Dahlia’s lips quirked in amusement. She picked up a rag and started wiping the bar with it, listening in on our conversation without an ounce of shame.“I find this news fascinating as well.”
I glared at the two who’d decided to gang up on me. I focused on Caroline first.“How did you find me and since when do you drink those?”
Caroline set the martini down.“I don’t, butI’m going to start. I need a break from all the beer.” She gave a delicate shudder.“That’s all Brax and his people seem to drink. Beer, beer and more beer.”
Somehow that didn't surprise me.
She avoided my gaze, glancing around the bar as she ignored my first question.
I narrowed my eyes at her, recognizing the stall tactic for what it was.
“You followed my scent,” I accused.
A slight trace of pink tinged her cheeks. I was right. I knew it.
“How?” I asked.
Even if she’d gone to my apartment, there was no way she could have followed my trail here. Nathan had picked me up and driven me halfway across the city. There should have been no scent for her to follow.
She cleared her throat, looking a little uncomfortable.“I live in the area and was out for a run. Your scent is easy to recognize.”
A run? I gave her a narrow-eyed once-over. It wasn’t that I couldn’t picture Caroline running. She played soccer in high school and had been an avid runner. She was the one who’d nagged until I agreed to go, pounding down the trails with her, complaining the whole time.
Yes, I could see her out for a run, but not at eleven p.m. while dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a scalloped edged tank top the color of burgundy.
It made me wonder if she’d been in a two-legged or four-legged form during this supposed run.
I took a sip of my martini as I considered her, the sweet tartness setting my taste buds alive.“Uh huh.”
She rolled her eyes at my response but didn’t push.
Caroline was like me—so new to the supernatural ranks she was practically in diapers. Only unlike me, she had the full might of the pack behind her. She had the added advantage—or disadvantage depending on how you looked at it—of having a demon taint. It made her more powerful than she should be, a force in her own right. For both those reasons, she enjoyed a rather untouchable status.
I decided to let Caroline be and turned my attention to Dahlia.“You seem busier than usual. Any reason?” I tilted my head at the rest of the bar. The place wasn’t just busy for the middle of the week, it was crazy.
More interesting, spooks outnumbered humans. I counted only six humans in the place, and that was being generous, since I wasn’t sure if a group in the corner were human or something very adept at pretending to be human.
“It’s karaoke night.” Dahlia wiped down a glass, twisting it in her hands.
I looked around again, noting the karaoke machine I hadn’t paid attention to earlier, along with the small monitor for the lyrics. Several people had already lined up to look at the song selection and the person running it was busy getting everything ready.
“We have it every Wednesday,” Dahlia said.“It’s one of our biggest draws.”
“Oh, we haven’t been to one of those in years,” Caroline said.
“No,” I told her. I wasn’t getting up there and singing with half the Columbus population of spooks looking on. They already saw me as a joke. There was no reason to add to that.
“We’ll see,” she said with a devilish smile before taking another sip of her drink.
I snorted, but didn’t comment. I went back to people-watching, letting my gaze skim over the crowd.
Caroline paused in sipping her martini, her eyes narrowing. She looked over the crowd and then back at me.“Oh my God, you’re up to something.”
I started, my attention swinging back to her.“What are you talking about?”
Caroline set the martini down with a thump. Dahlia ignored a patron trying to flag down her attention, too interested in our conversation.
Caroline pointed a finger at me.“I know that look.”
