Through the lust-filled haze, a sound tickled at my mind, faint and distant, murmuring…my name? But that couldn’t be. Maybe it was the building settling into its bones.
Mallory.
I froze, every muscle going rigid.
What the hell?
The kiss broke as I pulled back abruptly, my heart suddenly hammering too loud in my ears, drowning out everything else. “Wait.”
Maddox’s hands stayed at my sides, one still gripping my thigh, the other splayed across my ribs just below my breast. He tensed, glancing into my face, those green eyes brimming with desire for me. “What’s wrong?”
Nothing, I begged my tongue to say, wishing I’d kept kissing him, but I swallowed hard, straining to hear past the rush of blood in my ears, past my own ragged breathing, for my name. What if it were Paisley looking for me? Since we lost communication the second I walked inside the church, it would make sense for her to be concerned. Perhaps she had come to make sure I was safe.
“I thought I heard someone,” I said, unsettled, my brain muddled by Maddox’s kisses.
He went still, his gaze flicking toward the stairs, scanning the shadows pooling in the corners, then back to me. “Are you sure?”
I rubbed my hands over my arms, a sudden chill dancing over my skin. “I don’t know,” I admitted, hating how uncertain I sounded, my body still humming from his touch. “Maybe it was nothing. But it sounded like?—”
“You think the person who is leaving you those notes is here?” His hand slid from my thigh, the loss of contact immediate and cold as he straightened, putting distance between us. He shrugged out of his hoodie. “Put this on.”
I chewed on my swollen bottom lip, nearly reaching out to bring him back, but he was already moving toward the stairs. “I don’t know,” I replied, slipping on his sweatshirt, his scent engulfing me, the hem draping past my skirt. I dipped down to grab my mask and followed him up the narrow cellar stairs, my pulse throbbing in my throat. My thoughts were a tangled messof dust, hormones, and the echo of what we had done, what we might have done if I hadn’t heard?—
Something.
Maybe nothing.
I adjusted my dress as I climbed, tugging it down with my free hand, trying to look like I hadn’t just been pressed against a wall with Maddox Corvo’s hand up my dress.
He pushed the door open at the top, letting the full force of the party back in. Music thudding. Wild laughter. Bodies packed together in a blur of masks. The air was thick with sweat and alcohol. Maddox stepped out first, his shoulders squaring as he scanned the room.
I hovered just behind his shoulder, close enough to feel the residual heat radiating off his body, trying to see past him, but it was useless. With the masks covering half of everyone’s faces, everyone looked like everyone else to me. It was impossible to tell if someone didn’t belong.
Or if someone was watching me too intently.
My skin prickled with awareness, and I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around myself, holding on to the soft material of Maddox’s sweatshirt. “Do you think he’s here?”
Maddox’s jaw locked, his lips morphing into a scowl. “He’d be a fucking idiot to show his face in a room full of Ravens.”
That word snagged my attention like a hook. I lifted a brow, studying his profile. “Ravens?”
He glanced at me, a gleam flickering in his expression. “I’m sure you’ve heard. Especially with how close you’ve gotten with Paisley.”
Right. He wasn’t wrong. I had heard. Even if Paisley hadn’t told me about his crew, it was all anyone seemed to talk about.
The room suddenly felt too small despite its vaulted ceiling and expansive stone floor. The music pressed against my skull, and the beginnings of a headache formed at mytemples. I needed a minute, some damn fresh air. “Where’s the bathroom?” I asked, raising my voice so Maddox could hear me.
He hesitated, his attention leaving the crowd to focus fully on me, finally nodding toward a dim hallway off to the side, barely visible through the press of bodies. “Down there. Second door on the left.”
I slipped away before he could say anything else, and things got awkward. I wove through the crowd, bodies bumping against me, hands brushing my arms and shoulders. Accidental or intentional, I couldn’t tell. My fingers came up automatically, brushing the chain at my throat without thinking about it.
Shit. The necklace.
The tiny recording device rested against my collarbone, hidden beneath the delicate pendant. I’d completely forgotten about it.
My stomach pitched as I realized it had caught everything in the cellar. Everything! The game. Mason’s voice. The laughter and whistles.Andwhat happened between Maddox and me.
Every kiss. Every gasp. Every sound I’d made when his hands?—
