by Peyton Bogue
“Isn’t the guy supposed to be the one to ask the girl to dance?” Hazel asks him as she settles in front of him, and her teasing tone does nothing to dispel his nerves.
“I, uh—” Sage starts, feeling his cheeks darken in embarrassment.
Hazel chuckles. “Relax, Sage.” She gives him a soft smile. “I’m just teasing you.”
“I’m not very good at dancing,” he tells her, and Hazel steps forwards with another giggle, wrapping her small arms around his neck. She presses up close to him, and he can feel the bodice of her dress press in tightly against his chest. He fights back a grimace when she entwines her fingers behind his head.
“That’s okay,” Hazel says quietly right next to his ear. Sage has to stop himself from tensing at her touch. “We’re just going to sway in circles.”
“I’m going to step on your toes,” Sage warns her, his eyes darting back towards where Kai and Mikalina are watching them. Kai gives him a sympathetic grimace, but Mikalina’s eyes sweep over them towards the rest of the crowd, unbothered.
“You’ll do fine,” Hazel says, trying to soothe him. She moves one of her hands down to where his own his hands are resting at his side, gently grabbing his wrist and bringing it to her waist. She smiles up at him. “Just follow my lead.”
Hazel moves Sage's hand further down the small of her back, and her grin turns sharp as she entwines her fingers behind his head again. Sage sighs softly and moves his other hand to her waist, and she glances up at him approvingly, settling in even closer into his chest. She’s pressed so tightly against him that he’s surprised she can even still move. The fabric of her dress feels harsh beneath his fingertips.
Slowly, Hazel begins to sway them. Sage follows after her, keeping his touch light. He actually does know how to dance, but he’s alright with letting her think that he doesn’t if it passes his tenseness off as nerves. He doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to get away from Hazel long enough to sneak up to the second floor.
If he didn’t have so much on his mind, or he wasn’t so distracted by all of his muddled thoughts, Sage might be able to be a little more convincing. Hazel can most likely see that he’s uncomfortable, but she’s being polite and isn’t commenting on his reluctance to dance. Despite his presumed awkwardness, Sage knows how to play a part at times like these. He’s gone undercover with Kai numerous times over the years they’ve been partners. He knows how to sell himself to look infatuated enough by a woman that the people around him won’t question whether or not he was actually listening into their conversations. He knows that he can pass as a lovesick socialite; he’s just never had to do that around Rhys before. If anything, Sage has to think about Rhys just so he can calm himself down enough to let Hazel take the lead. Sage can’t force himself to look like he’s actually enjoying being accosted by her when all he can think about is trying to get to Rhys. He can’t pretend he’s smitten with Hazel when he knows that he’ll see Rhys any minute. Sage can’t fake that he’s besotted with her, not when all he’s thinking about is the man he’s hopelessly in love with.
Sage has to close his eyes and picture Rhys’s blinding smile to make himself relax his hands on Hazel’s waist. He thinks about Rhys’s laugh when Hazel runs her thumb along a tendon on the back of his neck. He thinks about the way Rhys had looked at him in his suit when Hazel shifts her body to lightly graze her breasts against his chest again. He thinks about the way Rhys touches him, how gentle and soft he is, when Hazel's bare leg caresses his through the slit in her dress. He thinks about Rhys’s lips, how red his mouth is, how it sets his heart alight when those same lips press against his when Hazel tries to move his hand down lower by purposefully shifting her hips.
Hazel tightens her fingers around his neck again, smiling when Sage continues to sway with her. The music around them is something that Sage doesn’t recognize, but it’s still incredibly intimate and sensual. The couples around them are slowly dancing to the music, pressed in close to their partners like he and Hazel are. When they fully turn around again, Sage glances at Kai and Mikalina again and watches as Kai whispers something to Mikalina that makes her frown before she nods, but Hazel is moving them again before he can watch them anymore.
All of the couples around them are too caught up in their partners to notice the two of them dancing, but Sage still watches them carefully. He doesn’t want anyone to look too closely at him and see his gun hidden beneath his waistband.
“See? I told you you’d do fine,” Hazel says to him after another song begins to play. It’s even more sensual and sultry. He glances down at her before quickly looking away. “You just had to get over your nerves,” she continues.
“We don’t need to be distracted like this,” Sage tells her quietly, keeping his voice low so the couples around them don’t hear. “It’s always important to know your surroundings when you do things like this. I didn’t want to be distracted from our goal.”
Hazel seems to think about that for a moment, nodding, before she grins widely and leans in to whisper into his ear, “So I distract you, is that it?”
“You’re definitely not helping me focus,” Sage tells her a tad irritably, before he grimaces slightly. She’s definitely not going to take his words how he’d meant them.
