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Leaf’s features shift. His ears taper to a point, now that he is able to walk freely without suppressing his Elven features with a myrage.

Leaf.

Always so nonchalant, is now riled up. Coiled like a snake preparing to strike.

Warmth spreads along my chest. I did that. I got under his skin. I smirk.

His head tilts, almost imperceptibly.

The party rages on around us and a million miles away at the same time.

Without tearing away his gaze, he slowly reaches an arm behind his head then grabs at the nape of his neck and pulls his jersey off.

I cross my arms and sink into a hip. It takes all of my will power not to reach out and touch Leaf’s corded arms and rippling abs. “What are you expecting me to wear? Your jersey?”

A thick brown eyebrow raises, and a dimple appears on his cheek. “That is exactly what you will do.”

He holds it out in front of him.

“Oh,” I say, and it comes out more breathless than I would like. I reach for the shirt. Our fingertips brush, and it may have well been like touching lightning by the way my entire body ignites.

Normally, I would push back. Find something witty or sarcastic to say, but something about Leaf’s rigid posture and dark energy makes me comply. Not in a submissive way, but rather a gesture of truce. I want to give that to him.

I want to give more than just that to him, I realize with a start.

The man before me is exactly the same friend I’ve gotten to know over the years, and not at the same time. How is that humanly possible?

Because it’s not. He’s not a human. I chuckle, and Leaf gives me a questioning look.

I think I’m falling in love with my best friend. I tug the jersey on.

“Now you are wearing the right jersey.”

“And now you are shirtless at a party.”

Leaf’s dimple deepens. “Indeed. But I’ve got loads of Sun’cher power to spare. I’ll be alright.

“Even after the game, you still have the Source left in you?”

He nods.

Wow. “What you did out there would have depleted any other third-stone.”

“So you were watching me?”

I nudge my elbow into his chest and roll my eyes. “Of course I was. That’s what the Goad Squad does, after all.”

“You were barely cheering.”

“Oh, so you were watching me?”

His eyes squint. I do the same.

The night up in the treetops flashes before my mind. That kiss was supposed to get these feelings out of my system, mean nothing, and yet all I can think about is how I want to do it again.

And again and again.

The corner of Leaf’s full lips turns up, and a glint of a slightly sharpened Elven canine gleams in the moonlight. The same moon that we are supposed to be focused on fixing.