men in black attire, and after the spilled drinks were cleaned up, one of them carried the wolf away.
Cool and collected, the bartender strutted toward me, not a hair out of place on her short Mohawk. When she turned and nodded at someone, I admired the shaved designs on the side of her scalp. She tipped her head to the side with a half smile, a look of “Same shit, different night” on her face.
“You’re new here,” she said, flipping up the counter and crossing into the bar.
“How can you tell?”
She winked. “You get to know the regulars. What’s your poison?”
“Tequila. But I probably shouldn’t drink on the job. I’m the new bartender.”
She gave me a long appraisal before filling a shot glass with tequila. “Since this is your first night, I’ll allow it. Want any sensory magic?”
“What?”
She slid the glass in front of me and ran her finger around the rim. “Do you want me to spike your drink to boost your confidence or get rid of those nerves?”
I shook my head.
She poured herself a glass of club soda and then rested an elbow on the bar. Our glasses clinked together, and I downed my shot.
“I’m Simone.”
I grinned. “I used that name once.”
When I caught my flub, I wanted to bang my head against the wall.
Her head jerked back. “What do you mean by that?”
I laughed and set down my glass. “When I was eighteen, I got a fake ID to get in all the cool clubs. I’m Robin.”
Simone had full, beautiful lips and cunning brown eyes. She looked at me as if I were a puzzle. “What’s your Breed? I have to know who’s got my back.” She spoke purposefully, like a serpent moving through the grass.
“Mage.”
She set down her glass. “Great. Just what we need, another Mage.”
“Why do you say it like that?”
“They come. They go. Sensors are better for a job like this. We don’t just serve beer. You have to be on your toes, and if you’re scared to get physical, this isn’t the job for you.”
“What did you do to that guy? I didn’t think Sensors could make someone shift.”
She set our glasses beneath the bar. “It’s a little trick I learned. Gave him a taste of his own medicine. We have a rule around here: you don’t touch anyone on a leash. Only their handlers are allowed to touch them. He broke that rule. I saw him pat the man’s ass when he walked by, and that gets him a swift kick out the door. He’ll be lucky if the owner lets him return.”
The man who had thrown out the wolf leaned over the bar, tattoos all up and down his arms. “Simone, do you really have to put a fright in them? He pissed all over my leg.” The man’s British accent caught my attention.
Simone threw back her head and laughed as she made her way down the bar to fill orders.
“Women are wicked little creatures.” He scooted onto the stool. “I should have never broken her heart.”
“You didn’t break my heart, Flynn,” she said loudly. “Just my bank account.”
Flynn nonchalantly turned toward me. “A bit of advice, love? Never shag someone you have to work with. When a relationship ends, there should be a law that you never see them again.”
I shifted my stance to face him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have been a dickhead.”
Flynn had crazy brown hair, like a man who had never seen a hairbrush. He stroked his short beard and looked me over. He seemed more interested in my legs than anything else. “Did you come to play? I’m suddenly feeling a bit randy.”
“Leave her alone, Flynn. That’s Robin.”
“The new girl?” Flynn gave a mischievous smile. “You don’t say?”
Without warning, he grabbed my wrist and smacked my arm with his other palm.
I reflexively punched him in the throat, put his head in a lock, and then threw him to the ground.
Simone leaned over the bar to look at him and then gave me a nod. “You’ll do.”
A glow caught my attention, and I looked down. The light on my upper arm was in the distinct shape of an owl.
“It’s your stamp,” Simone said matter-of-factly as she popped the lid off a beer bottle and handed it to a topless woman. “It only lasts a week, so you’ll need him to give you a new one every seven days. If you’re still here, that is.”
I rubbed at the mark. Instead of ink, it was as if someone had tattooed