The Monster Ball Year 2

by Heather Hildenbrand

  Leaning casually into a widening gap at the bar, the newcomer draws the attention of the male bartender with long dark hair cropped short on the sides. I pegged this new bartender as some sort of shifter like Barassa, and my guess is confirmed when I catch flashes of his aura between pulsing beats of music.

  The tall male on the other hand… I can’t place him at all.

  I fight a smile as his mere presence creates a space at the bar. A few glances from the other patrons, and they leave him alone. Even the females, several of whom give his broad chest and muscled biceps an appreciative glance, give him a wide berth. Alexei has that impact too, but he is never arrogant. It is a sign of true power that he always remains polite and in control of his actions. I guess that comes from knowing that when he chooses to act… the consequences can mean death.

  “Who is he?” I swivel back to Mother Kadris—only to find her gone.

  Damn. I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off her. No doubt I’ll only find her again when she wants me to.

  She didn’t explain why she needs the three rubies, but then… I didn’t explain why I need the revival spell, either. We’re both carrying secrets.

  I snatch the drink she left sitting on the table and gulp water to moisten my suddenly dry mouth. Approaching dangerous men is not my forte. I never learned to flirt, only to freeze people out. Distrust was always my friend. Well, that’s what I told myself.

  I clamber out of the sunken couch, discovering that they’re much easier to slide into than to get out of. I grab one of the spells attached to my hip, the words burning in my mind moments before my fingertip glides across the leaf. “Levitate and leverage lightly,” I whisper to myself.

  Magic lifts me up, and I glide to the edge of the couch and onto the floor. Tipping my head back, I take gulps of air like a confidence pill.

  With bold steps, I stride across the distance, angling around a warlock who casts a smoky neon illusion of a fierce dragon that sails over the heads of the patrons in the sunken couches I’m leaving behind. My gauzy dress floats around my legs as I reach the bar and carefully lean into the empty space beside the male who is Kadris’s target. The other patrons have crowded in a little since his arrival, but there are still several clear feet on either side of him.

  The tantalizing scent of sandalwood fills my senses.

  Pasting a confident smile on my face, I turn to him. “I thought you could use some company.” I gesture at the space around him. “Since you scared everyone away and all.”

  I sense his sharp inhale before he turns to face me fully, his hair falling away from his face as he tilts toward me.

  “I have that effect on people.” His eyes meet mine. Stormy gray eyes and a growing smile greet me. “But you were never afraid of me.”

  My heart stutters inside my chest. Alexei…

  It’s him.

  It’s… really him.

  Chapter Seven

  Alexei’s presence is like a glass of liquid happiness, and I just drank a whole bottle of it.

  My instinctive magic begins to glow, this time not from anger or fear but because I can’t help it. Alexei Mason is one of the most violent assassins I’ve ever encountered, preferring to kill with his bare hands or, if he’s in a hurry, a single shot to the head. I once saw him break a target’s neck with a twist of his wrist. And yet… he is one of the kindest, most astute men I have ever met.

  He’s a spectrum of contradictions wrapped up in a broad-shouldered package that destroys my inhibitions.

  But he’s human.

  He can’t be here in this place of monsters. My jaw drops in shock. “Alexei?”

  The corner of his mouth hitches up as his eyes drink me in, his gaze passing from my face to the curve of my exposed neck, returning to pause on my lips. “Blessings on your power, Tansy Gray.”

  Everything else disappears from around us—the supernaturals, the music. Being near Alexei has always been like stepping into a safe haven. All of my worries, pain—even my defenses—fall away.

  Without thinking, I close the narrow gap between us to reach up and brush the hair falling across his cheek, my fingertips grazing his ear. He allows me to rest my palm against his strong jaw.

  “You grew your hair,” I say.

  His answer is to place his palm over mine, dwarfing my little hand in his, a gentle touch from hands that could crack every bone in my fingertips, wrist, and arm in a single maneuver if he wished.

