“Yeah, it’s crazy.”
“I am Arawl,” he introduces himself with a slight bow that makes the girly part of my brain that consumed harlequin romances in large quantities in my teenage years giggle with delight.
“Ana,” I offer my name in return. The whole moment feels ... well...preordained. Like everything had aligned in this place and at this perfect moment to meet this man.
His sexy smile widens. “Do you have any plans tonight, Ana? It’s a full moon, a very magical night where anything is possible.”
“Ah, I work tonight,” I say regretfully.
“After work then?”
“Well...”
“Come on, Ana, we’re up,” Jinx calls cheerfully. As he turns around, his smile slips when he sees the man I’m talking to. I can instantly see the protective big brother wheels starting to turn in his head as he frowns.
The man beside me is no longer smiling. In fact, he’s scowling and eyeing Jinx with hostility. I jump as he utters a strange growl like something coming from a man-sized rottweiler. Jinx blinks and scoots away from him but not before wrapping his hand around my wrist so he can pull me with him to relative safety. The growling kicks up a notch, and I watch as the entire sexy squad grabs Arawl and practically lifts him off his feet as his face twists in anger. His eyes appear far more luminous than natural. I don’t know what to think of this, but I do squeak in surprise when he still almost escapes them. My heart hammers in my chest and I stare until Jinx tugs on my hand.
“Come on, Ana,” he repeats.
“Jinx, what in the world...?”
I let him pull me over to the counter where the cashier has been watching the altercation, her brown eyes wide. As if remembering herself, she greets us, smiles at Jinx, and begins to ring up our items. Jinx isn’t his usual chatty self with the cashier and hauls us out of there in record time, the eerily inhuman growl following us out the door.
“Wow,” I mutter in disbelief, “some people really get into the Halloween spirit.”
I look up at Jinx as we make our way through the mall, dodging a herd of giggling teenage girls who are making eyes at him. To my surprise, my normally affable best friend is wearing an expression caught somewhere between irritated and perplexed. I bump his arm with my shoulder, and he looks down at me, startled.
“What was that all about in there? For someone who wants me to have a social life, you sure did go off the bend when the first hot guy we run into hits on me.”
He brings a hand up and rubs the back of his neck, an embarrassed flush crawling across his cheeks. “I don’t know. Something just felt weird about that guy. The energy about him creeped me out and seeing him obviously trying to hook up with you sent me into big brother overload, I guess. Sorry.” He chuckles. “But seriously, didn’t he feel odd to you?”
“To be honest, I was too busy drooling over him to notice much of anything. He certainly had an animal magnetism that was hard to resist.”
“Well,” he says, reverting to his normal playful disposition, “if nothing else, this proves that your Charlie was wrong. You are not dead below the waist.”
“Oh, ha ha,” I return.
Comparing the stranger to my ex was laughable. I never felt anything of the like the whole time I’d been with Charlie, although to be fair I’ve never been with anyone who could get my motor revving. While the flare of heat between me and the stranger was intense, it had also been both alien and unfamiliar. It was both frightening and exciting as if I were falling down a rabbit hole.
While things hadn’t exactly been steamy between me and Charlie, it had felt good. Steady. Reliable. Charlie had been a regular customer at the bar when I’d started, and it didn’t take him long to start flirting and, after discovering our shared passion for monster movies, he asked me to the cinema to catch the latest horror flick. After four months, he invited me to move in.
There had been something sweet and comfortable about our relationship. We had so much in common. We enjoyed the same food and spent our evenings sprawled out watching DVDs. Everything had seemed perfect. On our third anniversary, I began thinking long-term, dreaming of a simple exchanging of vows before a judge and starting a family. I thought we both felt that way until one day I came home to discover that he had packed all my belongings. There wasn’t anyone else, but while I was at work, he’d decided that he couldn’t settle anymore for someone he lacked chemistry with. Since it was his place first, I had to be the one to leave.
