forgive me, but I don’t plan on telling you anything on my end. Whenever I learn about something from…” I couldn’t say ‘my family,’ so I trailed off, trying to find the last word. He only watched me, too curious, too insightful for my liking. He wanted to know so much more about me, and I fought to say anything for a minute under his gaze. “When I learn something, it’s normally told to me in confidence. Something that can’t join the world of rumors.”
“Of course.” He was still smiling, though. “The only time I ever hear about…your kind is when one crosses paths publicly with another group.” He had phrased it very carefully, something I was grateful for as I looked over his shoulder and saw Joey watching us with suspicion.
“I can’t tell you all my secrets. Sorry.” I threw in the apology because I knew there was an expectation. He’d given me information I either didn’t know or was purposefully ignoring, and I refused to return the favor. “And can you talk to that man?” I didn’t need to say who. Heath sighed heavily in return, telling me exactly how bad he felt about who I was dealing with.
“I didn’t mean to bring that much attention to you. Honestly, when he first approached me, I had no idea who he was or what it was about. Then he said ‘werewolf,’ which confused the hell out of me. I approached your territory and realized what you were. Since I couldn’t get close to learn more about you, I used him to get me basic information.” Heath sipped his beer before continuing. “Has it gotten worse?”
“Yes, since Carey came down here,” I answered. “It used to be a joke, and now it’s a bit of a game, but its frequency is increasing.”
“Unless you want to tell him...” Heath’s sympathetic look told me everything. There was no fixing it without dragging Joey into the supernatural world. Since neither of us really knew Joey that well, nor was he an employee, there was no incentive for it. Telling someone you can’t trust led to disaster, and that was something I never flirted with.
Unless it’s for Carey. Then I didn’t just flirt with disaster, I took it out to drinks and asked it to fuck me on the first date.
“No, he doesn’t need to know. It just started to make me uncomfortable, and…” I trailed off, realizing what I was about to ask. I was a werecat, and this was my territory, and I was about to ask a wolf to handle his previous spy and get him off my back. “You know what? Don’t worry about. I’ll start throwing him out of the bar if it gets too bad.”
“Good. I’ll finish my beer and get out of your hair early tonight, then.” He nodded slowly, glancing over his shoulder. I saw Joey jerk his gaze away. “Your territory, your decision.”
I didn’t reply to that, quickly beginning to fill glasses as I saw one of my regulars stand up and walk over. By the time she was at the bar, I had three beers and a margarita waiting for her. She took them without comment, and I silently added the drinks to her tab.
It was another thirty minutes before Heath wandered out.
“Drive safe,” I called after him. He waved over his shoulder in response and strolled out of Kick Shot like the night had been like any other.
For some reason, I had a suspicion it hadn’t been. I glanced down at my phone, frowning, that sinking feeling in my gut setting off warning bells in my head.
No, it wasn’t like any normal night at all.
2
Chapter Two
I huffed as I realized I didn’t know what to wear for the day. It was already three in the afternoon, and I was nervous as hell, although there was no real reason. It had occurred to me as I closed up Kick Shot the night before, that this was only the third time I had spent time with Carey and the two werewolves at the same time. I would babysit her, have girl days, play video games, and other things, but I nearly never hung out with her and her family. I saw Heath at the bar often, and Landon sometimes, but I’d only seen all of them together for an extended period twice since they moved into my territory.
This made me nervous, and it didn’t make much sense.