“Really, fucker? You know she was a total badass at seventeen. Right?” Adrian groaned as I turned, smiling sadly as I took a step toward him. “Come on, this is so wrong on so many levels, Ryder!”
“You kissed my wife, so I’m willing to help her out,” Ryder chuckled, sitting down and placing his arms behind his head, watching as Adrian started forward.
“Oh, that’s sweet,” I said, tilting my head, studying Adrian. He observed me, noting every subtle move I made. He was so handsome, even without a pulse. “Baby, you wouldn’t want to live like this.”
“Oh, no, I’m totally good with it. Fangs are a chick magnet,” he shrugged before his hands rose in mock surrender when my brows lifted, and I pierced him with a look of anger.
“Really, asshole? You are supposed to be my boyfriend. You know that, right?”
“Adrian, run!” Adam doubled over in laughter, watching as I launched myself at Adrian. Adrian caught my arm and snorted, grasping my hand that held the stake over my head. Eyes the color of the Caribbean seas crinkled as he chuckled. He knew every move I could make since we’d trained together growing up.
“Help me, asshole!” Adrian shouted at Adam. “I don’t want to hurt her. She’s only seventeen.”
“She’s not seventeen, you idiot, she’s a fucking goddess,” Adam laughed, holding his stomach as he hooted while tears ran from his eyes. “Either fight back, or you’re about to end up ashes, vampire.”
Adrian took me to the floor, rolling me until the stake was beside me, then one final roll ended with me on top of him, his hands holding my wrist against my chest as he smirked. He lifted his hips, and my lips parted as he watched me.
“You guys are stupid,” I said, pulling back to stare at Adrian, who tossed the stake away and placed his hands on my hips.
“You want to ride it?” he asked before he was picked up and tossed aside by Ryder. “Sorry, but she’s mine at the moment. I’m her boyfriend.” Adrian grinned, then looked at me seriously. “God, woman, what I wouldn’t give for a redo to go back in time with you and make you see you were worth so much more than I could ever give you.”
“Yeah? How well did that work out for you last time?” Ryder asked, noting the way my heated gaze slid to him. Even with Adrian present, I was drawn to the flipping fairy. That’s annoying.
“Don’t threaten my boyfriend!” I said, standing up to glare at the obsidian eyes that studied me.
His smile was all wolf, and I was pretty sure he could follow it with one hell of a bite. Galaxies swirled within his eyes, and I was lost within them as I stepped closer, peering up at him. My mouth opened as something tingled in the back of my mind. Before I could think better of it, my hands rested against his solid, muscle-covered chest, heat meeting my palms.
“See something you like, little one?”
“Did you steal the stars?” I whispered breathlessly as my heart pounded against my ribcage.
“No, but for you, I’d steal them all,” he uttered, cupping my chin. “You sleep with me tonight, little witch.”
“The fuck I do, pervert!” His words yanked me out of the spell he’d been weaving over my senses. It was like pouring a bucket of melting ice over my head. “I’m not that easy. It was one time in the catacombs. Do you think it was easy for him to get me? I’m not a hooker, asshole. Besides, I plan to marry Adrian,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, then caught myself as I remembered that Adrian was now a vampire. “Or, I was, but now he’s dead, so that’s a problem.”
“I married you.”
“Did not.”
“Did too,” he said, smiling. “I know every inch of you, and everything you like done to that gorgeous body in bed. I know how you taste on the tip of my tongue when you come on it, and how you scream when I stretch that tight pussy with my cock. I promise you. You will remember me. Maybe not today, but soon you will remember who I am, woman.”
“What about the girl you left in the pit?”
“Oh, she’s going to hunt my ass down and probably kick it for fucking with her. She’s a spitfire and the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Dude, you’re a total dick. You want to take me to your bed, but yet you love her.”
“Yeah, I’m an asshole, but I’m okay with that. You promised me one week, and then if you want, you get to leave here with your coven. Now, shake on it.”
I held out my hand, watching as his swallowed mine. Idiot, he had no idea that I would never agree to anything unless there was a contract involved, or I couldn’t see a way out of the situation via an overlooked loophole. I smiled as his eyes narrowed.
“I’m going to need a contract with you.”
“Balls.”
Chapter Three
I sat at a huge sprawling table filled with food, and every time Adam or Alden reached for it, I slapped their hands and glared at them. Ryder, the pigheaded bastard who sat across from us, watched me like I was the feast. The heat in his eyes alone was enough to roast me alive, and there was a visceral need within me to let him. His presence offended every sensible part of me while heating the delicate parts until I was certain I would burst into flames at any moment.
Tearing my gaze from his, I turned in time to watch Alden loading his plate full of food the fae had provided. “You know not to eat the food in Faery!” I hissed, slapping his silverware away from his hand as his eyes widened. “They can do bad things to you if you accept and eat anything they give you.”
“The food can do bad things to you?” Alden asked, leaning over to whisper.
“No, the fae,” I murmured behind my hand. Ryder watched me with his lips tight together, as if he were fighting a smile, or worse, laughter. Everyone seemed to be laughing at us. “It’s said that if they offer you food or drink, and you consume any of it, they can keep you forever. So, stop putting food on your plate. No matter what they’ve done to your brain, you should remember that golden rule. You were, after all, the one who taught us, idiot. Stop being stupid!”
He shrugged and put more food on his plate, completely ignoring my warning.
“I’m hungry, and they can hear us, Synthia,” Alden reached across me and grabbed a small bowl of butter. He sat back and began to slather it all over a piece of the delicious smelling bread that had just been placed on the table along with enough roasted meats and vegetables to feed a small army.