The other fae burst into laughter again. I felt their breath on my face and spun around, pushing my way out of the crowd. At some point, their cruelty always went too far. How did Mia handle living among them? Was her relationship with Talon worth it? Or was she just so sweet that even the cruel-hearted fae had a soft spot for her?
“I need to find Puck,” I muttered as I pushed away from the laughing crowd and moved deeper into the apartment, anxious to be anywhere but there.
ChapterFourteen
Because Locke’s apartment was the same as mine, just reversed, I knew the floor plan and all the places Puck might be hiding. Off the living room was a long hallway that led back to my bedroom in my apartment.
Fae and werewolves were thickly congregated back here, talking to one another, laughing, even making out. I slipped past them awkwardly, having to press up against two fae who were practically topless in the middle of the hall. The woman’s dress strap was down over one shoulder, exposing one of her breasts, and the fae man kissing her was kneading it, making her moan. A pair of werewolves stood right next to them, talking about the upcoming full moon as though nothing was out of the ordinary.
The music was lulling me into a strange kind of stupor. I was tempted to grab a glass of honey wine, but I didn’t trust that I’d know the difference andactuallyget honey wine instead of real wine, which I’d been warned against drinking so many times. And I couldn’t ask any of the fae—they would probablyintentionallylie to me.
The bathroom door was cracked open, and I inched it open further, glancing inside for Puck. The lights were off, and all I saw was a tangle of bare limbs belonging to at least three people. Moans echoed off the walls.
“What do you want, human?” someone snapped.
“Nothing!” I slammed the door closed. Now Ireallywanted a glass of honey wine. Anything to ease my nerves. I understood why Mia had told me not to wander into the back rooms. If this was how the party started, I couldn’t imagine how it ended, once everyone had finished all that wine and whatever other mind-altering substances they were consuming.
I hurried down the hall to the bedroom at the end, the one that would have been mine in my apartment. It was dark here, too, and the music drowned any sounds.
I crouched down, calling softly, “Puck? Are you in here?”
I heard a rustle of sheets from the bed around the corner and froze. Great. I’d walked into yet another tryst. I started to back out when I heard something that made me freeze again.
“Willow?”
I closed my eyes.Shit. That was Severn’s voice.
Hesitantly, I tiptoed further into the room. This must have been Locke’s bedroom or else one hell of a guest room. It had a massive iron canopy bed with silk sheets and a mountain of pillows.
Severn lay reclined on the pillows. His hair was loose and tangled like he’d been rolling around, which I soon realized was exactly what he’d been doing. He was shirtless. In the candlelight coming from a bedside table, I could see the smooth dips and planks of his chest, utter perfection like a grandmaster had carved him out of marble. Hewaswearing pants, which was a relief—I think I would have died if I’d seen my boss naked.
Two fae women were in bed with him. They were dressed—mostly—though the straps from their dresses had slipped down over their shoulders. Their lipstick was smeared in a way that told me they’d been here with Severn for a while.
“Puck got loose,” I said in a rush. “I’m, um, trying to find—”
“Leave me,” Severn sharply ordered the fae women, cutting me off.
They slunk off the bed reluctantly, giving me looks mixed with curiosity and derision, brushing past me as they left the room. Then, it was just Severn and me. The candlelight threw shadows over the bare muscles of his chest.
I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The curve of his shoulders. The smooth plane of his abdomen. The bed rustled again as he sat up, leaning forward, and I saw that his eyes were black and dilated. A bottle of a dangerous-looking liquor rested next to him on the table, almost empty. Whatever he’d been drinking was a lot harder than wine and probably not human-made.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll go.”
“Wait.”
I was mortified to see my boss like this, even more so by the way my own body was reacting to him. During the job interview, I’d thought he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, but with the candlelight and his hair down and mussed, his eyes dark with lust, red scratches on his skin that I assumed were from the fae women, a sudden flush of warmth started between my legs.
He stood up, moving as gracefully as a jungle animal, his bare muscles rippling. My skin was practically tingling from desire to run my fingertips over those muscles to find out how taught they really were.
He suddenly smirked and lost his balance a little. He wasveryintoxicated. “My little bride.”
I gave a nervous laugh. Though he was mocking our faux wedding, his words didn’t have the cruel edge that Briar and Bramble’s words had. Thinking of the mean things the twins said made anger flare up again, mixing with desire. Why was it so hard to believe Severn and I could be in love? I was attractive and smart and kind, certainly kinder thanthem.
“I was afraid you’d be angry,” I admitted.
His eyes were fixed on my lips. He wet his own, not taking his eyes off me. “Angry?”
“About the rumors. That the press would believe the marriage was real.”
