Chapter 7
What had possessed me to use my vampiric seductress routine on Harkin not once, not twice, but three times when I woke up this evening?
Beats the hells out of me. I’d toss it up to his scent triggering all the wrong nerves.
Though we may be different species, our inner predators would always have one thing in common—sex.
Dirty, carnal, tearing clothes and flesh, fucking.
Neither my fangs nor my pussy had seemed to get the very urgent memo that wolves were off the menu.
I’d made it a habit to drink blood behind closed doors because most beings were squeamish about it.
If only they had seen me in my prime, when I still fed on humans.
I’d bite them in the middle of a damn dance floor for all I cared.
I drank two glasses of blood in front of Harkin without even thinking.
Then again, he hadn’t shown disgust the first time we met either, had he?
And when he ate that meat, the blood staining his teeth, curse me to the light, I got wet.
“Aurora,” Ash shouted from somewhere nearby, jerking me from my thoughts.
Sounds from the bar filled my ears—overlapping conversations, two males shouting and cheering at a basketball game on TV. A male demon sang Lady Gaga badly, and Ash shouted my name that, judging by his tone, hadn’t been the first time he’d tried.
“Yes?” I asked, sparking an innocent smile.
Ash folded his arms, his wings softly flapping. “What’s the deal with you two, anyway? You said you met one time before.”
I had a rag in my hand. When did I grab a rag? Anyway, I wiped down a bar that didn’t need cleaning. “Why did you suddenly ask that?”
“Maybe because you’ve been staring at Harkin from across the room for the past five minutes?” Ash’s feelers twitched inside and out. “And he’s been staring right back.”
“He’s supposed to be staring. It’s part of the alpha sense or whatever it is.” I risked a stupid glance. Harkin peered at me from his table, his topaz eyes glowing through the billowing smoke from his cigar.
“Uh huh. Is he the same reason you wore a bright red shirt that I don’t recognize? I’ve never even seen you in that color.” Ash pinched the fabric hanging off my shoulder.
I slapped the rag onto the counter and turned to my mothy friend with an indignant hand on my hip. “I have worn this before.”
“No. You haven’t.”
My fangs flew out. “Yes.”
“No, no, double no, and you won’t win this battle. Clothing is my second love. You know this.” Ash picked lint from his pristinely ironed black long-sleeved dress shirt.
My tongue flicked against my fangs. “If I tell you one small snippet of how we met, will you drop this?”
Ash crossed his fingers on all four hands.
“We met in a bar. He caught me feeding on someone in a back hallway.” I pinched my thighs together, recalling the day that seemed so long ago because it was.
Harkin’s face at the time showed no signs of caring. It wasn’t even shocked. I had reacted roughly the same, lifting my face just long enough to arch a brow at him, blood dripping from my lips and fangs.
“That’s it? That’s all you’re giving me?” Ash pressed two of his hands together in prayer. “Just a little more?”
Brigid, a resident green witch, sat on a stool at the bar.
“We had a deal, Ash, and I have drinks to sling.” I patted Ash’s slumping shoulder as I passed. “Brigid, how are things in the witch world?”
Brigid blinked her bright blue eyes before holding her face in her hand. “They’d be a lot better if my mate didn’t insist on making a fool of himself every week with karaoke.” She lifted her head, her eyes closed, but she popped one open. “Please tell me he isn’t gearing up for another song?”
I glimpsed toward the back where, sure enough, her demon mate flipped through the touchscreen. “Afraid so.”
“Sisters, give me mercy,” she said under her breath. “To be clear, despite his bad singing, I truly love my mate.”
“I never thought otherwise. What can I get you to drink?” I grabbed a cocktail napkin and rested it in front of her.
“How about a cosmopolitan?”
“Sure thing.” I grabbed a bottle of vodka and turned toward the fridge.
Brigid spun on her stool like a child, grabbing the bar when she’d made two full rotations. “Who is that in the corner? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in here.”
A burning sensation like a consuming flame lashed in my stomach. I had a horrible, sinking feeling that her noticing Harkin might have made me jealous if she didn’t already have a mate.
“That’s Harkin. He’s visiting from Plena Falls.” I mixed the ingredients with several tosses of the shaker bottle.
“Plena Falls? Huh. Is he a wolf? Looks like a wolf.” A sly smile slid over Brigid’s lips.
The way he’d partly shifted. Fur grew on his face and shoulders. His canines enlarged, and that feral-as-sin look on his face when he’d stopped that orc.
“Yeah. Alpha, actually.” With the beverage in a martini glass, I slid it to her.
Brigid’s eyes widened. “Alpha wolf and he’s in the Cove?”
