Page 60 of Seared Fates

And then I see him.

As always, he wears his leather jacket. But underneath is a black-and-red shirt, every button undone except the few where it’s tucked into jeans so tight they might as well be painted on. His bare chest is adorned with silver necklaces, his braids are pushed up and away from his face on one side, and his left side remains covered. A line of silver glitter runs down his exposed cheek like tears.

Kai looks wicked, but lonely in an alluring way. Like inviting a lover to try and make this pretty boy with glittery tears smile, and when I travel up to his long, unguarded neck, my fangs ache.

Maybe Kai really is a fae prince sent to tempt me.

“Go change,” I demand.

Summer glares.

“Don't be stupid,” Kai cocks an eyebrow. “What's wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Yeah, you look great, Kai,” Golden says as he walks over with Lucero at his back.

“And I like the glitter,” Ramy adds.

“I can see your nipples!” My eyes roam across his chest, to those brown little things I want to sink my teeth into.

“You say that like it's a bad thing,” Summer quips.

Kai snorts and pushes past me. “C’mon, let's go already.”

Golden and Ramy catch up to Kai and Summer, and they stroll towards Lucero’s car. But before Kai can get too far away, I take hold of his arm and spin him around.

He gasps, and I lean in close. “Be good, little prince, this night is for fun, but you need to be safe, too.”

The cold—or maybe the vibration from my chest—hardens his nipples, and my fingers itch to touch, my mouth watering for a taste. My cock fills, so ready to sink deep…fuck hard…

Kai’s eyes glint, his glitter begging for something I don’t know if I can give. “Why be good when I can be bad?”

A growl escapes me, and I nearly tug him closer, but he slips out of my hold, laughter trickling behind him as he runs over to his friends, giving me the chance to see the perfect swell of his ass in those tight fuck-me jeans.

The four of them stop beneath a lamp light, bathed in gold as they look back at us. All enticing and vulnerable and beautiful, like sirens in the cold swept darkness.

“You okay, Maker?” Lucero asks, smirking like he can read my mind.

“Tonight will be a long night,” I mutter through clenched teeth, stalking after Kai. “A very long fucking night.”

Chapter twenty-four

Vidar

Bodies move to the waves of loud, beating music. Their writhing limbs tangled into the person—or persons—pressed to their every side on the dance floor. Red strobe lights pour over the sweating crowd, as if I’m standing on the outskirts of a blood orgy.

Yet, none of it holds my attention from where I lean against the bar, my focus instead is on our little group; Golden, Ramy, and Summer. Or rather…

I knock back the dark liquor Lucero handed me when we first arrived, barely registering as it burns down my throat.

Kai.

My fist tightens around my glass as a man, hips gyrating like a dying fish, stumbles over himself to get to my soulmate. My grip only relaxes when Golden pushes the slimy bastard away, Summer and Kai flipping him off, then doubling over laughing with Ramy, before getting back to flailing their arms, jumping up and down as they try to make each other laugh.

A whisper, darkly luscious as the music and as luring as the glitter on Kai’s cheeks, sinks into the back of my mind and begsmy soulmate to put on a show for me. To lock those jade eyes on me, as if no one else in this club exists and move that lithe body the way I know—I fucking know down to my marrow—he can.

But watching him be ridiculous with his friends is better than any fantasy that whispers promises.

I exhale slowly, forcing the heat from my lungs. Fuck, I need a stronger drink.