Both of these I could provide, but I was much more inclined toward the latter. Especially with that curvy little piece of ass.
The bartender placed a tall shot glass in front of me and said nothing. Part of the reason I liked this place, bartenders weren't chatty. Tossing the shot of Bacardi 151 down my throat, I gestured for another before sliding off my stool and prowling closer to the blonde.
“Here alone?” It might have sounded like I was being polite, checking she didn't have a man on the way, but deep down I fucking hoped she did.
Despite having come here to bury my troubles deep inside some random human woman, all I kept seeing was the silken slide of dark hair, streaked with turquoise green. That fucking Veil Keeper was in my head, and ruining what should have been an enjoyable random fuck in an alleyway.
“Unfortunately yes,” the woman sighed dramatically, stirring her drink and batting her heavy false lashes in a way that was probably meant to be provocative. It only served to remind me of a certain amnesiac and her fae-damned doe eyes. This chick's watery blue didn't have a fucking thing on Ciarah's deep sapphire gaze. That woman's eyes seemed to see right through me every time she looked my way. Inspecting my soul, judging it.
Fuck it, I needed to clear my mind of the Veil Keeper and her perfect, creamy skin. Blondie would have to do.
“I was supposed to be meeting a guy, but he stood me up,” the woman continued with a sultry pout. “Maybe you want to join me instead?”
Unable to lie, due to my true nature, I simply nodded sharply and slid onto the stool beside her. Had I been human, I would've offered a bullshit line like, “I can think of nothing I'd rather do.”
But I could. I could think of plenty of things I'd rather do, and all of them involved a mysterious, sad girl who had sat naked and willing in my bed just hours ago. And I'd turned her down.
The bartender placed another shot in front of me, which I threw back quickly. Maybe the haze of alcohol might help me enjoy this more.
Reece hadn't lied when he said Le Gardien would not be pleased. New soul or not, some personality traits had run true in the Veil Keeper since the beginning of time, and she was well-known for her temper and jealousy. This might just turn her against me, so she would stop fucking tempting me at every gods-damned turn.
Was that what I really wanted though?
It didn't matter. It's what I was going to do.
“You know, it's awfully loud in here,” the woman said with a coy smile, “perhaps we should go somewhere quieter to … talk?”
She must have known how stupid that sounded. I'd barely said two words to her, and I think it was pretty obvious that no one came to Voila Merde to talk.
“Let's go,” I grunted, tossing back yet another shot and slapping down some money onto the bar.
Blondie grinned like she'd just won the damn lottery and took my hand in her small clammy palm. I didn't blame her, I was handsome as fuck. Probably ten times more so than whatever creepy mouth breather she'd originally intended to meet.
She led me down the hallway, past the grimy bathrooms where I sometimes took chicks for a quick blow job, and out to the alleyway behind the bar. Once outside, she let the door slam shut behind us and I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Your first time to Voila Merde, sweetheart? You're supposed to prop the door open, else you get shut out here.” Dumb bitch. The alleyway behind Voila Merde was gated, meaning that if you let that damn door close, you had to either climb the fence or wait til someone else opened the door again.
“Oopsie.” She blinked up at me like she had conjunctivitis or something. Clearly, it was meant to be alluring, but it just came across as twitchy. Especially when compared to the Veil Keeper's steady, confident gaze.
Fuck, there I go again. Yep, best thing to do right now is get balls-deep in this random bitch and forget all about the living goddess.
“Whatever, I'll deal with it later.” My hands fell to my belt, then paused as I looked at her with narrowed eyes. Something wasn't right here.
The grin this bitch was wearing wasn't one of someone excited to get some dick stuffed in her. It was more … triumphant? Like she'd just lured me into a trap or something.
Ah fuck.
“Well, look here, boys,” sneered a voice from behind me and I sighed heavily. Just my fucking luck. “Seems like fairy boy fell for the oldest trick in the book.”
“Tyrell,” I smiled tightly at the hairy man as I turned to face him. Hairy was an understatement. Aside from having a long beard and longer hair, he also sported a mat of dark hair down both forearms which I had no doubt continued under his clothes. Some rougarou were like that. Never quite able to shed their fur entirely. Part of what made them inferior to werewolves.
“What the fuck do you want this time?” I snapped at him with derision. “That last ass-kicking I handed you wasn't enough? You wanted to come back for seconds?”
Tyrell was a slimy bastard, always pushing the limits of his turf, and all of us Wild Hunt boys had tangled with him a time or two in the past. My knuckles cracked as I closed my fists, already picturing my hand meeting Tyrell's ugly fucking face.
“You caught me off guard last time, dickhead,” Tyrell growled—literally, given he was part wolf—and his eyes flicked over behind me.
This wasn't my first rodeo though, so I knew better than to take the bait and look. It was fairly obvious what I would find, anyway. Tyrell knew perfectly fucking well he didn't stand a chance against me in a fair fight, so he probably had backup.
“Couldn't handle me on your own, eh Tyrell? Needed to bring your posse to help out? Don't blame ya. We fucked you up real good last time we caught you poaching on our turf.” My lip curled at him in disgust. Rougarou were scum.
“Let's just say, I stacked the deck.” Tyrell grinned like the wolf he was, and casually swung the baseball bat he held in his hand. “Now, are you going to shut your purdy mouth and let me and my boys rearrange that face of yours? Ah, heck. Who am I kidding? Like I give a fuck.”
Without anymore dicking around, Tyrell swung his bat at me, aiming for my ribs; I just managed to jump back out of his reach before it connected.
Unfortunately, that placed me right into the path of Tyrell's backup and I felt the heavy crack of a lead pipe smack into my other side from behind.
If I were human, that shit woulda knocked me flat on my ass.
But I was far from fucking human.
Ducking low, I avoided another swing from Tyrell's bat and buried my boot in another man's gut, sending him stumbling with with a grunt and a snarl.
Shitty thing about rougarou though—they weren't human either.