Page 8 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Sabrina walked into the bar and glanced around, searching for Kyle. She had reluctantly agreed to meet her for drinks after her shift.

But she told herself that she needed to get out of the hospital.

She hated to admit that Kyle was right, but Sabrina wasn’t really living.

Sure, she was getting dressed in the morning, going to work, and helping people—no doubt about that—but she wasn’t helping herself. So she’d agreed to drinks. Baby steps.

She saw Kyle sitting in a corner booth and headed toward her, slowing when she realized she wasn’t alone. Talia sat across from her as well, which made Sabrina’s nerves sit up and take notice. Why would a vampire who couldn’t eat or drink agree to go to a bar?

Kyle smirked at her. “There you are. I was worried you might cancel, so I invited Talia to come along as well. It would have looked a bit pathetic drinking alone.”

“Technically you are currently drinking alone.”

Talia cracked a grin and held up a fruity looking cocktail. “I ordered a pina colada. It smells amazing.”

Sabrina shook her head. Before she could make a comment, the server came over and Sabrina ordered a drink. Kyle also ordered some potato skins.

Talia chuckled.

“What? A girl can’t live on alcohol alone, and the potato skins rock here.”

Sabrina slid into the booth, and a sigh escaped her.

“It’s been too long since we did something like this. I wish the whole team could have come out tonight, but they couldn’t swing it,” Kyle said.

“Where’s Jean Luc?” Sabrina asked Talia.

“My mate is doing some paperwork. He insisted we needed a girls’ night out, especially when Misha and Jason said they couldn’t meet us.”

Kyle stirred her drink with a straw. “Misha is helping the twins with a science project. He wanted to make sure they didn’t blow anything up.”

“That was smart on his part,” Sabrina said.

“Yep.” The ice clinked in Kyle’s glass as she continued to stir. They spent a few minutes talking about the twins’ mishaps, chuckling at their antics.

The server walked to the table and set down Sabrina’s drink and the potato skins before rushing off again.

Kyle gave Sabrina a long look. “Jason has a session at Griffin’s tonight.”

Sabrina took a sip of her drink and then set it down carefully at the news. “Jason is working with Griffin?”

“Yeah. He didn’t tell you?” Kyle said.

“I haven’t really talked to Jason lately.” Other than the video call with the team, and that wasn’t the place to dig into anything with him. Not that she had the right to ask him what was going on in his life.

Kyle and Talia exchanged glances before Talia spoke. “Jason decided to learn more about his shifter side.”

“That makes sense. I’m glad that he’s willing to let Griffin help him.”

Again with the look between them. What weren’t they telling her?

“Griffin and Bea ,” Kyle said. “He’s actually meeting with Bea tonight. She’s been working with him to explain shifter powers.”

Sabrina took a sip of her drink. “Good.” Although the sudden sourness in her stomach said the opposite about Jason spending time with Bea.

Which was ridiculous and petty. She had no right to protest anyone Jason spent time with, even a beautiful, smart, eloquent female who was practically shifter royalty.

She cleared her throat along with her wayward thoughts.

“Has Jason been able to release any latent powers?”

Kyle had just popped a potato skin into her mouth, so Talia answered. “Not yet, but Bea thinks it’s only a matter of time.”

Well, wasn’t that special of Bea. She took a larger swallow of her drink.

Sabrina Miller did not get jealous. Ever.

She was tired and needed to take a break from work.

That was her problem. Especially when Studio 54 was her last vacation—no, wait.

She had gone for a few days to the ’84 Olympics in LA to watch the track and field events.

The energy there, both competitive and sexual, had been off the charts.

She was practically punch-drunk without having to touch anyone.

Time to change the subject. “So when is Dalton back in town?”

Kyle grinned. “Friday. I can’t wait to see him. I think I’m going to tie him up and not let him take any more out-of-town assignments.”

“Why do I feel like you are only partly joking?” Sabrina teased.

Kyle tilted her head back and laughed. “My lips are sealed. But then I don’t think I could surprise a Succubus with anything, could I?”

Sabrina smirked. “Probably not.”

Kyle elbowed Talia. “I wish that demon metabolism didn’t burn off alcohol so fast. I’d get Sabrina drunk and have her tell me some stories. I’m sure she has some wild ones.”

Woodstock, Studio 54 VIP lounge, Olympic Village—yeah, she had a few. Child’s play compared to her exploits during the Renaissance and the Gilded Age. “I’m just an old fuddy-duddy these days, Kyle.”

Kyle sighed even though her energy sparked like she was going to get serious. “I can’t even disagree with that. Which is why we’re going to get you dating again.”

Sabrina set her drink down with a clank on the table. And there it was. “Oh no. I’ve already told you no matchmaking.”

“Irina wants you to meet someone.”

Sabrina bet she did. Misha’s grandmother’s goal in life was to find mates for everyone she knew. Now that Irina’s family were all mated, she must be turning her sights on others. “I’m not having Irina set me up with someone.”

