Chapter 28

"I can't believe you've become a regular at a bar," Danette teased, sipping on her pink Cosmopolitan in the reserved booth at Lunatics. It was a Thursday evening in early April. Jack and I had been together for long enough that my friends were used to him by now.
"And a wolf bar at that," Jessamy added ruefully. Jess was a sweetie, but a little class-conscious, and yeah, hanging out with Jack, I'd finally sorted out the class struggle between vamps and wolves. So some vamps thought because they didn't get furry they were superior. Idiots. Jack Marceski was the best man I'd ever met - of any species.
"Ummm...sitting right here." That was Dara, who sat next to me on my side of the booth. We were getting to be good friends too.
"Sorry, dear." Jess did have the grace to look truly embarrassed for her gaffe. That British breeding still showed through, even after two hundred years.
"No problem." Dara smiled and gestured to the waitress to bring another round of drinks.
"Someone's coming," Danette said. My back was to the main part of the bar, so I couldn't see who was approaching. "He's kind of cute too."
"In a creepy sort of way," Jess whispered.
I felt the man stop at my elbow and the little hairs on the back of my neck immediately stood straight up.
"Ariana," he said in that snide, condescending voice I'd learned to hate. "It's about time I found you. You've been punished long enough for your disobedience. Get your purse. You're coming home."
My table companions went silent as I turned to face Frederic, the man who had turned me nearly a century ago and had then held me captive for decades. Drawing in a deep breath, I stood. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised one eyebrow.
"Frederic. Hasn't anyone staked you yet? What a shame."
Jack moved up beside me and started to pull me away. I knew my wolf would be feeling downright murderous, and I held up one hand to keep him from ripping Frederic's heart out, right there and then. While I might not know where our relationship was going yet, I did know Jack would always be protective of his friends - and lovers. I liked to think I qualified as both.
"I see you're still eating well." Frederic's nostrils flared in disgust as he looked at my low-cut peasant top and jeans. Knowing Jack adored my curves made me much happier about flaunting them. "And you still don't know how to dress."
"What do you want, Frederic?" I deliberately made my voice sound bored. "I'm kind of busy right now."
"I'm ready to take you back. Now come along." He looked stunned that I'd even asked him to repeat himself.
"You've got to be kidding. You turned me, abused me and ditched me. Why the hell would I want to come back to you?" I was just warming up now. A month ago I'd never have had the courage to stand up to Frederic, but now I was enjoying every minute of ripping him a new one - all the more so because of the approving smiles of my friends and the pride that shone in Jack's dark eyes.
"You belong to me," Frederic said. "When Alonzo came to me and told me you hadn't died - "
"Alonzo? How did he know I was alive?"
Frederic shook his head, as if brushing aside my question as unimportant. When I stared him down, he answered. "He saw you in Cleveland last Christmas. I've been searching the whole damn Midwest trying to find you."
Cleveland. I had gone there with Jess to visit a friend for a few days between Christmas and New Year's. I hadn't spotted Frederic's friend Alonzo at any of the festivities she'd dragged me to, but apparently he'd seen me. Oh well. I was damn tired of hiding, even if before it had only been from myself.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Frederic, and I don't owe you a god-damn thing. Get out." I eyed him up and down. Slender and pale with short black hair and pale green eyes, he was handsome enough in an effeminate sort of way, I supposed. But he inspired nothing in me but disgust. Not fear anymore and certainly not passion.
"Quit stalling, Ana. It's time to go. I'm your master, remember."
He'd always called me Ana, never Ari. And I'd hated it. Then I committed the ultimate sin. I laughed. I looked at him and just burst into giggles.
"Go away, Frederic," I gasped between bouts of amusement. "Get out of here before you get your scrawny ass kicked."
"By whom?" he sneered. "This...wolf?" He curled his lip at Jack and reached out to tug on my sleeve.
Before any of us saw him move, Jack had the skinny vamp in a headlock. "Your call, sweetheart. Do I just throw him out, or do I make sure he can never come back?"
Several of Jack's friends and family had surrounded us, along with my friends. They were all immortals of one sort or another - there were no humans within earshot.
"He's not worth it." I gazed up into Jack's eyes and realized all over again how much I cared for him. Then I turned to Frederic and let my fangs show this time.
"You will leave Lunatics, and you will never return. If you're stupid enough to set foot in here again, I won't be responsible for what happens to you. Secondly, you will leave Chicago. Same goes. I have a lot of friends here." There was a murmur of approval from the crowd at that one. "Finally, if I ever hear that you're claiming to be anyone's master ever again, I will personally drive a pool cue through that shriveled raisin you call a heart. And any two people in this bar will hold you down while I do it. Is that clear, Frederic?"
The vampire male looked around at the crowd of menacing wolves, vamps and even Fae. When he finally registered the magnitude of the threat, he nodded frantically.
I jerked my thumb at the door. "Take out the trash, darling. He's stinking up the place."
The feral glow in Jack's eyes promised there'd be a little roughing up along way as he dragged Frederic's unresisting form to the bar's rear exit. I had no problem with that. Frederic deserved a little pain. He'd heal. I just didn't want his death on Jack's conscience.
Putting the past behind me, I slid back into the booth beside a beaming Dara.
All three of my friends raised their glasses.
"To Ariana," Danette said with a shaky smile. "We're all so glad you've finally found a guy worth your time."
"And even better," Jessamy added, beaming proudly. "You've found yourself. The strong, loving woman we always knew was in there."
"Cheers," Dara added. "Way to kick some ass."
They all drank, and so did I.
Jack came back in, wiping his hands. He leaned in beside me and kissed me hard, right in front of everyone, a wolf marking his territory. The whole crowd was applauding when he finished.
"I'm so proud of you, Ari."
I was proud of me too. After a century of isolation, I'd finally come into my own.
End Part 1