Page 52 of A Hint of Delirium

He shrugged. “Humans mean nothing to me. If we weren’t tied to such strict rules, I’d do much worse.” He sneered and leaned down to me. “You’re lucky you’re a halfling, or I might even start with you,” he whispered a hair’s breadth away from me.

“You’re a monster,” I growled.

He chuckled and pulled back. “I’ve been called worse.” His phone started ringing and he showed me the screen. “Looks like your boyfriend is looking for you.”

“Don’t answer it!” I yelled before he could slide his finger across the screen to answer the call.

He jerked in surprise and looked down at me with a calculating grin. “Well, that’s not a good sign of a healthy relationship. What gives?”

“I—I don’t want to disappoint him,” I grimaced. “Just give me a bit to recover and I’ll be out of your hair. I promise.”

Alec sighed loudly and put his phone away. “Very well. Hurry up and drink your tea before it gets cold.”

I drank the tea quickly and handed the mug to him before slipping out of bed, taking advantage of his back being turned when he walked toward the kitchen to wash the mug. I tiptoed around the open bedroom, searching for my clothes and finally locating them draped across a chair. Quick as a flash, I carried them back to the bed and tore off the t-shirt I was wearing.

With the shirt halfway off, I heard the front door unlock and the door swing open. I barely had time to react.

“Why haven’t you been answering my calls?” A woman stormed into his loft and got a good eyeful of me standing in his bedroom wearing just my undergarments, holding his t-shirt in front of me to cover up my nakedness. She smirked. “NowI see why you haven’t been answering. You’ve been busy.” She sized me up and down. “A human, Alec? Really? Slumming it, are you?”

Hurriedly putting the pieces together, I assumed she was an Unseelie so I slowly moved my right ankle behind my left to hide the anklet.

“What are you doing here, Sage?” Alec entered from the kitchen and maneuvered in front of me to block her view. “You said you’d found your own place and wouldn’t be staying here anymore. You can’t just barge in, unannounced.”

“Why not?” she purred. “Because you have someone else warming your bed now? I’m hurt,” she pouted.

“It’s not like that,” he gritted between his teeth.

She peered around him and narrowed her eyes at me. “Who is she? She looks familiar.”

“No one important,” Alec replied brusquely.

“Really?” she said, unbelieving. “Because you seem quite protective overno one. Come on; we once used to share.”

“She’s not into that,” Alec said. “You should really go …Violet.”

That snapped me back to reality. He was kickingmeout, not her.

Hiding behind him, I quickly dressed, making sure my pants hid my anklet, and slipped my shoes on before going around Alec and edging past Sage. Or at least, I attempted to go past her before she grabbed my arm.

“Sage!” Alec shouted.

She smirked at him and turned her cat-like eyes to me. She was stunning, with the ethereal beauty that all fae seemed to embody. The death grip she had on my arm made me hold back a wince.

“Why do you look so familiar?” She tilted her head to the side and scanned my face. “Those eyes,” she murmured as she gazed into them.

“Sage, enough!” Alec stormed toward us and ripped her off my arm. “Violet,go!”

“Wait!” Sage stopped me mid-step. “Are you … Unseelie?”

I froze, not sure how to answer without giving myself away. Instead, I stood there mutely as seconds ticked by that felt like an eternity. Finally, Alec spoke up.

“Are you insane? She’s human,” he partially lied.

Sage chuckled, though she didn’t tear her calculating eyes from mine. “Right. And you couldn’t possibly be a halfling, because he would never make that mistake.”

Another long pause passed before Alec said, “Who?”

I peered over my shoulder to see him holding Sage back as they looked at one another.

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