Page 57 of Signed in Incubus

I gritted my teeth. “I don’t want to go.”

“Oh, trust me, you do.”

The phone in my hand buzzed, and I glanced at it to see a message from Julian, even though he was less than ten feet away.

Julian: Yes, trust me, you do.

Me: Did you call them here?

Julian: Yup.

Me: Why?

Julian: Just go with them. Thank me later.

I sighed. “All right, fine.”

I downed the rest of my drink, then let the other two guide me out of the club.

The walk over to the bar was pretty short, just a few short city blocks. But we were almost immediately accosted by a woman I’d made the mistake of talking to last weekend outside Delirium. There’d been something about the woman that had drawn me to her, but after spending time with her, whatever initial attraction I’d thought I’d felt had disappeared.

“Shit, It’s Dee.”

“Who?”

“Some woman who’s been following me around ever since I made the mistake of taking her out to dinner last week.”

The two males stopped in their tracks.

“You took that woman out to dinner?” Seth asked. “Did anything happen between the two of you?”

“What? You mean did I taste her sexual energy? No. She wasn’t the right one.” That had been the same excuse I’d used for every woman I’d met.

“Good,” Liam said.

I shook my head, not understanding. I knew these two were not interested in me, so why would they care if I spent time with another woman?

“Let’s just keep walking,” Seth said, moving faster.

Great. Because I didn’t want to deal with Dee either.

As we stepped into the Howling Wolf, I got a sense that something very important was about to happen, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what. They led me to a sizable group of people taking up a large booth and a table pushed up against it at the back of the bar.

I recognized the Redrock brothers and their mates. There were also two women that I swear I had met before but couldn’t quite place. No. Not two. Three. The third was trying to hide behind the other two. But then her friend moved, and I saw her face.

My entire world came to a standstill, and the ground beneath my feet felt like it had dropped away.

It washer. The woman from the photos. The woman who had been haunting my days and nights. She looked at me with panic in her eyes, then tried unsuccessfully to hide her face behind her purse.

The people around us were moving and shuffling around to make room for me to get into the space next to her. But I couldn’t move. It was like I’d lost control of my feet, and all I could do was stand there and stare at the ghost before me.

It was her loudly proclaiming, “You guys set me up!” that jolted me from the spell. There were tears forming in her eyes, and all I wanted to do was throw myself at her and beg her not to cry. I finally had control of my legs again, and I was just starting to make my way to her when a hand landed on my arm, jerking me back.

“Prax! There you are! I’ve been calling you for two blocks, but you never heard me,” said an annoying, syrupy voice.

“Deanna!” said three voices simultaneously from the table.

Dee looked over at Her. “Oh, hi Penny, fancy seeing you here.”

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