“Best you keep that under wraps. We get plenty in here who have a problem with you people,” he said to Olivia and then slapped Loren on the shoulder. “Man, fate really dealt you a bum hand.”
“Hey,” Olivia barked and Loren growled.
“That is my female you speak about. Watch your tongue, before I remove it.” Loren’s arm shot around her and he pulled her close to him, his eyes dark and locked on Kyter.
“Just saying.” Kyter held his hands up and then smiled, flashing short fangs.
What was he?
Olivia was itching to know. He couldn’t be a vampire because he was far too tanned, and she didn’t think Loren would associate with vampires anyway.
He wasn’t a demon, because she hadn’t spotted any small horn protrusions behind his ears when he had tunnelled his fingers through his hair. Some species of demon could control their appearance, making themselves human to the untrained eye, but others couldn’t completely conceal their small horns and their fangs and their nails permanently resembled short dark claws.
She had read that young demons found it impossible to hide their horns as it was an ability that came with age when they matured. Then there was the older generation demons. They didn’t hide their horns on principle. They were proud of them and found it shameful to conceal them in order to blend in with mortals.
Kyter didn’t have dark claws either.
He was something else.
A fae?
Archangel had labelled everything without horns and a tendency to shift into a truly demonic appearance that included wings, and breathing fire in some varieties of demon, as fae. Sirens were in that genus, so were elves. There were around fifty other creatures in it too, including a large number of shape-shifter breeds.
“Why is your female staring at me?” Kyter said and she grimaced. Was he stupid or what?
Loren’s top lip curled back off his fangs and he aimed a growl at her. Olivia thanked Kyter with a glare that promised he would be getting a visit from a hunter if he kept annoying Loren.
“I was wondering what you were so I knew how to dissect you.” She smiled sweetly at him.
“You hunters and your big talk.” Kyter grinned at her and picked at his nails.
“I’m not a hunter,” Olivia said, her own smile wicked as his fell away and he looked at her. “I’m one of the doctors... I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. The ones the hunters hand your kind over to.”
He paled and looked to Loren for confirmation. Loren nodded and his arm around her waist tightened, drawing her closer. He was enjoying watching Kyter dream up horrible images in his head and she had to admit that she was too.
“I have camera footage,” Kyter rushed out. “In the back... we record feeds from the ten cameras situated around the club. If your guy has been in here in the past week, we will have him on camera.”
Bargaining. A very wise fae.
Loren nodded regally. “Show us to this footage.”
“This way.” Kyter jerked his chin towards the other end of the black bar top and loped away, his gait that of a predator. A rather sensual predator. The man moved as though he was on the prowl, drawing all eyes to him, but he didn’t seem to notice any of the women who stared as he passed.
“What is he?” Olivia whispered it in case he was a species with heightened hearing.
Loren drew her even closer, pressing her against his side. “Jaguar.”
She looked back at Kyter as he paused at the end of the bar, waiting for them. Jaguar shifter. She would kill to study him. Loren chuckled and her gaze whipped back to him.
“You have that look again.” He stroked her cheek and the warmth in his eyes combined with his light caress to heat her right down to her soul. “I like that look.”
“What look?”
He smiled and she melted from her feet up to her knees, her legs turning to jelly. Damn him for being irresistible. She kept trying to maintain and even create some distance between them, and he kept undoing all her hard work with just a smile or a stolen glance, or a sultry stare that scorched her and made her ache to kiss and touch him again.
“The one that I find reassuring. You look at Kyter as if he was a science experiment, not a potential lover.”
She nudged Loren’s shoulder. “I looked at you like that once. Things can change.”
He shook his head, his smile holding. “No, my sweet ki’ara. You never looked at me like that. You have always looked at me with desire in your eyes.”
She blushed and tried to look away but he wouldn’t let her. He held her steady, forcing her to look into his eyes, and she felt she couldn’t hide anything from him. His unwavering gaze stripped the layers of her defences away, her guard crumbling under the intense heat of it, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening.