Impossible Mate (The Impossible Mate Series Book 1) Read online

  Impossible Mate

  The Impossible Mate Series Book 1

  D. R. Smith

  Copyright © 2022 D. R. Smith

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by: MiblArt

  This book is dedicated to members of IAA. Without you, this book wouldn't have been possible.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter One

  Chapter One

  I stiffened as I felt the familiar blackness of the demon’s soul trickle into the back of my mind.

  This wasn’t the first time this demon had been prowling around here, but I sure as hell was going to make it his last.

  The club was at capacity, with a hoard of people writhing and dancing just beyond the bar. The scent of sex, sweat and alcohol was thick in the hot air, the perfect hunting ground for a hungry demon. I scoured the crowd for any sign of him, hoping I’d be able to find him without using my soul sense, my ability to see souls.

  After a few seconds, I sighed and cracked open my sense. I winced as my mind’s eye was bombarded with a kaleidoscope of different colors from the various supernatural species, their souls billowing around them like smoke. My stomach roiled and bile burned my throat as I fought against the nausea.

  The curse of being a Necromantic Witch.

  A customer standing opposite me at the bar frowned and waved in front of my face. “Hey, lady! I ordered a beer?”

  I heard him easily over the music—one of the perks of working at a vampire-owned club was the quieter music which was less harsh on sensitive supernatural ears—and glanced back at him, noting the bright pink of his soul wafting around him and the short horns growing out of his golden hair. There was a distinct scent of sex wafting over the bar and I resisted the urge to wrinkle my nose. A satyr, ugh.

  “Of course, sir.” I bent down, opened the fridge underneath the bar and grabbed the first bottle I saw. I opened it with a flick of my wrist and placed it on the bar top along with a card reader.

  As I told the satyr the price and waited for him to pay, I scanned the crowd, using my sense to scour through the cacophony of faces and souls.

  There, by the women’s bathroom.

  I spotted a dark head lowered toward a tall brunette woman leaning heavily against the wall. The demon was tall but thin and appeared like any other man in the club, but I could see the black tendrils of his soul snaking out to tangle with the light pink of the woman’s soul. The demon had already found his meal for the night.

  I needed to act fast.

  With the demon found, I slammed my sense shut and the colorful souls melted away. I sighed as my stomach relaxed and the nausea subsided.

  The satyr mumbled something as he walked away but I paid no notice and instead turned to my co-worker and best friend, Jesse. Her bright blue hair, which matched the color of her soul, flicked from side to side in its ponytail as she jumped from one customer to the next, her tanned skin glistening with sweat.

  “Can you hold down the bar for a couple minutes?” I asked in a low voice.

  Jesse paused and looked over at me with a furrowed brow. “Why? You need to go somewhere?”

  I jerked my head over to where the demon was standing. “I have to take care of some business.”

  Understanding dawned in her eyes as she glanced over at the demon and wrinkled her nose. Since she was an Empathetic Witch, she could probably feel that demon’s hunger and his lust for the brunette. “Lucy, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “If I don’t, he’s going to feed on that woman and I don’t think Charlie wants that happening in his club.” Charlie was our boss and owner of the club and while he hated the idea of demons using his place as a hunting ground, I was sure he’d like me putting my life in danger even less.

  Jesse narrowed her eyes and stared at me, probably thinking about how she could convince me to stay. But, after a moment, she sighed. “Just stay safe and don’t do anything stupid while I go and get Charlie.”

  I offered her a grateful smile and turned, patting the sheath behind my back. The familiar outline of my silver knife greeted my hand, offering me some comfort as I emerged from the bar and strode over to where I’d last seen the demon, pushing my way past throngs of people. However, this close, drops of their multicolored souls trickled through my defenses, causing the hair on my arms to stand on end as electricity danced along my skin. My heart rate skyrocketed, and I trembled, overwhelmed with energy, almost like a sugar rush.

  This was the only drawback to working in a supernatural club. No matter how much I tried to keep my soul sense as tightly locked as possible, the power from their souls always found a way in. I usually kept myself confined to behind the bar for this reason, but I couldn’t tonight, not with a woman’s life and soul at risk.

  I gritted my teeth, squeezing my sense as closed as possible and shoved my way through the crowd until I finally emerged on the other side. I placed my hand on the hilt of my knife and sucked in a deep breath, allowing my body to relax and my mind to still as I marched over to confront the demon.

  Only, he wasn’t there and the brunette was gone too.

  “Shit.” Where the hell had they gone?

  I whirled around, eyes scanning the crowd but I couldn’t see him or the woman. With a grimace, I cracked open my sense and shook as a wave of energy rushed through me. I pushed through the rush, pinpointing the blackness of the demon’s soul and followed it. He hadn’t moved far and the soul of the woman with him was beginning to flicker.

