x this,” he said.
Esha seemed to see the truth in his eyes and she relaxed. The cat didn’t, and Cam had a feeling that the bruiser would be glaring at him all night. It hissed, like it could read his thoughts, and he glared back.
“The Chairman likes you,” Esha said.
He raised a brow.
“Yeah, just fucking with you. He’d eat you if he were big enough. But I trust you to take care of this. Because if you don’t…”
Then he did feel something squeeze around his chest. And his legs, arms, head. His vision temporarily blacked out, and claws of panic pierced his heart while his muscles strained to break free. When the pressure finally released and he opened his eyes, he had to force himself not to gasp in front of her.
“So we’re on the same page.” Esha gave an eerie but genuine smile. “Can I get you another beer?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Keane Hotel, Inverness, Scotland, Present Day
“I can’t believe she wasn’t there,” Ana said as she crossed the street with Cam toward their Inverness hotel. A cold drizzle exacerbated her pissy mood.
“She’ll be there tomorrow.” He held open the door of the hotel for her.
“Yeah. It’s just so anticlimactic. We’re so close, and we came up empty.” After waking late at Esha’s—Cam on the couch and Ana in Esha’s bed with her friend and the space hog of a cat—they’d driven north all afternoon until they’d reached Inverness.
“Tomorrow,” Cam said.
Ana looked around the lobby of the hotel. She’d never have guessed it was another Mythean hotel, complete with protections, from the look of the place. A shining wood registration desk and plush couches decorated the space. It looked like any other mortal hotel in the city.
“Let’s head to the pub,” Cam said after they’d checked in.
“What, you’ve got business down there?”
“No, just thought you’d like to go out. Live a little.”
Her head swung toward him and she took in his not-quite-casual stance. “Just for fun?”
He nodded.
Huh. He’d really been listening when she’d talked about her trips to earth and wanting to live as much as she could. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“They’ve got some local whiskeys I’ll bet you’ve never tried. But no getting drunk.” He smiled. “One glass only, so we stay alert.”
It felt warm and fuzzy and strange to do something so normal with him. But maybe that was the point. They had no idea what was coming tomorrow. She knew what she hoped for. But there was no guarantee. One last night—the only night—when they wouldn’t think about what was coming.
She smiled. “Yeah, all right.”
They walked into the crowded pub in the basement of the hotel a few minutes later and managed to find a seat by the old wooden bar. The beauty of the hotel’s protection charm was that if someone sought out another with ill intent, he wouldn’t be able to find them. Not even if they were standing right in front of his face. The place was dark and low ceilinged, all wood and leather, dingy in the way of a beloved old pub that hadn’t needed to change to keep its clientele coming.
Clientele which, she noted while looking around, were quite strange. Most were human-passing Mytheans, but more than a couple looked like creepy movie extras. But then, it was the only Mythean watering hole in town, so if they wanted a drink, this was it.
When she finally turned back to the bar, Cam was holding out a heavy glass of golden liquid. One corner of his mouth was kicked up in a sexy grin. She swallowed hard and reminded herself that she had the control of a saint.
Sure.
“Thanks.” She raised her glass to his, caught his eyes and then her breath, and finally found the focus to take a sip. “It’s good.”
He nodded, and they sat on the barstools with their backs to the bar so that they could people watch.
“Not too different from your jungle bars, is it?” she asked.