Page 20 of Nexus
Spying me, the zombie’s face lit up in recognition. “Welcome back, Saige!” he said and poured me a beer before I could ask.
“Hey, Lenny,” I said and took a seat at the bar. “Mom says hi, by the way.”
“Pearl remembers me?” he asked in apparent surprise and happiness. “Tell her she can drop by anytime. I still remember her favorite drink.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, interest and curiosity picking up. Alcohol didn’t affect mom, so she rarely bothered to drink it. I’d only had one beer so far and I didn’t know what my limits were. “What is it?” I queried.
He tapped his nose and I winced in dread that it might fall off and land in my drink. It held firm, thank the stars. “It’s a secret,” he said in a loud whisper.
“I wouldn’t want you to break a sacred oath not to tell,” I said solemnly, then paid for my drink.
The zombie had other customers to serve, so I swiveled around on my stool to watch the crowd. I recognized a few people from my first visit here and wondered how often they came to the club. It seemed to be busy every night, rather than just on the weekends like human clubs.
Laughter from a corner of the room caught my attention. I glanced over, then did a doubletake when I saw my colleagues gathered around a table. Seeing two werelions, two vamps and two humans together should have been a curiosity to most of the patrons. No one was giving them a second glance, which meant they had to be regulars.
Annoyance, jealousy and a sense of ostracism mixed inside me as I watched them chatting away. Ruen and I should have been with them, but neither of us had been invited. Speaking of my partner, I hadn’t seen or heard from him since he’d given me the keys to my apartment, then dropped me at mom’s place. So far, he was a lousy sidekick.
One of the werelions glanced over at the bar and spotted me. He leaned in to say something to the other bounty hunters. Their heads all swung towards me. I raised my glass in a sarcastic salute, then took a gulp of beer as if I didn’t care that I hadn’t been invited to their gathering. “Snobby a-holes,” I muttered beneath my breath.
They conferred for a few seconds and the skinny redhead shook her head in denial. Both lions gestured at me, then looked at the vamps. The male nodded and his partner shrugged. The redhead’s partner shrugged as well when the shifters looked at him. She scowled, then snatched up a shot glass of amber liquid and tossed it back.
Smiling in victory, the werelion I’d thrown across Drake’s office gestured at me to join them. I was tempted to flip them the bird, but I put my pride aside for once. This was the opportunity I needed to get on their good sides. I might have to work with them on some of the more dangerous missions. We didn’t need to be friends, but we needed to at least be civil to each other.
A finger tapped me on the shoulder before I could stand up. I turned to see Lenny placing a fresh glass of beer on a tray full of drinks. “Take this to your fellow hunters, will you?” he requested. “That one’s on the house,” he added, pointing at the beer he’d just poured for me.
“Thanks, Lenny,” I said, now seeing why my mom was so fond of him. He was a good guy, for a walking corpse.
Lifting the tray with practiced expertise, I easily held it over my head with one hand. I’d worked as a waitress parttime for a couple of years and had been damn good at it. Fingers pinched my butt as I worked my way through the crowd. I turned to glare at the shifter, who winked in invitation. He wasn’t bad looking, so I smirked instead of punching his lights out. I gave him a nod that I’d see him later. He grinned and nodded back, content to wait until I was ready for him.
Fresh confidence in my sex appeal and general hotness put a spring in my step as I crossed to my colleagues. The redhead’s scowl deepened, but not even her disapproval was going to ruin my night. I was about to talk shop with my fellow bounty hunters, then make a man out of the werecougar who’d pinched my butt. Things were definitely looking up for me.
Chapter Sixteen
“YOU’RE SAIGE, RIGHT?” the werelion who’d called me over asked. “I’m Hugh and my partner is Theo.” Both werecats were around six feet tall, had muscular bodies and shaggy blond hair. From the way they were leaning against each other, they were partners in every sense of the word. They wore t-shirts and jeans and weren’t sporting any weapons at the moment.
“Hey,” I said in greeting as they picked up their empty glasses so I could put the tray down. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“I’m Otis,” the human guy told me, then gestured at the pouting redhead. “This is Felicity.” Again, I had the sense that the hunters were a couple. Otis was average height, handsome and had brown hair. He had a muscular body beneath his polo shirt and trousers. Felicity wore a tailored navy-blue suit that didn’t suit this kind of environment. I could see the outline of daggers strapped to her wrists beneath her jacket. She didn’t bother to acknowledge me and grabbed a shot glass from the tray. Her red hair was in a ponytail and her neck looked ridiculously slender.
“I’m Zahir,” the male vampire said, then bowed. He had swarthy skin, black hair and dark eyes. His shirt was dark gray, with long sleeves and his trousers were black. Both looked expensive. Short and slightly built, he would be fast and agile. “My wife is Yareli,” he added. His wife was a couple of inches taller than him and kept her hair cropped close to her head. She wore a long, flowing black dress that probably hid a multitude of weapons.
“Where’s your partner, Saige?” Otis asked, looking around for Ruen and not seeing him anywhere.
“Probably locked away in a coffin somewhere,” I joked. Otis snickered and Felicity glared at him. Clearly, she hated my guts. Probably because I’d embarrassed her in front of our hot weredragon boss when I’d caught the dagger she’d thrown at me.
“You should spend more time with Ruen to get to know him,” Hugh advised me, putting his arm around Theo’s waist. “You two need to become a cohesive unit if you’re going to work well together.”
“Ruen isn’t my partner the same way you’re all partners,” I pointed out.
“Vampires would never lower themselves to pair up with whatever type of creature you are,” Felicity said with a fake smile. “Lord Gilden must have ordered Ruen to work with you.”
“I’m not a frail little human who needs backup like you do,” I said with a fake smile of my own. “Ruen’s only going to be my partner until I’ve learned the ropes. I’ll be a solo hunter after that.”
“Lord Gilden doesn’t allow us to hunt alone,” Yareli said. Her accent was stronger than her husband’s. I was pretty sure they were Egyptian. While she didn’t hate me like Felicity did, her manner was distantly cool.
“Why not?” I asked, then took a sip of beer. So far, alcohol wasn’t affecting me. I probably had my mom’s imperviousness to it.
“Our work is too dangerous,” Theo said. “Sometimes, the things we hunt are too powerful for one person to handle. You heard about what happened to the werewolves you and Ruen are replacing?”