  I’m not afraid. The only part of me he ever hurt was my heart.

  “It’s been a long time,” I add.

  “Twenty months, two weeks, and five days,” he says, his gaze capturing mine.

  “Nearly two years,” I whisper. Two years trying to find a way to lift his curse, only to discover that the revival spell was my only hope.

  “Too long without you, Solnyshka.”

  Little sun. That was what he used to call me. I never asked him why. I think it has something to do with the golden color of my hair, but I was never sure.

  His fingers fold over mine, his thumb brushing over my palm in a way that makes me shiver. A boldness takes over that I’ve never had before. “Why do you call me that?”

  “Because without you, my day is dark.”

  I consider his expression, searching for what I’ll never find—emotion behind his statement. Without emotion clouding his judgement, everything about him is logical, considered. If he’s complimenting me, then it’s for a purpose.

  I am nothing more than a chess piece…

  At least… I think so…

  Confusion floods me as he returns my gaze with a heat I wasn’t expecting. My stomach flutters as the brush of his thumb across my sensitive palm intensifies.

  I swallow hard. “How… are you here?”

  “I was looking for my mother,” he answers in his truthful way. “An endless search.”

  He’s always blunt, telling the truth even when it hurts—even when the person it hurts is himself. “My search revealed that the only way to find her was to come to the Ball. Since I have no magical power, I gave up looking for her until…” He clears his throat with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “I landed outside this warehouse on a beam of light.”

  “You were taken by surprise.” A smile hijacks my lips. That would explain why he’s dressed so casually. “You aren’t often surprised.”

  His fingertips trail from my hand, along my outstretched arm and curl around my bare shoulder, drawing me forward. His thumb brushes the flower resting against the curve between my shoulder and my chest. “You arrived prepared.”

  I try to breathe. “Did you find her? Is your mother here?”

  He shakes his head. “I’ve searched every inch of this warehouse, but the truth is… I don’t know whom I’m looking for. I have no pictures, no clues.” He sighs. “I think it might be time to let go of the past.”

  If only I could. I sway into him, indulging in the pull of his gaze and the nearness of his body to mine, the rise and fall of his chest and the way his breath hitches as I curve my hand at the side of his waist.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” he says, surprising me. “You saved my life, and then you walked out of it. I’ve missed you ever since.”

  I clear my throat, wanting to believe there’s emotion behind his statements. I remember my panic, my fear when he almost died. We fought battles together, hard battles that nearly cost us everything. All of it feels like a lifetime ago. “Only after you saved mine. You took bullets for me, Alexei.”

  “Those were dark days. But they’re over now.” He brushes my cheek with a wry smile. “All I’ve wished for since is for darkness to return to my life so I would have an excuse to call you back to me.”

  My heart wrenches. When I saved Alexei’s life all that time ago, I tried to use my magic to lift his curse, but nothing worked. Every spell, every sort of magic that I tried… all I’m left with is the revival spell.

  His eyes meet mine without a hint of a lie in them. For him to want d
arkness… just to see me…

  He gives a short laugh. “I saw a genie at the bar downstairs earlier and I considered forcing him to grant me a wish so I could conjure you here. Now here you are.”

  As his hand grazes my cheek, the assassin’s ring he wears on the forefinger of his left hand glints. Three red rubies set into the chunky black ring glow in the iridescent lighting.

  Our surroundings crash back into focus.

  Mother Kadris wants me to steal the rubies from Alexei’s assassin’s ring. Every assassin wears a ring—all different—each one imbued with power that gives the assassin superhuman strength, agility, and the ability to merge into their surroundings, becoming invisible to the eye. Even supernaturals can’t detect an assassin when they’re invisible. It takes assassins years of training to fully master their magic, but Master Assassins like Alexei are the strongest, quickest, and most dangerous.

