Page 113 of Taken By the Fae

“Pretty good.” He glances around. “Find anywhere worth looking at?”

“I haven’t been here long,” I tell him.And I don’t plan to stay much longer. The crowd is only getting bigger, and it’s making me more on edge than I was expecting. I stupidly thought a room as big as this one would give me room to breathe.

Lucas nods and starts talking again, but I don’t hear a word. My throat tingles as if I’m going to throw up, and the pressure in my chest feels as if my lungs are growing thorn-filled vines that are restricting my air.

“Are you okay?” Lucas’s voice sounds far away, drowned out by the ringing in my ears. My heartbeat is ticking faster, making breathing a harder task than it should be. And then it’s not just mine. It’s every single heartbeat in the room, pounding loud in my ears. I swallow hard, suffocated by raging emotions. Excitement bubbles in my chest, stress makes my shoulders heavy and triggers a twitch in my eye… Hell, my body—namely between my thighs—tingles with the warmth of arousal. It’s too much. I can’t make it stop, can’t push it away. Everything is bombarding me at once, cranking the temperature of my body way up. Sweat dots my brow as I try to get it under control. My muscles shake, and I feel lightheaded, as if I’m going to pass out any second as I fail to control the landslide of emotions.

I step away, muttering a quick apology as I flee the room. It doesn’t take long for Allison to spot me leaving and catch up with me. I make it to the lobby, relieved to find it almost empty, and lean against the wall near a sitting area. I suck in a breath, trying to force air into my lungs as Allison appears in front of me.

“What’s going on?” she demands, her voice thick with concern.

My jaw clenches so hard my teeth ache. Putting distance between the room full of people helped some, but I’m still hyperventilating. “Sorry,” I force out.

She shakes her head, rubbing her hands up and down my arms. “It’s okay, just keep breathing.”

Keeping my eyes closed, I shake my head. “I don’t think I can do this.” My voice cracks. “I feel like I’m drowning. Everyone’s emotions were pulling me under back there, and I couldn’t break free.” My bottom lip trembles, and Allison squeezes my shoulders.

“Aurora,” she says softly, “you need to feed.”

Once my head stops spinning, I open my eyes, and then my entire body goes rigid.

“What is it?” Allison asks.

Our eyes lock, and even from across the lobby, I feel him everywhere. He looks the same, but different. His hair is shorter, his stubble thicker, his eyes the same blue that pierces right through me. The two weeks it’s been since I saw him last feels like an eternity, and as I stand here staring at him now, it’s as if I’m seeing him for the first time with the feeling of having known him forever. Nothing makes sense.

“I can’t…” I’m speaking to Allison, but my gaze hasn’t left Tristan’s. “I have to get out of here.”

I push past her and hurry toward the door, terrified he’ll follow. The echo of my heels against the marble is loud in my ears, and it’s not until I reach the sidewalk and get into the back of what is definitely someone else’s Uber I can breathe again.

“Laura?” the driver checks.

“Drive,” I order, then tell him where. My tone is dark; I picture it as inky purple tendrils I’m sending toward him, bending him to my will as the swirls of color wrap around him like a spool of ribbon. I focus one thought: I need this car to move. Projecting that onto the driver, I force my need to become his. I’ve never tried to use my mental manipulation ability until now. I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but when he stares out the windshield and nods, I figure it worked. It doesn’t matter how. All that matters is that we’re driving away fromhim, from everything. For now.

ChapterThirty-Three

Aside from snapping at the Uber driver when I threw myself into the backseat, I’ve kept it together the rest of the ride. I apologize before I get out, tossing a twenty into the front seat.

After he drives away, I walk toward The Iron Lounge. At first, I wasn’t sure why I told the driver to bring me here, but standing in front of it now, the reason seems clear. This was the last place I was human. In some twisted way, it feels… comforting coming back, even though it’s also the place I took a life. Like I said,twisted.

Frowning when I spot the CLOSED FOR INVENTORY sign stuck to the door, I decide to knock anyway, hearing the faint sound of at least two heartbeats.

The bartender, Deacon, opens the door a minute later, looking me over before letting me inside and locking the door again.

“A little overdressed for a drink,” he comments, returning to the bar where he appears to be restocking bottles.

I nod at his faded Metallica shirt. “A little underdressed for work.”

He grins, his hair falling into his face, and he doesn’t bother pushing it back. “Hey, we’re not technically open. You shouldn’t even be in here.”

I slide onto a barstool. “Why’d you let me in then?”

“Because you looked all sad out there.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Deacon chuckles softly, pulling the box off the counter and stowing it under the bar. “I have some inventory stuff to do downstairs. You good here for a few? Nikolai’s around somewhere if you need anything.”

Just what I need—Nikolai witnessing me drowning my sorrows in booze. “I’m fine.”

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