Page 1 of Hybrid Heroics

Five Years Ago

I didn’t know why I thought it was a good idea to come out alone tonight, but I was deeply regretting it. Not bringing Jack with me was a mistake. To be a single woman in any bar was like being a bleeding pig dropped into shark-infested waters.

Beautiful women were all around, flirting and enjoying the male company… So why couldn’t this man take a hint and leave me the fuck alone? I would rather fight droves of rebellious rogues than listen to the idiot mouth-breathing over his pint of basic-douche-bag beer.

“You really do look lonely,” he purred again, his voice nasally as he wobbled on his feet.

He sat in the chair across from me, propping his elbows on the table. A lock of mousy brown hair flopped over his right eye, and he brushed it back in an almost-suave motion. The glint in his glossy gaze made me grind my teeth.

This was the third table I’d moved to tonight, each one bringing me closer to the busy staff. There weren’t many supes around. Five, maybe. So, I couldn’t kill this man, much to my distaste. There were rules here, but I was inching closer to breaking them with each inhale he took.

A fucking human bar.

That was another mistake on my part.

It didn’t matter that my father technically owned the Ivy Buffalo. The bartender, Henry, ran a tight ship, calling the establishment his lifeline. He kept the patrons happy and drunk, but not too inebriated to cause an issue.

I liked Henry, and that was why I was here. He’d been a therapist before his human wife died in her early twenties. As badly as I loathed the idea of talking to anyone, he was the only supernatural creature who had the credentials to give sound advice. I wouldn’t consider anyone else’s guidance when it came to the gaps in my memory.

Desperation clawed at my throat, needing an outlet that I didn’t understand. Talking things out was a foreign concept, unless Jack and I were arguing. However, I’d been all out of sorts for weeks now, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing some vital part of my soul.

But the bar was busy. So, I was going to wait, even though the thought of sitting here until closing time to spill unwanted emotions made me itchy. I was also waiting for the hives to pop up. They’d be along as soon as my anger subsided, allowing the anxiety of explaining myself to surface.

“I’m waiting for someone,” I growled.

My gaze, yet again, strayed to the gorgeous man watching me from his bar stool. His skin was the color of toffee, making my mouth water for a candy I’d never tasted. Would he be sweet as he coated my tongue? Or was I longing for a flavor I’d only imagined?

None of my earlier retorts had kept the creeper from following me, but I was thinking that having some other male company might. I’d been trying to be on my best behavior—not killing idiots like this when I was pissy—since I’d failed a job I couldn’t remember agreeing to. The whole situation had fucked with my head.

I couldn’t get an accurate read on the mouth-breather. Did he have some watered-down mage heritage? Was he a weakened hybrid of sorts? Or simply a human with no self-preservation instincts?

I didn’t give a fuck. He’d be dead at the rate he was pushing me.

“That sounds like another excuse.”

“It is. Now. Fuck. Off.” I spoke as slowly as I could, not that it did me any good.

“I like your sass.” He tipped his pint-glass at me. “I can feel the fire brewing under the surface of your skin.”

I smiled coldly, flattening my hands against the tabletop as I whispered, “I’m going to enjoy the way your blood splatters across the walls. Do you know how hard it would be for me to make everyone in this bar forget you?”

“I’m not the type to be forgotten. Let me show you how memorable I can be.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sure. Let me drown in a barrel of tequila first.”

His glare seared into my back as I walked away from him for the fourth time tonight. Not that sexy I can feel his heat way, either. The he was going to follow me out of the bar sort of way…

Although, I could kill him then. Or have Henry take me home if Franklin wasn’t back before I lost the last threads of my patience.

His thoughts rolled through the room behind me, too loud to not hear them in my distracted mindset. “So close. I can get her.”

I scoffed as I came to a stop. Not in this realm, or any other, would that man get me in any way, shape, or form.

I slid onto the empty stool beside the only person who’d held my interest in months.

When I leaned closer to the mystery man, he twisted his head to peer down at me. His Caribbean gaze sparkled with restrained amusement as the right side of his lips lifted, a telling sign that he’d been listening.

“I was wondering when you’d get sick of his shit.”