“Shut up, Silver,” the redhead snapped, without breaking eye contact with me. “You’re coming with us.” He grabbed my elbow.
“No, I have a date I can’t miss. I need to get home immediately.”
This part wasn’t a lie. I had dinner plans with Ethan Malone, a pediatric neurosurgeon I’d shared a spark with in the cafeteria line. We both worked at Children’s Hospital, and I’d seen him doing rounds many times. He was hard to miss in those blue scrubs that matched his eyes and hugged his perfect butt. I’d been content with looking at him from afar, afraid he would turn out to be an arrogant jerk like most of the other residents, afraid the spark would die after the first date due to lack of chemistry.
He seemed nice and didn’t bat an eye when he learned I was a healer and not an MD. Maybe the fact that he was a talented neurosurgeon would mean he wouldn’t be intimidated by my Skew healing abilities. He was aStale,a regular human with no magic, and normally Stales in my field resented healers. They said we had it easy, which wasn’t true. I’d gone to college too and worked hard to learn biology, chemistry, anatomy, child psychology, and a slew of other things.
I didn’t want to miss that date. I’d been looking forward to it. I hadn’t been lucky in love like my sisters. They talked about sizzling physical attraction and unconditional feelings, but I’d never felt that after my first boyfriend in college, and I was beginning to think it wasn’t in the cards for me.
The Fae dude didn’t care about my date, though, and tugged harder on my elbow.
I screamed. “Unhand me, you pervert.”
“I’m not a pervert, I’ll have you know. That particular title belongs tothatone.“ He threw a sidelong glance toward the male he’d called Silver.
Silver—whose name seemed appropriate given his hair color—rolled his eyes. “A much better title thanasshole with the stick up his ass.”
The third guy sighed and gave a pointed look at the redhead’s hand around my elbow. “Let her go, Kryn. You know what he said.” His voice was nice and melodic.
My ears perked up.Whatwhosaid?
From the sounds of it, someone had sent them to collect me, but I had no idea who. Other than Yalgrun—the store owner where I shopped—I didn’t know anyone else.
Reluctantly, the asshole with the stick up his ass, Kryn, removed his large hand. I shook myself and made as if to walk away. The males didn’t budge.
“Let me pass,” I demanded. “I’m due home, and if I’m one minute late, my boyfriend—he’s a badass vampire, by the way—will come looking for me.” I didn’t have a boyfriend, badass or otherwise, but I had to try something.
“You need to come with us, please,” the dark-skinned guy said.
Silver huffed. “Good luck using the nice approach with this one, Jeondar. I can spot the feisty ones.”
“We’re wasting time.” Kryn looked annoyed.
“Please, Daniella,” Jeondar said, my name on his lips making me shiver, “come with us.”
“Quietly or not,” Kryn added.
“My name isn’t Daniella. You have the wrong person,” I said, barely managing to keep a straight face.
Silver blew air through his nose, looking amused. “Personally, I think she’ll chooseor not.”
Jeondar smiled sweetly. “Don’t make this harder on yourself.” He offered me a hand forward, as if to guide me down the sidewalk.
But I knew that if I went anywhere with them, I was done for. I would never go home or see my family again.
I shook myself. “All right, I will...” I threw my messenger bag at Jeondar’s face and ran, ducking under his arm.
It wasn’t even worth the try. I’d barely taken two steps when pain exploded on the left side of my face, and I started going down, though strong arms scooped me up before I hit the ground.
“Shit, Kryn,” Jeondar said angrily. “You didn’t have to do that.”
The world around me whirled, and then I was hanging upside down, my arms and head dangling. Kryn had draped me over his shoulder like an old coat. Shadows gathered around my vision. I fought not to pass out.
“He won’t be happy you hit her,” Jeondar said.
“He can get over it.”
“She has a nice ass.” Silver laughed.