by Sadie Moss
“Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?” I put my hands on my hips and glare at him. I’m glad we’re in the back of the library, far away from everyone else. This is the kind of place it’s easy to get lost in, and you can sort of feel the magic in the air, like a layer of invisible dust that settles on everything, especially the books.
At least if we’re going to get into an argument right now, nobody will hear us all the way back here. The last thing I want is other students overhearing and gossiping about us, or for a librarian to come along and shush us.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?” Cross shrugs, turning away and making a big show of browsing the shelves. “Nothing at all. I mean, hey, I’m not the one who’s got three guys on a string.”
“Whoa!” I push on his shoulder to make him face me, lowering my voice to an angry hiss. “Okay, first of all? The only one who can claim I have him on a string is Kasian. And I kind of—fell into that, okay? He and Roxie hooked up before I even got here, what was I supposed to do with that? And you!” I poke at his chest. “You do not get to act like I’m cheating on you. What the hell? You were helping me, and we were friends, I guess you could say, but we never—you never said anything about having feelings for me!”
“Yeah. Because unlike Theo over there, who apparently knew the whole time and still hit on you, I wasn’t going to add to your stress by telling you about my feelings for you!”
“How do I know you don’t just have feelings for Roxie, huh? How do I know I’m not just her replacement?”
Cross gets up in my face, his voice low but still dangerous, his eyes sparking. “Roxie was—is—a self-centered, over-competitive, know-it-all bitch. Was I attracted to her? Sure. She’s hot, and she’s wicked smart. I like that in a woman. But did I want to actually date her? Fuck no.”
My stomach drops a little. Our faces are so close that his eyes have to dart back and forth to meet my gaze, and his woodsy pine scent creeps into my nostrils like a drug.
“And meeting you?” he growls. “It just showed me just how messed up it was that I ever had any kind of attraction to Roxie in the first place. You’re also hot, and you’re resourceful as hell. But on top of that, you’re thoughtful and kind. You actually think about other people. You care about other people, and kindness is better than intelligence any day.”
I squint at him. “Are you calling me dumb?”
“No! For fuck’s sake. Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m listening to you call me dumb.”
“I’m not—” He grinds his teeth together. “You’re smart. How else would you be able to survive this whole time?”
“With your help!”
“Honestly, I swear, you are the most impossible—”
“Oh, speak for yourself! One minute, you’re all sweet and helpful, and the next—”
I have several good insults planned, I really do.
But I never get to say them. Because at that moment, Cross presses his mouth to mine, and his hands fall to my hips, driving me backward until my back slams against one of the shelves.
A few books wobble, but thankfully none of them fall down on our heads.
Cross kisses like we’re at war, like my body is a castle and he’s determined to tear down my walls. I claw at him, feeling a little vicious myself, biting at his lip and tugging on his hair more roughly than I normally would. Cross shoves a leg between mine, pressing his thigh up, and I cry out into his mouth as he starts grinding against me, harsh, fast, deliberate.
He’s kissing me over and over until I’m dizzy with it, and I try to give as good as I get. I find that I want to mark him up, I want to make him dizzy too, I want to send his whole world spinning off its axis. He’s kept me off-balance from the moment we’ve met, and now I want some damn payback.
His body is firm and solid against mine, and I can’t resist—I want to feel his skin underneath my fingers.
My hands slide up under his shirt, spanning his back, feeling the way his muscles bunch up, the way they tense and release. Cross groans and bites my neck, his hands going up underneath my shirt too, one of them grabbing my breast.
My head falls back against the shelf as Cross sucks at my neck, his hand massaging my breast, his thumb brushing my nipple. God, it’s good, it’s so good, and I want to rip his pants off and let him fuck me right here against the shelves—
“Huh. We can’t leave you alone with her for two seconds, can we?” Kasian says, his voice dripping with disdain.
Cross wrenches his mouth away from me as I whimper.
I turn and see Theo and Kasian standing there, both looking pissed as fuck.
“It’s not like he’s stealing my virtue,” I point out, still breathing hard. “I had an equal hand in this.”
My whole body is flushed with arousal, and it screams with disappointment as Cross drags his hand out from under my shirt.
“Don’t tell me you were actually going for that sloppy technique, love.” Theo gives a low chuckle, walking over to me. His fingers come up to delicately stroke my neck, and I shiver as I remember that this man is a damn tease. “You remember how well I took you apart… how thoroughly I worked you up… and that was just with one kiss.”
His fingers trail down my body, grazing a featherlight touch over my breast, making my nipple strain against the fabric, before toying with the hem of my shirt.
“Just imagine what I can do with so much more,” he whispers darkly.
He finds the top of my skirt, fingering it, dipping just beneath it to tease my stomach, and I feel my underwear getting wet as a new burst of arousal pumps through me. I can see it now, in vivid fucking detail in my mind’s eye. Theo teasing me, keeping me right on the edge of orgasm as I beg him, please, please, please let me come—
“Are we seriously doing this?” Kasian asks, striding over and practically yanking Theo away from me. “Honestly. There’s only one person here she’s actually slept with, and that’s me. She knows I can take care of her. That I want to.” He looks at me, sparks flashing in his deep brown eyes, his gaze heated and serious. “Don’t you?”