He’d offered to pay for a hotel room for me for a couple of days. I told him to kiss my ass.
I stood outside the apartment, my world crumbling around me, and all I could think to do was call Jinx. Within minutes, he told me to hold tight, called me a cab, and opened his apartment to me, despite his girlfriend’s objections. He was by my side all through the complete mess of those first twenty-four hours. I called out from work and Jinx spent his day off nursing my broken heart. I cried on his shoulder and he offered to beat the shit out of Charlie. Naturally, I didn’t take him up on his offer, although later I wished I had.
I hadn’t harbored any ill will toward Charlie until Jinx told me of the jokes that were circulating at my expense. Chief among them was that I was so lacking in warmth and energy in the bedroom that fucking me was like digging up a corpse to screw. I knew that they were just typical crass jokes, but it hurt all the same. I broke down, cried, and drank until I passed out on Jinx’s couch.
The next day, I may or may not have cursed Charlie with a case of limp dick any time he cracked a joke about me. I refuse to verify any suspicions that were going around after Charlie began to have performance issues with some of the ladies frequenting the bar. Jokes could go both ways. Eventually, the jokes about Charlie’s dick began to supersede the jokes of my frigidity. After a while, Charlie stopped coming and the jokes died down.
The jokes stopped hurting a long time ago, helped along by the fact that Jinx, in typical best friend fashion, had turned them into a joke between us. Rather than break me down, he used them to remind me of how wrong those jokes were, especially when I showed any kind of sexual interest or if we shared a graphic joke.
Jinx smirks. “You just have to have insta-lust for a guy who broadcasts ‘fuck with me and I will kill you.’” He taps his chin as he gives me the once-over. “Actually, that seems fitting for you.”
“Practicing your lines, oh Halloween clown?”
“Evil Arcane Jester,” he clarifies, holding up the blood-red and black court jester hat. “We don’t tell jokes. We just laugh at the joke of the world around us tumbling within the dark sphere of the arcane world.”
“Yeah,” I drawl, my eyebrows winging up. “Since when did you get so dark?”
“‘Tis the season,” he says with enough devilish glee that I can’t help but laugh.
Chapter 3
Ana
Halloween at the Tipsy Mermaid is like nothing else I have ever witnessed. I must admit that Jinx outdid himself. I should know... He enlisted my help to set it all up according to his very particular design. A fog machine strategically located at the entrance gives everyone the feeling of entering into another plane of existence, where they encounter skeleton pirates sitting in chairs throughout the establishment, clinging to their ill-gotten wealth. Artfully scattered through the bar are more of the random props we acquired that day. It’s a hit among the humans and highly entertaining for the nonhumans, who seem fascinated by the human preoccupation with our own mortality.
They have a fair point.
Even the bossman looks pleased, although, it is more likely due to the huge crowd and the dollars that are rolling in rather than the spooky atmosphere Jinx pulled off on a tight budget. He isn’t even chewing out Drew, who is, as usual, slacking on the job. Rather than actually tend bar, our resident vampire-wanna-be is too busy eye-fucking a mermaid who’s giving him, and about five other men, a good opportunity to count the delicate scales that still cover her body in human form. Her friend is loung
ing nearby over one of the skeletons telling the men nearest her that the pirate reminded her of a mortal lover she’d once had.
Yeah, we now draw mermaids big time all year round. They find it quaint to hang out and pick up men in a place named after their kind. I’m not surprised to see over a dozen mingling in the crowd, along with a couple of trolls, a satyr, several beings whose species I can’t quite place, and a few elves who appear to be slumming it in our neighborhood tonight. Mercifully, after a year of integrating most of them arrive able to speak our language, although some suspect that recently the elves have tampered with the minds of those who dwell in this realm to help us understand the languages of the fae. Either way, it is good for business and I no longer have to interpret mimed out requests for their desired drink. It does sometimes give me a pause to think, however, because it is well known that elves never do anything out of kindness.
