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He began to move but didn’t lead me toward the bar. Instead, he hauled me through the crowd to a dark and secluded corner, halfway shielded by a thick black curtain.

I was more unsteady on my feet than I would have liked, but he kept me from stumbling, the tips of his emerging claws poking at my skin.

He whipped me around to face him, and my bloodstream hummed when his body heat blazed against my skin, enveloping me. My eyes roamed his beautiful face.

“Does that happen often?” he asked, his voice so guttural it sounded like he was being tortured.

I blinked. “Does what happen often?”

“People not seeing you.”

Was that what this was all about? “I told you before. When we were in your apartment.”

“Yeah. I saw the way your dad ignored you. Watched it for years. Didn’t understand it, having a daughter as clever, talented, and beautiful as you.”

“What?” My head spun with one too many lemon drop martinis.

Lukas ignored my question. “What I also didn’t understand was that his disrespect had leaked into the rest of your life. I thought you were exaggerating when you called yourself invisible.”

“I’m used to it.”

“Bullshit. I was there when you stood up to O’Rourke.

Got your cash. Didn’t take the first measly offer that was handed to you.

You’ve got it in you to be bigger than life, Elli.

Impossible to miss. So what just happened back there—big scale like with your dad, or small scale like with that woman just now—it stops today. You don’t take that shit from anyone. ”

“Where is all this coming from?” I couldn’t process his words, especially not while taking in the impact of his proximity. No one, not even Evan, had stood up for me like that. No one had ever called me talented. Bigger than life.

And now he stood only one foot away. Who knew when he’d ever have reason to stand so close to me again? He was beautiful, inside and out. And right now, I could reach out and touch him.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“You didn’t shave today.” My free hand rose involuntarily to his face, and I brushed my knuckles against his cheek.

He flinched away. “Elli. Did you not hear what I just said?”

“I heard you. And thank you. No one’s ever championed me before. Not like you.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw, and I… Well…

I don’t really know what happened, but I jumped him. One second I was standing a foot away. The next, my arms were around his shoulders, and my lips were pressed hard against his.

Lukas jerked back, grabbed my shoulders and pushed me away. He did not, however, let go. He stared down at me with a fury that nearly set my hair on fire, and I realized what I’d done.

History was repeating itself. I was eighteen again. I’d thrown myself at him, and he was just as disgusted as he’d been at that bonfire seven years ago.

“Lukas, I’m?—”

Without warning, his left arm circled my waist, and his right arm sliced up my back, grabbing my hair and tugging my head back .

His mouth crashed down on mine, and I parted my lips beneath his. He tasted like whiskey, and his feral growl shot straight to the heart of me, exploding between my legs.

He lifted me off the floor, plastered our chests together, and moved backward—very quickly—until my back hit the wall, and I was trapped. Gloriously trapped.

Lukas pressed into me. I wrapped my legs around his lean hips—because really , I couldn’t just let them dangle six inches off the floor!—and he ground into me, his tongue exploring.

His big hands moved over my skin, feeling exactly the way I always imagined. Rough. Needy. Commanding. Thrilling .

I was ready for whatever came next, even if we were in public, because it was dark, our corner of the club was obscured by the curtain, and I had Lukas’s tongue in my mouth. His wolfish scent filled my nostrils, and his body heat intensified as his thumb stroked the underside of my breast.

“Lukas,” I breathed, tightening my legs around him.

“Years,” he grunted against my neck. “Fucking years . Do you hear me?”

I heard him. I didn’t understand him, but I definitely heard him. When it came to what those words meant, I’d think on them later. For now, I didn’t want to miss a second of whatever this was because I knew, deep in my heart, it was alcohol-fueled, super stupid, and definitely wouldn’t last.

Lukas’s mouth descended again, and his lips were back on mine, soft and bewildering. His scent was everywhere, musky and wild over the faintest hint of soap.

I gripped his long dark waves by the roots and held him to me.

I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know if I even wanted to understand.

All I knew was that our lips were locked, and Lukas Bakken was grinding his hips against mine in a way that made me believe he was, right now, as desperate as I’d felt all those sad and humiliating years ago.

A hard bulge strained the front of his pants, and I couldn’t believe that I’d made him that way. He was way bigger than Daniel. Not that I wanted to think about Daniel at a time like this, but it had to be said that berserkers and fae excelled in every department. It was just a fact.

“You taste like sour candy,” Lukas murmured against my lips.

