“Very well.” His words did not match his behavior. “I apologize for bothering you.”
He didn’t look apologetic, either. Not. At. All.
He looked smug as hell.
Ignoring him—because I was a pro at that—I continued packing my things, dragging the heavy boxes to the back where my beat-up pickup truck was waiting to take me home. Thankfully Proto was nowhere to be found, although I expected him to jump at me from out of thin air at any moment. He lived for freaking me out or pissing me off. Well aware of the gaze following my every move, I kept all my attention on what I was doing. The jerk didn’t move an inch, standing there watching me like some creep. My heart continued to flutter, which only added to the anxiety already digging a hole in my stomach.
Why was he still standing there?
Why did I care if he was or wasn’t?
Something inside of me was screaming to get my attention, but I stuffed it down with everything in me. This guy smelled like trouble, and I definitely didn’t want any part of that. Too bad I couldn’t wish him away. Arms screaming in protest, I hefted the last box in the back of the pickup, adding yet another dent. And when a corner of the box scraped across the truck before I shoved it in, even more paint peeled. I thought I heard the jerk mutter something about cursed fates and stubborn females, but when I whirled around to give him a piece of my mind, he was gone.
“Thank the fates I’ll never see that arrogant ass again,” I mumbled under my breath, stretching my sore back. For some dumb reason, those words sounded like a big, fat, juicy lie, even to my own ears.
Blowing stray strands that had escaped my ponytail to fly in my face, I swiped a forearm over my forehead to remove the trickling droplets of sweat. Nothing I did could shake off the feeling burning inside me.
The male was trouble waiting to happen.
Chapter Two
Vaser
“Well?” Tyler grumbled from his perch on a tiny wooden chair as soon as I stepped foot in the room of the run-down motel we rented as soon as we arrived in this small town in the middle of nowhere. “Any luck?”
The image of the female with her hourglass curves and perky breasts straining in that thin tank top popped to the front of my mind. Her shapely, muscular legs were bared to my hungry gaze, the globes of her ass covered in shorts with just enough fabric to drive a male insane. In this day and age, a female’s shorts looked more like underwear than actual clothing—not that I complained. Tendrils of lavender hair had escaped the ponytail and were sticking to her neck and the side of her angelic face, making me want to tuck them behind her ears. And those pink pillow lips? I imagined those wrapping around my cock while they were spitting venom every time she spoke to me.
“I’m not sure I would call it luck, my friend,” I answered him, kicking off the boots and sprawling over the second wooden chair, which groaned under my weight.
Tyler and I met when a seer told me if I wanted to find my mate, I needed to visit two destinations. One was New York City. That’s where I found the gargoyle, and after two drinks he confessed the same seer guided him to the pub. I didn’t question why out of everyone in that place I chose to sit next to him. Fate? Probably.
After comparing the stories she told us, we both realized we were headed to the same place, most probably to find the same mate. For me, it wasn’t unheard of to have a shared mate. For demons, it was a common thing since females are few and far between. The gargoyle, however, raged about my comment for three days before he begrudgingly accepted his fate. Who knew the stony fucks had only one mate and were greedy bastards that had never heard of sharing? I was looking forward to fucking with him if we did end up having to share. Maybe he would be able to get the stick stuck up his ass out then..
However, if I was honest with myself, I’d thought the seer had lied. As a matter of fact, I was certain she had led us astray. I’d been about to tell Tyler we needed to go our separate ways when I’d caught the most tantalizing scent that had graced my nose in hundreds of years.
It led me to the farmers market.
To her.
The moment I set my eyes on her, I knew she was the one, although for the life of me I couldn’t tell what breed she was. One thing was certain: she was not human. Oh, she looked human as fuck, and there was no way to tell she was anything but. Yet … no human could muddle the brain of an incubus with just the tone of her voice. If there was water nearby, I would’ve bet my life that she was a siren luring me to my death, and I would’ve willingly accepted it with a bright smile on my face. Even while angry, the musical, husky tones felt like a physical caress under my skin. Like a youngling, I had to hide my lower body with the table housing all the jars so she didn’t see my cock straining against the zipper of my jeans.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The male jumped from his perch, the chair toppling back as he clenched his fists and loomed over me. “Did you find her or not?”
“Oh, I found her alright.” Giving him a lazy smile just because I knew it’d piss him off, I stretched both arms over my head.
“Did she say something?” A muscle ticked in his square jaw and I could tell he was poised to pounce on me and beat me to a pulp if I didn’t spill the beans. My name would not be Vaser if I didn’t rise to the occasion to needle the gargoyle.
“She farted.”
“What?” Tyler’s bellow bounced off the thin walls of the room, and someone shouted “Shut up” from further down the hall.
I grinned.
“She farted.” Shrugging a shoulder, I reached for the bags of fast-food he got from somewhere, rummaging through them until I found the fries. Popping one in my mouth, I chewed it slowly just to let him stew a little more. “She also told me to take a hike. A feisty one, brother. This is going to be so much fun.”
“I am not your brother, demon,” Tyler snarled. “What do you mean she farted? What is she? A troll?” His large body visibly shivered at that. “The fates cannot be that cruel.”
Almost choking on the damn fry, I had to pound my chest to dislodge it before I died of oxygen deprivation. Wiping tears from my eyes as soon as I calmed down, I popped another one in my mouth. Chewing on the greasy fry, I eyed him, debating how much I wanted to rile him up. The truth was, a lot. One look at his bare chest and tree-trunk arms where his skin was turning from caramel to grey told me he was close to unleashing his true form. Maybe I should give him a break, unless I wanted to deal with the humans when he started raging and breaking this building apart. Cleaning out the salt that was stuck to my fingers on my leg, I straightened in my chair.
“Calm down before we have to clean up the damage you do, will ya? She’s not a troll.” Her face floated again in my mind’s eye, springing my cock to attention just when I thought I’d get a break. It was going to be long few days before I could do anything about it, at least if her attitude was anything to go by. “You’ll meet her tomorrow.”
“You arranged a meeting?” Tyler’s voice sounded like grinding rocks, but at least his skin was a normal color again. Small steps with the aggressive fuck. Unlike him, I was a lover, not a fighter.
“We are going for an interview.” At his confused face, I snickered. “She is looking for a helping hand for her farm. She said the position was filled, but even a human could smell the lie from miles away. She was trying to shake me off.” Pointing a finger at him and then at myself, my smile only grew. “We are all the helping hands she needs.”