Page 32 of A Hint of Delirium

“Hey!” I yelled. “Stop!” I ran and grabbed Alec’s arm, pulling him back and away from my friend. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Just playing around,” Alec smirked. “Friend of yours?”

I peered over my shoulder at Korey, who was wobbling on his feet like he was drunk. “What’s wrong with him?”

Alec shrugged, unconcerned. “Maybe I put a little too much emphasis into my persuasion.”

I turned to Korey and smacked his cheeks. Hard. “Hey!” When his eyes focused on me, I instructed, “Go back inside and wait for me. I’ll be in shortly.”

Korey nodded and stumbled toward the door.

“Hey, why are you taking away all my fun?” Alec pouted. “We were just getting to the good stuff.”

I glared at him. “Is this what you do? Torture innocent humans?”

He shrugged as if bored. “I needed some information from him. He didn’t have a lot to give, so I thought we would play a little. Is that so wrong?”

My mouth fell open. “His face is his job! You could have caused irreparable damage!”

Unimpressed, he raised a brow. “What is he, a model?”

“No. An actor.”

“Even better,” he smirked.

“You reallyarea demon,” I murmured.

He chuckled. “I don’t have many redeemable qualities. Don’t go looking for them.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I scoffed.

“Sothisis where I find you?” a woman barked from the other end of the alley.

Startled, Alec and I turned in her direction. The newcomer stood under a streetlight, and wow, was she stunning. She looked like a model forCall of Dutyor something. Her long, blonde hair that was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that flowed in lustrous waves down her back told me she was beautiful, but her cat-like eyes and pointed ears told me she was fae. But what told me she was Unseelie was the all-black tactical gear she wore, which seemed like their uniform. Even with all that gear on, you could tell she had curves in all the right places.

“Sage,” Alec sighed, a huge smile splitting his angelic face. “As I live and breathe.”

But Sage wasn’t having it. “You get sent to the human realm foronelittle thing, and you can’t even accomplish that, can you?” She walked toward him and he met her halfway.

Alec raised a brow. “Don’t tell me the Unseelie King hired you?”

“Of course he did.” She fluttered her feline eyes. “Ican get the job done.”

Alec scoffed. “I’m handling it.”

She rolled her eyes. “From what Cael tells me, your brother is handlingyou. Do we have a problem?”

“None,” Alec growled.

“Good,” she smirked and then those cat-like eyes turned to me, intrigued. “And who do we have here?”

“No one,” Alec said breezily. “Just some human I was playing with, but I’m done with her now.” Alec turned in my direction, his eyes motioning for me to leave.

Catching on to his drift, I started backing away, stumbling on some trash on the ground as I turned to leave.

“Wait a minute,” Sage stopped me. In just a few strides she was in front of me, scrutinizing my face. “Why do you look so familiar?”

Alec furrowed his brows. “She’s human. You don’t know her. You rarely ever come to the human realm.”

---