Ian is sleeping again already, and all I can do is stare at the ceiling, wondering where she is. What she’s doing. What she’s wearing…
I’m about to drift off when I hear a loud thump from upstairs, the direction of Avery’s apartment.
Is the chaos prince already attacking?
I’m out of bed in a split second, running out of the apartment before anyone can stop me. I barely shut the door as I sprint down the corridor to the steps that lead up to her place.
Sure enough, as I get upstairs, I see a trail of snowy footprints leading straight to her door. There would be no reason for those to be there in the middle of the night.
I see red as I narrow my eyes and stride down the hallway, ready to kick in the door if needed.
I knock loudly, my heart threatening to rip out of my chest with my need to protect my soul match.
The door opens, and I raise a fist, ready to attack the chaos prince who has come to claim what is mine. Instead I grimace as I come once again face to face with the woman who keeps rejecting me.
I quickly drop my hand, feeling even more awkward than I did in our other encounters. “Are you okay?”
She stares at me like I’m stupid. Me. Boreas Everfrost. Prince of the—
“What do you mean am I okay?” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “What are you doing outside my apartment?” Her tone turns patronizing. “Do I need to call your friends?”
I can’t help scowling at her implication. “Of course not. Why would you ask me—”
She shrugs one shoulder. “In case you’re out of it. On something, maybe?”
I suck in a breath. How dare she—
“Anyway, nothing wrong here, so if that’s all you need…” She gives me a shrug, turning to go back into the apartment.
“I heard a thump,” I say, desperately trying to come up with some reason to check things out.
What if a chaos fae snuck in while she wasn’t looking?
“There are footprints in the hall,” I insist.
She looks down. “Oh, those are mine.”
I blink. “Yours? Why would you be coming back in at three in the morning?”
She folds her arms, and I realize she’s wearing a leather jacket that outlines soft, generous curves. My throat goes tight. My hands ache to hold her.
No one has ever affected me like this, and I’m struggling not to show it. Because that’s not why I’m here.
“What I do is none of your business,” she says sharply, drawing me out of my thoughts.
I want to tell her it is my business. That I was sent here to protect her because something is coming for her. Something stronger than she can even imagine.
But I don’t think that will go over well, considering she already thinks me crazy.
I let out a pent-up breath that I must have been holding ever since I heard the thump by her apartment.
“I was mistaken, I guess,” I say, though I know I wasn’t.
She cocks her head. “Yeah… Are you sure you don’t need help getting back downstairs?” There’s concern in her eyes, as though she’s wondering if I’m okay.
My soul match thinks I’m an idiot. Or crazy. Or just odd.
The thing is I’m in agony over wanting her. Every fiber of my magic calls out to her.
She should be in agony too. I’m not the odd one here. She is.
But I can see from her cool gaze that I’m getting nowhere, and since I can’t feel any chaos in the vicinity, I know she must be safe.
So after allowing my eyes to wander once more over her face, memorizing the look of my soul match, I turn to go back downstairs.
“Thanks for checking on me, though,” she calls out behind me.
The polite distance in her voice only makes me more confused.
* * *
“Ah, sauce bread. How I love sauce bread,” Flynn says, carrying the mass of boxes over to the couch and setting them on the small table in front of it.
“Stop calling it that,” Tanner says, slanting him a glare. “You know the real name.”
“Yes, but I like annoying you,” Flynn says, opening one of the boxes and inhaling the air with a grin. “Mmm. The one good thing about the human world.”
I can think of one other good thing.
“Why did you run out last night?” Ian asks, pointing a slice of pizza my direction.
I grab a slice of my own so I have an excuse not to answer.
“You went out?” Tanner slants a glare my way. He’s our unofficial leader, but I outrank him in every way in the fae world, so I listen as I like.
“I heard something up by Avery,” I say stiffly, setting my pizza on a plate in my lap. “Someone had to investigate.”
Tanner narrows his eyes. “You aren’t supposed to go alone.”
I shrug. “There wasn’t time.”
“And what happened?” Ian asks, his gray eyes wide.
“Nothing,” I say. “Except when she opened the door, it probably looked like I was about to punch her.”
Flynn bursts out laughing as Ian looks confused, and Tanner glares at me darkly.
“How did that happen?” Tanner asks. He folds his arms. “You aren’t making the best impression on her, you know that?”
I sigh. “I was just getting ready to punch whoever I thought had broken into her apartment. She opened the door.” I shrug. “How was I supposed to know she’d be out that late? I thought human women were more careful.”
“They have to be,” Ian says softly, glancing out the window. “There are no princes keeping order here.”
“Well, she doesn’t keep regular hours, apparently,” Tanner says, standing and pacing in front of the table as we all watch. “Something we should keep an eye on. If she’s out late, alone, it’s almost too easy for a chaos prince to catch her without witnesses.”
I nod wearily. “But what are we going to do about it? We can’t exactly tell her that.” I know because I wanted to last night.
I want to tell her everything.
I want to see her open her eyes to what we are, see her feel the way I do. And she will… someday.
