Page 2 of Defy Me

"Ah, Ah, Ahem."

This person did not understand they were endangering their own life. "What part of go away don't you understand?"

The interrupter, who turned out to be the barmaid named Ninsy who always served him here rolled her eyes and whispered, "You two might want to take that somewhere else. Because those mermen are going to throw a whole lot more than cold water on you."

Jett glanced at the men. Mers. He never did like those guys. Way too full of themselves. Hold up. How did the barmaid know they were not just a couple of strong arms? He'd never detected anything supernatural about her. Maybe she was a witch who used a dampening spell.

He'd be rethinking his choice in watering hole if that were true. He had no love for magical women of any kind. Except whatever the woman in his arms was. He still had no idea. Only that he wanted and needed her. Needed to keep her safe. "Come on, sweet thing. Let's get you out of here."

There was a back entrance he'd used a time or two to avoid other supernaturals. His gasthaus wasn't far. They could continue their kiss and he'd do all the fun and naughty things a pretend boyfriend should do to her there.

"Thanks, but you've provided enough of a distraction. Sorry." She shrugged.

"You don't have to apologize. I thoroughly enjoyed it. " In fact, he'd like to do it a whole lot more.

"Oh, I'm not sorry about that." She pecked him on the cheek and then twisted out of his arms and ducked.

A fat scaly fist slammed into his face in the exact spot her lips had been only a second before. He fell backward, bowling over a whole row of wooden barstools. Very few beings got the drop on him. It was how he'd stayed alive in the depths of Hell as long as he had. He laid on the floor for a second, wondering what the fuck had just happened. He'd honed his fighting skills even more than what his demon of a mother had taught him. Living among succubae and incubae wasn't exactly a walk in the park and those blood suckers had been good training partners. Living with a coven of sex slaves was better than feigning that he was a mindless drone under the Black Witch's spell. For example, if he was bespelled he wouldn't be able to do this.

Jett blew a burst of flames at his attacker’s face, lighting the merman's blue hair on fire. The damn fool slapped at his head and ran around the pub unwittingly stoking the flames. Dumbass.

Now, where had blondie gone?

An all out brawl broke out in the pub and if he didn't find her quickly, she might get hurt. He jumped up on top of a table and surveyed the room for her almost luminescent hair and lush body. Aha. There she was. He expected to find her hiding in a corner but she was moving through the fracas like a ninja. She bobbed and weaved, spinning around, under, and past the fists being thrown.

Not only could the woman kiss, she could move. Not a single punch even came close to her. While everyone else was diving into the fray, she made her way to the door. Except there were two very large burly men engaged in battle in front of the exit. No way she was getting out that way unless he helped her.

Jett jumped over tables and chairs and even considered pulling out his wings to fly over everyone's heads so he could get to her faster. She was within a meter of the men now and it looked even less likely that they were simply going to let her pass. She paused a half a meter away from them and crossed her arms. Behind her a very loud screaming woman jumped on someone else's back and pulled at his hair steering him like a pony right toward blondie.

They were going to barrel into her and she was standing there staring at the two men blocking the door. Shit. She was trapped and they were all going to collide. She would be crushed. Jett put on a burst of speed and jumped off someone's shoulders flying through the air toward her and the oncoming disaster.

As he careened over the tops of the brawlers, time slowed. Blondie turned and looked up at him, winked and moved toward the men. She reached her hand forward, pulled something out of the bigger of the two men's pocket and slipped between them and out the door.

Jett crashed into the men, who attacked him for breaking in on their fight. It took him a good fifteen minutes to beat them off and extricate himself from the pub. By then there was no sight of his little kissing ninja thief. He didn't need to be able to see her to find her. He had her soft intricate scent. As did whatever other creatures of the night were stalking her.

He rubbed his hands together. The chase was on and it was going to be fun.

Dragon Ass Inn

Whew, that was a close one. It had taken Yvaine all day to shake those guys off her tail. If she hadn't needed the money so badly she would have stuck to less menacing tourists to pick pocket. But with the dreary rain all day, the sight-seers just weren't out and about. She'd run out off funds yesterday, or was it the day before? Either way, she hadn't eaten in a million years and those two guys didn't seem to mind standing around in the rain. They also hadn't even tried to secure their wallets. It was like they'd never been outside their own homes before, but they spoke a language that was far from German, Spanish, or English and the pickings were just too easy.

She hated stealing. But she also hated sleeping in the rain and eating trash. So she did what she had to--she survived.

Except they'd caught her. Which was a new one. Yvaine could lift a wallets like a Charles Dickens street urchin. Sure, lots of people had that skill. Her super power was that they never ever noticed. So she could take their cash and replaced their wallet before they caught on. She knew first-hand how much it sucked to not have any form of ID when far from home, family, or friends.

Not that she had a family. Or friends. Or a home.

No one had ever taught her to pick pocket. No, she'd learned really useful skills like reciting Hail Marys and Our Fathers while getting her knuckles rapped for sharing her porridge with the new kid who'd come to breakfast too late to get his own portion.

Fucking porridge.

She'd been about ten seconds from being caught by them when that little pub had called to her like lighthouse in a storm. Like literally. Out of all the businesses in the alley, that one had shined like a black light at a rave into the cloudy, murky evening. She'd learned to trust a gift like that, even if she didn't understand. Running into the broody hunka-hunka burning love was an added bonus. He'd saved her ass too. In more ways than he knew.

Not only had he unwittingly helped her escape, he was also paying for a warm place to sleep tonight and the biggest veggie burger and fries she could find. She pulled out the cash from the wallet she'd lifted off of him. There hadn't been time to slip it back. She'd blame that on the kiss. The one that had distracted her so much she almost hadn't cared if she gotten caught.

She tossed the rest of the contents into the nearest trash can. Couldn't be a litter bug. What kind of person carries three-thousand euros around in his wallet? He didn't look like some rich entitled trust fund baby. He barely looked like he'd bathed in the last week. He'd sure tasted good though. Spicy, like hot cinnamon. She touched her lips remembering the feeling of his mouth on hers.

She could check first kiss off the list.

---