“All right, now tell me, how do you know how long you were running?”
I shrugged. “The solstice.”
“The solstice? Like the summer and winter solstice?”
I nodded. “During the summer solstice, my fire is at its strongest, and during the winter solstice, my fire is at its weakest.”
“And the equinox?”
I shrugged. “I’m not affected by the spring or autumn equinox.”
“Interesting…” he mused. “Any particular reason?”
I shrugged again. “Shva’sika said something about it having to do with my main element and my opposite. My main element being fire means the summer solstice heightens my abilities as long as it’s happening. But because one of fire’s opposites is water, as well as its subelement of ice, and my most logical opposite element thanks to my mother, the winter solstice does the opposite to my abilities. Both equinoxes are related to earth and air, and have neutral effects on fire, thus having neutral effects on my ability during the equinox.”
“Interesting, but makes some sense, I guess.”
“I guess you’re not affected?”
Raikidan shook his head. “I’ve never felt any different during any seasonal change.”
“Too bad. You might like the extra power the solstice gives.”
“Maybe, but I’d also hate the lack of power for the opposite solstice.”
I snickered. “You’re a lot smarter than you look. Most would want what I feel. They’d want the extra power for one day without any thought to the negative later on.”
Raikidan shoved me. “I do have a brain. As hard as you find that to believe.”
I smirked. “I’m not fully convinced, but you’ve proven to me enough you have more than I once thought.”
Raikidan shoved me again. “Just because I piss you off a lot doesn’t mean I don’t have a brain.”
“Oh, it doesn’t?”
“I like getting on your nerves.”
“Sure you do. That’s why you begged to come back in here after telling me you missed being around me.”
Raikidan bumped my chin with his fist. “I said I like to get on your nerves, not your bad side and be banned from being around you.” I chuckled and shook my head as I stood up to head for my dresser. “Where are you going?”
“We have work tonight,” I reminded him. “And there is a dress code.”
Raikidan grumbled. “Do we have to? I hate that place, and I hate having to pry men off you. It’s a pain in my ass.”
I gave him a long stern look. “And you think I enjoy it?”
“You don’t show that you mind.”
I snorted. “This is me we’re talking about. If it were up to me, I’d work the bar and kill anyone who tried to touch me.”
Raikidan chuckled. “If you didn’t choose to hide who you were, you could.”
“If I chose to reveal who I really was, we’d have more problems than horny drunk men looking for some ass to grab.”
Raikidan snorted and headed for the door. Just as he made it there, he stopped and looked back at me. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but decided against it and left for me to change alone.
I smiled when the door closed. At least he was being decent and not making a fuss about leaving while I changed—this time. I looked at the walking death traps called shoes and the skimpy clothes called a uniform. When Ryan had first given them to me, I thought he had stopped at Midnight, though I knew I shouldn’t have since I had seen the waitresses wearing them prior to me becoming an employee. Upon putting them on the first time, I found the short-shorts uncomfortable, and the cropped shirt made my breasts look huge, not that Ryoko wouldn’t say my breasts were huge even without the shirt accentuating them. I personally would disagree, especially in comparison to her, but she never listened.
I had hoped Azriel would have made an exception for me and given me something a bit more appropriate. Sighing, I reluctantly changed into my work clothes. I hoped it would go smoothly for once.
Chapter 11
My eyes closed and then opened slowly, and my lips curved into a deeper, more seductive grin. Zo continued to ramble on about some stupid war tale with him in it as I leaned on his table and listened. I forced myself to laugh or show great interest at the appropriate times, even though none of it was funny or interesting.
I had hoped for a decent night, but that hope had been dashed immediately when Raikidan and I walked inside. Zo was already here and, along with his table mates, had been causing a problem.
“Good. You’re here,” Azriel greeted. “I need you to take care of a specific table.”
“Sure, which one?” I shouldn’t have agreed before knowing.
“The one Zo is sitting at,” he informed me.
“No!” I shook my head and threw out my hands. “We agreed the first day I came to work I wouldn’t have to deal with him.”
“I know, I know, but I really need you to do this,” Azriel begged. “The men have been harassing the other waitresses, and now the waitresses are refusing to serve them.”
“Well, of course they’re getting harassed. Zo is their ringleader.”
“But that’s the thing. He’s not doing it,” Azriel had defended. “He’s acting completely out of character. The others have reported his actions as anxious. It’s like he’s waiting for something and couldn’t care less about the women around him. Please do this for me, Laz. I can’t afford to lose a single customer right now. Zarda has been taxing us too much. I’ll pay you extra when I have the money.”
And here I was. I hadn’t been harassed by the other soldiers, but Zo had been all too inclined to bother me. I wasn’t blind, nor was I stupid, and as much as I hated that Argus and Ryoko were right, I couldn’t deny the truth. Zo was anxious because he has been looking for me. I couldn’t see why his focus was always on me. I wasn’t anything special.
