Pandemonium by R.E. Butler

Chapter Fifteen

Rhaider didn’t feel even a little bit like playing at the bar, but they’d made a commitment and couldn’t just take the night off because they were having personal problems. Although an alpha male trying to steal their mate seemed like a really good reason to take a break.

Someone snapped their fingers in front of him and Rhaider jerked back. Rebel gave him a wry grin. “I’ve been calling your name.”

“Sorry, my mind’s a million miles away.”

“It’s understandable,” Rebel said.

They’d filled their band mates in on what had happened. They’d both promised to stand with them as a show of force, but Rhaider knew that the fight with Benecio would only be between the three of them. That asshole male didn’t seem to be bothered at all by the fact that he’d have to fight two males of a different shifter species, which made him wonder just how strong he was.

Rhaider was confident in his ability to put down the threat to his mate, but he’d be a fool not to be cautious in approaching him. Benecio was alpha for a reason and it wasn’t because he was a friendly guy.

“We’ve got your backs, so don’t worry.”

“I know. Thanks.” He glanced out at the slowly filling bar. Hemi and Blu were taking drink orders and it looked like Titus was serving the drinks. Which was really weird.

“What’s that face for?” Rebel asked.

“I was just wondering why Titus was playing server. He’s usually in the office.”

Maverick and Rafe joined them. “I was teasing him earlier about serving drinks when I took our drink order to Hemi, and Titus said that China called off at the last minute and he couldn’t find someone to fill in on such short notice,” Maverick said.

Rhaider opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed. China had called off?

“What’s wrong?” Rafe asked.

“I think we need to find out why China isn’t here.”

Rafe’s eyes went wide. “You don’t think…”

“Think what?” Maverick asked.

“Hold on, we’ll be right back,” Rhaider said. He hurried down the steps and grabbed Titus’s arm. “Where’s China?”

“Not here, why?”

“No, I mean why isn’t she here?” Rhaider asked.

Demi, who’d been sitting with Annie at one of the tables by the stage, walked over. “What’s going on?”

“Maverick said that China called off. I was just asking why.”

Demi’s face went pale. “Shedidn’t.”

“I don’t know why she called off. She said she had something to do and needed the night. I was going to offer her some extra cash to come in, but she hung up before I could. I have no clue what she’s doing.”

Rhaider looked at Demi. “Try to call her.”

“Is something wrong?” Titus asked.

“I don’t know,” Rhaider said, watching as Demi found China’s name in her contact list and called it. “China found out about Abbie’s vision relating to Benecio. It was an accident, but she seemed content to leave things be. Maybe she went to see Abbie.”

“Her phone went right to voicemail,” Demi said. “Abbie’s too. I’ll run by her house, see if she’s home.”

“Not alone,” Rafe said.

Rhaider nodded. “I’ll take her. You three can play the songs that don’t have heavy piano in them.”

“Be careful,” Rafe said.

“Tell me if you hear from her,” Titus said. “I hope she’s okay.”

“Us too,” Rhaider said. He took Demi’s hand and stopped at the bar to tell Hemi what was going on. He urged them to be careful, and Demi promised they would be.

It was clear when they arrived at Abbie’s home that she wasn’t there. Her car was gone, and the interior of the house was dark.

“Well shit,” Demi said. “I don’t like this one bit.”

Rhaider nodded. It was one thing for China to be gone but adding Abbie into the mix was another story. It meant that the females were most likely together, especially since neither was answering their phones.

Demi called Duke and put the call on speaker. “Do you know what’s going on with Abbie and China?”

Duke cleared his throat. “I do.”

“They went to see Benecio, didn’t they?”

“Yes, they did.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because China made me promise not to reach out to you directly. Normally as alpha I’d do whatever the hell I want, but she got Ree on her side first and I can’t say no to my mate.”

“What if she gets hurt? What if she…” Demi’s voice choked off at the last moment and she didn’t finish her sentence.

“Vale and Reign are with them,” Duke said. “They won’t let any harm come to them. China said she felt like it was her destiny to meet Benecio and see things through, no matter what the outcome might be. I agreed to keep it quiet unless you reached out, so here we are.”

“I want to go help her,” Demi said. “I don’t want her to be alone in this. It’s…I can’t lose her.”

“Absolutely not,” Duke said. “We have until the deadline to meet him and I don’t want you going off half-cocked and getting yourself hurt in the process. If you show up while China’s trying to diffuse the situation, it could blow up in your faces. We want him to want to move on from you, not dig his heels in and refuse to see the light.”

“We won’t go,” Rhaider said.

“But,” Demi protested.

Rhaider shook his head and she snapped her teeth together with a grunt. “Thanks, Duke. Let us know if you hear anything.”

“Will do.”

The call ended and Rhaider looked at his mate. “Sweets, we can’t interfere. I might be a different shifter than you, but an alpha is an alpha, and he said no. We need to honor that. I’m not interested in pissing him off, especially not when we found the perfect house for us.”

She narrowed her eyes like she was trying not to smile and then she gave him a smirk “True.” She sighed and rubbed the space between her eyes. “I hate feeling helpless. When it comes to Benecio all I’ve ever felt is helpless.”

“You’re not helpless, you’re just not in a position to do anything at the moment. You stood up to an alpha male. That’s not useless, that’s brave as hell.”

Demi leaned into him and he hugged her tightly. “I’m so crazy about you,” she whispered.

“Me too, sweets. One hundred percent, loony-bin-bound, crazy.”

She lifted her face to his for a kiss and he gave it to her, letting go of all the thoughts swirling through him about Benecio and China, and what it meant that Demi’s best friend went traipsing off into danger.

He wanted the kiss to go on forever, but the real world beckoned, and he needed to get back to the bar to join the band. Pulling from her addictive lips, he smiled when he saw that dazed, sweet look on her face.

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Demi.”

“You are for me, too.”

He wanted to do something special for her, to show her how important she was to him, and to his brother too. She was the center of their world, and he wanted her to have everything she ever wanted or needed.

An idea formed in his mind, and he turned away from her so she didn’t ask what he was grinning about. He needed to talk to Rafe. And Hemi and Duke, too. He had a feeling the males were going to want to get in on the surprise, too.

“Ready to go?” he asked as he pulled out of Abbie’s drive.

“Yeah. I hope they’re okay,” Demi said wistfully.

“I’m sure they are. Let’s put worrying on the backburner for the night, okay?” He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “We can’t do anything about what China and Abbie are doing, and worrying isn’t going to do anything but stress everyone out. We should hope for the best and focus on the night ahead.”

“You’re very smart,” she said.

“I have my moments.”

She chuckled and leaned on his shoulder. “No more worrying. I’ll just send you sexy texts when you’re on breaks so you get all worked up and can’t do anything about it until after the last set.”

“Wow,” he said with a laugh. “That’s dastardly.”

“No one has ever called me that,” she said, chuckling. “I like it. Just call me Dastardly Demi.”

“Remember that turnabout’s fair play. Whatever you dish out, Rafe and I will be doling back to you in spades.”

“Oh, sexy threats. That did nothing to dissuade me, good sir.”

Oh shit. She was obviously going to have some fun with them while they were up on stage and couldn’t do anything about it. And he loved it too. Loved seeing her smile and look happy, not worried about Benecio and China as she’d been. Whatever it took to get her mind off things, he was game. Even if it did involve sexy torturing with texts.

“You’re trouble wrapped up in a sexy package, love.”

“You know it.”