Mikayla’s tapping sped up. “How do you expect me to convince him I’m not intimidated by him? He won’t believe me.”
“Sure, when you told him,” Tamsyn pointed out. “Show him instead.”
Mikayla’s tapping fingers stopped. “I think I have an idea.”
Wyn dropped her head back on the chair’s edge. “Brilliant,” she groaned. “This will end well.”
* * * * *
The Black Cat was more crowded than normal but Ciar barely noticed the people milling around him. He’d come tonight to try to put the past behind him. His lips curved in a self-deprecating smile. He knew well enough that there was no putting Mikayla behind him. Not ever. But that didn’t change the fact that he was a danger to her.
The memory of her blood-soaked arm filled his mind. Mikayla might have tried to put on a brave front but he’d seen the pain in her eyes. Pain he’d caused.
Ciar rubbed a hand over his jaw. He’d made the right call. He knew his family would never leave him alone. Not completely. He refused to put Mikayla in the line of fire just because he was selfish enough to want her by his side. Walking out of her life was the kindest thing he’d ever done.
Who would have thought that he, a demon second in line to be a Clan Lord, would be brought so low by a witch? A tempting, maddening, irresistible witch.
I’ve got it bad, he thought with a shake of his head. And he had a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t an infatuation he’d grow out of.
“Maybe I should move,” he sighed.
The warlock at his side glanced at him with wide eyes, no doubt worried that Ciar had been attempting to talk to him.
Ciar smiled coolly and the man slipped off the barstool before disappearing into the crowd. Yes, that was how people should react to him.
It was his own fault he couldn’t stop dreaming of the one woman who never had.
* * * * *
When Mikayla and her sisters entered the Cat she paid no attention to the pressing crowd. There was only one man she’d come to see.
And there he was, leaning against the bar with an untouched pint of beer beside him. She bit her lip as she watched him. He looked like he always did. As if the events of the past week hadn’t touched him at all.
If they truly hadn’t, she was about to make a fool of herself.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tamsyn whispered.
“Because if you don’t, let’s head to the drugstore. I need more painkillers,” Wyn added, wincing as she leaned against the wall.
Mikayla didn’t reply. Instead she steeled her resolve and strode forward. She wove through the throng of merry dancers. Ciar’s gaze was on the crowd and not once did he glance in her direction. Which was exactly what she wanted. No use giving him any time to prepare.
When she appeared by his side, Ciar’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Hi, Ciar,” she said.
Before he could reply Mikayla grabbed the beer by his side and tossed it in his face.
The music died as everyone in the bar froze, their attention on the beer-soaked demon and the witch who had dared to attack him in public.
Mikayla watched drops of alcohol trickle down his face. His jaw clenched as the liquid soaked into his black shirt. Slowly he raised a hand to wipe his face clean.
She tossed the empty glass to a startled werewolf. “Idiot,” she charged Ciar before he could speak. “Imbecile, moron…I could go on.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Coward,” she finished, savoring the last word as it rolled off her tongue. She grinned at the anger she saw burst to life in his eyes. The rest of the bar shifted nervously behind her but she ignored them.
“What are you doing?” he murmured, his voice low.
“Angry?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” She put her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do about it?”
He said nothing.
“Challenge me to a duel?” she mocked. “Call up some of your freaky magic and force me to huddle in a corner?”
“I’d never hurt you.” The words were said unself-consciously. Ciar didn’t care that every member of the bar was watching them, no doubt waiting for him to extract vengeance on her.
“Exactly,” she breathed. “You don’t scare me, Mr. Big Bad Demon. You think we’re too different? Give me a break. We work together, Ciar, and you know it. So your family is dangerous. I dare you to mess with mine on one of their bad days.”
“Gimme a week and I’ll pay you back for Alina plus interest,” Wyn called from down the bar.
“It’s not your family keeping us apart,” Mikayla continued. “I can handle them if I need to.”
“Demons aren’t—”