Although they are the most attractive males in the room, the elves make my skin crawl. They’re a little too perfect and, boy, do they know it. They look at everyone with the sort of detached curiosity and cool amusement that makes me suspect that they would be entertained tearing a person apart just to see how they worked. No thanks.
Unfortunately, one of the elves has been eyeing me all night, not the least bit deterred by my ‘go fuck yourself’ vibe. I glare at him to let him know I mean business, and he just gives me a sly smile that would be better suited to a fox about to raid the hen house.
“Looks like you have an admirer,” Jinx whispers from my side as he pours a round of tequila for a flirty girl who’s practically wiggling from excitement or a good dose of pixie dust. With all the beings that entered our world, it didn’t take long for the other realm’s drugs to hit our streets too. Pixie dust tends to be a favorite. It may not make them actually fly, but they feel as close to it as they were going to get without mechanical assistance.
I watch the girl take the drinks back to her table before I focus on pouring drinks. I am determined not to look at that fucker again if I can avoid it.
“So I noticed,” I mumble.
“Elves are some creepy bastards,” Jinx observes in a low tone—smart of him since they have excellent hearing. “They aren’t talking to anyone except themselves, but it doesn’t stop them from staring like serial killers. Like that is attractive. Regardless of how fuckable they look, not many women are going to throw themselves at them if they...” He broke off in surprise when a woman leaned in to speak to one of the elves. Her voice was too low to hear over the din of the bar, but her body language was loud and clear as to what she was offering.
“I stand corrected,” Jinx whispered in amusement. “No, wait, now she’s storming off in a fit. Shot down I suspect, the poor dove. In less than two minutes, too. Brutal. I wonder if an elf would be all callous business even while fucking too.”
“Shh,” I caution him, darting a quick look at the boss to make sure he wasn’t within hearing distance, despite the snicker that escapes me.
Jinx grins as he mops off the bar. I’m half-afraid that he will continue on with his observations and end up getting us fired when a familiar face pops up at the counter, providing an immediate and welcome distraction. Melissa, swaying a little on her feet, clings to a tall, lean male with ash-gray skin, textured with what seems to be a vertical pattern of darker stripes, and long moss-green hair. He is clad in simple woven clothing of a green tunic and coarse brown pants belted around his waist. A proprietorial arm is looped around her shoulders in a way that is totally sweet. I experience such a vivid aha moment I want to shout it aloud but save us all from that particular embarrassment. I settle for grinning wildly and hope her guy doesn’t consider me unhinged. I’m just so damn happy for her, even if it means losing the best roommate I’ve had in forever.
Melissa leans forward to shout over the noise of the other patrons. “Guys, this place looks great! I can’t believe you were able to do all of this!” she hollers. “We just had to come and check it out. Oh! This is Rodovan. He is a leshy.”
“I’m her mate,” he clarifies with a smug grin of satisfaction. “Not that she made it easy. My female is as devious as she is quick.”
Both of my eyebrows wing up in surprise as Jinx makes a fond sound in the back of his throat. Although no one would suspect it from looking at him, despite his passion for death metal and everything dark and disturbing, he’s a complete sucker for romance and any sort of baby critter ever conceived.
“Mates?” I ask in surprise. I knew she’d been seeing someone, but I didn’t realize it was something so serious. Whereas Jinx is the complete romantic, Melissa was very much the non-commitment type, so this is startling. They had only been seeing each other for a little over three months. “Isn’t that a bit sudden?”
Melissa blushes and shrugs. “This mate business is hard to resist. I guess it’s fate, you know.”
I actually don’t know, but I smile anyway.
She gives me a conspiratorial look and adds, “Besides, the mate hunt through the woods was to die for. So freakin’ hot.” She fans herself in an exaggerated manner that makes the male beside her... uh, her mate ... rumble with amusement.
“A sexy romp through the woods... Sounds riveting,” Jinx sighs. “That’s the kind of love life we need, Ana. Someone to frolic in the wilds with and enjoy really dirty sex.”
