The Twice-Scorned Lady of Shadow (The Guild Codex: Unveiled #3)(14)

“When I joined a year ago,” she continued in a pleasant alto voice, “almost everyone was a complete dick. Especially that dick.”

She tilted her head, and I glanced over. The pub was half empty now, so it was easy to spot my mentor, Aaron, who was talking to the knife-throwing mafia mythic, Kai. She could’ve been indicating either of them, but I was betting she meant Aaron.

“Things have changed around here.” She aimed a soda gun over the glass, and cola gushed over the ice. “We’re a little friendlier now. Plus, everyone is really curious about you—especially after you threatened half of them with a giant-ass ice weapon.”

Especially after I’d threatened them? I studied her hazel eyes, unsure how to read her expression. Had she been in the crowd I’d threatened? I couldn’t remember.

She slid the cola in front of me. “I’m curious about you too.”

“Just ask what you want to know,” I replied flatly.

“What do you do for fun?”

What kind of question was that? I’d expected an interrogation about my criminal record. “Horseback riding, hiking, and dirt biking, I guess. I volunteer a lot, so I don’t have much free time.”

“Where do you volunteer?”

“An animal rescue.”

“What about work?”

“I’m a vet tech and an apprentice farrier.”

She gazed at me, both impressed and dumbfounded.

I frowned. “What?”

Hastily clearing her expression, she wiped the clean counter. “Nothing. I, uh, I’m just used to druids being more …”

“More what?”

“More—hey!” she bellowed, pointing at something behind me. “If you throw that chair, I’ll throw you right out the damn door!”

“Aw, Tori,” a male voice whined loudly. “I wasn’t actually gonna—”

“And you’re cut off!” she added in a shout. “Go sober up before Tabitha puts you on ice!”

I glanced over my shoulder at a rowdy group of guys at the back. One of them was positioning a chair at a table with exaggerated, drunken precision.

“Those idiots,” the bartender—Tori, I was assuming—muttered. “Sorry. What was I saying?”

“I’m not what you think druids are like.”

She laughed ruefully. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You seem really cool.”

“Cool?”

“Yeah! My skills are limited to bartending, yelling at people, and—”

“—and a major-league umbrella swing,” Aaron finished, stepping up beside my stool. “Your right hook is also pretty wicked.”

Tori grinned at him. “Be glad I haven’t used it on you.”

“Just don’t use it on Saber.” Another guy appeared on Aaron’s other side. “It’s statistically impossible for one person to punch two druids in the face, so you’d better not try.”

“Or else what?”

The new guy widened his eyes. “It’d probably break the mythic universe as we know it.”

As Tori snorted, the new guy leaned around Aaron to smile at me. He was a similar height to Aaron, with bronze skin and dark, curly hair. A ridged scar cut across his left eye, which was pale white instead of warm brown like his right eye.

“I’m Ezra,” he said in a quiet, smooth voice. “Nice to meet you.”

“Saber,” I said shortly. Kai, the ex-mafia mythic, was coming over too, and I was ready to make my escape before I had to navigate another group conversation. “I’m …”

A slow shiver ran across my skin. I went still, stretching my senses out.

“Are we having another round of drinks?” Kai asked, joining the other two guys. “Saber, what would you like?”

I didn’t answer as subtle power trickled over me. I homed in on the direction. My hand curled into a fist. Spinning on my heel, I flung my arm out in a punch at the empty space behind me.

The air shimmered and my fist smacked hard into a gloved palm.

Familiar green eyes met mine as Zak appeared from a swirl of shadows. His long leather jacket hung open, partially exposing his combat belt loaded with potions and spells. Mud splattered his clothes from the knees downward.

Shock rippled through me—then flashed into alarm.

Zak, aka the Ghost, was a wanted fugitive with a million-dollar bounty on his head, and he’d just walked into a bounty-hunting guild. His hood was up but his face was clearly visible to anyone standing nearby—which included Aaron, Kai, and Ezra, all of whom were probably bounty hunters. If anyone recognized him, he’d have twenty mythics on him in an instant.

“Holy shit!” Tori exclaimed. “Zak!”

Still holding my fist, Zak shifted his attention to the redheaded bartender. Half panicking, I looked at them too. Tori and the three guys appeared pleasantly surprised, as though an old buddy had shown up.

Glancing at me, Tori bit her lip uncertainly. “Uh, Zak … we have a new member.”

A low note of warning threaded her voice, as though she were trying to caution him about something. Did they realize he was the infamous Ghost, the most wanted mythic in Vancouver? Was she warning Zak to hide his identity from me?

Our evening has become more entertaining, Ríkr remarked.