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I wasn’t far behind her. With a grip like the one her cunt had on me, even the strongest bastard couldn’t keep it together. My rebel was the fiercest in the land, she was.

I crowded her, expecting a loving moment, but she evaded me and left the shower after making sure she was clean. Her sneaky grin taunted me on her way out of the bathroom, leaving me with no other option but to wash myself.

She’s a devil. Drives me bleeding mad.

21

Nika

Silas spent equal parts of the day grinning like he’d won a prize and pouting like a child when I paid attention to anyone other than him. But by the time evening rolled around, I finally understood what Lev had up his sleeve and wrangled the big child into doing with him.

Arms crossed over, I glared at the diabolical prankster next to me.

Lev had his blue hair gelled back in a smart look. His green eyes were a shade lighter in the outfit he wore. It was the sexiest he’d looked since leaving the Dark Fae Society. Normally, whenhe was in something this crisp and expensive, it was so he could pretend he was someone else.

Tonight he wasn’t pretending. Tonight Lev had stepped out in a trendy outfit he’d hand-selected for our outing as himself. Everyone around us noticed him for the gorgeous man he was.

I stole a glance at the sign glowing across the side of the building. Violet Rage, the nightclub where humans went to let off steam and rub up against strangers. I’d seen enough to know it was weird we’d come here at all. What sort of living happened inside a place like this? Dancing? Alcohol?

Guess that aligned with the two next to me. They enjoyed both and probably thought I would, too. I was more worried about what would happen to all the tension in the group by the end of the night if there was alcohol, dancing, and strangers involved.

“Don’t glare at me like that. You’ll have fun, promise,” Lev assured me. His eyes naturally strayed between the other two men joining us out. Well, the ones visible to everyone. “You can’t deny that Bear Claw and Silas look hot tonight.”

Peeking at the two in question, I was unfortunately in agreement. Eyes everywhere were fastened to them. Human women were whispering, too starstruck to come closer. The human men with them weren’t as excited by two handsome men in their midst, but I’d heard several ask if they’d seen them in a movie or if they were models.

Silas made it a point to keep his arm around me, warding off any of the men looking my way. Salvator sneered and glared at any person who came close, acting more animal than man. The shifter wasn’t at all interested in blending in with the people around him, and he didn’t seem to be on the lookout for fun.

His eyes were on me whenever I spared the tall shifter a glance. Dark hair fell around his strong jaw and angular cheekbones. His arms stayed perpetually crossed over his massive chest. I didn’t think he had any other way of standing,honestly. He sneered at Lev when my friend smiled at him, but his fathomless stare didn’t leave mine, as if I was his sole focus even in a crowd.

But that was to be expected.

Salvator had been in my head for months, and we’d grown close. I’d felt how much he cared even when he argued he didn’t. He might be a growly asshole, but I still considered him a friend. The shifter could’ve disappeared after reclaiming his body and a second chance at life, but he’d waited for me. He chose to help us. That meant something.

Silas might not trust him, but I did.

It’d taken all of Lev’s charms and silver-tongued finesse to persuade the shifter to not only wear more than a pair of pants, but to look like someone who’d steal the limelight from any beautiful Fae in our society. Ryker and Silas had taken immense joy in the shifter’s misery after he agreed—up until the moment he came out looking like a dangerously sexy bad boy, as Lev described it.

Silas had grumbled something about showing off and then disappeared to get dressed in our room. When he reappeared, his silver hair was in a chaotic but alluring mess around his head. He’d put on a torn pair of jeans and tight shirt that highlighted his massive torso. His arm tattoos were on display.

It wasn’t so much the outfit but the way the mercenary wore it. He strutted around like a god visiting our realm. At least that was the way Lev put it. My friend was a bit over the top with his descriptions sometimes. His love for everything Normie played a huge role in his verbal flair.

“If we touch Nika, will we become sex idols for all the females to adore, too? Oh, maybe we can change into something flashy and expensive. Bet we wouldn’t be able to keep the females off us,” Ryker murmured to Tometi behind me, invisible tothose around him. Humans passed through their bodies, neither seeing nor feeling the phantom pair.

I was the only one who could.

“I’m not in rut. Why would I need a female?” Tometi asked. I turned my head just in time to catch his face twist in a way that was quickly becoming his signature look. Confusion. “And why would I wear clothes when I only intend to take them off? You say the oddest things, wolf.”

It was a fair point, one even Ryker couldn’t refute. His happy laughter meant he still would because the wolf had the most fun when Tometi missed the point entirely.

After arriving, Tometi had spent a good fifteen minutes smelling everyone close to us. It’d given Ryker something to laugh about, but now he was bored. And when the wolf was bored, he picked fun at the bear or his previous host in creative ways.

It was his M.O.

“You’ve never been with a female out of your rut, Tome? That’s no way to live,” Ryker chastised his much taller counterpart with a grin.

The giant who no one could see laughed, taking three of our group by surprise. Even Salvator snapped his eyes over to where Tometi stood. “You might be right, Ryk. Females always smell…so good. I wouldn’t be against exploring more of that scent out of rut.”

Uh…