The waitress chewed her lip for a moment, picking at the label of my wine bottle while she thought. "Yeah, I can think of a couple of places I'd go, if I wanted to hide out but stay on pack property. Can you tell me who you’re looking for exactly?"
"Sorry." I shook my head. "I don't know yet. I was thinking of heading to Vail tonight to get more info from Bennett."
Her brows shot up. "How about you wait until my shift gets off and I'll come with you? To be honest with you, I kind of need a ride anyway." She shrugged her shoulders, but I just grinned. I appreciated the honesty. “Besides, even if he did hire you, Bennett hates foxes. Maybe it’d just be easier if I showed you around?”
I snorted a humorless laugh. "He hates us? That's rich. From a wolf to a kitsune."
"Yeah, I know." She shrugged, tucking some dirty blond hair behind one of her very human ears. "But … he has his reasons. Y’all aren’t as helpless as you look, are you?" she grinned at me and I pursed my lips, nodding.
"We sure aren't," I murmured, my mind going a million miles an hour. What the hell sort of reasons could be she be referring to anyway? Not sure why I cared, but I suddenly wanted to know a little more about the mysterious alpha with an attitude problem.
"Well, anyway, I'll leave you alone. My shift gets off at eight, if you want to pick me up? It'll save me taking the bus." She gave me such a happy puppy smile, I couldn't help but return it.
"Sure thing. I'm Thea, by the way." I held out my hand for her to shake.
"Oh, I see." Her eyes widened as she shook my hand. "Yep, if you’re that Thea, from RADOPA, definitely best I go with you. Bennett mentioned we might see you on the property. I'm Shelbi." Just then, the sour-faced ma?tre d' walked past and hissed her name under his breath. "And that's my cue to leave. Enjoy lunch, Thea!"
She trotted off through the restaurant and I watched in amazement. Had I seriously just made friends with a wolf? After I'd just been thinking about how damn dangerous they were? Maybe I was losing my mind? That'd explain all the weird shit with Mik and Revel at any rate.
Taking a sip of my delicious … whatever-the-fuck-wine-I’d-ordered, I turned back to my computer to set a reminder for eight o'clock that night. Life had gotten so crazy, I didn't want to get caught up and forget to pick up my new friend.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" a man asked, and I didn't bother to look up. It was a testament to how caught up I was in my work that I didn’t even glance at the owner of that scrumptious voice. Maybe I should’ve recognized it?
"No, all yours," I replied automatically, waving my hand as if to say, take the chair if you want. Of course, considering I was sitting in a booth, there was no chair. That’s what gave me pause. A quick glance up gave way to both shock and surprise as Nix Locklear took the bench seat across from me.
"Nix," I breathed. "What … ah ... " I glanced around the restaurant which was only just starting to fill up now. Had I really been slacking on my observation skills that hard? The whole freaking point of coming here was to watch for Nix, and yet here he was sitting opposite me and I'd not even seen him walk in.
"What am I doing here?" he finished for me, adjusting his glasses with a single finger. That ice-cold smile was back on his face again, no less beautiful in the daylight than it’d been in the dark club. "Having lunch with you. You did get my invitation. I assume that's why you're here?" His pale blue eyes held mine captive as I searched for my witty banter that had all but abandoned me.
"That was from you?" I fired back, still seriously in shock.
He frowned slightly, making his glasses shift on his nose. "I don’t know what sort of life you lead, Miss Hunt, but do you often receive invitations sealed in wax?"
"How the hell would I know that a wax-sealed message would automatically come from you?" I argued, pushing a few loose strands of dark hair away from my face. Ziff hissed, and I put a hand on his back to placate him. The skinwalker creeped him out, and I didn’t blame him. The man could literally shed his human skin and assume a new identity. That was a disturbing thought, even for a shifter to take in. And I thought that 'Lunch at Rioja, Nix' meant like … Nix will be having lunch at Rioja if you want to stake him out. Or … something." I could quite safely say it never even crossed my mind that the man I was contracted to kill would be asking me out.
He simply stared at me for a moment, like I was as dense as I felt. "Well, now that you're here. Have you ordered?"
"Just an appetizer," I admitted, blushing, and then getting angry that I was blushing. Maybe I felt stupid for picking him up in that bar? Letting him push me against a wall and fondle my breasts? Shouldn’t I have known on some instinctive level that this guy was bad news? Everyone makes mistakes I supposed, and I shouldn’t beat myself up over it. Yet, here I was, having lunch with the prick.
"Perfect." Nix sat back, dressed in a three-piece gray suit with a black tie, content to wait for Shelbi to return to our table. Here was an unhurried sort of man, so full of his own confidence that he quite easily believed the world revolved around him and him alone. It both disgusted and fascinated me, that supreme level of trust in one’s self. Shelbi stumbled over—she seemed the clumsy type—and frantically took Nix’s order, giving me a look that very clearly said you lucky bitch. If only she knew the truth of the matter.
As soon as she was gone, Nix turned those intense eyes of his back to me.
"Thea,” Nix began in a slow, dangerous sort of way, like he was testing my name out on the tip of his tongue. “Miss Hunt. It’s nice to see you again, even if under less attractive circumstances. I quite liked the feel of my hand on your breast, didn’t you?" The way he was talking to me was almost mocking, and I wanted to punch him in the teeth for it. He seemed to expect that, smiling beatifically in my direction as he adjusted the silver chain holding his dirty coyote fur around his neck. I wondered if he ever took it off. Maybe to shower? What about when he fucked?
Thea, seriously?! This guy wants you dead and yet you're still thinking about fucking him?
"You should really wash that fur," I blurted out. "It looks greasy as all hell. I can recommend a great conditioner that I use for my tails if you like?"
The glare he gave me could have cut glass, and I immediately cursed myself for my big mouth. I was still without my magic, and this asshole had already made it pretty clear he didn't care about making a scene in front of humans.
"Speaking of your tails," he finally said, ignoring my insult about his dirty fur. "That’s why I asked you here today."
"Oh," I fake pouted, unable to help myself. "And here I thought it was because you couldn't stop thinking about me and how wild I might have been in bed."
Wow. Where the hell had that come from? Am I seriously flirting with the psychopath responsible for almost a hundred shifter deaths, and counting?!
Nix gave me a cool smile in response. "Something like that. Perhaps I was too hasty when I mentioned you needed to die the other night. As I see it, we might actually be able to help each other out."
"Uh-huh." I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion. "Something tells me you don't mean helping out with each other’s sexual tension. So what are you scheming in that psychotic mind of yours, Nix Locklear? Don't even think about slipping me any of your tainted dust either. I can smell that shit a mile away."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured, leaning back as Shelbi placed his drink down on the table in front of him. I noticed she was quivering slightly as she did it. Not a very high-ranking pack member, was she? "I mentioned that I worked in experimental research …"