Was this woman really my fated mate?Definitely put an interesting twist on things.
Would my family still expect me to take over my elfin responsibilities with a supernatural not even remotely tied to elves by my side?Hell, our offspring would hardly qualify as elves.
Okay, I was getting wa-a-a-ay ahead of myself.The beautiful blue-haired woman I suspected was my mate was currently staring at me as if I’d grown an extra head in the last few minutes.
She waved like she was shooing away a bug.“Could you step back, please?Like a good ten paces, at least.”
“Only if you don’t go tearing out of here.”
She squeezed the steering wheel, clearly considering doing exactly that, but then she blew out a breath and relaxed her grip.Marginally.
I obligingly took several steps away until I saw the tension in her shoulders drain.Also marginally.
“Are you a resident here or just passing through?”she asked.
Interesting question, considering she was the one who’d just arrived in town.“Permanent resident.”Unless my dad had something to say about it, but we’d ignore that for now.
Her shoulders relaxed even more.“Are you employed by the keeper of Hell?”
“Never met him in person,” I responded.
“Really?”Her gaze was still suspicious, but the wariness was fading.“So you’re just some random demon, living in Monster Small Town, USA?”
I chuckled.“Basically, yeah.”I waved at the historic building on the next block that resembled an antebellum home.
The original mayor of this town had built the home more than 150 years ago.It had been an abandoned building when I moved here, and I bought it and turned it into the monster equivalent of a bed and breakfast.
As it turned out, monsters with nowhere else to go tended to gravitate to this place, often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and a desperate need to redefine themselves.
Once I discovered I could actually interact with newcomers without fighting them off with a stick, I became the unofficial welcoming committee, offering up my temporary accommodations and guiding them toward whatever other services they might need while they figured out whether this was going to be a permanent stop.
“If you need a place to crash,” I said, “my lodgings are the best in town.”The only ones in town, actually.“And my fees are negotiable.”And yes, if she wanted to trade sex for a place to stay, I would not say no.
Damn, did it feel good to have these sorts of thoughts.
I’d begun to think I’d lost my lustiness altogether courtesy of that spell.I’d been contemplating seeking Selina out and asking if she could pull back a little on the magic.Just enough that I could get laid once in a while.
But now, well, maybe there was no need.
“I am not sleeping with you,” the woman in the car replied, clearly reading my intent.
“Suit yourself,” I said, because sometimes, the chase was as exciting as the grand finale.“The offer of accommodations still stands.You can pay in cash, or you can simply tell me your name.”
“You’d let me stay in your hotel or whatever for just knowing my name?”
“You sound suspicious.”
“Iamsuspicious.You’re a lust demon.Any sort of demon can’t be trusted, but lust demons are the worst of the bunch.”
That reputation was exactly why Dad raised me as an elf and tried so hard not to exploit my demon side.
“It’s a false reputation, I assure you.And I have references.”I glanced around, spotted Matilda the gorgon stepping out of her hair salon, smoothing down her snakes.Probably heading over to the coffee shop for a pick-me-up between clients.
“Matilda,” I called out.
She paused, looked around, her eyes hidden behind specialty sunglasses that kept the whole turning-people-to-stone bit to a minimum.“Asmoday,” she responded, as she hurried across the street and gave me a quick hug.
Very quick, because her snakes were not affected by the spell, and they tended to twine themselves around me if they got close enough for long enough.I had a lot of kinks, but being wrapped in reptile skin was not one of them.