“Irina helped match all three of her grandsons and Boris too,” Kyle argued. “She has the eye.”

Sabrina laughed. “I think it was more about Fate and less about Irina.”

Kyle started to talk and Sabrina interrupted her. “And there will be no interventions staged on my behalf either.”

Kyle frowned. “You’re no fun.”

Talia chuckled. “I don’t think Sabrina needs our help finding dates. She’s been here less than thirty minutes and half of the room, both males and females, have been checking her out.”

“Except if she doesn’t do anything about it, then it doesn’t really matter,” Kyle said.

“And we should respect the fact she might not want to date right now.”

Before Sabrina could thank Talia, the vampire continued. “Unless she’s avoiding her feelings and being a chicken when it comes to a certain male we know.”

Kyle nodded. “But how do we get her to open up?”

“We ask her why she’s practically become a hermit unless she’s working. And we tell her we’re here for her and will listen to anything she has to tell us.”

“Hello. I’m sitting right here, you know,” Sabrina said.

Kyle turned to her. “Why have you become a hermit, Sabrina?”

There was no point in denying it. She was a damn hermit. She hadn’t planned it, but it was a result of her pulling away.

Sabrina felt like a deflated balloon. She closed her eyes for a moment to try and collect some energy before answering her two teammates and friends.

“I’ve lived a long time and have had a lot of sexual encounters over the years.

When something is a necessity to survive, it doesn’t really allow you to attach feelings to it.

I’ve found it easier to simply detach myself from anything other than the pleasure and exchange of energy. It’s food to survive.”

“You don’t let yourself get close to anyone,” Talia said.

“Right. It’s easier that way. If I think of it—sex—as a practical means to an end, then I can survive.”

“Your body, you mean,” Kyle said. “But what about your heart?”

“Not part of the equation.” Even though it beat a rat-a-tat rhythm in her chest.

“Bull,” Kyle said.

“I thought Talia said that you would listen to what I told you.”

“She’s right. We’re listening. Doesn’t mean we’re going to agree with what you’re saying. I don’t know why you can’t find someone to share your life with. Wouldn’t it be a win-win? You have love and you can extract energy with one person instead of having to find it with others?”

Sabrina shook her head. “Would you want to be food, Kyle?”

Talia reached across the table and placed her hand over Sabrina’s. “Jean Luc and I take each other’s blood. And it’s not demeaning to either of us. We love each other.”

“But you’re on equal footing. In my situation I would be pulling energy from someone. I would have power over them.”

Kyle leaned forward. “Except Jason wouldn’t be powerless. What if Bea’s right and working with the pack is going to bring out his powers.”

Even more reason she couldn’t be with him. “You know I can’t risk that, Kyle.”

Talia’s eyes narrowed. “I need to be caught up here.”

Kyle crumpled up her napkin and placed it on the empty plate in front of her. “Sabrina is worried that she might injure Jason because his shifter energy could be too tempting and she’d take too much.”

It wasn’t that simple. “My kind does not mix with shifters.”

Talia looked at her for a drawn-out moment. “We try to avoid shifter blood as well since it can become highly addictive. But you are one of the most in-control supernaturals I have ever met. You’ve spent your entire life helping others. I don’t see you hurting anyone, especially Jason.”

“You tell her, girl!” Kyle announced.

Sabrina and Talia turned to her.

“What? I’ve been saying the same thing forever, and she doesn’t listen to me. Maybe if she hears it from you, another supe, she’ll listen.”

Talia smiled. “You do remember that you are part demon, right?”

“Let me rephrase it. If she hears from an in-control, powerful vamp whose had her crap together for a while now and ended up with her forever mate.”

“Very true,” Talia said. “Now let’s cut to the chase.” She turned to Sabrina and stared at her with serious brown eyes. “Do you have feelings for Jason?”

Her heart beat triple time. Did she really want to say it out loud?

“Sabrina, don’t BS us,” Kyle said. “Answer the question.”

Sabrina blew out a breath. “Yes.”

“Then that is all that matters,” Talia said. “You can figure it out, Sabrina.”

Kyle hooked her thumb in Talia’s direction. “What she said.”

She thought back to Jason’s face when he left the hospital. “It might be too late.”

“You won’t know unless you try,” Kyle said. “Don’t wonder ‘what if’ for the rest of your life.”

Sabrina glared at her two friends. “Did you just stage an intervention in the middle of me telling you not to stage an intervention?”

Kyle put her hand over her heart and widened her eyes to comical proportions. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sabrina couldn’t stop the laugh from bubbling to the surface. “And I don’t know why I put up with you, McKinley.”

“Same reason I put up with you. Because no one else would have us.”

Except Kyle did have someone—Joe Dalton, the love of her life.

Sex aside, Sabrina had spent centuries on her own.

Without a meaningful connection. Without someone to share her life with.

Without true love. And she never thought she could wish for anything remotely close to that.

Could she dare hope for a small piece of it with Jason?