The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,11

and decided to investigate the dark room behind the bar. I peered through the open doorway and saw nothing but pool tables. Nope, not a chance in hell.

I used to love pool as a kid, but when I was fourteen, my father put a stop to it after he caught a young Shifter licking his lips while I leaned over the table and took a shot. That was when my mother sat down and taught me about the birds and the bees and the wolves. Bending over or showing my back to a Shifter had a meaningful connotation among adults—one that was part of the dance when seeking out a mate.

I pivoted on my heel and lingered by the jukebox before settling on a stool near the end of the bar. Through the mirror behind the bottles, I noticed eyes swinging away as the men lost interest.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

I set my purse on the bar along with the map. “I’m famished. I’ll have the burger and fries. No pink meat.”

He had a peculiar grin, showing more of his bottom teeth than his top ones. “What to drink?”

“Root beer.”

“Did she say root beer?” a man barked. A few cackles sounded from that direction.

I glared at the man sitting three stools down while unfolding my map. Hope had warned me that the rural areas had pockets of Shifters who were lawless and uncivilized. They considered most outsiders interlopers and treated them accordingly.

The bartender spoke quietly with him, and their direct stares bored a hole into my skull. When he returned with my root beer and popped the lid, someone snickered. Ignoring them, I sent Hope a text.

Melody: I’m in hell.

Hope: I thought you were in Oklahoma.

Melody: It’s raining. Had to pull over.

Hope: Where?

Melody: A tiny bar in no-man’s-land. The roads here are confusing.

Hope: You must be in Shifter territory. They’re not all marked. You okay?

Melody: Just wish you were here. Reception is iffy, so don’t panic if I go quiet for a while.

Hope: Maybe you’ll meet Mr. Right.

Melody: More like the missing link. Talk soon.

I smiled and put my phone away. While I squeezed the ends of my wet hair and listened to Hank Williams Jr. growling on the jukebox, I noticed something peculiar. There weren’t any women. I didn’t recall seeing any on the other side of the wall, either. And I found that odd.

As much as I wanted to turn around and make sure I wasn’t imagining things, the last thing I wanted to do was give anyone the impression that I was checking them out. Men often outnumbered women in Shifter communities. That wasn’t the strange part. But guys, especially alphas, loved having their women by their sides. Even Shifters who lived in mansions liked to get out and socialize, including women. Perhaps I’d wandered into the Bermuda Triangle of the South.

Just as I found my location on the map, my burger magically appeared.

“Ketchup?” the bartender asked.

“No, thanks,” I said warily, eyeing my smashed bun. “Can I have some mustard?”

“There’s a gas station five miles up the road. Ketchup is all we’ve got.” He patted the bar twice. “I’m Red. If you need anything, just holler.”

My uncle Denver worked as a bartender, and if I knew one thing, it was how long it took to properly grill a burger. This wasn’t fresh. It was a precooked patty he’d tossed in the microwave. The bun had that distinct freezer burn smell bread gets when it’s been in cryosleep for too long and is then revived in a toaster oven.

“Is the city girl too good for our food?”

I swung my eyes to the man sitting three stools over—the one with a grizzly bear tattooed on his forearm and a camouflage cowboy hat atop his head. “Is the country boy too good for manners?”

The two men on either side of him heckled him. “She got you there, Jimmy.”

When the jukebox switched over to Patsy Cline, I resumed squinting at the map. Shikoba, the dealer I was meeting with, had provided directions that began with street names and ended with landmarks. “Turn right when you see a big rock” and “turn left at the white tree.” The rain needed to let up so I could see the big rock and the white tree.

“Something wrong with your burger?” Red asked.

When I heard the disappointment in his voice, I took a bite. No sense in insulting the staff. It required all the strength I could summon to swallow that bite,