Page 213 of Halfblood Deceived

Rebecca frowned. “Actually, you are two minutes early.”

Brittany huffed, heading to the fridge to get a bottle of carbonated water. “Well, considering Aella here is always late, I don’t see why I can’t be early.”

Aella cringed. Her sessions with Kamilla had extended a bit during the last few days. The conversations had been intense and left Aella feeling bare in a way she had never experienced before, and relieved in equal measure. She had many questions about intimate matters, despite the books she’d read, and Kam seemed to have all the answers. Her equanimity in the face of sensitive topics always helped Aella calm her nerves.

Rebecca let out a long sigh and headed for the door, along with Aella. They gave each other weary smiles and went back to their duties.

Aella headed for a table full of loud college boys who were ogling Mac. One of them had the nerve to crook his finger at the blonde. She pretended not to notice and kept taking the orders of a group of females who were celebrating a work promotion.

“What can I get you?” Aella asked in her driest tone.

The blond male, who seemed to be the leader of the group, turned to give Aella a bored look. “We’re waiting for the hot blonde.”

Aella took out her notebook and clicked her pen. “Well, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Unless you want to wait for half an hour since my friend is about to take her break.” That was a blatant lie, but Aella had no qualms about lying to idiots. “So what can I get you?”

Still, she squirmed at the unnerving, leering attention they all, unfortunately, gave her.

One with amber eyes, dark skin, and black hair tilted his head, making a show of looking her up and down twice. “You are not our type, gargoyle.”

Aella arched a brow at him. “My heart is breaking. Truly.” She turned to the group at large. “Are you ordering or not?” From the corner of her eye, she saw Vaz leaning against a column and no doubt savoring the idea of getting to kick someone out. Everyone had behaved during the last week, and that bored Vaz.

The blond huffed. His blue eyes narrowed on her face with indignation, but he finally ordered, along with his buddies.

Aella didn’t bother backing down before turning. Mac had advised her that looking intimidated only amused idiots further. And Aella had learned to dodge groping males. Not to mention that if they tried, they were going to get dragged out by Vaz, and that would be fun to watch.

No one tried to grope her, but she could feel their revolting looks on her backside.

She approached the bar and gave the order to an unusually free Diana.

“I don’t like them,” her sister said, narrowing her kohl-lined eyes at the idiots.

“Me neither,” Aella said with a sigh. “I kinda wish Aylana could always help around.”

Brittany had called in sick the previous Saturday and they were utterly swamped. Aylana had come around to take over from Kamilla, who had an important meeting, and helped to wait tables. The look of abject fear on the faces of most werewolves—and even some vampires—in Aylana’s presence was hilarious. Sebastian had stopped by later that night and had happily regaled Aella, Mac, Trinity, and Lupita with a fully detailed retelling of Aylana’s most badass moment. Namely, when she’d slayed a corrupted werewolf with nothing but 60% of her magic, her fighting skills, and a sword in a room full of witnesses. Said witnesses had apparently spread the story like wildfire and now Aylana was almost as feared as Kamilla herself. Something that made Sebastian incredibly proud.

Diana chuckled, adding three whiskeys on the rocks to Aella’s tray. It was from Zeydan’s batch. “Oh, if only. Unfortunately, she is too busy to do it every week.” She handed Aella the full tray. “Be careful, honey.”

Aella winked. “Always.”

She delivered the orders to the leering group without any troubles, heading to another table, this one occupied by four humans—three men and one woman—who were having a double date. The male couple, one with velvety dark skin, and the other a redhead, were completely at ease with each other. Unlike the two brunettes, who seemed to still be in the awkward phase of their first date.

Aella took their orders with a smile and headed back toward the bar, just as the crash of glass reached her ears.

Out of nowhere, a fight broke out among a large group of males and females.

All the bouncers rushed into the fray, separating the supernaturals and reminding them they couldn’t shift when humans were around. Reese tossed a lean male with curly hair on his ass. They aimed a finger at the seething male in a silent warning and turned back to the fight.

Everyone paused to ogle, even those in the VIP section.

“Don’t you dare to touch what’s mine, asshole!” bellowed a bear-sized blond werewolf at a smaller, but still muscular, dark-haired vampire.

The vampire male hissed, fighting against Tim’s grip. “She’s not yours!” he raged.

There were four more males on his side who were being held back by Alec, Jordan, Reese, and Rod.

The other bouncers were standing between both sides of the fight, pushing back the werewolves.

Vaz pulled a small human woman far away from the potential clash of supernaturals.

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