Prologue
The anguished criesof my males—those gorgeous, brave, uncompromising fae who had taken me under their wings—rose up around me as I shifted forward to meet my death. I had no other choice. It was my life, or those of the ones Iloved.
“Well. Looks like you made the right choice.” My enemy’s smile was razorsharp.
I held up my hands and nodded. “You got me. It’s time to let themgo.”
But my enemy was a master of deception with a heart filled with cruel, cold rage. I’d made the ultimate sacrifice, but as those glittering eyes pierced my soul, I feared that none of us wouldsurvive.
The changelings would be nomore.
Chapter One
It all startedwith bright lights and pulsing music. Bass reverberated through my body as I moved my arms and legs to the beat. My best and oldest friend, Bree, spun in circles by my side, basking in the neon glow of the club. Hot pink and astroturf green lights bounced off the walls. It was my eighteenth birthday, and I’d only had one request. I wanted to go somewhere I coulddance.
Out of the corner of my eye, a tall hooded figure caught my attention. The guy was staring right at me with eyes the color of midnight. A spark of heat burst into my cheeks as I cast a sideways glance his way. He stood away from the crowd, leaning against the neon-lit wall with his arms crossed over his muscular chest. His gaze was dark and hooded and strangelyintense.
With a slight shiver, I frowned and glancedaway.
The upbeat song spiralled away, replaced by a more melancholy tune that chased away my feverish dance energy. I loved dancing, more than I loved most anything else, to any beat, to any song, but there was nothing quite like a fast tempo to get my feet moving. Now that the rhythm had slowed, I finally realized just how long we’d spent on the dance floor. My breath was ragged, my mouth parched. Still, if they changed the song to something more fast-paced…
Bree leaned forward and grabbed my arm. “Come on. Let’s try to buy adrink.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but it was no use. Bree was a force of nature, and once she got an idea into her head, there was no talking her out ofit.
When we stepped foot off the dance floor, my eyes were instinctively drawn to where the strange hooded guy had been watching me. He was gone, replaced by nothing but the swirling neon lights. A twinge of disappointment went through me, even though that was completely ridiculous. It had been a long time since a guy had given me even the most fleeting of glances. All the guys from school knew me, well enough to know to stay as far away from me as they could. I was the weird girl who kept to herself, the one who nobody liked. No one except forBree.
It had been nice to feel like maybe I wasn’t the pariah everyone at school thought Iwas.
We reached the bar at the far end of the club, and Bree hoisted herself up onto one of the iron stools. It was a weekday, so the place was pretty empty. A huge plus in my column. I wanted to dance, free and wild. Not get trapped in a sweaty mess of grinding collegestudents.
Bree patted the stool next to her. “Come on, Norah. One drink won’t killyou.”
“No, but my mom might kill me if she found out.” Still, I hopped up on the stool and dug my elbows onto the slick iron surface of the bar top. Warehouse 27 was one of those trendy industrial places, set inside an old warehouse that had once been used for freight storage. Everything was iron or steel, and every wall was covered in intricately-designedgraffiti.
Not only would my mom kill me if she found out I was drinking. She’d kill me if she even knew I washere.
“What’ll you have?” The bartender strode up to the bar, giving both me and Bree a long stare before flipping two coasters onto the bar. He didn’t look much older than us, his dark shaggy hair falling into hiseyes.
I glanced at Bree and raised aneyebrow.
“Two vodka and tonics,” she said with a smile and a confidence that suggested she’d ordered drinks at bars a thousand times before. But that was all for show. She hadn’t. We might live in the city that never sleeps, but we rarely stayed up past ourbedtimes.
The bartender nodded and grabbed some glasses from under the bar before he gave me a nod, his eyes locked on something behind me. “Looks like you have anadmirer.”
An admirer? Was it that hooded guy from before? My heart lurched, and I slid my chin onto my shoulder to glance behind me. A tall figure in a deep green cloak now stood in the center of the dance floor, his eyes locked on my face. He wasn’t dancing, a fact that made the chills sweep down my backagain.
For a moment, I thought it was the same guy, though his cloak was a different color. Plus, there was something strange about this one. A sheen of light whispered across his skin, almost as if he were glowing from the inside out. I blinked and shook my head. That was impossible. The club lights were playing tricks on my eyes. But when I lifted my gaze to the dance floor again, he wasgone.
“Norah,” my best friend said as she leaned her face close to mine, her breath a cloud of vodka and cigarette smoke. “Youokay?”
“Yeah. I just thought I saw something…” The world seemed to tilt sideways, and my vision went blurry. Ears ringing and mouth dry, I drew quick breaths in through my nose. Everything around me was suddenly loud, loud, loud, and the pulsing lights made my head spin. I pressed my hands against the bar top to hold myself steady, but that did nothing but launch a lump of nausea into mythroat.
“Norah. What’s wrong?” My best friend’s voice sounded so far away, as if she were on the other end of a broken cell phone. A hand curled around my arm, pulling me away from thebar.
As soon as I’d made it three steps, my head began to clear, but the clammy sensation on my palmsremained.
Norah’s head ducked to mine. Her grip stayed tight around my arm, and I could see now that she was pulling me in the direction of the women’s restroom. “What the hell’s going on? Is it another one of those panicattacks?”