“Uh-huh,” I say, unconvinced. “I’ll pass. Hard to romp when you know you are sharing space with snakes, ticks, and spiders, among other things.”
Jinx rolls his eyes. “Pay no attention to this one. Someone killed and buried her sense of adventure,” he teases as he props his chin on his fists and leans forward. “So are we talking a mating bite or something else?”
“Jinx!” I protest, thoroughly appalled. “I really have no interest in hearing any details of their sex life.”
“So cover your ears—I want to know!”
Rodovan is, remarkably, a good sport when it comes to discussing their intimate life. He lets out a loud laugh and begins to regale Jinx with the tale of his hunt of his “fair Melissa” through the woods and the passionate culmination of their mating. I wonder if absolute openness about sex is a quality that is possessed by the fae in general or if it’s species-specific. Regardless, it seems to work for Melissa. She jumps in to fill in around his narrative. I half-listen to their explicit accounting of events for all about five minutes until my eyes slip over toward the door, pointedly not looking anywhere near my elvish admirer. However, as my eyes skim the area, I go utterly still as a sexy green-eyed male who’s been haunting my thoughts since our encounter walks in with his companions. His name drifts up through my memory with a ripple of pleasure.
Arawl. Such an unusual name.
Immediately, my belly warms and knots with interest. There is something so compelling about him that I can’t help but watch as he strides in, exuding confidence and sex from every pore. I am not the only one affected by his animal magnetism. Our regular female patrons and newcomers are staring at them with undisguised desire. I swallow my disappointment as women descend upon him and shrug it off.
I don’t have time to dwell on it, anyway.
A fresh crowd came in with the man-candy and it keeps me plenty busy. Even Jinx has to abandon his gossip with Melissa and her new mate to keep up with the flurry of orders coming our way. I return her cheerful wave as they leave.
I feel eyes on me while I work, though I cannot be certain of their source. I fantasize that it’s Arawl watching me from among the crowd despite his bevy of admirers trying to catch his attention. I doubt he’s even looked my way or noticed my presence in any fashion, but that doesn’t hurt my fantasy any. Somehow, however, I’ve forgotten all about the elf until I look up to greet a customer and find myself looking into the pale crystalline-blue eyes of the elf who’s been watching me all evening. I mentally groan, my fingers tightening on the bottle yet, by some miracle, I manage a tight smile.
“What can I get you?”
His
eyes roam over me far too possessively and with a certain gleam that makes me instinctively want to flee. I look over to Jinx for help, but he’s swamped with customers and doesn’t glance my way. I could get his attention and he would be over in an instant, but not without bringing the boss down on our heads. The quickest way to get on the boss’s shit list is to make him lose money by keeping a customer waiting. I take a deep breath and maintain my polite smile.
I can get through this. I’ve dealt with more than one scumbag and more harmless drunk flirts than I can count since I started tending bar.
The elf’s lips curve as he traces an elegant finger over the edge of the counter, his eyes never once looking away from my face.
“I find that I am thirsting for something your establishment doesn’t offer in any of its bottles,” he says as his pale pink tongue traces over his lips in a manner that I suspect he thinks is enticing. So not the case.
“What a shame,” I return. “Maybe you’ll have better luck at another bar.”
“What I desire is definitely here,” he purrs. “Perhaps I should just take what I want and drink directly from the source that tempts me. What do you think?”
I am not sure if it’s his tone or the look he is giving me, but something about his turn of phrase sets warning bells off in my head. I shake my head in a pretense of regret. “I’m afraid that all we have is what you see on the shelves behind me.”
“Not true. I am certain that your flavor is far superior to any bottled substances you carry in this establishment,” he returns as his eyes trail leisurely over me. My skin crawls at the thought of him putting his mouth anywhere near me. “Come with me, and I will introduce you to things you have only imagined, little witch.”
The Accidental Werewolf's Mate: A Monsterly Yours Romance (Monstery Yours Book 3) Page 2