I think.
“Did she say why she was out late?” Tanner asks.
I shake my head. “No. Then again, why would she tell me?”
“Right,” Ian says, looking a little too amused. “The guy who tries to hug her, then glares at her, then runs upstairs in the middle of the night and almost punches her. Not exactly someone to confide in.”
“You try staying calm and thinking things through when you find your soul match,” I mutter grumpily.
“It’s just odd that she isn’t resonating back with you,” Ian says. “Her magic is powerful.”
“It is,” Flynn says, perching on the arm of the couch. “Even I felt a wave of resonance from her.”
The other fae nod eagerly, and I feel jealousy cut off my breath like a murderer trying to choke me.
“Calm down, Brett,” Ian says, looking my way. “We all know your match is the strongest.”
Tanner shakes his head. “It’s up to her. If she resonates with any of us, chooses any of us, we can worry about that later. But that’s not why we’re here. We need to focus on protecting her.”
“But if she’s strong enough that we all feel her pull, why doesn’t she feel us?” Flynn asks, looking as puzzled as I feel. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Tanner sighs. “The truth is we don’t know much about these beacons or why they have latent powers. We would be wise not to be distracted from the matter at hand, which is—”
“We get it. Fighting chaos princes,” Flynn says, looking bored by the topic. “Still, wouldn’t it be best to align with her so we could be around to protect her better?”
“How can we do that when she doesn’t feel our resonance?” I ask.
“Well, we could try making friends,” Flynn says, rubbing his hand over his stubble. “You know, the human way.”
Friends? How does anyone be friends with some
one like Avery? It’s like an icicle being friends with the sun.
I’ll melt in her very presence.
“Calm down over there,” Flynn calls out to me. “Your angst is just going to make this weird again.”
“Put on the third suppressor,” Tanner says.
I glower at him. “No. I’ll be fine.” I press back my magic, force myself not to think of her. I take deep breaths. “I can do this.”
“Good,” Flynn says, standing up to stride over to the door. “Because I’m going up to invite her for pizza, and as long as you don’t come up and make things awkward, I think I can get her to say yes.”
I’m about to protest because I don’t want that damn fire fairy anywhere near my soul match, but he’s probably got a point.
He’s the most charming, and he possibly could get her to come down here if he’s friendly enough.
The thought of having her here is breathtaking. “Fine,” I say quietly.
He strides to the door and opens it, stopping only to condescendingly look over his shoulder at me. “Oh, and, Brett, when I bring her down here, try not to be quite so off-putting. We really need the beacon to trust us right now.”
An icy blast slams the door into his ass, knocking him out of the room as he lets out a yelp of surprise.
I grin as the frost slowly melts around the doorway while the other fae laugh in response.
Then I await the arrival of my match.
3
Avery
After a tiring day of working with nerds who insist I can’t know what I’m doing because I’m female, all I want to do is curl up on my couch for a long nap.
But my stomach growls, reminding me I skipped lunch so I could finish my shift faster.
The last thing I want is to get up and make dinner, but my paycheck doesn’t allow for a lot of takeout.
I groan as I roll over, facedown on the couch, utterly exhausted.
The most amazing smell is coming from downstairs, probably where all the hot dudes are living.
Maybe hanging out with them wouldn’t be so bad after all…
Someone knocks on the door, and I let out a sigh as I stand, hoping it’s not the landlord reminding me rent is due.
But it’s not.
It’s Flynn, the red-haired man from downstairs, looking gorgeous in a gray pullover that’s rolled up on his forearms to show off perfect, tanned muscles and long, elegant hands, which are currently holding a pizza box.
“We were hoping to entice you downstairs with free food,” he says, golden-brown eyes sparkling in a way that’s almost magical.
I eye the box, tempted. “What’s in it for you?”
“Company,” he says easily, tilting his head to study me. “We could use a friendly neighbor around here. Being new and all.”
I sigh. “How do I know you don’t have evil intentions?”
He glances at the pizza. “Well, this pizza is almost evilly good, so…” He wiggles auburn eyebrows at me, and I finally laugh, thinking maybe some company would be good for once.
It normally wouldn’t be such a great idea to go hang out with four men I barely know, but I’m not worried about what they could do to me.
Because I know they can’t do anything to me.
That thought, plus the way my mouth is already watering at the pizza, is enough to get me moving.
“I gotta take care of some things. Then I’ll be right down,” I say, oddly excited for some reason as he nods and leaves.
I go to the bathroom, brush back my hair into its typical messy bun, and pull on a black college hoodie and some comfortable leggings.
Then I jog down to the apartment I saw them moving into before.
Part of me is wondering if they’re all really as good-looking as I remember.
It’s not that looks matter so much in this world, because ugliness or beauty is more about what you have on the inside, but my brain still feels like it’s trying to process the physical perfection of these men.
Almost like I’m staring at an illusion.
I knock on the door and hear laughter and chatter go silent.
The next moment, the door is pulled open, and Brett, creepy midnight stalker from last night, is standing with one hand on the side of the frame.
