Nekau winced, mahogany-hued eyes bulging at his own mistake. “No… I… you mentioned it before. I’m sure of it.”
The twin bouncers exchanged knowing glances before seizing the stammering magi. “We’ll take him before The Proprietor. She can decide how to handle him.”
As they left, I linked arms with Nyx and led her back onto the deck. “Safe to say, if they give out an award for Miss Congeniality tonight, you would not be winning it.”
Nyx dragged a hand over her face, wiping away the tracks of tears that had dried on her cheeks. “I don’t know what came over me. I’ve faced far worse than that shit stain and never lost it like that before.”
Leaning against a beam to watch the band, I sucked air through my teeth. “I’d love to say that it was because I had been wronged and you were thrown into a protective rage, but I think we both know there’s more to it than that.”
“Want to clue me in?” My litter-box attendant rocked my way to bump my arm with hers.
Gazing at the dragon’s flames dancing across the night sky, I uttered the blatant truth, “You know a war is coming and think you have to be the badass chick who battles it alone. Because that’s what we do, you and I. We charge on under the wrongful assumption that we have to go it alone.”
Jaw clenched tight, she stared down at her hands instead of the show overhead. “Isn’t that usually the case?”
Curling one finger under her chin, I raised her gaze to the canvas of orange painted across the sapphire cloak of night. “Look around. You’ve never been alone. Fate puts the people we need in our lives at the exact moment we need them. I’m asking you, an ex-angel, to have faith. I mean, you’ve got me by your side. Sure, I’ll be a cat again, but even in feline form, I’m one of the baddest bitches you’ll ever meet.”
Nyx snorted with laughter despite her somber mood. “I can’t argue with that.” Across the deck, she exchanged nods of acknowledgment with the beautiful blonde from the dining saloon who was now enveloped in the loving embrace of the man she had been working so hard to resurrect. “I should have been kinder to them. If I had my scythe, I could have granted them a little more time. In the end, isn’t that what we all want? A little more time before the heartbreaking end?”
Golden butterflies flew through the air like a million tiny shooting stars for The Monster Ball guests to wish upon. “Maybe what’s to come isn’t the end but the beginning of a brand new chapter.” With an arm around Nyx, I pulled her to me and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m grateful for tonight. It granted me the chance to tell you face-to-face that I love you, I respect the hell out of you, and I will have your back in whatever way I can until the very end of days. And now, I have two favors to ask.”
“That I stop calling you A-hole?”
“Nah, not that. I wouldn’t respond to anything else at this point.” My mouse-shifter found his way out onto the deck, and hot tingles radiated through my core. “First, I need you to promise me that the next chance you get to get down and dirty with a sexy bartender, you’ll do it.”
“If such a situation arises, you’ve got it,” Nyx chuckled.
“Good, because the second one is a bit more of an ask. I need you to come with me to a private suite so I can do unspeakable things to this man.” I jerked my chin in Mouse’s direction as he edged up alongside me with the heat of his body skimming mine.
Pulling back, Nyx blinked my way. “Why the actual fuck would I do that?”
“Because every time I try to leave your side, I turn back into a cat, and that could really traumatize him.”
Before she could answer, Mouse traced the top of the wine bottle down my arm. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is—”
I silenced him with one finger over his bow-shaped lips. “No, no. We won’t be doing that. Names aren’t necessary. I have one night as a human, during which we can explore every inch of each other in ways the Kama Sutra hasn’t even thought of… as long as my friend here comes along.”
Mouse’s chestnut-colored eyes widened with giddy enthusiasm. “I would be completely onboard with that.”
Eyebrows raised, I glanced at Nyx to see if she was down for a little ménage fun.
Lacing her fingers in front of her, Nyx let her hands bounce off her legs with a soft slap. “We will go to the private suites. I will stand outside in hopes it will keep you human. In exchange, you will bite and scratch me marginally less from this day on.”
Casting a provocative glance to my tasty little mouse, I licked my luscious top lip. “Time to pop that cork. It won’t be the only thing exploding with frothy goodness before the night’s through.”
After a bit of searching and an awkward scene of walking in on two men bickering over a confused-looking blonde, we found a private suite not yet occupied. “Head inside and strip. It’s almost dawn, and I don’t have much time for foreplay.”
Shrugging off his jacket, Mouse peppered my neck with kisses. “We won’t need the show topside. We’ll make our own fireworks.”
Lips pressed into a firm line, I silenced him with a pointed glance. “Really, the less talking we do, the better.” As he disappeared inside and stripped off his shirt, I met Nyx’s judgmental stare. “Oh, shut up. He’s pretty, and you’ve banged Lucifer.”
“You’ll get no judgments from me.” She pantomimed locking her lips.
“Sure you don’t want to join us? I’ve been a cat long enough to be insanely good with my tongue.”
If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn Nyx threw up in her mouth and hid it behind her fist. “I’m in no way a prude, but you’ve been my cat long enough to make that idea really fucking disturbing.”
I could smell Mouse’s desire filling the room, and it made my pulse quicken in anticipation. “Have it your way. Feel free to keep the door open and watch—Anubis knows I’ve peeked in on a plethora of your trysts. Hell, you might even learn something.”
As she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, a bit of Nyx’s trademark sass finally set in, coiling the corners of her mouth up into a smirk. “Can we agree from here on out that you won’t watch anymore?”
“I can’t make a promise I know I won’t keep.” I shrugged with a laugh.
Grabbing a chair from inside the door, Nyx dragged it out of the room and took a seat with her feet propped up. “Fine. But know there is nothing you could do with that man that I haven’t tried at least twice.”
As the hour grew late, my feline side was clawing its way to the surface, which allowed my eyes to take on a cat-like glow with a blink. “You’re thinking in the human realm. What’s about to happen in there will be straight-up animalistic.”
Leaving the door open, I sauntered to the edge of the bed. With the tug of one vital ribbon, my gown brushed over my curves and fell in a heap to the floor. A purr resonated from my throat as the warmth of my body settled onto his waiting flesh, our lips crushing together with mutual need.
With feline grace, I arched my back and planted my palms on the mattress behind me. The bed barely moved as I flipped myself over and treated Mouse and me to a wonderful trick I picked up in the south of France a century ago known as a soixante-neuf.