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Sarah smiled tightly at the obvious, venomous sarcasm in my tone.

She looked like she might say something to me, but her gaze went to the knife I was holding as if she were afraid I might stab her with it in public. At brunch, no less.

I mean, it wasn’t out of the question.

“Shay.” She turned her attention to easier prey. “It’s so good to see you getting some sunlight, interacting with people who are alive. I’ll say, the two of you might just be made for each other.”

“Funny,” I stabbed an egg. “I would say the same about you and Angela.”

Sarah scowled at me.

“You have a nice day now,” I told her before turning my focus to Shay. “Now let’s talk about something more important, like dead bodies.”

Sarah let out a scoff of disgust, then the click of her heels told me she walked away.

Shay’s shoulders were still slumped, appearing pale, but she smiled. “No reunion for the two of you, I see.”

“No reunion for me and anyone, Shay,” I amended, thinking of Colton’s probing gazes and possessive hand on my lower back. “I’m here to do what I need to do then get the fuck out.”

She gave me a curious smile. “And what is it you need to do?”

Lying came easy to me. It had to. You could never tell civilians why you were in a place, what you were doing. Sure, it was trickier when the people in question actually knew you, but I’d lied to everyone else easily enough.

But I’d never actually been in the company of a woman I’d liked, who was appropriately weird enough, or who might actually believe in the supernatural.

I’d never actually wanted to tell someone the truth about my job, someone who wasn’t a hardened hunter. I’d never had a friend, since Donny refused that title.

The foreign need to tell Shay everything was obviously fueled by booze, not enough sleep, and too many ghosts.

Figuratively, of course. What I’d give for a good haunting to distract me.

“I need to do my job.” I kept my eyes on hers.

She set her forearms on the table, leaning in. “Your job, as an ... exterminator?” Her tone and raised brow told me that she didn’t believe me.

Which wasn’t hard. The story was flimsy at best. Who was a traveling exterminator?

No one.

I sipped the last of my drink, toying with the idea of actually telling her I was there to hunt a werewolf, get vengeance, closure, then leaving to continue slaughtering supernatural creatures until one of them inevitably killed me.

Although Shay might’ve been eccentric, someone who worked with the dead, and she did not live a mainstream life, I doubted she believed in the supernatural to that extent.

“Yes,” I nodded. “My job as an exterminator.”

“What kind of pests are you exterminating?” she asked with obvious curiosity.

“A rare kind of predator.” I chose my words carefully. Though I was a practiced liar, Shay had already proven she noticed too much. “One that’s proving tricky to lock down. But I’ll get it.”

Shay stared at me. She was intrigued, that much was clear. Who wouldn’t be? I sounded borderline insane. But she didn’t ask any further questions.

“Well, I hope you find it,” she said.

“Oh, I will,” I replied with conviction.

One way or another, I was leaving here with absolutely no reason to ever come back.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, my head pounding.