It… it couldn’t be.
This demon…
He was my mate. Myrealmate.
He didn’t look away, not even when I turned fully toward him, glamour humming tight against my skin.
His gaze flicked over me like he was trying to solve a puzzle he didn’t yet have the language for.
Oh.
He felt it too, but he must have been confused, because everything about me was off.
I opened my mouth, ready to greet him, to say something, anything, but then Ephraim shook his empty glass, ice clinking.
“Briar! Can I get another one?”
A smile grew of its own volition on my face, my heart skipping beats. Even Liora seemed to recognize this demon was who we should be with.
“I’ll be right there, Ephraim!”
I watched out of the corner of my eye as he took a stool in the middle of the bar, his gaze focused on me as I made the whiskey sour by memory. After handing it to Ephraim, I saddled up to the new customer.
My mate.
“What can I get you?”
His cheeks blushed, as though he hadn’t expected me to talk to him directly. Oh Hecara, he was adorable.
“… Appletini,” he finally spat out.
I almost laughed. I’d heard of the cocktail before, but it was the kind of thing I imagined women ordered at bachelorette parties. Not an alpha demon at a dive bar in the neutral lands.
I was liking him more by the second. The bartender’s book Selene had given me burned a hole in my apron pocket, but I wanted to talk to him more. “Really? I haven’t made one of those before.”
I ignored the snickering from the other guys in the bar. Everyone had their eccentricities, and I knew part of their reaction was from them feeling a little threatened by the young blood in their space.
Alphas could be territorial, after all. Especially with an omega in the room.
Luckily, he wasn’t paying them any mind either. “It’s really easy,” he said, looking excited to tell me the recipe. “Three parts vodka, one part apple liqueur, and a little lemon juice. Apple slice for the rim if you got ‘em.”
Sounded easy enough. I took a deep breath to keep myself from visibly shaking, my hands itching to touch him. To grab him by the shirt, take him out back, and—
Three parts vodka, one part apple liqueur,and a little lemon juice. Apple slice for the rim.
I went through the motions, deciding to make one for myself. So later, I could imagine what it would taste like to kiss him.
As everything went into the cocktail shaker, I thought through my options. It looked like he was interested, even if he didn’t know why yet. But it was so soon after my escape from Victor. Was I even ready for a relationship? Could I risk telling him who I was?
What if… what if he was attracted to the glamour, and that’s what was drawing him to me? What if he saw the real me and…
No. If even Victor, the king of superficial desire, could overlook my scars, my real mate would be able to, too.
I poured the drinks and sliced the apple for the garnish, sliding the cocktail glass towards him while raising the second one. “Figured I’d try it for myself, too. I’ve never had one before. Cheers!”
His eyes sparkled as he tilted his drink towards me. “Cheers.”
We both took a sip, and my throat immediately burned. Oof, that was a lot of straight alcohol. I usually stuck to something simple, like a beer or a vodka tonic, but this… was something, alright.