Hazel leans away from him with a smirk on her lips, and Sage barely keeps the wince off of his face when she quietly mutters, “I’m terribly sorry for distracting you, Sage. You’re quite the distraction yourself.”
To emphasize her point, she trails her eyes down his body pointedly, before stepping in close to him again and pressing her breasts right up against his chest once more.
His hands itch to push her away from him, but he steadies himself and takes a deep breath, relaxing his body.
“You’re so tense,” Hazel says close to his ear again. “You keep clenching your jaw. Just relax, Sage. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Her words echo in his head for a moment. Everything’s going to be fine. He’d said the same words to Rhys not even an hour ago.
“Must be a nervous tic,” Sage tells her, purposefully relaxing his jaw. He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing that.
His scans the crowd again as he takes another deep breath. His eyes sweep towards the bar, where Steele hasn’t moved from his spot on the stool. He looks just as relaxed as he had been when they’d caught each other’s gaze. Steele isn't looking at him now, though. His eyes are drawn towards the bartender as he motions for her to refill his drink.
“Am I making you nervous?” Hazel asks him sweetly, chuckling. Her breath caresses the skin of Sage's neck hauntingly. It makes him shudder uncomfortably.
Sage doesn’t answer her, and after a moment, she chuckles at him again. She’s not the one making him nervous, but her touch is doing nothing to settle him. If anything, her hands around his neck are making him even more tense.
“There’s no need to be nervous, Sage. You’re doing great. You’ve got me right where I want to be,” Hazel says coyly, and everything in Sage’s mind comes to an abrupt halt.
He tenses, and she leans away from him slightly to look into his eyes. Her mask catches the light of one of the dimly lit chandeliers above them, and it seems like everyone around them fades into the bricks of the gallery as Sage narrows his eyes at her.
“Are you flirting with me?” he asks after a second, completely still.
Hazel gives him a sultry smile as her thumb runs down the back of his neck again. “I have been for a while now,” she says, smiling. “You’re just now noticing?”
Sage's eyes dart around them, but the other dancing couples don't pay them any mind, so he quietly bites out, “I have a boyfriend, Hazel.”
“I know,” Hazel replies, her eyes trailing over his lips before she looks back to meet his gaze. “He must be one hell of a man, too. I’m practically hanging all over you and you’ve barely noticed.”
“So, then why flirt with me?” Sage asks, his tone terse.
Hazel gives him
a little shrug, moving to start swaying them again. Sage watches her for a moment, dismayed, before allowing her to continue their dance.
“To be honest, Sage,” Hazel starts, looking a tad tentative, “you’re everything that I’m looking for in a man. I couldn’t stop myself from flirting with you even if I tried. And when I first started at the precinct, I thought you may have been reciprocating for a while, but then I found out that you were already in a relationship. That still didn’t deter me, though, like it normally would have. You’re just too. . .” she struggles for a word, before smiling softly and settling on, “you.”
“I’m in a very serious, committed relationship, Hazel. I’m in love with my boyfriend,” Sage says, unable to hold back his ire. “It’s very presumptuous of you to try to come between us like that.”
Hazel has the decency to recoil slightly at his tone, and she looks away from him after a moment, intimidated. She glances back into his eyes after a moment, sighing. “It’s not an excuse,” she says quietly, belittled, “but I really do like you. I can’t get you out of my head, Sage. I’ve tried to stop thinking about you and I’ve failed over and over again.”
“Hazel—”
“I think about your voice, about your laugh, constantly,” Hazel says, cutting him off. “Who thinks about someone like that when that person is already in a relationship? Do you think I like thinking about you, when I should be thinking about the nice boy who asked me for my number at my favorite coffee shop last week? Or when I should be focusing on my very important job, but I can’t because I can’t get your voice out of my head? Or when I can’t stop thinking about how nice of a guy you are, how brave it was for you to risk your life for mine when you protected me at that stupid truck stop?” She chuckles harshly. “I don’t want to be hung up on a guy who I know is in love with someone else. Yet here I am—wishing more than anything that I could kiss you right now.”
Sage stares at her, completely stunned silent. He hadn’t known it was that. . .deep. He’s only known her for three months. How could he have not realized that she was feeling like this the entire time they’ve known each other?
And him reciprocating? That had been him being an actual genuine and polite person. He’d wanted to show her how nice the people in their precinct could be, even amongst all of the horrific and terrible things they encounter every day. He hadn’t thought that his friendliness would come off as anything but him trying to be welcoming. In a way, he’s incredibly annoyed and angry, but he also feels slightly horrible. The last thing he ever wanted to do was lead anyone on. He’s not the type of person to do that, even though he knows he can be somewhat blind by his love for Rhys. He’d never intentionally lead anyone on.
