Then she realized the music had faded, leaving a muffled resonance in her ears.
She snapped her head up. Instantly regretted the sharp motion as her stomach revolted.
Standing in front of her, Thaddeus. Thaddeus, in all his sinful glory, a hand fisted at Brandon’s collar. He held herfirmly by the forearm, though painlessly, shielding her from Brandon’s sight.
“You’d best be careful with your hands, lest you wish to lose them. Dare to try such a thing again, I’ll make certain you lose your tongue as well.”
The music blared in her ears once more, making her cringe at the onslaught of noise, leaving her no time to resist Thaddeus’s decided exit from the dancefloor, the bar, the entire building, Rori in tow. She stumbled down the stairs, half pulling back against his grip, half hanging onto his arm for dear life. Each one of his long, infuriated strides forced two of her own to keep up. In her inebriated state, walking was proving to be a chore, let alone jogging at the heels of a mad Fae.
“Stop!” she finally barked. What the hell was he babbling about? What language was he speaking? “Thaddeus!”
He spun on her so suddenly, she slammed into his solid form mercilessly. The breath fled her lungs with a squeak, stunning her into a backpedal as he prowled into her, still holding her arm. She tried to focus on his face, but her brain had become too saturated to focus for more than a second here and there before he wobbled and blurred.
One thing that cut through her drunken state was the furious glow of his eyes and the chill in the air around him. What waswrongwith him?
“Stop backing away, little human,” he growled, and fuck her if it didn’t ignite a wildfire of desire.
“You’re trying to trample me, overbearing brute!” She bunched his shirt over his chest and tried to shove him away. She almost missed the skittering of blue lines crossing the V of his exposed chest, his magic wild and barely contained. The faintest scowl drew his lips taut, his nostrils flared. Shepounded his chest, grunting with the futile effort to put distance between them. “What’s gottenintoyou?”
Thaddeus’s top lip pulled back. He slung an arm around her waist, crushing her to him. He cupped the back of her skull, forcing her head still, angled to stare up into his forbiddingly beautiful face. A wave of heat spread from the nape of her neck, flooding every inch of her body, washing through the haze of alcohol and delirium.
Her lips parted on a sharp exhale.
Like a switch, the fog in her brain cleared, along with any and all signs of alcohol having taken over her logical mind.
“You bastard.” She smacked his shoulder, managing to wedge another inch of space between them. “You took away my buzz.”
“You’re making a bloody fool of yourself, drunk to the point you can barely walk. Letting another man touch you,kissyou.”
The hiss in his words unleashed a flood of heat and prickles, and a mounting explosion. She smacked him with both her fists, a fierce groan rushing from her lips.
“Because I deserve it! I want to forget and know I’m safe with the person I forget with! I want the nightmares to leave me the fuck alone for a single god-damned night so I can feel free! I don’t want to care, Thaddeus! I don’t want to feel becausefeeling hurts!”
She sieved each breath between clenched teeth, fists pressed to his shoulders. A strangeness twisted his expression beneath shadows and stoic resolution. Cracks in his usual unreadable mask. A light in his eyes flashed. A light that made her realize too late what she’d done. What card she’d shown. God, he had no right to know any of that. It touched too deep, too personal. It was a vulnerability, a weakness he would certainly exploit.
Dammit.
“You have no say, no business, in what I do.” She pressed up on her toes. The corner of her mouth twitched. “Nothing.”
She swore his teeth ground behind those sensual lips. A small victory.
“So little you understand. So very, very little.” His grip on the base of her skull lifted her even higher on her toes until she gave up her fists to hold his shoulders for leverage. His arm had yet to unwrap from her waist. Instead, he tightened his embrace. She swallowed hard when she felt the thick mound of his cock dig into her belly, a not-so-small detail she’d somehow missed pre-sobering spell. “No one is allowed carefree liberties with you.”
“Watch your words, Faery man. You fall into the category of ‘no one,’” she pointed out quietly, her words edged with warning. “You’re right, though. I choose who, when, and where. You didn’t make the list.”
“Are you certain?” He inhaled slowly. Rori’s breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the true predator emerge from behind the angelic perfection, and he was no less appealing and delicious than the cold, emotionless version. This creature defined the very meaning of forbidden temptation. “I sense clarity in your decision without the alcohol present.”
Oh, you want to play? We can play.
“Is this what you want, Thaddeus?” She nuzzled her cheek to his chest, fighting the swell of desire that threatened to consume her. His fingers tightened against her skull, his body tense. “A weak, foolish mortal falling at your feet? I didn’t think you’d lower yourself to the likes of vermin like me.” She tilted her face up, catching his smoldering gaze. “But.” A cool smile pulled at her lips. “You’llneverhave it.”
Thaddeus’s lips curled, a devilish smile that sent herlibido into a full-blown meltdown. She’d never seen his pupils so wide, his eyes so dark, his expression so clear, and it scared her more than anything.
She wanted what he held back.
“Careful,storín. I find your resistance”—he brought his face close, eyes narrowing, teeth bared—“fascinating.”
He’s going to tear me to shreds.
