King Hall (Forever Evermore 1)

Felix held my gaze. His jaw clenched. “Lily…” He closed his mouth, lips pursed for a few beats until he spoke quietly. “You’re sure about this?” He wasn’t going to beg or ask twice. I knew he was stronger than that, so this was his last offer.

My nostrils flared, scenting him, and my eyes closed in remembrance. God, we had been really good together. My own jaw clenched, and I opened my eyes. Nodded. “Yes. I’m sure.”

Stooping slowly, he kissed my forehead. “At least we had a little fun in this godforsaken lifetime.”

My heart broke, because I knew his heart was still torn for his late mate. I hugged him, kissing his cheek. “Yeah. We had fun.”

He squeezed me tight, and then backed away, but not too far, still doing his job.

“That was f**king depressing,” Gideon muttered as I turned back to my group. I don’t know what my face showed, but he mumbled, “Shit, Lily. Why don’t you just go be with him if you want to?”

I poured another shot, and pointed to Gideon around it. “Because I don’t want to so badly that I’d risk dying for it. He’s here to keep me alive, and he can’t do that with his hands on my ass.” I downed my shot. “Anyone wanna dance?” I needed contact. Not because of the Shifter need, but because of the woman-in-me need. I needed comforting.

Everyone wanted to, so we made our way to the dance floor, which was in the middle of what had probably been a living room at one time since it had a brick fireplace on one wall, the bricks rising to the ceiling, the only adornment to the navy-blue painted walls. We squeezed through the crowd and started dancing with one another. No-one picked any certain partner. We just piled together and moved.

Two songs later, I was laughing when Pearl bent down in front of me and crossed her eyes, bopping her butt in the air. So un-Queen-like I loved it. Seemingly, Gideon did too because he moved behind her, grabbing her hips, and both of them moved a tad different then.

Jack pulled Nikki against him, their foreheads together, and began slow dancing with her even though the music was upbeat enough to make a rabbit happy.

Turning, I crooked my finger at Ezra, who was being mauled by two Vampire girlies.

Tilting his chin up once, he somehow maneuvered out of their hands. He began pulling me against him right as I felt hands land on my waist accompanied by the smell of polar bear, but those unwanted hands released me as I moved away. Thank God, he had been quick. Jim had become a regular stalker most days, and it was all I could do to avoid him in the hallways at school.

“Thanks,” Ezra muttered, glancing over his shoulder.

I snorted. “I should be thanking you, not the other way around.”

He lifted his head, peering over mine. His lips twitched. “That guy seriously can’t take a hint. I thought you locking him in his own car three weeks ago was ingenious.”

I grinned, moving my hips with his. “Just took a little Mage magic.”

“Pearl?”

“Yep.”

“Nice.”

“I thought so.”

He pulled us closer to our friends as we moved against one another like it was second nature. So easy. Fluid. He led and my body followed, just like our training sessions every morning.

“You guys dance really well together,” Nikki said loudly over the music, nodding her head approvingly. “Jack and I still step on each other’s feet.”

“They practice fighting every day,” Jack grumbled to her. “They should be good.” He scowled at us, mouthing, “Mess up.”

Ezra and I chuckled and, a few beats later, we bumped heads, making a production of it.

“It’s alright,” Nikki consoled us. “Nobody’s perfect.”

Jack mouthed, “Thank you.”

Nikki patted my shoulder, then she was dancing again, oblivious.

Ezra held up his little finger behind her back, crooking it.

Pointing at it, I nodded grandly.

Jack shrugged and smiled, bringing Nikki even closer to him.

I moved to the crazy beat with Ezra for another song before nature called. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He released me with a twirl, and I kept my head down as I maneuvered through the crowd. The first floor bathroom was taken, so I trotted up the stairs, getting stopped at least seven times by Shifters needing touch. I hugged them and, generally, gave them my presence as alpha before I finally made it to an empty bathroom.

Done taking care of necessities, I was washing my hands when a knock sounded on the door, and I called loudly, “Occupied!”

Not a second later, the door opened.

My mouth was opening to tell the person, who evidently couldn’t hear me because of the wild music, I was almost done when I froze in shock. I stared into the mirror, gazing at the reflection of a very handsome man with black hair and intense dark eyes. A Com.

I sputtered, “Philip Masterson. What are you doing here?” He was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, looking very casual and sexy…and it was more than a little odd he was here.

He shut the door and locked it, and leaned back against it, crossing his arms. “It’s very difficult to speak with you in person. Do you know that?”

I dried my hands quickly and turned around, resting against the sink, reflecting his pose with crossed arms. “No. I didn’t know that.” I cocked my head. “Did you sneak into this party to try to talk me into marrying you?” Blunt, to the point. King Kincaid had relayed the denial months ago. I had almost second-guessed my decision to have the King tell the President but, after further thought, I hadn’t felt the need to say it directly to the individual who had asked me to marry him, because he hadn’t actually asked me in person.

“I’m here for your reason for why you said no. Not to try to talk you into it.”

I didn’t believe him, his wording too vague, but I explained, “If you want the honest truth of it, Philip, it’s because I think it would be archaic to marry someone I don’t love. Marriage is meaningful in both the Com and Mys communities. I also said no because you asked in the first place. You shouldn’t have. You were using the situation to your advantage. If you wanted to have sex with me, you should have just asked for that instead of being deceitful.” I tried to not be too harsh, considering who he was. “Women don’t need a ring on their finger to have sex, if you weren’t aware.”

He stared for a full minute in silence before he stated, “I understand what you’re saying.” He didn’t deny it. “I should have handled it differently.”