(Greyson)
I love horses. Riding them, not so much.
Yet, here I was on one, galloping through the muddy outskirts of Ze, trailing behind Saber fucking Cole's disappearing figure.
It forced me to take a look around.
Never really knew how poor Tilly's kingdom was until now. It gave another meaning to piss poor.
The First thing I noticed after Saber slowed down was the smell. It was stale beer, piss, and an ungodly amount of cheap perfume mixed with scent of decaying dead rat.
Dear God, Chase couldn't find a cleaner place to be in trouble, I just finished healing a gun shot wound. Don't you dare subject me to a venereal disease.
"Not now, Elma" I murmured and came down from the horse.
The tavern stood in front of us.
Saber swung down from his saddle, his face tight with a worry that was starting to annoy me.
I took a step closer to him, the mud sucking at my boots. It was official. This was the most disgusting place on earth.
"What are we doing in this shithole?" I asked.
"He won't leave," Saber said, staring at the tavern door like it led to a dragon's den. "Maybe he'll listen to you."
"Listen to me? Chase Dubois listen to me?" I asked him because usually the role was reversed. I was usually the one who needed to be called to order.
Chase practically breathes and farts law and order.
I watched Saber rush inside. With a sigh, I followed.
The air inside was thick enough to chew.
Smoke from a dying fire and too many bodies clung to the low ceiling.
The floor was sticky. A few sorry-looking drunks and men with the shifty eyes of thieves hunched over tables. And there, in the corner, surrounded by half-naked women, was my brother.
I stopped dead.
Chase Dubois, the Alpha Heir, the noble prince, was slumped in a chair, a tankard in his hand, a big breasted woman on his lap and he was singing—badly, loudly—along with a mangy skinny looking dragon rider.
He was drunk. Not a little tipsy. Drunker than a skunk in a wine barrel.
A slow smile spread across my face. "Well, I'll be damned."
Saber appeared at my elbow, not sharing my amusement. "Can you help me get him out of here? If your father finds out—or worse, the Dragon King learns his daughter's fiancé is here—the alliance is gone."
I laughed. It was a genuine sound. For once, I was the the emergency screw up that needed cleaning up.
I sauntered to the bar. "Wine," I told the keeper. "Your best. Which probably means your least poisonous."
"Help him" Saber whispered.
"I need a drink. Scratch that. A need a couple of drinkssss, my friend"
Saber grabbed my arm, his fingers digging in. "He has protected you your whole life, you miserable son of a bitch! Your whole life! Think what the Alpha will do to him if this falls apart! Can you even imagine?"
The anger in his voice was real. It was also a mistake.
I moved fast. In one motion, I twisted, grabbed the back of his head, and slammed his face down into the rough wooden table. Crunch. He groaned, sliding to the sticky floor.
"I don't like being grabbed," I murmured as he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
I picked up the clay cup of wine the barkeep had nervously set down and took a sip.
It was vile. I turned to the room, raising my voice. "Do me a favor, barkeep! A round for everyone here—on me! And keep them coming! It's a celebration" I tool a deep breath. "It's official. This is happiest day of my fucking life" I whispered more to myself than to him.
The room exploded in cheers and shouts. Glasses were raised.
I took another sip as Chase, at the whore's request, grabbed one of her big... really big breast and squeezed.
Okay! Time to be the responsible one. I said out loud in my head to my wolf, Elma.
God help us all. The sarcastic son of a bitch said in return.
"Shut up" I snapped at him.
I walked through the celebrating crowd to my brother. He looked up at me, his eyes glassy but bright. A wide grin split his face.
"Brother! Greyson! Come, join me!" He grabbed my wrist, his grip surprisingly strong, and yanked me down onto the bench beside him. The woman on his lap giggled.
"I will be damned," I said again, shaking my head. "The good brother is drunk and keeping company with whores. And I am here to rescue him. I'm too sober for this shit"
I took a gulp from the cup in front of Chase.
Chase leaned in, he reeked of it all. The wine, the piss, everything.
He pointed sloppily at the woman currently attached to his body. "This is Lady Lindsey, Generous chest. She offered to, you know… help me down there. But it doesn't really… work, does it?" He laughed, loudly like his own impotence was amusing. "Lindsey! Meet my twin brother! He is me...but with functional parts"
She sidled over, all smiles. Chase threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to himself.
"Maybe you should take her, Grey," he announced, then turned his bleary gaze back to Lindsey. "He's very good at fucking things that belongs to me" he laughed out loud briefly because leaning to whisper.
"Grey has done things to my wife no brother should ever do!" His voice was rising, turning heads. "Do you know who my wife is? I'll tell you! She's your—"
"Brother." My voice cut through his. Saber was right. This was spilling into dangerous territory. "Time to go."
"Fuck off. I'm telling a story!" he shoved my hand away, sloshing his ale.
I looked over at Saber, who was leaning against the wall, holding a cloth to his bleeding nose, watching us with pure dread.
I reached for the mindlink. 'Find us a carriage. And a room for the night. Somewhere clean. We can't go back to the palace like this.'
He gave a slight nod and slipped out.
"He did things to her. Things that he shouldn't do to someone of her high..."
"I mean it, stop talking!" I grabbed him by the collar and tried to pull him up, he shoved me away again.
"And I mean it, Greyson. Fuck off"
"You are embarrassing yourself, brother. Let me help you" I told him and went for round three.
This time I was able to pull him up but I didn't want to embarrass him by throwing him over my shoulder like a little whiny boy. And so I placed him back in the wheelchair.
"Embarrassing myself?" He asked. "This is your fault. I'm in this damn chair because of you!" he said.