“Lemon drop martinis,” I said.

“I like it.”

Then his thumb was no longer stroking the underside of my breast; his hand had risen to cup me, and his thumb was at my nipple. He squeezed and?—

“What the fuck?! ” boomed an angry voice.

Lukas’s body heat was suddenly stripped away from me. My feet crashed to the floor.

I pitched forward, but caught my balance, and—probably because my heart was pounding so hard—it took me a second to recognize my own brother standing between us.

“Evan?” Shit. He looked pissed, and my fuzzy brain searched desperately for an explanation.

Evan stuck out his arm, wrist flexed, palm out to silence me.

Lukas grabbed Evan’s arm and twisted it behind his back. “Don’t put your hand in her face.”

“She’s my sister!” Evan yelled

“Yeah?” Lukas countered. “Well, she’s my…my…m?—”

“Media manager!” I interjected. “I’m his media manager. ”

Both men whipped their heads in my direction, and it was hard to tell who looked more pissed. For the first time in my life, invisibility didn’t sound so bad.

LUKAS

Elliette took off like a shot , leaving Lukas alone with her pissed-off brother. Lukas opened his mouth to say…something….he didn’t know what. Should he blame his lapse in judgment on the alcohol? Or should he admit the truth?

Fortunately, he didn’t have to decide right away because Rogue jumped in first. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Obviously,” Lukas said on a grimace, “I wasn’t.”

“Damn straight.” Rogue poked him in the chest. “You know better than to get involved with anyone right now, least of all my sister.” That last part came out like a hiss.

“We’re not involved,” Lukas assured him. That was an impossibility. “She… She jumped me first.”

“You had her up against the wall.”

This was true. Lukas’s erection had not yet subsided, and he could still feel her soft ass in the palms of his hands. “We both had too much to drink.”

Honestly, he’d only had the one drink, but maybe that was Elliette’s excuse. She had been unsteady on her feet.

“And that’s supposed to make it better?” Rogue asked snidely. “She has a boyfriend. Did you know that?”

Lukas’s phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored the call. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend anymore.”

Rogue rolled his eyes. “Arrogant much? One kiss from you, and her man is history? They’re practically engaged. ”

Lukas drew in a long breath and turned his head to scan the crowd, not for Elliette or for anyone in particular, just so he didn’t have to look Rogue in the eye. “That’s not what I meant. I mean her almost-fiancé ended things with her the other night.”

Rogue leaned back, and his angry expression turned to one of suspicion. “How do you know that?”

“Elliette told me.”

“She told you? ” Rogue lowered his eyebrows, and his tone slid from disbelief to dejection. “Why would she tell you? She didn’t say shit to me.”

There was good reason for Rogue to be hurt. He and Elliette had always been close. For a long time, they were all each other had.

“I think she’s embarrassed,” Lukas said, wanting to lessen the sting. “The asshole was cheating on her.”

Rogue’s whole body jerked. “ What?! ”

“I know,” Lukas said, glancing back at his friend. “Crazy.”

A muscle jumped in Rogue’s jaw. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Cool,” Lukas said. “Does that mean you and I are good, now that we have a common enemy?”

Rogue’s jaw unclenched, but there was still a frostiness in his eyes. “I still want an explanation from you. Because it sounds like you were taking advantage of Tiny being in a vulnerable state.”

Lukas bowed his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling like a repentant schoolboy. “No, man. It wasn’t like that.”

But what was it like? Lukas was still wrestling with whether he should tell Rogue the truth when he wasn’t ready to face it himself.

The techno dance beat pounding through the speakers transitioned smoothly into the next mix, and a group of women just beyond the curtain screamed excitedly.

“You mean to tell me,” Rogue said, “you just woke up this morning and out of the blue decided to make a play for my sister?”

“It didn’t come out of the blue,” Lukas said, mostly to himself.

Rogue was a good lip reader though, and he pressed, “Yeah? Keep talking.”

Lukas looked up and couldn’t believe he was actually saying the words that were coming out of his mouth. “I’ve liked her for a long time.”

Rogue’s eyebrows drew together, then up. “Since when?”

Lukas closed his eyes, remembering the first time he visited the Rogans and saw Elliette standing at the bottom of the stairs. He’d been twenty. She’d been fifteen. Way too young. Total jailbait. Even if he hadn’t been carrying so much personal baggage, she was totally off-limits.