  He’d started feeding.

  I surged forwards, blindly following his soul to the quieter back area of the club. A long corridor stretched out in front of me with various doors leading off from it, all of them storage rooms with the door on the end leading outside to the staff parking area. He was still in the building from what I could tell but far enough away for me to discern that he was in the very last storage room.

  I jogged down to the last door on the left and kicked it open while drawing my knife. The fae was pinned against the wall, her eyes closed and her head lolled to the side as the demon pressed his head between her breasts. To outsiders, it would have looked like an intimate moment, but I knew better as the fae’s soul flickered, becoming dimmer by the second.

  I launched myself at the demon just as he lifted his head and snarled at me, showing off a mouth filled with sharp fangs. I swiped at him with my knife, barely missing his throat and catching him in the shoulder as he w
hirled around to face me. The fae slid to the ground, still unconscious as blood trickled from the bite on her sternum, but she was still alive.

  “You bitch!” the demon hissed as he glanced at his shoulder, his black blood oozing from a sizzling wound.

  I barely ducked under a wild swipe of his clawed hand but couldn’t dodge a savage kick that threw me back, sending me crashing into the wall. My knife clattered to the floor. I wheezed as the air was forced from my lungs and white-hot pain seared along my spine. The edges of my vision darkened for a moment as the demon strode towards me. He paused by my feet and inhaled deeply.

  A twisted smile spread on his lips as he gazed down at me with wide eyes. “You’re a Necro witch,” he said as he cocked his head to the side. “I haven’t seen one of you in over a decade.”

  I said nothing and instead focused on trying to manage the pain pulsing through my body. I wasn’t surprised that he could smell what I was. Demons somehow had this innate ability to scent Necro witches.

  “We don’t have to fight, you know.” He crouched down beside me, the stench of sulfur burning my nose and causing my eyes to water. “We’re the same, you and I, both of us a slave to our hunger.”

  I recoiled in disgust, as anger erupted inside me. “We’re not the same,” I spat as I kicked out at him.

  My foot connected with his knee, causing him to topple backwards, giving me the chance to grab my knife and force myself onto my feet. The pain was almost unbearable as I sucked in ragged breaths and ignored my roiling stomach.

  The demon regained his balance and was now standing. His face flickered like a bad picture on an old television, switching from his handsome human appearance to a reptilian face, complete with slitted green eyes and forked tongue before switching back again.

  He pulled back his lips, hissed and charged at me. I tried to dodge to the side, but he was too fast as he streaked across the corridor and collided into me. My back slammed against the wall, his hand around my throat and his other pinning the hand holding the knife above my head as his claws bit into my skin. I gritted my teeth and struggled against him, ignoring the pain ricocheting down my spine as tears streamed down my cheeks from the overwhelming stench of sulfur.

  The demon grinned down at me, his human facade gone and replaced with his true form. “Guess I’ll just have to feast on your soul as well.” He bent his head down towards my chest and opened his mouth, ready to bite.

  Bile burned my throat at the thought of this monster feeding on my soul. My eyes narrowed and I jerked my head forwards, smashing my forehead against his nose. The demon reeled back as black blood burst from his nose and splattered over my face and neck. His grip on my throat and wrist weakened. I wrenched my arm free and slashed the knife across his exposed throat.

  He gurgled, his slitted eyes bulging as his clawed hands flew to his throat, desperately trying to stem the bleeding. He staggered backwards, leaving a trail of black blood before collapsing to the ground as smoke swirled in the air from the wound. While it wouldn’t heal anytime soon, it wouldn’t kill him either. There was only one way to do that.

  As I stepped over him, I crouched down and plunged the silver knife into his chest. He gasped, clawed hands reaching up toward me only for them to fall back onto the ground as the light seeped from his eyes. I ripped the blade free and wiped it clean on his clothes as his body began folding in on itself.

  “I would ask if you needed help, but it seems like you got it handled,” an unfamiliar masculine voice said a moment before a torrent of bright green energy slammed into me.

  The scent of a pine forest after a light rain exploded around me as bird song filled my ears. I shuddered as every cell of my being rebelled against the power and yanked my soul sense closed, cutting off most of the energy, leaving just an echo of bird song.

  Ugh, as if this night couldn’t get any worse, I was going to have to deal with a shifter. A powerful one at that.

  My stomach clenched as panic clawed at my throat and fear trickled down my spine like ice. Our two species were at war, with shifters ruthlessly hunting my kind, Necro witches, to the point of extinction. All because of something that may have happened centuries ago. Demons were one thing but shifters were something completely different—faster, stronger and more lethal—and I was going to have to confront both in one night.

  Being a Necro witch was so fun.

  The grip on my knife tightened as I turned to confront the shifter, fighting to keep my expression neutral as I took in the sight of him.

