Navarro's Promise - Lora Leigh [7]
Mica’s teeth clenched. Hell no, she didn’t wonder what he would be like with a lover. Unless that lover was her.
“Wow, Mica . . .” Cassie’s tone was shocked, amazed, causing Mica to barely bite back her curse.
Damn, she knew to watch her reactions, to make certain she didn’t let herself feel strongly, or react with anything more than mild interest. She knew the dangers of it more than anyone else could possibly know.
And now, she had just fucked up in the worse possible way, around the one person Mica knew better than to mess up around.
“You’re jealous,” Cassie said, releasing a breath, amazement widening her eyes now. “What have you been hiding from me, Mica?”
“Nothing.” A lie, oh God, a lie. She had to steel herself. She knew better than to outright lie to Cassie.
Cassie stepped back slowly, the pure amazement in her face strengthening as she stared at Mica, shock overriding the amazement an instant later.
“Mica, you just lied to me,” she said in wonder, as though she’d just received a gift she had never expected.
“Cassie, stop this,” Mica warned her, feeling a sense of panic welling inside her now. “Let it go.”
Things were going from bad to worse here, and she couldn’t seem to stop the spiraling results from crashing through her. There were some things Cassie just didn’t need to know. If that damned “fairy” that liked to tell everyone’s secrets hadn’t told her, then Mica felt it was best her friend didn’t have to worry about it.
“You’re keeping secrets from me?” Cassie’s voice lowered as an edge of hurt entered her tone.
No. No. “Cassie, don’t do this to me,” she groaned. “Nothing happened. There are no secrets.”
That pesky damned lie thing. She swore there were times she could almost smell a lie herself, Cassie had told her so many times what one smelled like. And she swore she could smell that hint of acrid sulfur now, like hell considering a visit.
Mica wanted to groan in defeat but knew better than to allow Cassie to even suspect such a weakness.
Cassie stepped closer, bent, her nostrils flaring as she breathed in deeply, and Mica could do nothing but stare back at her friend in resignation.
Cassie blinked and jerked back. For a second, for just a second, a curious expression came over her face before her gaze became shuttered, her expression stilling to that calm, serene look that hid every thought and emotion she could be feeling.
Mica hated that expression. There was simply no way to convince the other girl to tell her anything when she adopted that look.
“Well, how interesting,” Cassie stated, her tone just as bland as her expression now.
This, Mica hadn’t expected. Her gaze narrowed. “What’s interesting?” There was that panic thing again. It was making her heart race, making that sense of impending doom rise inside her. “There’s nothing interesting, Cassie. Do you hear me? There’s nothing interesting, nothing period. Tell me there isn’t.”
What was Cassie seeing, or what had she seen as she leaned closer and drew in whatever scent Mica couldn’t smell herself?
That was the worst part about Breeds. Sometimes they could sense more about a person than that person knew about him- or herself.
“Of course there isn’t.” Cassie cleared her throat and blinked back at her.
Mica came slowly to her feet. “Don’t make me strangle you, Cassie,” she warned her, her voice low. “And I can do it. You know I can do it.”
Cassie grimaced, her bow lips pouting as amusement began to sparkle in her gaze. “Dad made a mistake when he had you trained alongside me. He should have foreseen all these threats you would make against me.”
“Don’t try to distract me, Cassie.” Mica breathed out roughly. “What did you see?”
The secretive little smile that twitched at Cassie’s lips was terrifying. It was horrifying. Mica knew she would have nightmares for weeks if Cassie didn’t tell her what was going on, simply because of that smile. Too knowing, yet with a hint of concern, of uncertainty.
“I didn’t see anything.” Cassie waved a hand