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of you.” Cassel said turning a
sincere gaze on Adrian. “I have no idea why the Council came up
with such conditions.”
    “It’s not your fault, Cassel. It sucks, but
you shouldn’t blame yourself.”
    “You should not have fallen in love with your
mortal.” Kaine said shortly.
    There was a brief silence then Cassel let out
a sigh. “I know, but it happened.”
    “Don’t be such a pain, Kaine. Something good
will come out of this.” Adrian tried to smooth things out.
    Kaine just snorted again.
    Just then two women walked in and headed for
the bar. There was a petite blonde with the figure of a pocket
Venus and her companion, a dark-haired woman who had a wounded air
around her. The dark haired one caught his attention and he
couldn’t focus on anything else. There was something about her,
which spoke to him at a primal level. Mesmerized, he couldn’t take
his eyes off her and watched as she sat at the bar, looking like
she’d rather be anyplace else on earth than at the very place she
was.
    “That’s Trina.”
    Adrian froze as he heard Cassel’s voice. He
turned to look at his friend and caught the rueful smile on his
face.
    “The fair one is Trina. The one you’ve been
staring at is her friend.”
    He couldn’t understand the relief he felt.
For a split second, when he’d thought the woman was Cassel’s Trina
he’d felt, he couldn’t quite describe the desolation he’d felt.
Looking back at the dark haired woman, he had no idea how he knew,
but he just did. She was the one he’d been waiting for. The perfect
piece to fill that gaping emptiness he’d felt for as long as he
could remember, an emptiness he’d told no one about.
    Before he knew what he was doing, he was on
his feet.
    “Come introduce me, Cassel.” He ordered and
walked toward the women at the bar, not bothering to see if his
friend had actually followed.
    He had almost gotten to where both women were
seated when she stiffened then turned to look directly at him. It
was almost as though she’d sensed his presence. He almost stumbled,
but he kept moving forward, his eyes trained on her. Their eyes met
and something flashed between them before she deliberately turned
away.
    “Cass!”
    Adrian halted as the petite woman exclaimed
and got to her feet and threw herself into his friend’s arms. The
moment was passionate and intimate and he found it hard to believe
that those two were still dancing around the fact that they had
feelings for each other. He averted his eyes and met the watchful
eyes of the dark-haired woman. This time though, she didn’t look
away.
    “Hey Trina, meet Adrian. And this is the
woman I’ve been telling you all about.”
    Adrian turned to see his best friend with his
arms wrapped around the tiny waist. What struck him the most was
the happy smile on his face.
    Taking the hands she stretched out, he smiled
at Trina, “It’s truly a pleasure. He can’t stop talking about you
and I couldn’t wait to meet you.”
    She smiled and her blue eyes twinkled at him.
“I hope he hasn’t said anything naughty about me?”
    “Er, not too much naughty stuff.” He winked
at her and she threw her head back and laughed. He just smiled as
his gaze wandered back, seemingly of their own accord. She was
still watching him with a slight frown, like she was trying to make
him out.
    “Oh, Mel this is Cassel’s friend Adrian.
Adrian, Melissa.”
    He watched as she stretched out her hands,
her reluctance was plain. “Hi.” She greeted shortly.
    “Hey, what are you drinking?”
    She raised an eyebrow at him, “White wine.
Why?”
    He noticed from the corner of his eyes that
Trina and Cassel had already wandered off to where Kaine was
seated, so he sat on the recently vacated bar seat beside her. “I
left my drink, so I think I’ll have that.”
    He made a signal to the bartender and pointed
to Melissa’s drink. After his glass of wine was delivered, he
turned to smile at her. “So, tell me all about yourself.”
    She