Zo held up his mug. “You wouldn’t mind topping me off, would you, Sweetcheeks?”
I smiled. “Sure thing, Zo.”
As I left with his glass in hand, I tuned my ears into listening to the others at the table.
“Zo, can we talk to the woman now?” one of them asked.
“Yeah, can’t you share?” another one voiced.
“You three don’t know how to handle a woman,” Zo argued.
“The hell we don’t,” the last soldier defended.
“You scared off the last four that came to this table tonight,” Zo spat. “I’m not going to allow you three to scare her off.”
“Hey, we have needs,” that last soldier replied again. “It’s not our fault they can’t handle us.”
Zo snorted. “And this is why you can’t be trusted around women. You don’t know how to handle them. They’re fragile.”
Fragile, right. He obviously didn’t know all women. Sure, there were women who were fragile, but there were many others who could hold their own, and not all those women were soldiers. I filled Zo’s glass and headed back to the table.
“I don’t see why she’s so special to you,” the first soldier muttered. “You’ve never cared so much for a woman in your life.”
Zo shook his head. “Those other women weren’t like this one. Eira is different. She’s… something else.”
I wanted to gag. I wasn’t sure what was worse, Zo actually finding interest in me, or the fact he was trying to compare me to the whores he had been with in the past.
“Here you go, Zo.” He took the glass gratefully and toasted me before gulping it down. “You boys need anything?”
The three soldiers looked at each other and then pushed their mugs toward me with grins plastered to their faces. Picking up the glasses skillfully, I turned to head back to the bar and bumped into someone.
“Oops,
sorry,” I mumbled. “I really should watch where I’m going.”
“Don’t be sorry. It was my fault for walking up on you.” I froze. I knew that voice. Slowly I looked up. The young man I had been accosted by the first time I’d been back here since my return stood in front of me with a sly grin on his face. “Hey, baby.”
“Great, it’s you.”
I pushed past him, but he grabbed me by the elbow. “Hey, don’t be like that.”
I ripped my elbow away. “Get lost.”
He grabbed me again and pulled me close. “You owe me a dance.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re right.” I felt his grin on my ear. “You owe me a little more than just a dance.”
“I owe you nothing.”
“Listen, you—”
His presence left suddenly, and my curiosity forced me to spin around. I suppressed a smile at the sight of Raikidan holding the soldier by the back of his head. “She told you to leave her alone.”
“Let me go, you bastard, and mind your own business, or else,” the soldier barked.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to make threats, Anders,” Zo said.
“General, shouldn’t you be taking my side?” Anders objected.
“You shouldn’t be harassing her.”
Anders snorted. “What’s with you lately? You’ve never had a problem sharing in the past.”
I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I didn’t like the direction this conversation had taken.
“It’s time for you to leave,” Raikidan growled at Anders.
“Over my dead body. I’ll leave when I get what I want.”
Raikidan grinned. “That can be arranged.”
“The dead part,” I added.
“Stay out of this, Eira,” Raikidan warned.
“Like hell I—” I stopped when a woman screeched. Whipping around, I found one of the other waitresses being manhandled by a drunk soldier. My eyes narrowed into slits, and I slammed the three glasses down on the table, making all five men around me jump. I stalked over to a nearby table and stole a glass from a patron.
“Hey!” he protested.
“I’ll get you another one,” I promised.
Making my way over to the waitress in distress, I changed my stride into a seductive sashay. The drunken soldier looked at me and grinned. “Well, lookey here. It must be my lucky day.”
“Hey there,” I cooed. “Why not let her go and spend your time with someone better?”
The soldier’s grip left the waitress, who was all too happy to move away from him. With a grin, I moved closer to the soldier, but just as he went to grab for me, I tipped the glass of beer over his head. The soldier froze in shock, and his buddies at the table laughed, but I wasn’t done yet. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, I pulled him from his seat and smashed the glass down on his head.
The soldier hit the ground with a thud and was out cold. The other soldiers at the table stopped laughing and froze. I looked around the room and realized everyone was looking at me. Even the DJ had stopped playing his music. I didn’t care much about what they thought of my actions. I just wished they would stop staring. My actions weren’t that surprising; at least, I didn’t think so.
Resting my hand on the young waitress’ back, I ushered her toward the bar. As I did, the music resumed and the club went back to their business.
“Thank you, Eira,” the woman breathed with relief.
“Don’t mention it,” I replied. “It felt good to actually hit one of them and get away with it.”
She laughed. “I wish I had the same courage as you, but I guess that’s what happens when you live outside the city most of your life.”
“You have to learn to survive. If you don’t have the courage to face your fears out there, you’ll never make it.”
Azriel had agreed to use my immigration story as a cover and had told it several times until he knew all the workers had heard and understood it. Those who had known me before had agreed to go with it, and those who didn’t, believed it quite easily.