He’s so much bigger than me. So much taller. I hate it.
He moves back from the door, opening it to let me in, and the other men are sitting on various couches and chairs, looking surprised to see me.
“We didn’t think you would really come,” Flynn says, jumping off his chair and walking over to the counter to show me where the plates and pizza are.
I flip open the box, stomach growling as I load a few pieces of pineapple and ham onto my plate.
Brett is staring at me like I’m an abomination.
“Do you have a problem with me?” I ask, leaning on the counter as I take my first bite. It’s gooey and warm, and I can’t stifle my little moan of pure pleasure.
Which makes all of the men in the room snap their attention to me, watching curiously.
Except for Brett, whose attention I already fully had. He leans back against the door, arms folded, muscles bunching in the soft blue tee shirt that grazes his perfect chest and hard abs. He has an open hoodie on over it. His jeans curve around hard thighs, thick calves, moving down to what are probably perfect ankles, though I can’t see them in the loafer slippers he’s wearing.
He looks like he walked out of a men’s clothing catalogue.
A sudden flash of lust bursts through me, making me wish he was currently in the underwear section of said catalogue.
I flush as I focus on chomping through more of my pizza.
“I can’t believe you can eat that with fruit on it,” Brett says, scowling at my plate as an ash-blond lock of hair falls over his forehead.
He has two interesting bracelets on his arm that show when he nervously moves his sleeve up to scratch his wrist. They’re made of leather and old-looking, and I make a note to take a closer look sometime when it’s less awkward.
“Hawaiian is the best,” I say, plopping down on the couch between Tanner and Ian, the dark-haired and light-haired ones respectively, who both look surprised by my proximity.
There’s room for us not to be touching, and despite being big men, they appear to be doing their best to curl into their sides of the couch to give me space.
I’ve hung out with a lot of people, but no one as respectful as this group.
“So where are you from again?” I ask, taking another bite of pizza.
“North,” Brett says sharply. “That’s all you need to know.”
I eye him, letting my eyes run down him just for the way it makes his high, perfect cheekbones turn pink. “I think I need to know a whole lot more than that.” I look at the dark-haired one who still looks like he thinks I’ll burn him. “Like why all of you are so good-looking. You models or something?”
Brett barks out a laugh, and Ian joins him until they realize I’m not kidding.
I point at them with my half-eaten pizza. “I mean, you have to know it’s a little unusual. The four of you just hanging out.” I cock my head at Ian and then Flynn. “You guys partners or something?”
Flynn laughs as Ian goes even paler, if possible, so his skin matches his very light hair.
“No,” Ian says. “The four of us work together.”
“Doing what?” I ask.
They look at each other, and it’s honestly like a bunch of conspirators realizing they haven’t come up with a story and need to do so quickly.
“Male strippers?” I ask jokingly.
Tanner, the dark-haired one with the striking, sharp features, gives me an amused look. “You are very blunt.”
I shrug. “No time for delicacy.”
“What we do for work isn’t important,” Brett says, looking even more tense than before.
Someone needs to get that guy a massage. Relax him a little.
“If nothing is my business, why di
d you guys even invite me down here to hang out?” I take another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Just to share pizza?”
“No,” Brett says, finally walking over to plop down in a fuzzy orange chair that looks like it was pulled straight out of the seventies. He crosses his long legs and faces me, and for just a second, the oddest thing happens.
Something flashes through me, feeling like it’s melting me head to toe with pure lust.
Images flood my mind of me and the ash-blond man across from me, entwined in passion. My pulse races. My chest feels like bursting.
I can barely breathe, barely think straight for the sheer need rushing through me. Like all the pent-up attraction I never felt, that sexual urge that everyone else spoke of, is just now spilling out from behind a dam I didn’t know was there.
No one else seems to notice, except for Brett, who is fiddling with one of his bracelets as he locks eyes with me. The whole thing seems to take only a few milliseconds, though it feels like an eternity in my mind.
The he slides his bracelet up his arm again, and I feel all the feelings disappear, evaporated instantly.
Like if someone could snap their fingers and undo a rainstorm.
I realize the others are talking, joking, but Brett is peering at me, blue eyes narrowed so little frosty sparks seem to peek from below his long lashes.
He runs his tongue over his lower lip slowly, and, with the images of us together still playing in my mind, I’m unable to look away.
I’m still hot and aching, and I can’t stop picturing what it would be like to kiss him.
In the background, I vaguely hear someone ask me a question, and I blink, coming back to myself. “What?”
“I asked what you do for fun,” Flynn says, smiling at me calmly.
“Uh, I mostly work,” I say, shrugging one shoulder. “Not much time for fun.”
“We saw you out there helping with the snow,” Ian says. “You seem like a nice person.”
Brett looks to the side, seemingly unaffected, making me wonder if the moment between us even happened.
“Next time, ask us for help,” Brett says calmly.
“Yes,” Ian says with a small laugh. “Brett’s an expert at snow removal.”
Found by Frost: Wings, Wands and Soul Bonds Book 1 Page 2
