Page 82 of House of Lilith

Ricky nods vigorously.

I down the beer, to brace for what’s coming. I set the bottle down and I look straight into his eyes. “I can’t seem to stop flirting with her,” I tell him, as flatly as I can.

He laughs. Then, when I don’t say anything, he frowns, leaning in a little but not taking his eyes off me. “The princess?” he practically hisses in an attempt to keep his voice down. “Are you out of your mind? She’s engaged to the goddamn prince.”

What would he say if I told him that just today, I found myself almost moving to fucking kiss her? I’d never hear the end of it.

I let out a sigh. “I don’t care that he’s the fucking prince, Ricky. I just care that she’s engaged.” I pause, not looking away even though I’d prefer to. “But whenever I find myself near her, no matter how hard I try, everything I say or do comes out flirty.” I blow out a frustrated breath, squeezing the bottle in my hand. “It’s like it’s out of my fucking control.”

My friend just squints at me for a second. “Are you… falling for her?”

I shake my head, vigorously. “No, no, I’m not,” I insist. “It’s my fox,” I say as I dig a little inside, sniffing out his mood. Broody, which is very unusual after a battle won. “He’s being weird about her and it’s messing with my brain.”

“That’s strange,” Ricky says under his breath, thinking. “What do you think could be the reason?”

“It’s beside the point,” I snap. “I told you why,” I tell him, raising a finger to make sure I’m heard, “but now I need you to set it aside and focus solely on keeping me away from her. Got it?”

He nods, and I’m pleased with how serious he looks about it. So I nod as well and for a second, I just keep standing there, propped up on the bar, avoiding the stares of the girls from the tables all around us. Now that they’ve seen my fox, they’ll be coming at me even more.

I hear Ricky talk to the bartender, trying to order this very particular brew and getting into all the details about it. But I’m busy trying to talk myself into it.

My mind is still flashing with the images of her covered in blood, that ruthless look in her eyes, and then that face she made when that asshole talked to her after the Game. And I can’t remember the last time I felt this unfocused, craving something without even knowing what.

But it’s the party after the Game and I’ve been neglecting my pack. So despite being in no fucking mood for socializing, I catch Ricky’s eye and I grab us both a beer. He excuses himself from his conversation with the obviously bored bartender and I motion for him to follow me.

“We’re going to show our boys and girls what it means to party,” I tell my friend and with the corner of my eye, I see excitement flashing through his eyes.

*

We’re on our second idiotic drinking game when my fox starts sniffing wildly once again. By the feeling in my gut, which is at the same time sinking and soaring, I know exactly what’s happened.

I look away from one of the O’Malley brothers trying to mime something to us and I fix my eyes on the archway, all the way on the other side of the huge hall. And there she is, stepping into the room with his arm wrapped around her waist. My fox snarls and I do the mental equivalent of kicking him with my boot.

I tear my eyes away, but my mind doesn’t follow. I haven’t seen her that dressed up since the day she showed me around the Academy. And it’s making my heart beat faster, thinking of the possibility of her eyes landing on me, even in passing.

So when a timid male voice booms from the speakers all around us, I immediately breathe a sigh of relief.

“If we could ask all our magnificent players to come up to the stage, please,” the announcer says as I see the lights hit the podium and the music and the chatter die down a little.

Fuck. Not good after all. I glance around, praying I won’t see her among the students approaching the podium. But I do.

“Come on,” I hear Ricky’s voice from my left. My head snaps to him and I see him nudging me to lead the way. “You’rethe alpha. Or have you quit?” he asks with a smile.

Sure feel like doing it right now, I think to myself. But I don’t say that. With a smile, I get up, I motion for everyone else to follow me and I throw Ricky a side-eye glance. “Where’d you run off to? We had to make up the rules for some of the games along the way.”

I see blood rush to his cheeks. “I don’t kiss and tell,” he says a little shyly.

I don’t stop walking, but I don’t take my eyes away from him either. My mouth cracking into a grin, I let out a low wolf whistle and I shove his shoulder with my fist. “Go, Ricky.”

He throws me an annoyed smile, but that’s where the interaction stops, because we reach the podium and start climbing. With the corner of my eye, I spot her picking the hem of her dress up off the floor, flashing the smooth white skin of her leg as she lifts it to climb. I imagine it wrapped around me, her eyes boring into me.

Get it the fuck together, I snap at myself.

Facing the crowd in front of the podium, we all line up in silence, the players throwing smiles at each other as they do. Her and I, we stay on the opposite sides of the row.

“Now that we have everyone here,” the male voice continues, “we promise we won’t keep you long. This is just to say it’s been a wonderful journey so far and we still have thirty six of you to watch in the Third Game, which is to be held on February 1st, in a little more than a month. Isn’t that amazing?”

The crowd cheers, some of the people throwing in a whistle here and there. The noise throbs in my head.

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