him.

Dimitri stared at their retreating backs, wondering how someone could be such an ass and think they were justified in their behavior. Bane Kastner arrived in Bull Creek a couple of weeks ago, making the human population of the area as uncomfortable as possible, threatening them with harm if they didn't pack up and get out of town, move to the big city where humans belonged. He didn't believe that humans deserved the forests and wooded areas of Florida, or anywhere for that matter. They didn't know how to balance their habit of wasting natural resources with taking care of the wilds around them. There were enough cities of concrete and steel for the humans to inhabit; they didn't need to be in what Bane considered to be his forests.

Dimitri slid into a barstool, Josh beside him, and waved for Wes to bring them two whiskeys. He needed to wash the taste of Bane Kastner's hatred away.

Wes slid two glasses in front of them. "Don't let that ass get to you," he said. "His kind are always around. The best thing to do is walk away."

Dimitri pulled his glass closer. "I can't walk away. He's threatening the humans in Bull Creek. These people look to me to protect them. They're all hiding from something with nowhere else to go. I left Draven Falls to help protect these people and ignoring thugs like Bane is not how that gets done. Somehow, we have to figure out how to get those coyotes out of our area."

Josh lifted his glass, holding it in front of him. "Any idea how we do that?"

"Keep patrolling and hope Bane or his coyotes screw up so we can take them out. I've talked to Sheriff Einstein, warning him of the trouble that's brewing. He said he noticed an influx of new people and wondered what it was about."

Josh nodded. "This world needs more humans like Chet. Your sister's lucky to be working there."

Dimitri laughed as he shook his head. "Chet's the lucky one. Having a panther shifter on your force is almost as beneficial as having a wolf. Makes tracking a whole lot easier."

"Don't let Alanna hear you say that. She'll make sure they're trying to track your body next."

Dimitri laughed harder. "True story. True story." He took a small swallow of his whiskey, the amber liquid burning his throat as it went down. "I thought I left all this nonsense behind me in Draven Falls, all this hatred and prejudice. It's just wasted energy when so many other things need to be accomplished in this world."

"Have you talked to anyone from back home?" Josh turned his glass in slow circles on the bar, his gaze fixed on the whiskey. "They helped form this little haven after all. You'd think they'd want to help protect it."

Dimitri downed the rest of his whiskey and gestured to Wes for another drink, hating to have to pull the man away from flirting with Noel, his server. "I called Farren Covington of the wolves and Jed Hawkins, alpha of the panthers. Both said they'd see what they could do, but I don't expect much, to be honest. Draven Falls has its own issues with the Order of Wardens trying to stir up hatred against the paranormal citizens of the town. We're pretty much on our own."

Wes set another drink in front of Dimitri and returned to Noel. Dimitri watched as the two leaned into each other, laughing and giggling, the look in each other's eyes saying everything Dimitri couldn't hear from where he sat. He wished he had time for flirting like that. Or someone to flirt with, but there just wasn't time.

"You think Bane has a secret society name like Order of Wardens?" Josh grinned as he said it. "Something like Society of Assholes or the Order of Pricks?"

Dimitri just shook his head. "I think Bane is his own secret society." Dimitri couldn't believe such organizations still existed, groups that thrived on hatred and chaos.

Laughter from the back of the bar jerked their attention in that direction as Bane and his goons demanded another round of drinks.

"Wes, you're letting the clientele in this place go to the gutters," a female voice came from the entrance.

Turning, Dimitri saw Alanna Bradbury and Eve Hartlow walking into Everglades, Alanna moving to sit beside Josh while Eve sat on her other side. Eve, the short blond who rarely left Bull Creek, was one of the humans Bane tried to drive out of their community. "What brings you two here?" Josh asked as he motioned for Wes.

Alanna brushed the loose strands of her light, red hair out of her eyes as she shrugged. Her emerald eyes shone with mischief as she asked Wes for a beer. "It's ladies night. Besides, it's dusty out there. Bull Creek doesn't have a paved road in the whole damn township."

Eve snorted in laughter. "It's barely a township." She motioned to Wes to give her a beer like Alanna's. "And for the record, this is the quietest ladies night I've seen here."

"Perhaps it's the quality of the ladies who are here that's keeping the others from showing up."

Everyone turned and saw Bane standing there, empty whiskey glass in his hand as he glared at Eve. Dimitri stiffened as he swung his legs around and stood to put himself between Bane and Eve. Wes could be heard coming down the bar as the others all rose, and Bane's coyote pack stepped up behind him. "Watch it, Bane," Dimitri practically growled.

Bane never took his eyes off Eve. "This is the problem with Bull Creek. It was meant to be a haven for paranormals to escape human society, and you've opened the roads to the riffraff, allowing humans to walk among their betters. The forests belong to shifters. Only we can truly appreciate this environment. Man has chased us out of every city we've ever tried to live in, deeming us beneath them, a threat to their existence." He turned to Dimitri and snarled. "I'm the prejudiced one? Please. Mankind has been attacking us since they learned of us. Now, they can keep to their cities of concrete and steel. Get the humans out of Bull Creek. The coyotes are taking over." He glanced over Dimitri's shoulders at Wes, then ran his gaze over the other shifters surrounding Eve before shaking his head, setting his glass on the table behind him, and turned to walk away, his pack following behind him.

Dimitri stared after Bane as he left, his body trembling with the rage that coursed through him. "We're going to need to keep tighter patrols around Bull Creek for a while. I don't trust Bane to play fair."

"Agreed," Josh said.

Dimitri turned to Eve, noticing how she stood there, shorter than all of them, weaker, gripping the handle of the knife she always wore at her waist. "I'm sorry," he told Eve. "You know that's not how all paranormals feel."

Eve nodded. "I know." She turned her gaze to the door. "Just the assholes."