“I’m sorry to hear that,” she replied.
“It’s okay. How about you?”
“Oh, me too. I mean, an only child. I never had a sibling,” she replied, annoyed that she was stumbling over her words. Was it him or the martinis?
“Really? That sounds unusual for an Omega.”
Adriana realized, too late, that she’d slipped up. Omegas were known for their large litters, and it was rare to find one who was a single birth.
“My grandmother was human,” she replied. “I guess it throws off the whole large litter thing.”
At least that much was true, but it was possible that she shouldn’t have told him. Now, she’d painted herself as a substandard Omega. In truth, it was a blessing. Not only was she a Beta like her mother, but she’d inherited the ability to multi-shift like her half-human father. Because of the generational gap, though, she was limited as to which animals she could become.
“Wow. You don’t find many shifters here with humans in their mix. That’s unusual,” he said.
Unusual. He was being polite. He thought she was a freak. She was almost relieved when the giggly waitress with the massive cleavage returned. She paused, mid-thought. What was wrong with her? She didn’t usually care whether someone found her interesting or not. With him, there seemed to be some underlying desperation to make a good impression.
He barely nodded at the girl, instead picking up the beer she sat down and taking a sip of it while looking at Adriana with that completely disarming gaze of his. She made every effort not to squirm in her seat as she met his eyes with her own.
“What is it that you do, Adriana? Do you work? Go to school? Your profile didn’t say much about that other than you are an administrative assistant. Is that full time or just on the way to something else?”
“No, I just work as an administrative assistant. You know, make copies, get coffee, data entry. Boring stuff,” she told him. “And you? You own a small construction business?”
“Yes. Turner and Hood over in Cobalt County. I bought it when they went bankrupt a few years ago. I felt bad for them, but they made some serious errors in judgment. The bank repossessed, and I got it when it went up for auction the following year. I left the name out of respect for their families. They were well known in the area and friends to my clan.”
That was interesting. Adriana knew all about Turner and Hood. They’d lost their company because they got mixed up in drugs and gambling. They were tied up with some bad people, and there had been a bit of flack about money owed to certain individuals who thought they should have handed them the company before the bank got their hands on it. She had thought some big development company had bought it.
“Hopefully, it’s recovered from being in such dire straits,” she said.
“Oh, yes. Whole new ballgame now.”
“That’s good then. Didn’t they build that complex over by the Stanfield River?”
“Yes, we did,” he replied.
He said it with such pride, and yet, she didn’t think it was anything to be prideful about. They’d done a lot of unnecessary damage to the ecosystem.
“I’m surprised that a dragon handled that project,” she said, unable to hold back her thoughts.
“You think we should have left it alone?”
“Yes, I do. You displaced thousands of reptiles when you disturbed their natural habitat.”
“Are you saying I should feel some sort of kinship with a bunch of lizards and snakes? Dragons are not reptiles. I would think that you . . . wait, I just realized that your profile never mentioned what kind of shifter you are, so perhaps you are unfamiliar with dragons. What is your animal?”
“Which one?” she said, meeting his gaze defiantly.
“Ah, I see. Your human DNA gives you a choice. How interesting.”
“To answer your implied question, I can shift into a dragon, and I am familiar with them as my mother is a dragon too. I can also shift into any mammal, small or large. I was referring to your disregard for nature, in general.”
Much to her surprise, he laughed.
“You’re a bit of a fireball, aren’t you? Listen, I have to go. I told you I have something going on in the morning,” he said, picking up his beer and draining the last of it. “I’m glad we had a moment to meet. I’ll message you when I get a chance.”
“Sure,” she replied, feigning a smile that she was quite sure came off more as a smirk.
He chuckled and stood up, dropping some cash on the table for their drinks.
“Goodnight, Adriana Lee.”
“Goodnight, Dane Johnson.”
She watched as he walked across the bar and out the front doors, her brows screwed together in a puzzled expression. The server walked back over, looking disappointed that he was gone.