  I wonder for a moment if The Proprietor somehow mistook the magic in Alexei’s ring for some sort of inherent supernatural ability, but I shake off the idea immediately. She isn’t likely to be fooled.

  Stealing the rubies will be an impossible task. Nobody messes with an assassin’s rings. The magic in them is too dangerous. I can only hope that the rubies are purely for decoration, so removing them won’t hurt me, but… the removing part worries me even more. The only way to steal them will be to distract Alexei. In a big way.

  How badly do I want this? Enough to endanger my heart even more than I already have?

  For a moment, my resolve falters, and I stumble against the bar.

  His other arm darts out to steady me.

  I meet his gaze again, clearing my throat and leaning into him. “Clumsy heels. I’d much rather take them off.” I glance around, a deliberate surveillance of our surroundings. I’m satisfied to see that all of the sunken couches are taken now. “Do you think we could find somewhere quieter?”

  “I saw some free seats downstairs,” he says.

  I allow myself to smile, hoping it doesn’t look too eager. “That sounds perfect.”

  He leaves his drink untouched on the bar as he lightly takes my arm, but I scoop up the short glass, praying it contains vodka. Alexei’s drink of choice. I take a quick sip to make sure.

  He gives me a curious look, his eyes widening when I tip my head back and swallow the whole thing. The cold liquid burns my insides, giving me instant courage. I give him a challenging smile as I sashay ahead of him, tugging on his hand. “We’d better be quick or all the seats will be gone.”

  I twist back to him to check that he’s following me, catching the way his gaze travels from my waist to my feet. I don’t flatter myself that he might be checking out my figure. A man like Alexei is always vigilant. His focus is on my pace. He hasn’t missed the fact that I’m suddenly more than happy to walk on my heels.

  Making sure my ruse plays out, I wobble on my next step, deliberately reaching for him to balance myself. A slight narrowing of his eyes is the only indication that he distrusts my motives.

  Damn it, he’s too perceptive.

  I hate myself. I’ve never played games with him. He may have always been blunt with me, but I’ve always been honest with him, too.

  Still, I tell myself to stay the course. I want that spell. I want him to feel emotion again. If I don’t get the spell, I’ll regret it forever and I’m done living with regrets.

  Not giving him time to think, I draw Alexei across the rooftop to the rainbow stairs, clambering through the neon cloud, squeezing past other couples walking upward, and leading him past the band as we return to the second level.

  I’m grateful when he follows me—I’m not strong enough to compel him to go anywhere. I quickly draw him past the purple cube and along the second-level walkway while the beat thumps around us and the dance floor lights glimmer from the level below. Happily, I find that the circular chairs are all occupied.

  I don’t want a chair. I want a cube.

  It’s hard enough for me to let my guard down, let alone when I’m surrounded by people. What I need to do next requires me to let my guard down in a big way…

  “Damn,” I say, my speech exaggerated. “We’ll be lucky to find a place to sit.”

  Please let a cube be free… Please let a cube be free…

  I flood with relief when I see a vacant cube dead ahead.

  Willfully ignoring the vacant swing chair nearby, I hurry forward, Alexei’s hand firmly clutched in mine.

  “Quick,” I say. “Before someone else gets it first.”

  Just as we near the entrance, a male appears from the other direction, darting toward the cube. His aura tells me he’s fae, his appearance reminding me of a bird, his face and body all sharp angles and his movements furtive. The darkness I sense from him makes my skin crawl, and a shudder shoots down my spine. I have to get to the cube before him.

  Just as I reach the entrance, he speeds in front of me, his movements so fast that he blocks my path before I can blink.

  His lips twist into a snarl, his dark gaze drilling holes into me. “This cube is mine.”

  Chapter Eight

  My front foot is already planted inside the cube’s entrance, my chest about to smash up against the male’s. I lurch back and to the side in an attempt to avoid contact without removing my foot. He’s even taller than Alexei but very thin, and up close the power radiating off him makes the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end.

