Page 7 of Every Shade of Shadow

A gentleman in a bear mask saunters up to us, his gaze lingering on Sabrina. "Care to dance?" he asks, extending a gloved hand.

Sab winks at me, already rising to join him on the floor. "Don't go anywhere," she says with a playful grin before allowing him to lead her into the crowd.

Perfect—barely a minute in and I’ve already been abandoned.

Panic rises in my chest at being left alone, my fingers tightening around the flute's stem. I scan the room, taking in the other guests and their mysterious masks.

Who are these people? What exactly is going on here tonight?

Questions, fucking questions.

I don’t get a whiff of magic—real magic—but it’s possible. It’s not like you just look at someone and go, ‘Oh, shit, you’re a wizard, or witch.’ It doesn’t work like that. No, these people prefer the closet—unless they’re surrounded by their own, of course.

I shudder, unsure if it's from fear, excitement, or the weight of unseen eyes following my every movement. Perhaps it’s all of the above. I feel exposed, like a fragile creature suddenly surrounded in this den of secrets and forbidden pleasures, because I’ve got no doubt that’s what this really is—just a big old orgy for the rich and haughty.

Yet there's something thrilling in that vulnerability, in not knowing. I crave more, wanting and dreading all that is to come.

Well, if anything comes at all.

This is dangerous. Reckless even. I am surrounded by what I know are powerful strangers. None of them are willing to show their face, to risk exposing their true identity. Just those two facts alone should send me straight back out the door. I love my comfort zone. I don’t leave it without very good reason, and yet, here I am, standing near Society royalty.

But I’m not going to leave, for all the discomfort that’s been rampaging through me ever since I stepped foot here.

A presence looms over me, dark and foreboding. I glance up to find a tall man in a wolf mask gazing down at me, piercing jade eyes glinting from behind the disguise. Several inches over six feet, he towers there—a suited obelisk.

My breath catches at the intensity of his stare. He says nothing, merely observing me with a predatory gleam as I struggle not to squirm beneath the weight of it.

His lips are scarred—severed.

Finally, he speaks, his voice a low rumble that resonates through me. "You seem lost, little lamb."

Heat floods my cheeks at the implication. I open my mouth, but no words emerge, my tongue suddenly useless. There is a spell for that.

He chuckles, the sound both mocking and sensual. "No need to be frightened," he murmurs, sliding onto the loveseat beside me. "I don't bite." His gaze slides over me.

A shiver races down my spine even as a traitorous ache awakens between my legs. I can feel the heat of him, smell the spice of his cologne mixed with the primal scent of desire.

He’s older—hard to pin down with the mask.

I dare to meet his gaze again and find smugness there, as if he knows exactly what he's doing to me.

Perhaps he does. His nostrils flare as he leans closer, close enough for me to see the intricate tattoos ringed around his neck peeking out from beneath his mask. "Unless you want me to."

I suck in a sharp breath, pinned by the promise in his eyes. This man is danger incarnate. I’m as certain of that as the sun rises. I know I should leave, get away while I still can, but I'm frozen by the magnetic pull of him.

There’s just something about those eyes, the ‘whole’ of him—a power and presence that demands compliance.

My sex clenches in response, embarrassingly wet given he’s been sitting here for what? Thirty seconds? A minute? Mortification and need war within me.

A wolf in disguise, I muse. How appropriate.

He smiles, but it’s subtle, broken. “You don’t practice?”

I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly dry. “Don’t practice what?”

His smile grows, eyes glinting. “I think you know, but I can play along, pretend I too am indoctus.” He lets the ‘s’ linger, lips parted.

Latin for ‘uneducated,’ a word Gran used often to describe those not privy to magic, those ‘blind’ to the greater world.

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