There was a male shifter sitting two chairs down from Brigid. He kept tossing glances my way and would avert his eyes when I looked at him.
“He repaired our tap system yesterday.”
Harkin’s gaze darted between me and the weird shifter guy. Clearly the wolf had already had him in his sights.
“And he’s still here? Wonder why?” Brigid asked.
My eyes snapped to hers. She was grinning.
Quick, Aurora, you’re usually quicker than this.
“Probably because I offered drinks on the house tonight as a tip for his services.” I motioned toward her cocktail. “Do you have a tab started?”
“Mm-hmm, it’s under Lyzur.” Brigid looked between Harkin’s table and me. “For free drinks all night, it’s strange he doesn’t have one.”
What was this woman, a fucking detective?
“That reminds me, he ordered a beer.” I grabbed a Blood and Honey from the fridge. “I should take that to him.”
When I rounded the bar, Brigid sipped her drink, her feet hanging from the stool, kicking like a giddy schoolgirl.
Harkin slouched in his seat, his legs spread wide, the cigar pressed between his teeth.
He squinted through the smoke at me, giving him a bit of a Clint Eastwood vibe that had my stomach flipping.
“You want a beer?” I held it up by its neck.
Harkin pulled the cigar from his mouth. “Do vampires hate mirrors?”
After profusely rolling my eyes, I dug in my pocket for the bottle opener only to find nothing. “Shit, I forgot the opener—”
Harkin held his hand out. “I got it.”
With a speculative look, I handed the beer to him. When he took it, his fingertips skimmed my knuckles. His slightest touch sent that recurring static swirl down my spine. He kept eye contact with me and extended his thumb claw, using it to pop the cap off.
Since when had such a simple act become ridiculously sexy?
The vampiric mojo needed to settle the hells down.
Harkin eyed the bottle. “Revolver, huh?” He slowly spun the bottle until the label faced him. His cheek twitched, and he mouthed the name Blood and Honey.
Why was he staring at it like that?
“Order as many drinks as you want. It’s on the house,” I clipped.
“Really?” Harkin took a slow, long swig, making that Adam’s apple bob bob bippity bob. My fangs tried to sneak out, but I forced them back. “Awfully nice of you.”
“Not really. It looks odd when someone takes up a table all night without drinking on a Saturday night.”
Harkin chuckled.
I took one last look at that glorious throat of his and spun around.
A new customer sat at the bar with sapphire hair and a pair of ebony moth wings. Ash was already talking her up, their wings flapping in equal rhythm. I sidled up beside him.
“Who is this, Ash?” I asked, taking in the female moth’s delicate, sweet features. Her nose curved and perked at the tip like a Disney princess. A scattering of light brown freckles covered her apple cheeks, and her eyes were a vibrant hazel. She had only two arms instead of four.
Ash fixed his eyes on her and supported his chin with two hands, propping his elbows on the bar. “This is Sable.”
Sable smiled, and tiny fireflies hovered around her black feelers. “I’m a seamstress in town. I had never been in here, so I thought I’d check it out.” She extended her hand.
I shook it. “Aurora. Welcome to my bar. Is Ash serving you well?”
Ash lightly poked one of his free hands into my side, making me grunt.
“Oh, very.” Sable’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve never met another moth before. Remarkable we’ve not met until tonight, Ash.”
“The universe is cruel and mysterious,” Ash replied in a daze.
I whispered in Ash’s ear, “I don’t want to hear another word about Harkin, friend.”
That same shifter sat there, nursing the same drink. His eyes were closed, and he heaved a deep inhale, moving closer to me as he did so. Again, I looked over at Harkin to see if he stirred, but when he didn’t, I slid further away from the weirdo shifter.
The male demon stood close to the mic, ready to sing his next karaoke song. The tune of Love Story by Taylor Swift sounded from the speakers. Brigid’s head fell to the bar with a groan.
“Say, Brigid,” I beckoned, tapping a fingernail on a metal railing.
“Yes?” the witch asked, muffled by her face still planted against the mahogany.
“Your magic. Does it have a way to detect other kinds of magic?”
Brigid’s head lifted, her nose scrunching. “What do you mean?”
What the hells did I mean?
I rubbed my antler charm between two fingers. “What if it was a magical tracking device? Would you be able to detect it?”
The witch’s eyes slowly narrowed. “Probably?”
My gaze cut to Harkin, who still watched me like a looming wolf in the darkened brush.
“Can you try to then? On me?”
Brigid stared at me curiously before removing a smooth, brown river stone from her jacket pocket. “Anything to distract me from the show happening behind me.” The witch closed her eyes. She muttered words in a language I didn’t understand before sparkling emerald tendrils swirled her arms.