  A quick glance to the left tells me he isn’t alone. A gorgeous male with the aura of a warlock stands one step behind him together with a green-skinned fae woman. It takes me a moment to identify the warlock’s power… a necromancer? The way he is alert to our surroundings gives me the impression he’s some sort of bodyguard.

  My instinctive magic rushes to the surface, ready to defend myself against all three of them, but Alexei’s voice rings out behind me, a dangerous, protective growl as he focuses on the bird-like fae who claimed the cube. “It looks to me like the lady got here first.”

  The fae darts a glance at Alexei, his shrewd gaze quickly studying Alexei’s size and judging his power, pausing for a second on his assassin’s ring.

  The warlock notices it too, stepping up to the fae with a questioning look. Any supernatural encountering a Master Assassin for the first time should be smart enough to consider their actions wisely.

  The tall fae, on the other hand… a confident smile passes across his lips, and he waves his bodyguard away, saying, “I’m in no danger.”

  He ignores Alexei and leans down to me, his pointed nose a bare inch from mine. His dark power washes over me in a sickening wave. An angry hiss passes through his partially clenched teeth. “Get out of my cube.”

  My fingertips tingle as my instinctive magic sizzles through them. Electricity crackles in the air around me and the neon lights flicker above us, enough to make the nearby patrons glance up. Despite the danger, the tall fae considers me with amusement, arrogance oozing from every angle of his face and posture.

  I need this cube. I’m not about to walk away now…

  I grit my teeth, a moment away from releasing my power, when Alexei steps up beside me.

  His fingers curl around my arm. It’s the lightest touch, but the energy inside me immediately calms, and a sense of peace washes over me, radiating from his hand and cleansing the darkness of the fae’s power from my mind and body with startling speed.

  Surprise shoots through me, but I force myself not to react. Is Alexei using his assassin’s magic to calm my magic somehow?

  The slow burst of power around Alexei is like nothing I’ve felt before. A curious glow builds around us, mistakable for the haze that covers the dance floor on the level below us. It caresses my arms, waist, and hips like a shield, but it also pulls at me—not at my body, but at my power…

  The tall fae is so close to me that he leans into it.

  As soon as the glow touches the fae’s face, neck, and chest, the dark power I sensed building inside h
im suddenly recedes as if it were being sucked into a void, the same way my magic has calmed and… disappeared…

  His eyes widen in a way that tells me he wants to step away from us, but that would be a sign of weakness. He hides his surprise quickly, the momentary fluttering of his fingers his only movement. “What is this?”

  Alexei’s gray eyes are cold and hard. “Normally, I’d make you apologize to the lady, but in this case, I’ll be happy to see the back of you.” He leans forward while the soft haze around us merges with the neon lights. Any passerby will think the glow is simply an effect of the lighting.

  Alexei lowers his voice. “You will walk away, and we will not see you again tonight. Is that clear?”

  The fae’s lips twist into an angry line. I sense his power sputter and then stop like an engine that keeps dying, as if he’s trying to access it but can’t make it work.

  What is Alexei doing?

  Alexei’s hand tightens briefly, and the glow builds, illuminating the fae’s malevolent eyes…

  The man steps back, snapping at his bodyguard, “We will find a better cube.”

  He spins on his heel and stalks away, angrily gesturing for the warlock and fae woman to follow him.

  “We won’t see him again,” Alexei says, and I hope he’s right.

  Questions burn inside me about what Alexei just did. Mother Kadris said he doesn’t know the extent of his power and now… I’m questioning it too.

  Putting aside my questions for the moment, I sink onto the end of the bed that dominates the cube. My feigned discomfort is becoming real. Standing with my legs at an awkward angle has given me genuinely sore arches and calves.

  “Thank you,” I murmur.

  Alexei pauses in the entrance, not even attempting to hide the fact that he’s assessing the safety of our surroundings outside the cube as well as its internal layout.