Steele Read Online Free Page B

he was drinking. By the time the men stood up to leave, she was armed with her list and now only had to wait until closing time. The guy who had saved her—because the more she thought about it, the more she realized he had—stood at the bar until she went to him.
    “Will they return?” She told him she had no idea. “I would say they’ll be back. And pissy too. Want one of us to stay and make sure you get to your car okay? It won’t be a bit of problem for them to do so.”
    Shaking her head, she told him she’d be fine. “I live upstairs anyway. And once I get the bar back together, I’ll be fine.”
    He laid a folded up bill on the bar and nodded to her before speaking again. “What cat are you? I know you are, but I can’t get a handle on which one. It’s not like I see a great many of your kind in my type of business.”
    “Panther.” He nodded and smiled at her. “And what are you? You’re not human. And not a shifter. What are you?”
    “Necromancer. We all are.” As soon as he said it, she took a big step back. His kind scared the shit out of her. But his laughter made her raise her chin and he only laughed harder. “You should see your face right now. You’ve no idea whether to be terrified or pissed. Which is it, little cat? Fear or anger?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But she did. “I think I’d like for you to leave. I appreciate what you did for me, but I’m…I just…all right, I’m terrified of you.”
    He nodded and smiled. “I’d never hurt you. None of us would. But you should know that you have a guy here that is trying his best to get your attention. I think he might know you.”
    Kari felt her cat snarl at her, and when she was this pissed, she had a hard time controlling her. When the man leapt over the bar at her, she felt her cat pulling her hard and trying to take her. But as soon as the man touched her again, Kari felt her calm.
    “That’s it. Breathe through it.” She nodded but had to use all her energy to keep from shifting. “Keep breathing and you’ll be fine. Christ, do you have any control over her?”
    “No, I fucking don’t. And as soon as I find the bastard that did this to me, I’m going to tear him up.” Kari jerked from the man and moved out of his reach. “I’m fine now. So if you’d be so kind as to get on the other side, I’d appreciate it.”
    She watched him go to the bar split and lift the counter. As he stepped through the opening, two of the other men with him moved to sit at the bar. She felt closed in, her cat snarling at her. When one of the men asked for another beer, she nodded but made no move to pour it. She’d rather they just left. But when big guy sat down, she knew that they were in no hurry. She poured the beer and sat it in front of the other man. As he nodded, she looked at the big guy.
    “My name is Kari, Kari Briggs.” She rarely let people touch her and only put out her hand to shake his when he did. As soon as he touched her, she knew she’d made a mistake. It was one thing for him to touch her arms when he’d been helping her, but this was direct contact, which always made her feel like she had taken on a part of the person. Hand to hand was much stronger than anything else. But instead of commenting on the connection, he introduced her to the men with him.
    “My name is Ray Hancock. This is Drew Mullins, Hugh McGuire, and Nick Stark. The two over there are Landon Logan and Mitch Riley. And the loner over there is Steele Bennett. He’s the quiet, brooding type.” At his wink she looked at the man in the far corner. He didn’t look like a type at all, but one that made his own rules. And he was fucking huge too. “Well, Kari Briggs, would you like to know about your ghost? I think he’s trying to tell you something.”
    “I don’t want to know unless it’s the owner of this bar. And he’d better have a fucking good reason for being dead.” She slapped her hand over her mouth as soon