Page 25 of Signed in Incubus

First off, the bouncer had been an honest-to-goodness fire demon! He hadn’t even tried to hide his nature from us or from anyone else, not even the ordinary humans in line. Noneof the magical folk here did. Humans and monsters alike were welcome to come as they were.

The energy was wild and primal. A part of my soul definitely recognized it, if not from this life, then another. I had a feeling I was dancing to the beat of the drums around a bonfire under the stars.

And through it all, I found my eyes wandering to one person in particular: one very sexy incubus named Prax.

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who found him irresistible: several women were checking him out, and by the looks of it, they liked what they saw. In particular, he was being chatted up by the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She had fire-red hair and perfectly painted lips to match. She was generously endowed, almost but not quite out of proportion, with legs for days. The bitch.

The redhead got real close and hooked her arm through his, and a stab of something strange and new hit me in the chest.What the hell! Was I…jealous?

No way! Prax wasn't really mine. He was only here because of the botched spell. He was an incubus, a player by nature; what the hell did I think would happen? That he’d give up his very essence for me? That was just silly.

I was nothing special, especially compared to someone as perfect as the sexy siren he spoke with now. She was drop-dead gorgeous. The kind of woman entire armies died for. Even I found myself wanting to go over and bathe in her presence. In fact, the more I looked at her, the more I craved her attention.

I wanted to unsheath my non-existent claws and swipe at her for talking to Prax while simultaneously pressing my body to her like a cat in heat. What an odd combination of emotions.

I tore my eyes away from them, confused as fuck. There must be magic involved here.

I grabbed my drink from the table next to us. We’d chosen this spot specifically because it was somewhere we could watch our drinks. I downed the rest of it, letting the liquid fire burn away the baffling thoughts.

Too bad I found myself looking in his direction the second I put my drink down. He wasn’t there anymore. I saw red.Did he leave with the wom—? No. She was standing alone by the speaker. I focused on the music instead and let the rhythm move my body.

After a moment, I realized someone was trying to dance with me, and whoever it was was getting handsy. I danced away from the stranger and toward Lily, but that only bought me a few seconds before he was too close again. This time, his fingers were definitely grabbing my ass.

I whipped around and glared at the stranger trying to cop a feel. The asshole looked and felt completely human; I didn’t sense any magic emanating from him. Just because I couldn’tseemagic like Griselda didn’t mean I couldn’t feel it.

“Back up, buddy.”

Griselda, who had been dancing there just moments ago before she’d moved away to dance with a big, brawny shifter, sent mean apologetic look. But it wasn’t her fault this guy was grabbing me. She started dancing back toward us, her dance partner following her.

“Aww, come on, gorgeous. I was just giving you the attention you deserve. A goddess like you shouldn’t be dancing alone. And besides, you are the right one.”

The right one? Something about the way he said it reminded me of the shifter from earlier today.

“The wait is over, beautiful,” he shouted over the music. “Your perfect man is here!”

Oh yeah, this was definitely the spell rearing its ugly head again. No one flirted at a club like this. At least, I sure hoped the hell not.

I backed away from him, but he advanced, closing the gap between us. Griselda had heard what he’d said too, and was no longer dancing with her shifter. She and Lily came to stand on either side of me.

“She said back off,” Lily yelled.

He continued toward us, even as we backed away toward the security guard who hadn't yet noticed the exchange. Just like earlier today, we formed a shield. They’d been pretty clear at the door they didn’t tolerate any offensive magic here, but surely, a shield was considered defensive. Right?

I took another step back and bumped into something hard and unmovable. My first thought was,oh shit, this guy hasfriends, but the arm that snaked around me was warm and welcoming. Prax’s familiar scent of trees, campfire, and roasting marshmallows filled my nostrils.

“She said back off, buddy.”

The barest hint of magic flashed in the man’s eyes. The air around us changed, and the music warped in our vicinity, sounding stretched. I’d been wrong: the man had magic. Maybe he was a wizard? He’d been hiding it well, that’s for sure.

“You have not claimed her,” he announced. “She is mine.”

“She came here with me. And I have claimed her.” Prax held up my left hand, and there, on my ring finger, was the biggest rock I’d ever seen.

I knew it was just his soul stuff, but it sure reflected the lights of the club like it was real.

“Now back off, or we’re gonna have a problem.” Prax seemed to grow bigger and taller. He took a menacing step toward my new admirer.

I put a restraining hand on his arm, hoping to prevent a fight. I did not need to get kicked out of a club tonight.

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