Memories of our tryst in his office flash before my eyes, and my knees nearly buckle. Oh, God, I want them all. All three of them. How the hell am I supposed to choose?
Cross snorts, and the sound sort of snaps me back into reality. I yank down my shirt and fold my arms. “Are you three done with your pissing contest now?” I ask.
All three men blink a few times, as if in confusion. I roll my eyes. “We’re here to actually get stuff done and do research.”
“Research,” Cross repeats, and somehow, he makes the word sound incredibly dirty. He slides up behind me, pulling me in against his chest. I can feel that he’s still hard, and I roll my ass a little before I can stop myself, inhaling sharply. Oh, God, he feels nice and thick. “You’re right, cupcake. Let’s get back to our research.”
He releases me and steps away with a grin, leaving me blinking at all three of them.
Oh, holy crap.
I’m practically panting, and part of me wants to beg each of these guys to take their turns with me, to do a little scientific research and see which one of them actually makes me come the hardest.
Jesus Christ, I can hardly think straight anymore.
How did I end up here? How the hell did I get into this position? I have three men who all like me—and who I like equally. I couldn’t really choose between them. Even if I wanted to, or had the time to, and I don’t.
This isn’t even supposed to be my life!
All three men are gazing at me hungrily, like they want to devour me, and I swallow, trying to get some moisture into my dry mouth and throat.
It wasn’t supposed to be my life.
But apparently, it is now.
Chapter 21
It takes all of my self-control, but I push Cross away.
“No,” I tell him, and the other men too. “We’re not doing this right now.”
Maybe you could do
it later, the horny, traitorous part of my mind suggests. Later, in bed, where they can take turns showing you all the ways they know how to pleasure a woman, channeling all of their competitiveness into seeing who can make you scream the loudest, beg the most, come the hardest…
But not right now.
I shove those thoughts away before I have a mini-orgasm just thinking about it.
“There’s no use fighting over me when I might be kidnapped by the fae or turned into the government or worse at any moment, okay?” I say. “We need to tackle this first, and then we can deal with… you three and your ridiculous posturing.”
The guys all look like they’re still considering ways to kill each other and make it look like an accident.
“Besides,” I say, stepping between all of them, “if you three really care about me like you say and don’t just want another notch on your bedpost, then you’ll show it by helping me. Get over your pride for just two seconds and help me get out of this mess. At least the fae mess, okay? You can go back to all of this later when we can actually breathe, and I don’t feel like I’m going to die if I take one wrong step.”
Some of my actual fear must show through in my voice or my face, even though I’m doing everything I can to hide it. I don’t want to seem scared or weak.
That’s one thing that Roxie seems to have that I actually envy. I don’t care about her clothes or money, her good grades or competitiveness, or even her ability to get guys.
But I do wish I had her bravery. Roxie didn’t seem to give a damn what anyone thought of her. She did what and who she wanted, she took what she wanted, and she didn’t apologize for it. I bet if she was here, she’d be spitting in everyone’s faces.
But I can’t do that. I’m not like that.
I’m scared.
And I want to go home.
The men all relax their puffed up chests, their expressions softening as they look at me.
“I’m sorry,” Kasian says, and he reaches out to gently stroke my cheek with the back of his hand. “You’re right, we need to focus on keeping you safe.”
“I apologize, love, it was thoughtless,” Theo agrees, dipping his chin slightly, his gray eyes serious.
Cross looks like he wants to reach out for me but suddenly isn’t sure how. “You know me, cupcake, I just don’t know when it’s gone too far.” He gives me a self-deprecating half-smirk. “Your safety’s our priority. Always.”
I take a shaky breath. “Okay. Thank you. Let’s get cracking, and see what we can dig up.”
The men nod, and we set to work.
I can feel the three of them still eyeing each other up as we go through the stacks and pore through the books. Clearly, the three of them are willing to admit they were wrong to put trying to fuck me higher up on their list of priorities than keeping me safe, but none of them are willing to cede any ground to the other two when it comes to my affections.
Well, there’s nothing I can really do about it now, is there? There’s no possible way for me to tell them that I like all three of them equally, right? That would be selfish of me. Greedy. Most people spend their lives wishing for just one person to fall in love with. To want three, to wish that I could have all of them and not have to choose… that’s just asking for too much.
Isn’t it?
Since I have no idea what to do, I just ignore them. They can glare at each other all they want so long as they’re getting research done.
And it turns out, there’s a lot of research we have to do.
All three men admit that they don’t know much about the fae. Fae are secretive by nature, and you have to be careful because they’ll try to make deals with you, and they can see your lies and secrets so you can’t deceive them. Oh, sure, they may not know exactly what your secret is, but they’ll know there’s one there, and they’ll do whatever they can to get it out of you.
Not fun.
Other than that though, the men don’t know much of anything.