Harkin noticed immediately. When he rose from his seat as if ready to stop Brigid, I covertly shook my head. He sat back down, but his disapproving glare told me to “be careful.”
“Well—” Brigid said, her eyes opening. “I sense nothing tracking you necessarily, but there’s some kind of tether I don’t recognize.”
My eyes darted to Harkin for a nanosecond. “That’s probably just the sire bond with my maker. It’s been there for ages.”
As if I understood the magical intricacies of it.
The witch kept rubbing the stone. Her gaze studied me. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“Anyway, thanks. Holler at me when you need another round.” I drummed my hands on the bar top and hurried away.
The night dwindled without incident. Ash and Sable talked for hours, and Brigid dragged her mate from the stage, saying she wanted to have a few drinks with him.
Honestly, she had done the entire bar a service on that one.
Harkin ordered several more beers, but nothing beyond that.
I wasn’t sure why I’d clocked him as a whiskey drinker, but his only drinking beer surprised me.
It was halfway through the night when I felt a bit of guilt creep in. Harkin hadn’t eaten since yesterday. He could have easily devoured that entire bag of meat I had for Waffles, given his size, but he held back.
I put in an order to the cook, and when it appeared at the service window, I tapped Ash on the shoulder. “Can you go take this to Harkin?”
I was already being rather nice, giving him food. I sure as hells wouldn’t serve it to him too.
Ash’s feelers turned toward the bleeding burger on the plate. “Sure.”
Ash whisked to Harkin’s table with the burger in hand. I moved to the far corner of the bar so I could hear them.
“What’s this?” Harkin asked, picking up the top bun.
Ash folded two arms and placed his other hands on his hips. “A burger cooked about as rare as we could get away with without a health code violation. Aurora ordered it.”
Harkin peered around Ash, spotting me listening, and I pretended to sort glasses. “Level with me, Ash. Did she spit on it?”
Ash laughed and shook his head. “It came straight from the cook and into my hands.”
“Alright, then.”
“Enjoy,” Ash said before turning away.
“Say, Ash, mind if I ask you something?” Harkin asked.
Ask? What could he possibly ask Ash?
Ash nodded. “Sure.”
“The names Lucius or Morcant come to mind at all?”
Well, fuck. Now Harkin put Ash in a tight spot.
“Uh, hm.” Ash slightly swiveled to toss me a look for help. “Not particularly.”
Harkin’s nostrils flared.
Double fuck. The wolf could smell him lying.
“Hey, Ash,” I yelled, knowing I’d be paying for it later. “We have customers.”
“Right. Sorry, I’ve got to get back to work.” Ash said to Harkin before hurrying back.
Harkin’s eyes zeroed in on me, a silent probe in a flash of citrine.
When I clenched my jaw, he shook his head and turned his gaze to the food in front of him.
Harkin lifted the burger, blood dripping from it and gathering on the plate.
I chewed on my thumbnail, waiting for him to take a bite.
When he did, he consumed half of the burger.
A satisfied growl rumbled in his throat.
If I had human nails, I would’ve snapped one at that sound.
This had become too amicable. He was getting far too attractive.
Forcing my eyes away from Harkin devouring that burger like prey, I marched to the jukebox.
No one was watching the TVs. Karaoke had wrapped up for the night, and the bar was getting ready to close.
Pressing A5, I turned and pressed my back to the jukebox with my arms crossed.
Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs played over the speakers.
From across the room, Harkin’s head lifted.
He finished his burger and wiped his mouth and beard with a napkin.
A twinkling glint sparked in his gaze, the wolf’s glow flickering.
He tossed the napkin onto the table and rose.
As he stalked toward me, I grew acutely aware of every single step.
My heart would have been trying to throttle through my chest at the sight of it.
When Harkin reached me, he rested a hand on the jukebox by my head. “You’re a brat.”
I clicked my nails against the plastic. “And you’re a brute.”
“Know what’s funny?” Harkin’s gaze roamed my shoulders but lingered on my shirt.
“What’s that?” I tried like hells not to make that question breathy. His scent wrenched at me.
He tapped a finger against the jukebox. “I remember a tiny detail from the night we met.”
“You do?”
“Yup. Was something I said to you.” Harkin’s eyes traveled over my hair before locking his gaze with mine—predatory, carnal, alpha.
“What did you say?”
Harkin lowered his mouth to my ear. “You look good in red.”
My face fell, knots twisting in my stomach.
Harkin pushed away and jutted his thumb behind him. “Go on and clean up. I’ll be waitin’.”
I pinched my eyes shut and turned around, grabbing onto the jukebox and partially cracking the frame. This red shirt. That night was the last and only other time I’d worn it.