I yank from his hold, shrugging. “I’m good. Grab the girl and go—”
My words cut off when I look back, Sinner headed this way with a smirk, the girl nowhere to be found.
He reaches us, opening his mouth to speak.
“Where is she?”
Sin narrows. “Who?”
“The girl whose face you were eating.”
“Oh, her.” He grins, popping a single shoulder. “Running from some dude.”
My frown builds, but he smacks me on the shoulder. “It’s all good, brother. I got us one.”
As if on cue, a girl in a short blue dress slides up wearing a shy smile. I can smell her desperation from here. Her hair is as brown as her eyes.
She’s too tall. Too basic.
But she’ll do.
Swallowing my annoyance, I step in front of her, pressing my knuckles beneath her chin and tipping her eyes up to mine. Her pupils dilate as I say, “You took shrooms tonight. The trip is going to be hard, but you’ll only do what you want to do.”
Slowly, she nods, taking Sin’s hand when he offers it to her, and then we’re cutting out on this poor excuse of a party, headed back toward Rathe U for a real one.
Three
Knight
I don’t give enough fucks to ask for her name. I don’t know if it’s because the white-haired Giftless burned through my mind like a fucking fiery tornado, turning everything I thought I wanted to ash, or because everything in this world is tasteless. Fucking dull. It leaves me bored. The Giftless parties are always shit. Chasing what we play with on a daily basis by consuming alcohol until we eventually give up.
I mean, it’s cute. Until it’s boring.
“Where are we going?” the girl asks, bouncing on top of my lap. I hold her still by squeezing her sharp hips, shifting her weight to Sin. “Is this another party?” Fuck, I can’t be bothered with her. Every time she touches me, I want to cut her hands off. I mean, I could…
“Yeah, babe…” Sin plays with her, dragging his teeth over her shoulder blade. He flashes me a wicked smirk, one that I know says thanks for the snack. “I guess you could call it a party.”
Creed pulls the G-Wagon up to the curb. The quiet suburban street is just like any other here. Mansions side-by-side, television lights flickering through the windows, a woman walking her little dog across the street, and a man dressed in a suit, only just arriving home in his Tesla, straightening his tie as he makes his way up to his front door. I wonder if he’s taken the time to check if there’s lipstick still smudged on his cock before he got home. Whatever. I never did understand the Giftless and their pointless effort to keep their partner from fucking anyone else. Where I come from, we fuck who we want, when we want, and then we pass her on to the next looking to play. No harm, no foul, not enough fucks to give. That one pussy or one cock limitation shit? That’s saved for when you find your mate, only then are the goods not to be handed out to any-fucking-one else. The way our kind tells it, you don’t mind when that happens.
Pretty sure I’m gonna fucking mind.
“Knight!” someone calls out from across the road, and I slam the door closed, narrowing my eyes at the shadow on the field.
“Oh my god…this doesn’t look like a fun time at all…” the little toy murmurs from beside me, her lower lip drooping. She has a point. To the mundane eye, it looks about as simple as its neighbor. Twin pillars, a picturesque swing on the porch, and a garden so fresh it almost looks like it came straight out of a Home & Garden magazine.
Her little hand grabs onto my arm. I don’t bother to shake her off, desperate to get the fuck inside. As we step across the transparent threshold, the barrier splits open with a zap of electricity as trestles of purple, pink, and blue ignite through the air. The girl’s grip around my arm loosens as she steps back slightly.
“Will she be a runner?” I turn toward Sin, smirking at him.
“I don’t know…” Legend circles her like a lion would a lamb. “Kind of hope she is .”
“She’s not!” Her brown eyes come to mine. “Whatever—this is. Did you guys drug me?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, because we would waste a good vile of Fae dust on you.” My hand finds her chin as I hold her stare. “The shrooms.”
She gives a small nod, remembering.
The lawn’s littered with people, all from school. Alexander Oliver has a girl on her knees in front of him, her little hand wrapped around his cock as her head bounces back and forth. Some old school D12 song plays loudly through the speakers as I jog up the steps to the front door. People separate for us as we move through the masses. If they aren’t trying so desperately to be our friend, they are trying to fuck our regulars.
I push through the door, shoving away the two girls who were making out on the other side. Fog swirls around our feet and the ambient lighting offers just enough to show you what’s happening. A complete contrast to what’s going on outside. As soon as you step inside, it’s like you’ve walked into an intimate club. Manipulated by magic, there are no separate areas. No kitchen, lounge, or bedrooms. Just one big ass room. The ceiling sparkles with rows of lights, and in every corner, there are oversized, round sofas tucked away. A loud crash sounds at the back, and two shifters stumble through, one in Lycan form and the other in human. Harrison Leviant smirks up at the Lycan, who I’m pretty sure is Justin Evok, since he’s the only one who cheats any time there’s a fight by shifting.
“Come on, you big hairy fuck!” Harrison shakes his long blond curls around the place. “Dyin’ to kick your ass again!”
“Damn our Elders and their need to protect our own kind from us…” Legend comes up beside me, crossing his arms. “Could have been fun persuading these dumb fucks to do whatever we want.” I brush off my little brother’s reason to cause chaos, heading to the other side of the room where bottles of alcohol, specially made by our own distilleries to allow for double the strength, and Fae dust line the counter. If any of the Giftless we drag in here were to come looking for a party favor, they won’t spot our stash, all of it only visible to the keen eye.
We don’t want them whining and complaining the whole time, though, so we do stock some weak, standard options in the fridge for our toys to sip on.
The music is loud and rowdy as I swipe the dollar bill that’s rolled up and shove it up my nostril.
Why the fuck am I so bothered?
I squeeze my eyes closed to shut out the raw memories. The way my lips turned to fire as soon as theirs touched. The way heat rushed through my body when her hand came to the back of his neck. I felt it. I felt it all. It was as though her touch burned me without even so much as meeting my skin.
A hand slides beneath the waistband of my jeans and my eyes fly open as I slam my glass of bourbon onto the counter, clearing my nostril.
“Hey,” her familiar voice purrs from behind as she kisses a trail up the side of my arm. Her fingers inch farther beneath my jeans, and every second they’re on me, I want to tear them off. What the fuck is wrong with me?
I lean down until our eyes collide. “Hey.”
Alexandra Kova has been around my dick more times than she hasn’t since we were old enough to want sex. When she’s not with me, she’s with Sin. And when she’s not with Sin? I don’t give a fuck where she is. There are many things that separate the Gifted and the Giftless, and this is one of them. We don’t waste our time being faithful to every person we’re fucking. We don’t even do the whole girlfriend or boyfriend thing, not in the way others understand anyway. Do many of us have a preferred person to call on for occasions that require a body at our side? Sure, but that’s pretty much where those paltry titles die.