Page 3 of The King of Frost and Shadows

Not that it mattered. The issue was still the same.

I’d never found anyone I was interested in—male or female—and clearly, that wouldn’t change tonight, though I sort of wished I could find someone I was into.

“I’m fine,” I said, answering the question he’d probably forgotten he’d asked a few seconds ago. “Sorry about running into you. I hate that I ruined one of the many drinks you’ve clearly overindulged in tonight.”

Eiric sighed, but the corners of her mouth turned upward. She liked to tell me that my mouth got me into asmuch trouble as out of it, which meant I shouldn’t say half the things I thought. However, she could never hide her amusement from me.

“It’s fine.” He threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side, his stale alcohol breath hitting my face.

I wanted to gag.

“Come with me, and I’ll get you a drink too.” He winked, lowering his head so that his scruff brushed my temple. He tried to lead me away from Eiric, so I dug my white tennis shoes into the grass.

The way he leered at me told me everything. My stomach gurgled, and I regretted coming here. It was still thirty minutes till midnight.

“Actually, I don’t drink.” That wasn’t true. I had in the past, but nothing had ever happened. Eiric and I had watched a ton of people get drunk and tipsy, but we’d never gotten a buzz, not even after splitting a gigantic bottle of tequila between us.

“Oh.” His forehead lined as if he’d heard the world’s most complex math equation. “That’s fine. You can keep me company while I get a new brewski.”

Not rolling my eyes physically hurt me. How did this guy get any women? Yet I was certain he’d slept with numerous girls on campus. I felt bad for every one of them, knowing there was no way he could possibly be a good lay. “No, I’m good.”

“Please?” He pouted and tugged on me again.

Eiric stepped up next to me, her face stoic with a look that could make any grown man feel like a child. My sister placed her hands on her hips, ready to give Tall Guy a lesson in etiquette. But that wasn’t all. She was preparing.

Our parents had taught us as children how to defendourselves, and we never left home without protection, especially on nights like this.

We each had a knife strapped to our ankle—which was why we favored boot-cut jeans—and a pocketknife in our right pocket since we were both right-handed. We had easy access to a weapon if we needed quick protection.

“My sister said no.” Eiric glared. “So let her go.”

Tall Guy pretended she hadn’t spoken, keeping his gaze locked on me.

Something inside me suddenlytugged, and the hair on the nape of my neck stood in warning. My skin crawled at the unsettling sensation, one I only ever experienced in my nightmares.

“There you two are,” a deep voice with a faint accent boomed from the edge of the crowd where Tall Guy had been trying to take me. Even though there was no way this man was talking to us, my eyes homed in on him like he was a glass of water I desperately needed.

And what I found shattered me.

Gray eyes the color of storm clouds met mine, causing my heart to quicken. They were so familiar, yet I couldn’t place them. Still, they spoke to something deep inside me.

He slid gracefully toward us through the groups of people, and my palms became sweaty, which was ridiculous. He wasn’t looking for me.

But I wanted him to be.

“Don’t be so uptight,” Tall Guy shot back at my sister. “You’re hot too. One of my boys will gladly take your attention, but blondie here owes me a drink.”

I swallowed as Sexy Man scowled. His pale complexion reflected the various lights from the stage, adding more allure to his devastating good looks.

“I hate to inform you, butblondiehere is withme.” SexyMan’s dark hair fell into his eyes as he reached out and took my hand then pulled me away from Tall Guy and toward him.

My skin buzzed where he touched me, and my legs moved with ease. I didn’t realize what I was doing until I was nestled into Sexy Guy’s side with his arm around my waist. Between the way my body reacted to him and his unique scent—a mixture of wet earth, jasmine, musk, and amber—I had to fight to keep myself from burying my nose in his shirt.

Eiric tilted her head, taking in the newcomer. Her hand lowered to her pocket, readying to take out the knife at the first sign of distress.

I wasn’t sure what she saw in Sexy Man that made her more uneasy than Tall Guy, yet it was sort of funny that the one I’d labeled Tall Guy was at least two inches shorter than the newcomer.

Tall Guy gritted his teeth as he noted my relaxed posture. “She’s your girl?”

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