Page 33 of Stubborn as a Shadow

Shoot, I had to say something. Something that’d make this armed woman uncomfortable. People always shied away from things that made them uncomfortable…

Oh! I knew what to do!

“We’re just having a lover’s spat. Isn’t that right, baby?” I winked at Nelson before leaning toward her and smirking like I was about to reveal a salacious secret. “He hates it when I flirt with other people. But when the make-up sex afterwards is so delicious, why would I stop?”

The woman’s face twisted in a look of disgust briefly before she hid it away again. “Are you sure?”

“Am I sure about the sex? Oh, honey, am I ever!” I gushed.

Lies. It was all lies. But I doubted there would be any hellhounds at an event like this to call me out on them. This wasn’t their kind of gig. I just hoped the rash I’d inevitably be struck with wouldn’t be too bad.

As if on cue, an awful itch prickled along my armpits. Yep. It was already starting. Why was it always like this? My lies were for a good cause. That should count for something.

“You should try it,” I continued. “There’s nothing quite like being bent over the nearest?—”

“That’s enough, brat,” Nelson said. His hand squeezed tighter on my arm. “She doesn’t need to know everything that happens between us.”

She clung to me for a moment longer.

“I’ll be sure to let you know all about it when I see you tomorrow…” I fluttered my eyelashes at her. “If I get a moment to myself, that is. He can be quite the animal when I trigger him hard enough. He can go on for days staking his territory.”

“Sit down, Tammy,” one of the woman’s dinner companions said.

Tammy yanked her hand away from me. “I don’t need to know.”

“You’re drawing attention to us,” another of Tammy’s friends said, although something about their attitude felt wrong, deceitful. “Who cares if one supe overpowers another? It’s one less beast we need to worry about later.”

The words made the hair at the back of my neck quiver. That was not a nice person. Not at all. But Tammy dropped into her seat and turned her back to us, so that was handy.

“Fucking supes,” Tammy muttered under her breath.

Well. That was just rude.

People at the nearby tables bristled. They’d obviously heard what she’d said. I kind of wanted to see if anyone would call her on it, but Nelson was dragging me away again.

When we got upstairs, I hoped he really would bend me over.

That’d be fun. I’d never done that before. Sure, I was here for the artifact, but I was willing to multitask. I always enjoyed learning new things.

11

CONFESSIONS AND CONTINGENCIES

NELSON

Of all the people who could have stopped us, why did it have to be the hunter? Damn it. Morgan was going to be the death of me.

When Tammy had been in Willow Lake, I followed her around town for hours without her knowing who I was. That’d given me an edge. Or so I’d thought. Now I wasn’t so sure. But that didn’t matter now, anyway. Whatever anonymity I’d enjoyed before was gone. After Morgan’s performance, none of those hunters would forget my face ever again. Luckily, I didn’t always wear my human face.

Fuck, I really hoped it wasn’t Morgan she’d recognized.

“Let’s go to my room,” I said. “I need to get my stuff.”

Morgan raised his eyebrows. The thick layer of makeup he wore cracked along the furrows on his forehead. He scratched at his arm as he asked, “Why?”

“Can we talk about this when we get to the room?”

If I were Morgan, I’d have fought me off and run away. I shouldn’t have grabbed his arm and dragged him behind me. I knew that. But fuck. He didn’t grasp the severity of the situationwe were in, especially if even the fucking hunters were trying to separate him from me.