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But I’d only booked a week off with Matthias because that was usually more than enough time. Hell, I’d run off early, if we were being technical. Oswald and I were both concerned that my heats were getting steadily longer and closer together. Before long, I would be in the worst pain of my life for half a month, every month.
Admitting that I needed an Alpha after so long without one felt like giving up, but I wasn’t suicidal. These heats would kill me sooner rather than later. My heart had been pounding heavily in my chest too often while I’d been fucking myself and screaming into the void of my nest. How long until it gave out?
Between the remnants of pain and the realization that I may well have to give up on one of my core values, I was grumpy as fuck.
Seeing Caspian walk up to my side of the bar did absolutely nothing to improve my mood. In fact, it soured my feelings further. Shan being beside him was the icing on the cake. I’d done nothing but think about them for the past week while my fingers were circling my clit. Picturing the kiss I’d stolen from Caspian. Imagining them naked and fucking me. Paying so much attention to them during my heat made their scents more attractive to me now, but while I needed an Alpha, it would not be one of those two.
They were here investigating me, trying to find me and put me in jail or worse.
I couldn’t forget that, no matter how much I wanted to.
“What can I get you?” I barked out, squinting into the strobe lights.
Just my luck that my first night back was a weekend with a very popular DJ. He was warming up right now, sound checking, but when he got started for real, the sound would be near unbearable. “Where have you been for the past week?” Caspian asked.
His concern would have been touching if I didn’t have something to hide. As it was, I glared. “Have you ever heard of a vacation?”
He blinked a few times, taken aback. Shan’s expression was impassive, but I noticed his hand going out to the small of Caspian’s back. It was hard to ignore how the touch made the incubus relax, leaning back on his bar stool. How had I not realized before that they were together? And why did the thought of them together make me wet? “I just thought it was an odd time for a vacation. Very abrupt,” Cas said.
“Only abrupt if you don’t know me, which you don’t.” I ignored his slight flinch, even though hurting his feelings was like driving a stake through my own heart. “I’d had the time booked off for a while. With my usual sixty hour work weeks, Mattie is pretty flexible about a week off every few months.”
Recently, it had been more like every month. He was getting suspicious about what I was doing with all this time off. If anyone was going to figure out that I was an Omega, my boss would. Fuck, he probably already knew, and I appreciated him keeping it close and not confronting me about it. “I’d been hoping to apologize for the last time we saw each other,” Caspian said.
My eyes closed and I took a deep breath, pushing down the memories. I’d been playing that kiss on repeat for the past seven days. “If you’re not getting a drink, you need to leave the bar. When the DJ starts playing, we’ll be in club mode.”
“We’ll get a gin and tonic and a vodka cran,” Shan said.
Cas opened his mouth to speak again, but I promptly turned away, facing the back wall to make their drinks. Mixing and pouring gave me something to do with my hands, which helped to occupy my mind. Keeping it off them was near impossible. In general and when they were so close to me.
“Do you need me to get rid of them?”Ozzy asked.
I jumped, having forgotten he was there. There was a small cat bed underneath the counter where he stayed out of the way from the hustle and bustle. He must have sensed my distress because he was now perched on top of the counter, tail swishing and narrowly avoiding the puddles of spilled drinks. My familiar was staring at Caspian, who matched the gaze with curiosity and wariness.
“I’ll be fine. It’ll be suspicious to have my familiar scare them off.”
He nodded once, but stayed on the counter, sauntering forward until he was right beside Caspian. When I placed their drinks in front of them, he leaned forward and lapped at the gin and tonic, purring loudly. “Seriously?” Caspian asked, snatching his drink away. “Freya, what the fuck is up with your cat?”
Ozzy hissed, baring his teeth. The drink was placed back on the counter in front of him while Caspian inched away, nearly in Shan’s lap on the bar stool beside him. “He’s a familiar,” I corrected, watching as he leaned forward and starting drinking from the short glass again. “I don’t let him drink much.”
“A strange familiar,” Shan said.
He brought his vodka cran to his lips and took a sip. Today the paper and ink hints of his scent were more pronounced. It was fitting for someone so bureaucratically inclined. The rolled-up sleeves on his button up revealed a half sleeve of floral tattoos on each arm. His shirt had the buttons undone halfway down, showing off the ink on his chest. More nature emblems. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was fae. They were the ones who typically revered nature.
Ozzy’s glare turned until he could train it on Shan, his teeth baring again. He was entirely unconcerned. My familiar was cursed, but I wouldn’t be telling them that. It was only something else they could use against me.
Besides, I knew next to nothing about the curse, figuring out about it’s existence through pure luck. Aunt Clara had informed me that familiars hanging around their witches so often was uncommon, and I’d made a joke about him being cursed and stuck with me. Oswald’s reaction had shown me some truth in my joking. He couldn’t speak on the matter, though. Every time he’d tried, he’d been overwhelmed with pain, bad enough that he couldn’t walk.
“He has his quirks,” I said.
“Indeed,” Shan murmured.
Any further attempts at conversation were drowned out as the DJ started his set, bass making the glasses tremble on the wood bar top. I let myself sigh softly in relief while Ozzy cringed and jumped down to hide beneath the counter again. Caspian was watching me like he wanted to try and talk above the music, but Shan grabbed his arms and pulled him up off the bar stool. Then he led the incubus away with a firm hand on the back of his neck, leading him up to the VIP balcony.
Perfect. Of course Mattie had given the investigators unimpeded access to VIP. They would be here for the rest of the damn night.
As much as I hated it, the appearance of Shan and Cas had made me feel better. Breathing in their scents energized me, and I didn’t have to deal with dizziness anymore as I mixed drinks. I’d kicked them off the bar, but I still watched the two as they moved around the club. They hadn’t stayed up in the VIP section for long, instead opting to mingle. Look for suspicious figures, those who might know something about the killer operating in the area. No one would know anything because I kept to myself, but the tactic held some merit.
People came up to Caspian to flirt with him, only to be scared away by a single glare from Shan. He was a very effective tool for keeping people away. Few people liked angels, except other angels. Plus, he didn’t look like someone you wanted to fuck with.
