"You love yourself unconditionally, just as you are," I whispered, smoothing my hands down the front of my silky blue dress. My ears and tails were on full display, and I didn't care who was looking. Personal mantras weren't usually my thing, but I was thirty years old and acting like a kit. Maybe I did need a little self-help every once in a while?
I pushed some of my thigh-length hair over my shoulder and strode forward, proud of my sky-high black heels and red as fuck lipstick. I'd chosen a dramatic look for a reason, but I still managed to find a place to hide my Ruger LC9. It'd been my gun of choice for the last few years. When I'd gotten my first one from Mikhail, I'd named it. But I'd quickly learned that in my line of work, it wasn't rational or practical to grow too attached to a weapon. The only tool of the trade I protected as fiercely as my life was the knife I'd gotten from my mother. It was a simple bone blade that she'd made herself, more sentimental than anything else. Still, I carried it wherever I went, and I'm pleased to say that it'd saved my skin more than once.
"Ziff," I said, trying not to stiffen up as I waited to see his reaction to me. I needn't have worried though because as soon as I was close enough for him to leap, he made a massive Superman jump and clung to my shoulder, chirping and chittering and biting my ear. "Hey buddy," I laughed as a waitress—probably human—passed and wrinkled her nose. While animals used to be banned from restaurants, that wasn't the case anymore, not in the post-integration era. "Did you miss me?"
"He wailed all night long. I fed him some eggs, but I think he's still hungry. Google said these fuckers eat insects and reptiles, but I'm new in town and the Best Western doesn't exactly have a lot of mealworms on hand." Revel smiled at me, this easy stretch of bloodred lips. I found my eyes locked on her mouth; it was an effort to lift my gaze to her eyes, lined with dark kohl and glimmering with gold shadow. Her hair hung in loose, shimmering waves to her shoulders as she leaned back and crossed her arms under her full breasts.
"You could've stopped at a pet store," I said with raised brows, pulling out my chair and sliding into it. It'd been a hell of a long time since I'd gone out to dinner with anyone. I didn't have a lot of female friends besides Bex and she wasn't exactly the going out type. Since leaving Fin and Riot, I'd had a handful of one-night stands but no real dates. Not that this was a date, but still. "He doesn't mind a pinkie mouse or hell, even an adult mouse every now and again." My smile was predatory, incendiary, and Revel, well, she had no issue matching it.
"Well," she began, leaning forward and lifting her glass of wine by the stem. Her eyes watched the liquid swirl around inside the goblet before she turned her attention back to me. "I'll remember that … for next time." A long, slow wink followed that I had a bit of trouble interpreting.
Next time, huh?
"This is for me?" I asked, tapping the edge of a second full wine glass.
"Unless you've invited somebody else to our little soiree," Revel said, her voice this smooth purr that gave me the chills. Fin was going to cream his pants when he saw her.
"Yeah, about that," I started, exhaling and then buying myself more time by swigging my drink. Before I knew it, my wine was gone and our waitress was offering me a refill. "Bring a bottle," I said, gesturing randomly at the menu. I wasn't big on wine. Alcohol was alcohol, right? But Revel snatched the wine list from my hand and then met my eyes from across the table.
"Sweet, dry, bubbly, what do you want?" she asked in this low, easy tone. "Or maybe you don't know what you want?" Revel continued, cocking her head to one side. I narrowed my eyes, but all that did was make her laugh. "Bring us a bottle of the Domaine Serene Grace Vineyard, please."
"You seem to know your stuff," I said, leaning back and letting my eyes drift up the wooden walls, to the chandeliers made of antlers. Interesting choices in décor.
"I'm a bit of a wine nerd," Revel said, sitting up straight and drawing my attention to her little black dress. It clung to her generous curves and rode up her thighs when she leaned back in the chair. I found my eyes on the paleness of her legs, lingering far too long for propriety's sake. "See something you like?" she asked me, and I blinked myself out of stupidity and glanced up at her face. "A nice juicy steak perhaps?"
I raised a brow and tapped my fingers against the menu as Ziff chuffed and rubbed along the side of my face, flicking his tail and using his wide, glossy eyes to take in the room. There was nothing special about Ziff per se; he was a fennec fox, bred by a kitsune earth in Northern Africa. A pet. But sometimes, I swore he had supernatural senses of his own.
And he seemed to like Revel Jones.
Hmm.
"Anyway," Revel said, swishing her hand through the air, dismissing me. "What made you decide to get online?"
"You mean to find you?" I asked, and her smile got even wider.
"To find me," she confirmed with this little purr, twirling one long finger around the rim of her wine glass. Ziff made a frustrated noise and bit my ear again, the sharp bite of pain waking me out of my sudden stupor. I tore off a piece of bread from the basket on the table and held it up to him. He took it from me with a little chitter and then made his way onto my lap to curl into a ball with his prize.
"My ex, Finley Wilde," I started and saw Revel's glossy red brows go up. They were perfectly arched, frames for a pretty face and emerald green eyes. I dug my nails into my thighs as I tried to figure out how, exactly, to tell this story. The fact that she was dealing with me instead of demanding to meet my ex-mate was a tad confusing. Any single female kitsune would be drooling to get their hands on an unmated male. And yet, Revel hadn't asked me a damn thing about him.
So there I sat, fingering the strap of my thigh holster under the satin lines of my dress and trying to figure out some way to present a man I didn't want to a woman that I hoped would take him off my hands. You’re such a liar, Thea. Just admit you want to keep Fin for yourself and be done with it.
"Did you know before or after you slept with him?" Revel asked, pausing as our waitress came over with the bottle of wine and offered her a bit to taste. "Fucking excellent," she growled out, her orange ears swiveling on the top of her head. One of the strange things about shifters, something that seemed to bother a lot of humans, was that we had not one but two sets of ears when we were in a hybrid form. So as Revel swept her red hair behind one ear, she revealed a set of beautiful gold earrings in the shape of tiny fox faces.
As for her question, I wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at, but I assumed she meant when did you know you wanted to leave him.
"After," I replied slowly, considering her question as I tried the new wine our waitress had just brought over. It tasted like … well, wine. Fuck, I was no expert. "Many years after." With a sigh, I pushed some of my dark hair away from my sweaty forehead, Mom's knife burning against my left calf. What would she think of me right now, trying to offload my destined mate on some random chick I'd never met? "Look," I began, lifting my eyes from Ziff and turning my attention back to Revel. "It wasn't that I disliked Fin or anything. I just didn't like the council telling me what to do; I didn't like my fate being handed to me at birth. I wanted to choose my own life and my own mate, if that makes sense."
"Makes perfect sense," Revel growled out, standing up suddenly and pulling her chair closer to me. "I knew when I was maybe … eight that my mate wasn't going to be right for me." She reached out and put her hand on my knee, pushing the satin up and then touching my bare skin. A hot thrill went through me, and I found myself swallowing a bit too much of my wine. "He ended up being a bit of a twink himself, so no hard feelings."
My turn to raise my eyebrows.