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The alpha drew me closer, resting a hand on the small of my back. Our bodies didn’t touch, at least a foot of propriety between us as he tried to move me into the next step of the dance. 𝑀𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ. I stood there like a statue, cheeks flooding with heat. “I, um, don’t know how to dance.” His brows may have risen, but the mask he wore covered his face to mid-brow. It glittered with gemstones, a merry rainbow of them placed in an intricate design. He had to be a wealthy lord of some kind. Maybe I’d get an opportunity to pick his pocket while he scorned me. I braced myself, but he merely cocked his head to the side, his fine mask framing a mischievous smile. “Is that so? It’s not difficult. Here…” He positioned my hand on his arm. “Relax. Just move with me.” He took a step, and I did too, mirroring him. Before long, he had me dancing, though at a fraction of the pace of the couples around us. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑑, I decided. But the song ended soon after, and my patient partner released me to bow. I noticed other omegas curtsying around me and echoed the motion a little off sync. There were more alphas without a partner than omegas, and I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know others were staring. I’d need to move quickly to escape the dance floor before I ended up cornered for another song. “Thank you for the dance,” I said. “Don’t leave yet. I don’t even know your name,” he replied. There was a lightness to his tone, as if he was teasing me. “Well, I don’t know yours either,” I said, trying for the same levity. In response, he beckoned for me to dance with him again, offering his long, graceful fingers in a showy flourish as the orchestra started up another tune. I bit my lip, tempted. I needed to leave but reasoned that one more dance wouldn’t hurt. I let him take the lead in showing me the steps again. “I’m Falindel, by the way,” he said once we were moving together. “I prefer Fal. It’s less stuffy.” He pronounced it like the season fall. “Hi, Fal. I’m Lark.” His smile included a hint of fang. All alphas had a pair of them, but his seemed particularly sharp. “You’re good at this,” I noted. Fal had seemed to notice my right side wasn’t as strong as my left and compensated for it somehow. To say 𝑤𝑒 were dancing was a laugh, though. It was about ninety percent him, with me along for the journey as we traveled further onto the dance floor. He shrugged. “Practice, though I shouldn’t downplay it too much. My father insisted I dance until the dark of night some days.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, frowning. That didn’t sound pleasant. “No need to be. I mostly enjoyed it, and now I get to dance with you, so surely I’m doing something right.” He winked, a flash of tanned skin in the low lighting around us. I ducked my head with a flattered giggle. I was nothing special, just a servant wearing illusions. Someone who had no idea what a female should say to a noble male while they danced. Not that I should get his hopes up. My goal was to steal a bit of wealth and run, not give any alpha a false sense of my interest. And it wasn’t like we were scent matches. He’d barely smelled me and hadn’t drawn me close enough for me to breathe him in either with all the scent blocker misting over us. “May I ask you a question, Lark?” He broke through my concentration, my brow knit as I tried not to step on his toes. I missed some cue and nearly stumbled into him, which he caught without trouble. “Um, sure,” I said. Stars, I was so clumsy. “Tell me a secret,” Fal said, his voice a low purr. It felt like an invitation to lean in and share a private moment with him. “Why did you come here tonight? Truly.” My gaze darted away as my wings flattened defensively to my back. I hadn’t…no, I’d been too distracted by dancing to steal anything from him. Maybe it wasn’t a serious question. Maybe he was flirting and I’d been about to make it weird by overreacting. There were hidden depths I couldn’t say to answer his question. But I still offered him a glimmer of myself with something that qualified as a secret. “I wanted to be seen,” I murmured. