CHAPTER2
Gunner groaned,running his hand over his face.
God take me now, please.
“All I’m saying is maybe you’re thinking about it too much. Maybe you just need to loosen up a little, get out of your fucking head, man.” Cody would not give up his incessant pestering, much to Gunner’s chagrin.
“I don’t need to get drunk to fucking shift,” Gunner grumbled.
“No, you need to get laid.”
“Getting laid won’t—”
“Brooding around the fucking house worrying you won’t shift isn’t exactly helping either.”
Cody’s words hit Gunner harder than he wanted. His friend was right. He’d done everything else to try and bring about his first shift; working out, prolonged lunar exposure… He even tried meditating and yoga, which Cody still seemed to find particularly funny given the size and look of him.
Thank Jesus he wasn’t actually there to see anything,Gunner mused as memories of chants and super stretches filled his brain.
The fact of the matter was, if Gunner didn’t make his first shift before the full moon was over—tomorrow—he would be more than just a dud shifter. He’d be a disgrace to his whole family, the Brickmans—a line of strong, pureblooded shifters.
A name supernaturals and humans feared for many reasons.
No Brickman had ever failed to shift.
Gunner slid his hands in his pockets, his fingers rubbing the moonstone talisman he kept on him at all times. To the naked eye, it was just a pretty, shiny rock, but to the Brickmans, it was the Diviner: a rod of fate, an enchanted pebble that could predict one's fated mate. It had worked for everyone in his family, thus far, and as he felt the weight of it in his palm, he had to wonder if it would work in a speed dating session.
That was what Cody was proposing.
Speed dating.
The word alone elicited another groan out of Gunner.
“If I say yes, will you shut the fuck up?”
“My lips will be sealed.” Cody smiled his patented cheesy grin, the one he’d used countless times to placate Gunner’s mother when they’d gotten in trouble as kids.
That cheesy grin was a bright glowing lie, but he couldn’t disagree with it.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
* * *
“You’ve gotto be fucking kidding me.” Gunner sighed in exasperation as he stared up at the flickering neon sign that readDeLux Cafe.
“Look, I didn't name the place.” Cody ran a hand through his blond hair, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“This has to be a joke.” Gunner slid his hands in his pockets, debating fleeing the scene.
A throng of very attractive women in short dresses, all long legged and tan, flitted past him as he weighed his cons. His gaze traveled up their legs, and he thought perhaps Cody may be right. Maybe he did need to have a little fun. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d thought about anything but shifting, about anything butneedingto shift, needing to fulfill his spot in the Brickman line as the next alpha.
* * *
Gunner’s eyesroved over the crowd of people in the chilled space inside the DeLux Cafe. The singles, who milled about, all looked almosttooattractive to be single, he thought.
The bar itself was lit up with red neon backlights, the varied bottles of alcohol stacked perfectly, streams of light filtering through them, illuminating their liquor. The rest of the room itself was divided up with tables with singular red lanterns that held candles, flames flickering off the shellacked mahogany tables; some fitted with tufted red leather booths and others with chairs that looked far too regal to be seating in a bar.
Cody swung his arm around Gunner’s shoulder, his pale blue eyes bigger than saucers.