T he cat girl slid into Clove’s old seat across from me. Her petite frame hardly made a noise as she settled onto the bench.
Clove stiffened, a little more on alert.
“Can I help you?” I asked the newcomer.
Her green eyes were nearly unreadable. But there was a glint of excitement within them.
Plus, her tail was flicking back and forth behind her.
She asked, “How did you get through the test so quickly? Even together, you were surprisingly fast.” Her gaze flicked to Clove, as if to suggest the demi-human was the most surprising part of it all.
“When did you go in?”
“After the blond boy,” she replied. “He took a little longer than you two did. I’d ask him, but I think he’d try to stab me up if I talked to him.” She noticed the leftover meatloaf on Clove’s plate and popped it into her mouth.
The inn’s entrance door slammed open, and the cat girl’s posture straightened. Her pupils contracted as she snapped her gaze to the door.
When the bear demi-human stumbled in with another human mage, the both of them laughing and talking about the Tower’s monsters, she relaxed. “Anyway. How did you do it?”
Clove’s hand dropped to my leg. She was humming absentmindedly and tracing circles on my inner thigh.
It was… somewhat distracting.
“Like you did, I imagine,” I answered. “Well, we went through the center tunnel. Rats came out of the wall, and the water beast with the tentacles came next. Is the final boss the same for everyone?”
“Yup,” she answered, totally set on eating up the rest of Clove’s food. “No one was allowed to spoil the test for the people waiting, so I’m pretty sure it was a surprise for us all. I took the right tunnel. That one was mostly spiders and bats. No big deal. Skeleton monster at the end?”
“The very same. Key in the chest?”
She sighed. “Yeah. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out what to do. Bastard twisted my leg in the process, and I really don’t trust anyone but a healer to fix it.”
Clove gasped and stood. She splayed her hands on the table and leaned forward.
It was then that I noticed the ties on her top were dangerously loose and close to spilling all of its contents out on the table.
The cat demi’s eyes widened as she came face-to-face with Clove’s generous chest.
“I’ll heal you!” Clove declared. “Mine is a natural demi ability, so you don’t have to worry! What’s your name?”
The girl replied hesitantly, “Jameria. But you can just call me Jam. What did you say you’d do?”
Jam then received a most surprising across-the-table embrace, one that she didn’t quite have the power to extract herself from.
She spluttered, “Wha-how? Excuse me —”
Clove began to glow pink.
Jam gasped and tried to push Clove off. “Hey! Get off of me! What do you think you’re doing?”
I was about to intervene when Jam’s outrage melted into bliss. Her body was now alight with the same reddish pink color, and suddenly, all the fight left her.
She leaned into Clove, sighing. Her worry vanished, replaced by a dopey sort of grin.
Clove cupped Jam’s face. “Better?”
Jam had to shake herself. She cleared her throat and said, “Um… ah… yeah. Yes. Thank you.”
She rubbed her arms but didn’t pull away from Clove.
The healer grinned. “Cute little kitty.” She then planted a kiss on Jam’s nose.
Jam stiffened. “Hey! You can’t just kiss strangers like that!”
“But we’ve been introduced! We’re not strangers anymore!” Clove was again trying to pull Jam into a hug, and the cat demi wasn’t exactly a match for the healer’s alcohol-infused determination.
I stood. I might be a Demon Prince born in the Underworld and made to rule over demon kin, demons, wraiths, and the void alike, but even I knew when a companion was too intoxicated to be out in public.
I placed a hand on Clove’s waist. “Please let the nice demi go, Clove. I think it’s time you went to bed.”
It did the trick. She gasped and released Jam, whirling on me.
To my dismay, she wrapped her arms around my waist and declared, “Sleepover!”
Speechless and unsure how to work with this side of Clove, I looked to Jam for help. “What does she mean, ‘sleepover’?”
Jam’s shock turned to mirth. She laughed and said, “I think she wants to get to know you better.”
I frowned. “Get to know me?”
Clove was covertly trying to pull my shirt out of the back of my trousers. Seconds later, her warm hands were pressed against my bare skin.
Jam gave me one of those looks full of meaning, as if Clove’s actions were evidence of what Jam had just said. “Do you want me to draw you a diagram, mister? She clearly wants to take you to bed. And do a whole lot more than sleep.”
Oh. Clove attempting to mate with me. Really? This is how mortals approach it?
The demon kin females in the Underworld acted nothing like this. They were forward and eternally direct. Such was the way I’d been used to.
But I kept forgetting that mortals were different. So, so different from everything I’d known.
I hadn’t observed them long enough to know exactly how they managed their desires for one another. Maybe Jam was right.
One of Clove’s hands slid to the front of my trousers and pressed against —
Aha. Jam was correct, after all.
I caught Clove’s hand and warned, “You are far too intoxicated to touch me like that.”
Her head snapped up. Fear clouded the happiness in her eyes. “You’re mad at me.”
Jam snorted. “You have your hands full. I’m out of here.”
Clove was now trying to pull away from me. “I’m so sorry. Just let me go! I’ll leave.”
I held on tight. Suppressing a growl, I bent over to scoop her up by the back of her thighs and hoisted her, cradling her gently against my chest.
She yelped, legs kicking weakly, but her arms wrapped around my neck. “What are you doing?”
I made my way over to the stairs. “Isn’t it obvious?” I murmured. “I’m taking you to bed.”