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 f𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 f𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑢𝑛. I didn’t think I’d share any of this aloud with anyone, but why not Fal? He’d probably forget it by tomorrow, just a throwaway comment from one of the silly omegas he’d met tonight. “Did you?” He had a teasing tone again, but I wasn’t quite sure he was flirting, with how his gaze suddenly seemed intent on me. “That was before I noticed how many fae were here,” I continued in a lighter tone. “So many souls here, and yet only one scent match, if a member of your future pack even attended. Did you expect to find yours tonight?” “No. Did you?” He dipped his chin. “I came a very long way hoping to find my one true mate.” “Well, I hope you find her,” I said sincerely. Fal smiled back with a hint of mischief. “I see you, Lark.” I doubt he realized how much I wanted to hear something like that. My wings fluttered with my happiness. “But I want to know so much more. You seem quite tired. Perhaps we could sit and chat once this song is finished?” I should’ve told him no. I really did need to leave, and he should’ve stopped wasting time with me, a graceless swan, and gotten back to searching for his scent match. But the song in question was already nearly done, and as it concluded, his hand tightened on my back. “My tutors thought I’d earn myself a mate one day by doing this,” he said. He swung me toward the ground, dipping me like Glory’s father had with the queen. For a moment, his face was close enough to kiss, but I was too busy yelping. Blood flooded straight to my head and back as soon as I was on my feet. That was…thrilling. And stars, what was that incredible smell? I lidded my eyes and inhaled. It was dreamy, a bright and fresh scent, like crisp grass and sunshine. I pictured lazy summer days out on the lawn with nothing to do but play games with my family and the neighbor’s kids. I’d lie out on the green, living carpet with my face raised and wings spread to bake in the sun. Before Cymora, before Laurel, before I learned how much life could hurt. Yearning filled my chest to be that summer child again and redo my life with different decisions. Perhaps I wouldn’t be here under false pretenses if it were possible. “You have a lovely smile,” Fal murmured. I blinked back to reality. He stood right in front of me, gaze trained on another alpha as he shook his head in warning with a brief baring of his fangs to get the other male to leave. I was leaning toward him for more—it was ℎ𝑖𝑠 scent that smelled like my childhood. His lips took on a knowing curve as he offered his arm to lead me off the dance floor. We avoided other couples starting to sway together to a slower tune. “Are we scent matches?” I asked in disbelief. His nostrils flared as he scented me. “I strongly suspect so. You smell decadent. Seems I didn’t come all this way for no reason. Of course, we won’t know for sure until you meet my brothers, but I’ll be more than happy to introduce you.” So the omegas wouldn’t be overwhelmed, each alpha here was a representative of his pack. But the mention of meeting brothers was as effective as a slap. I couldn’t meet his brothers. I couldn’t have scent matches! I was going to be on a magirail tomorrow to a sanctuary city. “I’m the lead for a pack of four,” Fal continued, not realizing my change in mood. “My brothers will love you. We’ve been searching for our omega for several years.” I couldn’t tell Fal why I couldn’t meet his brothers or join their pack. My tongue was still bound up in a foolish vow. Stars, this was my fault. I could’ve made money another way. I didn’t have to stoop to Cymora’s level and steal from others to get by. “Can we get a bit of air?” I asked. It was so hot in this room all of a sudden, and the crush of fae around us didn’t help. “Of course.” His presence was enough to dissuade anyone from approaching, and his height helped him cut through the crowd. He led us to one of the massive windows, which was set ajar. I hadn’t realized it coming in, but it was one of several doorways leading out to a stone patio. It was significantly cooler outside, and I pinched the edge of my dress, unsticking it from my skin and venting in a little cold air. A cramp seized my middle. I bit my lip to keep a curse from escaping at the sudden pinch. My body told me it was going into pre-heat about as subtly as a fist closing around my stomach. I’d put my heat off for so long, the warning signs were sudden and painful. “Here, have a seat for a moment,” Fal said, nudging me. I was half-blinded by the pain in my middle, but he guided me around the shapes of other fae and potted plants to the edge of a carved stone bench. It was blessedly cool against my thighs. Closing my eyes, I rode out the wave of discomfort until the cramp dissipated. They would only get worse from here, too. My suppressant tattoo had to have gotten a new crack, and I suspected it’d happened the moment I’d scented Fal. His concerned face swam into view, framed by a starry sky when I opened my eyes and took a ragged breath. My gaze ran from his expression to the jeweled mask he wore, glittering from the light of an essence lamp hovering over the patio, and I had an 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒 idea. I took a glance around. Our bench was guarded