I slipped my hands into the loose, soft pockets of my pants.
"No worries."
He glanced at the table nearest to us. "Hey, Mike. Mind giving Merrily your chair for a bit?"
"No problem," the man said quickly, moving the chair to the wall near where I was standing. I murmured a thank you, and sat down as he stepped back a bit.
"Congrats on the mate bond," he added, his cheeks red like he was nervous or embarrassed or something. "Your fight with Grayson Darke was pretty epic."
I stared at him a little too long, not quite sure what to say. I didn't really talk to strangers. When I did, it was never in casual conversation. I guess in that way, Darius and I were complete opposites.
"Of course it was epic, Mike. They're mates," a woman said, gesturing toward me with something in her eyes that was either admiration or jealousy. I wouldn't have been surprised by either one, but had no idea which to label it. "Grayson has probably been teaching her how to fight for years. Right?" She looked at me.
I blinked.
Shit.
She'd asked me a direct question.
Should I shut the conversation down? Or would it hurt anything to answer honestly?
I considered what Grayson or Darius or even Liv would've done.
Grayson would've given a quick, charming explanation.
Darius would've told the story, but he would've embellished the truth to the point where the truth of it was debatable.
Liv would've grinned and told them exactly how it went down. Or told them to fuck off. It would depend on her mood.
I guess a short reply wouldn't hurt anything.
"He actually used his shadows to make me fight him," I admitted. "It was just for fun."
The man and woman gaped.
They asked me a few more questions, and I answered politely, without revealing any genuinely important information. Darius finally rescued me from the conversation after a few minutes, strolling over with a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes.
"Ready, Mer?"
"Yes. It was nice meeting you," I told the people I'd been talking to.
I'd prefer to avoid having another conversation with them at any point in the future, but I did appreciate meeting them. It gave me a chance to experience small talk.
I wasn't a fan. But I never would've known that if I hadn't tried it.
"You're making friends now?" Dare teased me as we made our way to my car. He was leaving his at the coffee shop; Kat and Callum would take him to work in the morning anyway.
"Apparently."
Darius whistled. "The miracle of a mate bond, folks."
"The miracle of shadows, mostly." My gaze brushed the magic dancing lightly over my arms and shoulders, clinging to me because they saw me as an extension of my mate. "Hopefully you end up with a demon."
"I don't care what kind of immortal my mate is. I'll fucking strap myself to them if they try to walk away from me."
"That's the spirit."
He chuckled humorlessly. "Assuming I ever find them."
