CHAPTER 1 SNEAK PEEK
Okay, so I’d read my share of romantasy books and the shares of, like, four other super fans, too.
I was well versed in the myths of the fae—don’t tell them your real name, don’t accept anything from them, don’t eat or drink anything in their realm—and I could spot a fairy ring from thirty paces. I knew things.
Maybe not accurate things in a real world setting, but when one of my best friends stepped into a ring of stones and disappeared, I had a feeling I’d just become the local expert.
I was about to make a plan for retrieving Milo when Bridge went lumbering over to the damn fairy ring, too. “No!” I hollered, because one rescue was enough to coordinate, thanks.
And Bridge didn’t listen at all, stepped right into the ring, and vanished. With all of the snacks.
“What the fuck?” Wally said breathlessly as he backed away from the ring.
I could appreciate the desire to flee, but nope, not today. “No,” I said and grabbed his arm. “We have to go after them.”
“After them? After them where?” He threw a muscly arm out toward the ring.
Using my most patient tone, I said, “It really is a fairy ring and—”
“Jesus, Zal…” Wally tried to pry my fingers off his arm, but I held on tighter.
“No, listen to me!” I said urgently. “You saw them vanish. Don’t you dare pretend you didn’t.”
He finally looked at me. “I’m not pretending anything. I literally have no idea what just—”
“So why can’t the answer be a fairy ring?”
He blinked at me. “Because there’s no such thing as fairies.”
“And people can’t do what our friends just did.” I let go of his arm and faced the rocks. “Reality is broken, my man, and we just watched it happen.”
I gave him a minute to accept my words. Just because I was ready and willing to dive into the fae world didn’t mean everyone was.
My training had prepared me. Wally barely read pamphlets.
I loved him and would give him a moment, but I couldn’t help thinking that if he’d just read the books I recommended to him, he’d be ready to go, too.
Best friends, you know? I was convinced that I hadn’t chosen a single one of these guys—they’d chosen me.
We’d known each other since the foster home we’d shared when we were twelve.
We’d kept in touch regardless of who moved where because that was what best friends did.
But I had about as much in common with these muscle bears as I did with actual bears.
I still loved them all like mad, though.
“Come on.” I held out my hand toward Wally.
He shook his head. “I can’t just—”
“Yes, you can.” I waved my hand impatiently. “Wallace Michael Frustration Crowne, we are going into that fairy ring to help our brothers.”
I could see him gulp. He was panicking. I’d go alone, but— Oh, okay, he was nodding now. We were gonna do it. Shit.
“Fucking fuck,” I said by way of an affirmation as I grabbed Wally’s hand and pulled.
I tried to hold onto him, even dug my nails into his wrist to try and stay with him, but something much stronger than both of us ripped me away from him.
I could breathe, so I knew I wasn’t actually underwater right then, but damn, it felt like I was at the mercy of a riptide.
I was pulled down, twisted around, and thrown out.
With a grunt, I landed…on a bed. An enormous four-poster bed with, like, curtains tied back on each post. The color scheme was autumn, which was absolutely my season. I was one of those rare few who could wear gold and orange and look absolutely fabulous. This entire room was made for me.
And I had to say that the mostly naked man standing beside the bed was just my type, too.
He had golden-hued skin, stormy gray eyes, and rusty auburn hair in wavy locks to his shoulders. Lovely lean muscles wrapped around him from rounded shoulders and toned arms to a sculpted chest and cobbled abs. His cock was long and heavy as it hung from an untamed red bush between thick thighs.
I licked my lips.
The only problem with this gorgeous man was the fact that he was currently on fire. Like literally. Flames were dancing all around him like a fully-realized aura.
I opened my mouth to tell him… Warn him? I wasn’t sure, but then he dropped to his knees, both arms on the bed, and his head resting on the backs of his hands. Was he…crying?
“Thank the gods,” he said when he looked up at me with tears trailing down his cheeks. “You’re finally here!”
With that cryptic statement, the flames covering him petered out until there wasn’t even a wisp of smoke left.
And I was so confused. “Were you…waiting for me?”
He blinked a few times, long dark red lashes practically fanning me. A blush hit his cheeks and he gulped.
“No.”
Oh, somebody was lying.
But why?