I addressed at the olive-tan-skinned man with a dual set of ears as we reached the bar, “Az, I think an early break is in order for her.”
Azriel nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to me too. Bethlana, go take a break. You can still have your regular one later tonight.”
“Thank you, Azriel.” She smiled kindly and headed for the back room.
I ducked under the bar to grab four glasses.
“I can’t believe you, Laz!” Azriel shouted when she was gone. “What were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?”
“Chill out, Az,” I told him as I began pouring ale into the glasses. “It’s not like I killed him.”
“You knocked him out!”
“Your point? It wasn’t like anyone else was giving her a hand.”
Azriel sighed. “Laz, you can’t be hitting people like that. You’re a waitress.”
“And this is a club. A regular club where people come to dance, hook up, and get drunk off their asses. This is not your brother’s sleazy strip club. I’m not going to sit around and let them manhandle us anymore. I don’t care if you’re having issues with money. We shouldn’t have to put up with it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll quit and go back to working for Zane.”
“No, don’t do that,” he begged. “I need you here.”
“Then choose. Me putting these unruly men in their place or you losing me since no one else wants to come up with a better solution.”
He sighed. “Just don’t get out of hand, okay?”
With a triumphant smile, I walked around the bar with four drinks on a round serving tray. “I won’t do anything that would reveal who I really am or get your place closed down. I promise.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Azriel muttered as I walked off.
I should have asked him to clarify, but I had work to do. Stepping over the knocked-out soldier before two bouncers could haul him away, I placed a glass in front of the man I had stolen the beer from, and sauntered back over to Zo’s table.
Raikidan was no longer at the table, but then again, neither was that Anders guy, which led me to believe Raikidan was taking care of him. Placing the glasses down on the table with a smile, I pushed them toward the three soldiers. “Anything else I can do for you boys?”
The three looked at each other and then me. They shook their heads and drank their ale. I looked at Zo and raised an eyebrow.
Zo chuckled. “You’ve gone and scared them, Sweetcheeks.”
I laughed. “Oh c’mon, be serious, Zo.”
“I am serious.”
“And you call yourselves soldiers.”
“You knocked a soldier out,” one soldier muttered. “Female civilian or not, if you’re crazy enough to do what you did, you’re not someone to mess with.”
I laughed. “You seem unaffected, Zo.”
He grinned and leaned closer to me. “I prefer a strong, independent woman like you.”
I refrained from retching. That had to be his most blatant pass at me yet.
A strong hand touched my back. “You forgot stubborn, too.”
I laughed. “You say it like being stubborn is a bad thing there, tiger.”
“Bad? No. Annoying? Yes,” Raikidan teased with a grin.
I grunted. “Like you’re any better. What are you doing over here anyway?”
“Azriel wanted to talk to you again.”
I sighed. “Great. What does he want to yell at me about now?”
“I don’t think he’s mad.”
“Yeah, I highly doubt that. He was pretty angry when I was over there last.”
Raikidan moved his hand to my shoulder. “C’mon, you’ll b
e fine.”
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered as I turned away from the table with him.
Raikidan wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me away. I noticed him look back and shoot off a glare.
One of the soldiers chuckled. “Looks like Zo has a little more competition than we thought.”
With a grin, I reached up and rested my hand on Raikidan’s hanging arm. Raikidan looked down at me and smirked.
Another soldier chuckled. “Looks like he’s doing a better job than you, Zo. How does that make you feel?”
Raikidan glanced back and grinned more. I refrained from laughing when I heard a glass break.
“Oh, looks like he doesn’t like this one bit,” the last soldier teased. “I’m starting to like this. I might want to stick around more often to see how this will play out in the end.”
I snickered when the soldier yelped in pain.
“You enjoy their misery,” Raikidan observed.
“You don’t?”
“Not as much as you. Although I am finding that general’s anger most entertaining.” I opened my mouth to say something but he continued. “I also don’t particularly care for the way he treats you. Whether you mind or not, I’m not going to tolerate it, and I will be stepping in.”
My cheeks warmed a bit. He didn’t need to act this way, but I couldn’t find the strength to tell him to ignore his protective nature, or find a part of me that didn’t like how he was acting. In the past that would have unsettled me, but right now I embraced it. “I don’t want his attention on me, so no close contact, and I will agree to this.”
Raikidan grinned. “Can’t promise anything if that general starts to get grabby.”
“Satria forbid he does.”
Raikidan laughed. “Do you mind if I ask something a little odd? I’ve been meaning to get an answer from you for a while, but never figured out the best way to ask.”
“Lay it on me.”
“What’s with Azriel’s ears?”
I laughed. “You were better off asking it like that sooner. Azriel and his brother have two sets of ears as an attempt to give nu-humans better hearing.”
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