by a large fern in an oversized pot, and we were in relative privacy with other couples murmuring on the patio too in other private nooks. There was a raised stone rail behind the bench, overlooking the castle garden from a dizzying distance. We must’ve been on the second story, which certainly made my new idea risky. However, there was one surefire way to dampen Fal’s view of me. That mask he wore…the number of gemstones alone would be enough to buy me the magirail ticket to my new future. I should try to take it. “How are you—” he began to ask. Before I could second-guess myself, I grabbed him and planted my lips on his. He made a surprised “mmph” but didn’t hesitate or balk for a single second. Instead, his lips softened, parting, and his tongue tested the seal of my mouth. He deepened the kiss, flooding my taste buds with the essence of sunny, grassy days, and for one dizzying moment, my worries eased. A soft vibration lifted from my chest. I didn’t recognize it until his fingers ran through my hair and stroked down my cheek. He repeated the motion. Petting me… I was 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 for him. Stars, I’d never purred for anyone, but he coaxed it free with a gentle touch. Remembering why I’d kissed him in the first place, I reached for the knot tying his mask to his face and loosened it with one quick jerk, tugging the fabric off him. I pulled away first and gasped. The elf across from me had become a different fae completely. My eyes darted from the mask in my hand, which practically vibrated with the essence of a powerful illusion, to the magic unraveling down his hands and unveiling fingers tipped with claws. His eyes were lidded from our kiss, lips pursed around his extra sharp fangs. It was still Fal, and he was still an elf. His complexion turned a striking shade of blue with deep gray undertones, unlike any forest elf I’d ever met. His suit was different, too, the fabric navy and its silver markings twisting in an unfamiliar style embroidered into the collar and down the sides. The straight, green hair down his back sprang into loose waves, turning black with a sheen of blue in the light. His long ears went from unadorned to being pierced with silver chains and several hanging stars. And the pack mark on his brow… I caught a glimpse of it as I stared at his transformation, stunned. It was framed by glowing sapphire ink tattoos in motifs of winter, swirls of air and snowflakes that trailed down his temple to frame his high cheekbones. He was… But he 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 be… Fal drew me closer to rub his face against my neck and mark me with his scent, a low alpha rumble in his chest. “Why did you do that?” he asked. His accent was thicker. No wonder I didn’t recognize it. It was Serian. “You’re Unseelie,” I breathed. The magical forces that shaped our kind had long cursed the Unseelie fae to be known by the evil of their ancestors. They were forced to carry a permanent animal feature so the descendants of the fair Seelie fae knew them on sight. And he wasn’t just any Unseelie. By the identifying magic in the mark he wore, he was the eldest son of the Unseelie royal pack. A prince of vile tricksters and wicked malcontents. And the most handsome elf I’d ever met, while also being my first, and hopefully only, dark elf. He looked at home in the night, practically a being of cold winter shadows. Now that I knew the truth of him, the mischievous angle to his smile and the razor-sharp fangs made more sense. He finally looked at me, his eyelids lifting from his animal feature: eyes like a cat’s, dark blue and slitted. And I remained frozen like a quivering mouse before him. “I am. Now, it’s only fair I see you unmasked as well,” he said in his teasing tone. He pulled the ribbon attaching the mask to my face. “Wait, no!” I exclaimed. He already had it in hand, and the beautiful lie of my illusions dissipated into lavender sparks. My depleted wings flicked with my distress. His lips parted in surprise. That feline gaze was pointed at my real dress and the front pocket of my smock, which bulged with everything I’d stolen tonight. 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠. No prince, Unseelie or not, would want a common servant to complete his pack. There’d be no introductions to his brothers, no more talk of scent matches. I was as good as rejected. And stars, that truth hurt worse than I thought it would. Standing with a jolt, I shoved his mask in with the rest of my ill-gotten gains. “Unseelie!” I shouted, hoping to catch a guard’s attention. Then I leapt onto the stone railing overseeing the two-story drop to the garden and jumped. Artwork by @kalynne_art READ MORE HERE: http://books2read.com/u/3yNOje

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