“Excuse me,” a male voice said from behind her.
She felt movement over her back where there shouldn’t have been any and stiffened. It was all she could do to angle her head sideways in the speaker’s direction.
“Take a step back,” the alpha in front of her demanded.
The newcomer she couldn’t quite see spoke without a hint of concern. “I’m just playing nice. No need to growl.” That movement swept over her back again, rising up toward her shoulders. This time she felt the distinct press of a brief, foreign touch. “Won’t you join me for a dance, beautiful?”
Instinct railed at her to pull away from the sensation over her back, but Brinley didn’t know where to go. The table was directly on her other side and her mysterious alpha escort was in front of her. She felt pinned. Trapped.
“If she wanted to be dancing, she would be on the dance floor.” There was a hardness in the wolf-masked alpha’s voice she hadn’t heard when he spoke to her.
The other man made a sound of amusement. “Or perhaps the lady is waiting to be asked.” The chilling brush of his fingers dipped down her spine.
Brinley nearly crumbled her makeshift plate of snacks as she drew up the inner strength she needed. This was no place for her to give in to any instinctive panic. Finally, she pivoted almost too quickly on her heel and managed to put her back to the table at the same time as she swatted her clutch in the newcomer’s direction. “Keep your hands to yourself, sir,” she said sharply.
The unfamiliar man frowned, as though he were pouting, beneath the mostly full mask obscuring his face. It was matte gold and covered him from jaw to forehead, but there were openings for his eyes, his entire mouth and chin, and the underside of his nose. Fully functional, as it were. He’d paired it with an off-white, long-tailed coat over matching slacks. Black loafers and a black shirt beneath completed, and confused, the look. Brinley had spotted him mingling and dancing earlier in the evening. He was hard to miss in the darkened room. “Come on, now,” he said, gesturing as if he were confused.
Her alpha took a step forward, angling himself half between them. “I believe you have your answer.”
Brinley cringed at herself and sucked in another breath.My alpha?She probably needed to wrap up her night. A woman could only explain meandering through a crowd of wealthy strangers for so long. She had to have collected enough pictures, at least. Though she wasn’t yet sure what angle she’d spin the story that would accompany them. Aloud, she said, “It’s impolite to touch a lady without her consent, you know. And I’m afraid I’m not interested in stepping onto the dance floor right now.”
The golden masked man slid his dark stare back to her and something in his smile changed, becoming darker. “Lady?” He scoffed. “You plastered on all those obnoxious sparkling bits to disguise the fact that you don’t reallybelonghere and we both know it. You’re just one of this year’s charity cases, floundering out of her depth and hoping for a thirsty cock to sink your greedy hooks into.”
Indignation rushed through her. She saw the alpha that was absolutelynothers tense, visibly bristling, but she couldn’t wait for him to handle this on her behalf. Even if that would have been the more ladylike play. Instead, she raised her chin in a futile attempt to look down at the taller man. “Says the creep who started trying to feel me up before he even said hello.” She paused just for a heartbeat, just to land her point, before adding the most uncouth and improper thing she could think of in her angered haze. “Take your tiny dick syndrome and fuck off.”
The man’s eyes widened. “How dare—”
The alpha between them stepped forward, almost fully obscuring Brinley’s view as he pushed into the other male’s space. He was several inches taller, several inches broader, and with their added visual discrepancy of black suit versus white suit, the entire display screamed of a power disparity.
Brinley wondered if the whole room was watching, or if that was just how intensely captivated she felt.
“Walk away. Now. Or I get both of us removed from the premises,” her alpha said in a low, dangerous growl that sent very different shivers down her spine.
She couldn’t see the other man’s response. She’d begun to suspect the other one had no dynamic, that he was an ordinary human, so he wouldn’t be as aware of any innate power difference. He certainly didn’t have the sense to recognize when he himself was out of line.
But he seemed to at least know a threat when he heard one, because after a lingering moment, he moved back. “Never mind,” he said in their direction. “I sincerely hope to never see either of you again.” He pivoted and stalked away, his stride stiff and angry.
Brinley let out a breath of relief.
Her alpha guardian turned to face her. “Do you want me to report him to security?”
She blinked.They do that?“That’s— No, that’s not necessary. I’m fine.” And at the risk of crossing too many lines, she eased a tiny bit closer and offered a smile. “Thank you for standing up for me.”
He reached up without a word, hazel eyes staring into her soul, and curled two fingers along the outside of her jaw. Before she could react, let alone question the movement, he’d stretched up his thumb and pressed it deliberately across her lower lip.
It was a single stroke, a brief touch, before he pulled his hand away, but it lit her on fire. Brinley let out a soft gasp even as his hand retreated. She watched with wide eyes and confused, twisting insides as he brought that thumb to his lips and licked.
A crumb. A crumb from the crackers she’d eaten minutes ago had remained on her lips. That should have been embarrassing, but … she felt something else altogether. A strange, desperate yearning that burned inside and made it hard to keep her breathing steady.
“It was my pleasure,” he finally said in a deep, rumbly timbre.
Brinley swallowed hard.Please tell me I charged my vibrator.She was definitely going to need it later.
It was proving to be the best, and simultaneously worst, masquerade Lennox had ever attended. He’d never felt so completely obsessed over a woman. The less civilized part of him wanted to rip the head off every man who looked her way. Violence was forbidden at these events, with a strictly enforced zero-tolerance policy. The minute someone so much as slapped another, both parties were removed. He’d seen it happen in the past. In a room with multiple alphas—some who could still shift and some, like him, who could not—it was a difficult policy to uphold.
He’d never come so close to crossing the line as he had with that human in the dull gold mask.
The look of desire that had flashed through his companion’s eyes in their exchange after had been entirely worth the restraint. Despite that it had also required that much more.
