Dammit. She was teasing him on purpose. It wasn't like he wasn't already hard for her. It was killing him to stand here and watch her. He'd already been told off once for interfering with her job. Now she was playing with fire.
He glared at her and crossed his arms to keep from reaching for her and pulling her off the asshole's lap. His wolf pushed at her mind, even though they didn't have that connection. Yet. Aleksei mouthed the words his beast couldn't communicate. “End this. Now.”
Her eyebrows shot up, but she wasn't surprised even a little because she grinned too. She kept dancing and whispered back, “Make me.”
Oh, it was on. He was going to make her do a lot of things. After he spanked her ass. “Later.”
His wolf wriggled in delight at these flirtations. Aleksei went from cranky to even more turned on. She was initiating a hunt, wanted him to chase her. There was very little he and his beast enjoyed more than a good chase.
He was going to chase her, and when he caught his mate they would…Aleksei’s brain fritzed out at all the fantasies of having Helena on his lap, stroking her cunt, making her scream as he thrust into her.
His eyes were locked with Helena’s and fuck, he was getting hard as a rock watching her. He wasn’t paying attention to Earl, and that was a huge mistake.
The asshole groaned as Helena bounced on his lap and he fucking reached his god-damn hand between her legs and grabbed her crotch. “Shit, yeah—”
Earl had to die.
The wolf pushed at Aleksei and there was no stopping his beast this time. Fur sprouted from his arms and his vision went ultra-clear like 8k TV combined with night vision. He could literally see the blood pumping through the artery in Earl's throat. The one he was going to fucking rip out.
Helena's head snapped up like she could feel the anger pouring off of him. She knew Aleksei was coming for Earl. The asshole hadn't even noticed he was about to die.
No one touched his mate. No one.
Aleksei stalked toward the circle of men, his claws extended, his fangs dropped. Earl's blood would probably taste like shit. Or it would taste like victory.
Earl hooted and didn't let go of Helena. He had no idea he was about to die. Helena's eyes were wide, probably because she was smart and knew what was about to go down. Her muscles bunched up like she was preparing to join the fight.
The wolf liked that idea. Fighting side by side with his mate was a major turn on. As mates they would fight together and then fuck each other's brains out. This was going to be fun.
Helena spun and slapped Earl across the face. Then she grabbed his junk. “No. Fucking. Touching.”
God that was hot. But Aleksei was going to do much worse than just grab the asshole by the balls. He'd happily rip them right off.
Earl squealed like a stuck pig and squirmed. Huh. Maybe he wouldn't get to turn Earl into a eunuch. Helena gave Earl's balls a vicious twist and the guy almost passed out. “You see that bouncer there, the one who is hulking out?”
Aleksei smash.
“He's my mother-fucking boyfriend and is going to go ballistic on your ass in about two seconds for even thinking about touching me inappropriately.” She squeezed again and Earl's face went red.
The asshole jerked away from Helena's grasp and slapped her across the face. “Get off me, you fat whore.”
Did Aleksei think he was angry before? No. That was kid stuff. Now he was fucking livid. Murder. Death. Kill. The bones in his back and arms cracked as his wolf burst forth.
Aleksei Stoyanovich Troika. Stand down. The voice of the alpha of alphas, dark and rich, filtered through Aleksei's red haze of murderous intentions. Only the alpha voice of the Wolf Tzar could stop his shift and attack.
Niko stepped forward and placed an open palm on Aleksei's chest. The wolf inside receded, but growled his protest. “She is mine.”
“I know, brother.” Niko nodded and patted Aleksei's chest. “But you can't go around killing humans for touching her. Besides, I think your mate can take care of herself pretty damn well.”
Aleksei glanced over and saw Kosta holding Helena around the waist as she was scrapping to get at Earl. She punched and kicked and scratched at his face, but Kosta dragged her away. It was like she was a wolftress and her animal was raging to get out.
“For the hundredth time, no killing the clientele, Helena.” Kosta practically had to pick her up to drag her away. But being the alpha wolf he was, he encircled her with one arm and pointed at Earl. “You're lucky I was here to save you, asshole. Get the fuck out of my club. Nobody touches my girls and lives to tell the tale.”
Had any other wolf, even an alpha, placed his arm around Helena and called her one of his girls, Aleksei's wolf wouldn't have been able to handle it. But this was Kosta, she was okay, his mate was unharmed. Riled up as hell, but the assholes who he'd come this close to murdering hadn't physically hurt her.
He was probably still going to kill them later.
Niko whistled, calling a few more of the extra bouncers over to make sure the trash was taken out. Aleksei wasn't the only Troika doing extra duty at the Naughty Wolf tonight and he was grateful the enforcers were here as backup. Earl should be thanking his lucky stars cooler heads were here to save his ass from getting kicked or torn apart and fed to the birds.
Good thing Kosta still had an arm holding Helena back, because she literally snarled at the group of assholes as they walked away. Fuck, that was sexy as hell.
Kosta glanced at her and grinned. “You two have had enough fun for the night. Get on out of here, Helena, and take your bodyguard home with you.”
“He's not my bodyguard.” The adrenaline was still pumping through her system and she was scratching for a fight.
Aleksei knew the feeling. The best way to burn off that zing of battle buzz was to get down and dirty. There was no more pretending the two of them had nothing more than this fake relationship going on. Even Kosta and Niko could see that Helena was his.
If she didn't want to take him home with her, he would throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to his cabin. Either way, he was marking and claiming her tonight.
Then he was fucking both their brains out.
Did that make him a Neanderthal Wolf? Why, yes, yes it did. If that was how he could keep his mate safe and under his protection, he was okay with that.
Helena wasn't having it. “I haven’t finished my shift and I'm not letting those schmoes ruin my bottom line for the night.”
Kosta did nothing more than raise an eyebrow. Not at Helena but at Aleksei. That was a 'what are you gonna do about your girl' look, if ever he'd seen one.
Fine. Over the shoulder it was. Aleksei picked Helena up caveman style with her ass right next to his face. “You let me worry about your bottom.”
“Hey. You put me down. Aleksei.” She squealed and kicked her feet, she even pounded on his back with her adorable fists. “You don't know squat about my bottom line.”
“Oh, lisichka. I've had daydreams and wet dreams about this sweet ass.” Just to make sure she understood exactly what kind of dreams he meant, Aleksei gave her butt a swat and let his hand linger there for a nice long time. The sooner he could get her alone, and naked, the better.
He headed straight for the door that led to the back of the house where the break room and offices were situated. He'd rather have privacy to claim his mate, but her office would have to do. This fake relationship crap was over, and he would claim her right here and right now.