“We only have to know enough so that we’re prepared if we run into one,” Kasian explains. “They live in a completely separate society from ours.”
“Remember how I told you that some creatures live among us and it’s fine?” Cross says. “Werewolves and stuff? Some don’t integrate into our society. Some live in their own separate communities, with their own cities and their own laws.”
“Like merfolk,” Theo adds.
“Fae are one of those,” Cross explains.
Our research confirms this. Fae don’t just live slightly separate from us though—they’re completely removed from human society. The fae have a treaty with humans that pretty much says each group will stay out of the other’s business, and that’s about it. They’re shadowy, secretive, and they live in underground cities.
There must be one underground city here, beneath Valencia. And somehow, Roxie found it. Was it by accident?
The books say that it used to be possible to kind of stumble upon fae or the entrance to a fae society, but not anymore. Now, you don’t just wander along the wrong path in the forest or fall down a well. You have to really seek them out.
Which makes me wonder why Roxie would need to seek out the fae.
“I think I have something,” Cross says, after another hour of scouring dusty old tomes. He shows the book to us, pointing to a spot on one page. “So, Roxie was super competitive. She always had to be the best and the most powerful in the room, right? And I mean, she was plenty powerful on her own. But look here.”
I read over the passage, all three guys crowding around me to read it too. It says that fae are sought out on occasion because they are well known for making powerful magical artifacts, including ones that can enhance your innate magical abilities.
“Do you think she would really risk everything to get some object from the fae? I mean, if it went sideways…”
“Clearly, it did,” Theo points out. “She stole from them, or so the fae said, and fae don’t lie.”
“According to this, it’s even worse,” Kasian says, showing us his book. “It says here that the fae are very big on honoring their bargains. They’re tricky, capricious, but in a lawyer-ish sort of way, with fine print and loopholes and vague wording and all that. If they make a deal, they mean it, and they expect the same from others. Pretty much the worst offense you could do to a fae is go back on your word. Killing one of them wouldn’t incur as much wrath as breaking a promise or a bargain.”
“So, basically, Roxie committed the worst possible fae crime, and now they’re after me because of it.” I sigh heavily, feeling my stomach churn as an invisible weight settles on my shoulders. As if I didn’t have enough on my plate already with pretending to be Roxie. Now I gotta cover for her fuck-ups. “Super.”
I want to find Roxie and grab her by the shoulders and shake her. I want to ask her what the hell she was thinking.
Seriously, Roxie! You had this great life! You were at the top of your game in school. Everyone wanted to date you or be you or both. You were the darling of your professors, you had a bright future, you came from a rich and important family. And you threw it all away to steal from the fae?!
What could the fae possibly have made that was so damn valuable she just had to steal it? And why did she have to steal it in the first place? Surely she could’ve bargained for it somehow—or, hell, paid for it outright. She had money coming out of her ears. And a powerful witch like her, in an academy like this? She could’ve found something to give them in exchange, some way to serve them to make up her end of the deal.
But she stole it.
What kind of object could that possibly be? And how desperate was she?
If she was ready to steal for it, that means that she must’ve had her back to the wall, and that doesn’t sound too promising for me. Maybe someone or something was after her—and if so, they or it might be after me now too.
Unless that something or someone was what initiated the switch. What cursed us both.
Fuck, this is
all making my head hurt. I’m not equipped for this kind of thing! I’m not particularly brave or strong or smart. I’m just a random girl from a middle-class family in Baltimore. This mystery-solving ass-kicking kind of thing is so not in my wheelhouse.
“So Roxie ripped the fae off. They’re not going to forgive that, are they?” Cross mutters.
“No,” Kasian says with a shake of his head. “They’re not.”
So basically… I’m screwed.
We keep researching, because what else are we going to do? The guys are more determined than I am—I almost want to give up and just go hey, fae, do whatever you want to me, I don’t even care.
Not that I genuinely want to do that, but I just feel so overwhelmed and exhausted. I can’t remember the last time I was able to actually relax, to just… be myself, instead of being Roxie and constantly looking over my shoulder. And now it’s all so much worse. My life won’t just be in danger if I’m found out, it’s in danger if I maintain my cover too. I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
I just want to go home and have Mom hug me, have Dad tell me he’ll make my favorite dinner, and have Shane tease me about some stupid thing. I want to finish our Marvel movie marathon. I know I could handle the rest of this so much more easily if I could just see my family for a little while. Take a breather.
But that’s not an option.
It’s especially sad because, well, I’m actually starting to kind of like this world. Maybe “like” is a strong word. I’m fascinated by it. It’s so very interesting, the way that technology and magic mix, the way the history is similar to mine and yet different, how witches and warlocks create magic using intricate and specific hand gestures.
I wish I could really immerse myself in this world and learn all about it, and get to appreciate it, soak it all up like when you travel to a new country. I want to explore and enjoy.
But instead, I’ve got a bunch of angry fae on my butt.
The guys and I start to formulate a plan—it’s not the best plan, if you ask me, but it’s all we’ve got, and it’s better than nothing.
