“Here, Annalise,” Cabe said from beside me, reaching across the bar to hand her what she ordered. I tried—and failed—to hide my grin as she took the drink.
She scowled a little in his direction before I saw an idea flit across her features. A mysterious smile stole across her lips as she looked me dead in the eye and put the rim of the glass to her fuckable lips. She tipped the glass back and downed the whole thing in one go. Then she took the plastic sword that held her olives and ate them one by one—all while never breaking eye contact.
I couldn’t look away from her even though my insides were melting, my dick straining painfully against the zipper of my jeans. Her eyes flashed, pupils dilated, giving away her arousal.
I bit back a groan as a sexy as hell grin spread across her mouth. There was no doubt about it—she was fucking hot.
After breaking eye contact with a wink at me, she set the glass down on the counter and slid it to Cabe. “Fill ’er up, handsome.”
The poor sap cleared his throat and shook his head to center himself after the scene she put on for us.
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave a small chuckle and kicked my shin under the cover of the bar. I turned and followed him, walking a few feet away from her as he collected the ingredients for her drink.
“We are in over our heads. She is in a bar full of fucking Demons and still managing to grip our balls in her tiny fists. Who the fuck is this girl?” I asked in a harsh whisper. My skin felt hot as my beast had unfurled itself from the back of my mind, coming to stand front and center, watching all the action unfold.
“She’s…” Cabe started as he began mixing her next martini. “I don’t even fucking know, Lanier. I don’t know what the hell is going on right now. I don’t know this girl; I never got to see this side. Toward the end, she was always alone, never with people. I’m beginning to think that parts of her life were hidden on purpose.”
He was anxious and angry. I could see it in the way he tossed the bottles around on the countertop with more force than necessary. Cabe was always calm and controlled, but this girl was throwing him off balance. He had seen a different side of her, a side he was prepared to handle—had grown to love—but the side we were seeing was hard and unapproachable. She didn’t have a hint of warmth in her eyes. Instead, she was guarded and never hesitated to bare her teeth.
But she was affected by us, that much I knew. I saw that she was just as turned on as I was during that little show she put on. Even if it was just sexual, she was affected. I could feel her in me, in this bond I was trying to ignore.
I spent all this time trying to find the answer, to find my mate, and now that she could possibly be here…I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore.
“Alright, let’s just see how the next hour plays out. She’s bound to hit the dance floor or something. Someone will try to talk to her, and she’ll whip out her fancy strength and get herself into trouble.” I reached into my pocket and checked the time on my phone. “It’s eleven o’clock. We have exactly an hour to get this done.”
Cabe nodded and took her drink over to where she sat at the bar. I stood back and took her in. Her tight leather jacket hugged the muscles of her arms, and the white crop top she had on gave me a perfect view of the creamy skin of her stomach. Her tits were covered, but they were big enough to still be mouthwatering, even covered in a layer of fabric.
If she was truly my mate, I was screwed.
I had a reason for wanting to Fall, a damn good one at that. I deserved it, I deserved to be alone for eternity, living in Hellfire with my demons—letting them out to play freely amongst creatures just like them.
I couldn’t be distracted.
She didn’t bother to look at Cabe as he set the martini down in front of her. Instead, she took hold of the glass without even eyeing it and began to sip slowly as she stared at something across the room. She wasn’t even listening as her ex talked, she was absentmindedly nodding her head at whatever he was saying.
Following her line of sight, I rolled my eyes. Quint was across the room with a brunette Siren sprawled across his lap. He had his face buried in her neck as he licked her skin like a lollipop. The bastard wasn’t doing it for the Siren’s pleasure…he was looking straight at Annalise.
And she was looking at him.
I studied her posture, almost shocked to find her shoulders tense, her spine ridged as she watched Quint rile up the girl on his lap.
Tension filled the air around me; I could smell the anger rolling off Annalise, but there was something sharp in the scent—envy?
Oh. My little creature was jealous.
Quint’s eyes flashed as he fed from the emotions that saturated the air around the room. She fell for his trick easily, not seeing it for what it really was.
He was testing her.
As if she heard my thought, her head whipped to me and Cabe. She rolled her eyes and barked out a humorless laugh before downing the rest of her drink and slamming the glass down on the bar in front of us. She pulled out a fifty-dollar bill from her back pocket and placed it not-so-gently in the empty glass.
Turning to her ex, she said, “Let’s go, I’m bored.”
He looked at her funny for a few seconds, but she didn’t even turn around to see if he was following her as she walked to the front door of the bar.
“Fuck!” I looked at Quint, who had a twisted smile on his face. Well-fed and slaphappy, he was beaming.
“No, wait, this is good.” Cabe put a hand on my arm before I could round the bar and go after her. “One of the Demons will follow her, try and get to her on the street. Let’s go out back and see how this plays out. No doubt, this is our chance.”
I nodded, agreeing. As soon as the door closed behind her, Quint dropped the Siren he had in his lap straight onto the floor and walked behind the bar, smiling at us.
“Worked like a goddamn charm. She took the bait, let’s follow her.” He put an arm around my shoulders.
The fucker planned it.
He knew, somehow, that she’d get angry at him and leave the bar.
Which only meant one thing: she was just as affected by us as we were by her.
Fuck.
My blood was boiling, and Bestia was a fucking mess—snapping her jaws and pacing in her cage.
Fucking Quint.
One minute I was sipping my drink, and the next I looked over Joey’s shoulder to see Quint with some mermaid looking girl draped all over him, his tongue licking her skin like a goddamn ice cream cone.
Of course, he stared at me with a smirk on his perfect face the whole time he did it. The bastard was taunting me, and fuck, it worked.
I was so fucking angry. Irrationally angry. I couldn’t figure out why I was pissed, but I couldn’t stand being in the same room with him anymore. Watching him sucking at her neck was enough to make me want to peel her skin from her body.
I was fucking jealous.
Why?
Who fucking knows.
I wanted it to be me in his lap, and I was pretty sure my feelings were completely out of my control, because I didn’t get jealous. I never fucking cared.
I knew what I brought to the table—I could bring any man to his knees.
Yet here I was, raging over a guy I hadn’t spoken to more than twice in my life.
Was it fucking crazy to be jealous over someone I’d literally said maybe twenty words to? Yes, it was. But did it matter? Apparently not. Because even ten minutes later, with a mile between me and him, I still wanted to rip my hair out at the memory of him touching someone else.