  Even for a shifter, the guy was huge, standing almost a foot above my 5’4 height with broad shoulders, a large chest and arms rippling with muscle. I cast my eyes upwards, noting that the shirt and low-slung jeans he wore were splattered with blood, although with shifter healing, I had no idea if that was his or not. Nor did I want to know.

  With my heart racing in my ears, my gaze continued upward, noticing his strong jaw dusted with dark stubble, full lips and straight nose. His dark brown hair stuck out at odd angles and was smudged with blood, giving him a rugged, almost animalistic look to him.

  He took a step towards me and crossed his arms over his chest. The guy exuded power and confidence that demanded attention. I was so fucked.

  I met his icy blue eyes for a moment, almost feeling myself get lost in them before shaking myself. “You can’t be back here. This is for employees only.” Shifter or not, he couldn’t just go wherever he pleased.

  “It’s alright, Charlie knows I’m here. I have some important things to discuss with him, so you can move out of the way.” He strode towards me as if he expected me to jump out of the way and let him pass.

  Over my dead body.

  I narrowed my eyes and brandished the knife, ignoring the stab of pain that shot through my body. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

  He stopped just short of me, his eyes flicking to the silver knife in my hand, and clenched his jaw. “Look, I understand you’re doing your job, but I have an urgent meeting.”

  I rolled my eyes. Yeah, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard this and it wouldn’t be the last. There was always at least one person trying to sneak in through the back without paying, although this was the first time I’d seen a shifter doing it. Hell, this was the first shifter I’d seen in the club, period.

  “Look, buddy, just go back out the way you came and go through the front door and pay just like every other normal person. I’m sure Charlie will be more than happy to see you then.”

  What I was doing was risky, but surely he wouldn’t do anything here while I held a knife, right?

  His eyes bled from blue to gray as he stepped even closer to me, towering above my short frame as he snarled. Dread dropped in my stomach like a stone as ice-cold fear dripped down my back and my breath caught in my throat.

  The urge to recoil was almost overwhelming, but I hadn’t been raised a coward, and instead I shoved at his chest. A spark of electricity raced from my fingertips along my arm to my chest as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. My heart stuttered and my breath caught in my throat as warmth radiated outward from my chest. My toes curled as molten heat poured into my lower abdomen and the urge to press my body against his rushed through me.

  What the hell?

  With a gasp, I snatched my arm back and cradled it against my chest. My body cried out from the loss of the warmth as the spark between us disappeared. I looked over at the shifter as I fought to gain control over my breathing. He appeared as stunned as I was, his eyes wide and his lips parted. His eyes were still a steel gray but now there was feral hunger in them. I had the distinct feeling that his beast was staring back at me.

  “Lucy, what the fuck are you doing?”

  My head snapped over my shoulder to see Charlie, my boss, striding toward me, his usually handsome face contorted in anger and concern. He stopped as he caught sight of the shifter, who by now had recovered and was glaring at me.

  “Glad to see you finally arrived,” the shifter said,
his voice gravelly as if he was speaking through vocal cords that weren’t quite human.

  Charlie’s lips twitched. “Having trouble, are we, James?”

  A growl rumbled in the shifter’s chest, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end as I fought the urge to take a step back.

  “I was just trying to tell this shifter to leave and come through the front door like everyone else.” I dropped my hands to my side, mostly to hide the fact they were trembling.

  Jesse rushed in behind Charlie, a black bag clutched against her chest. She stopped, her eyes bulging as she glanced from the shifter to me.

  The vampire stifled a laugh with a snort. “I’ll take it from here, Lucy.” He looked down at Jesse. “Go tend to the victim and Lucy while I take James to my office.”

  Reluctantly, I stepped to the side, allowing him to pass me. I gritted my teeth as the heat from the shifter’s—James’—body brushed against me. Even though he appeared relaxed and in control, I could see the tension in his back and jaw and his eyes hadn’t fully bled back to blue. As he reached Charlie, the vampire clapped him on the back and mumbled something in his ear as the two made their way towards the main room of the club.

  “Oh, Lucy?” Charlie paused and glanced over his shoulder. “You can put your knife away now.” Amusement twinkled in his dark eyes as he turned back and led James towards his office.

  Jesse rushed toward me, her bag clanking as she moved. “Do you know who that was?” she hissed before glancing over her shoulder.

  “A shifter called James?” I sheathed my knife.

  Her eyes widened. “He’s James Moore, the Alpha of the Lakeview Pack and probably one of the most powerful shifters in the country, and you spoke to him like he was a pup while holding him at knifepoint.” She shook her head. “Plus he part owns this place.”

  My eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me this place was half-owned by a shifter?” Hell, why hadn’t Charlie? They both knew what I was and how dangerous shifters were to me, yet they’d neglected to tell me this one tiny detail?