Marked: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 2) by J. A. Cipriano Page B

wall. The right was fitted with secluding looking alcoves with curtains. Those were the kind of booths where you could go inside to have privacy for all sorts of things, but since the majority of the silk curtains were open, I was betting the people who patronized them weren’t here yet.
    Glass-topped tables filled the floor directly over the pond, and as I studied them, I realized the fish in the water weren’t koi. No, the pond below the glass floor was filled with sharks and looked to be at least fifteen feet deep. A shudder ran through me. What the hell kind of place was this?
    “Your usual table, Alpha?” asked a short Asian woman dressed in a bright red kimono with a samurai sword strapped to her back. She had her dark hair done up in a bun and punctuated with steel chopsticks. She’d come up around the normal hostess station when we’d walked in and stood in front of Ricky with her head bowed in deference.
    “No, we won’t be here for dinner,” Ricky replied, her voice crisp and empty. “I need to speak to Jinn.” The hostess visibly stiffened at the mention of the name. “It’s important.”
    “I’m very sorry, but Jinn isn’t seeing anyone tonight.” The Asian lady bowed lower. “She was very clear about not speaking with you, specifically. If you’d like, I’d be happy to arrange something for early next week?”
    “She’ll see me now,” Ricky replied, taking a step closer and pointedly invading the girl’s space. To her credit, the hostess didn’t move, merely kept her head down. It was almost like she was staring at the sharks swimming beneath our feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world, which, I mean, yeah, sharks.
    “She will not,” the hostess replied, not backing down even slightly. The muscles in her neck tensed a touch, and I realized she was a lot less submissive than she was letting on. There was no way this was going to end well. I wasn’t sure if she was a human or a werewolf, but either way, something about her gave me the impression the samurai sword might not be just for looks.
    A quick look around pretty much guaranteed the point. Several other women were dressed similarly, and every single one of them wore a katana. It could have been for show, but I was almost positive it wasn’t. Dressing up your staff like this would be an easy way to arm them in the event of an incursion while making it seem like part of the ambiance. If you operated a restaurant with supernatural patrons, you wouldn’t want just anyone working here. No, you’d want people who could take down preternatural goons who caused a disturbance with the utmost haste.
    Ricky opened her mouth to respond, but as she did, the hostess pointedly turned from her and looked right at me. Her dark eyes were filled with barely contained rage, and I could just make out an edge of amber around the irises. So she was a werewolf. Interesting. No wonder Ricky had armed me with silver bullets.
    “If you would like to wait at the bar, I’ll be happy to have them make you whatever you like on the house. I fear your Alpha is insisting on something that cannot be. She has the tendency to forget where she is when she gets antsy. I’d prefer if we do not have a scene in public. Still, I can tell she requires more personal attention, and thusly, I will need to discuss this matter with her in private.” The hostess smiled brightly. “I trust this arrangement is okay with you?”
    I shot a glance at Ricky, and she nodded almost imperceptibly.
    “Okay,” I said as a bad feeling settled around my neck like a shawl. They were separating us which was exactly what predators did, and the idea of it made my gut tighten. There was no telling how many werewolves worked here, but I didn’t exactly relish the idea of having to kill them all. Not because I particularly cared about killing them in cold blood, which was a whole other thing in and of itself. No, it was because it’d be difficult and time consuming.