“Hazel, I’m—” Sage starts, not quite sure what he’s even going to say. He runs a hand through his hair nervously, darting his eyes over the crowd in search of the words that can somehow help him escape this situation. He briefly glances over Hazel’s shoulder, and he completely stiffens when he immediately sees Kai, who’s looking at him with a pinched smile, and Rhys, who’s staring at him so blankly that Sage doesn’t even know how to read his expression. Clearly, Kai had been able to get away from Mikalina long enough to sneak Rhys in when he’d realized that Sage couldn’t, and now they’re both looking at him like they don’t know what’s going on.
For a second, all Sage can do is stare. Rhys looks so beautiful in the dim light of the chandeliers. He’s wearing a dark red suit, so dark it’s even deeper than blood, with a black dress shirt underneath. The tie around his throat is black but with a sort of pattern on it, and the entire suit hugs his body so tightly that Sage’s brain fizzles out for a second. His matching black mask isn’t ornate or too dressy, but it completely accentuates his gray eyes so that they look piercing against his pale skin, and blood rushes in Sage’s ears as he releases a startling breath. The low light of the gallery emphasizes the shadows of Rhys’s face so that he looks even more mysterious and dark, ending in a culmination of secrets and tenebrosity. He looks every bit of an Alpha werewolf come to rectify a territory dispute. The music in Sage’s ears completely fades away and all he can hear is static as he stares at Rhys, completely transfixed on how stunning he looks. Rhys is so beautiful that Sage is left breathless from the sight of him.
Then Rhys’s eyes dart quickly to Hazel, and his unreadable expression turns into a dangerous and menacing scowl. Sage’s brain comes back online, and he immediately feels his muscles tense again. Hazel still has her hands around his neck even though Sage has stopped moving and isn’t looking at her anymore. Hazel is glancing in between their bodies as if she’s ashamed, and for a heartbeat, all Sage can think is good, she should be ashamed, before he blinks and shakes his head. He’s not comfortable with her flirting, but at least part of him is mildly sympathetic.
“Hazel,” he says slowly, taking a deep breath. She looks up at him, but there’s no predatory smile or tantalizing glint in her eyes. She’s looking at him, for the first time tonight, with bare honesty. He takes another breath. “I think you’re a very valuable member of our team. I respect you and your work, and I consider you a great friend. I’m sorry if it may have seemed like I was being friendlier than I let on, but I really was just trying to be polite. I’m sorry you’re feeling this way.” She nods at him. Sage continues, “But I also need you to understand that I love my boyfriend, and that nothing is ever going to happen between us.”
“I know,” Hazel says quickly, nodding again. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“You did,” Sage says quietly, glancing at Rhys again, who glares menacingly at Hazel’s backside, before he continues, “but we need to focus on what we’re trying to do tonight. We’re friends, and you and I have a job to do. We can talk about this stuff later.”
She nods quickly, saying quietly, “I’m sorry,” before she takes a step away from him.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Sage says, his eyes locked on where Kai and Rhys are standing. Hazel nods at him, then walks away from the dancing couples back towards the Roman exhibit. Sage doesn’t watch her as she walks away, just moves through the moving bodies until he’s standing right in front of Kai and Rhys.
Rhys’s eyes are still trailing after Hazel as she walks off the dance floor, and Sage reaches out to grab his wrist to get him to stop. Rhys meets his gaze sharply, and Sage watches as he clenches his jaw.
Kai grimaces at him, giving a low whistle. “So, I got him in,” he says by way of a greeting, his eyes glancing back towards where Steele is now nursing a beer. Steele isn’t looking in their direction when Sage risks a glance towards the bar, but that doesn’t mean he’s not listening.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Sage replies, staring into Rhys’s eyes. Rhys holds his gaze, unwavering. “Sorry that I wasn’t there.”
“You looked. . .busy,” Kai settles on, and Rhys growls threateningly under his breath as he clenches his hands into fists. The warning in Rhys's low snarl spurs Sage spurs into action. He doesn’t want anyone around them to hear the way Rhys sounds more animal than man.
“Okay,” Sage says roughly, tightening his grip on Rhys’s wrist. “Come on.” He doesn’t look back at Kai as he begins to tug Rhys towards one of the small alcoves under the lantern archways. He looks around quickly before spotting a bathroom and quickly pushes the door open, dropping Rhys’s wrist so he can check out the stalls around them.
All of the stalls are empty, and Sage turns back to Rhys slowly, running a hand through his hair nervously. Rhys takes his mask off harshly, bending the plastic as he clenches his hand into a fist. He stands stoic and statuesque as he regards Sage, a scowl on his face.
Sage finds the ribbon of his own mask and unties it, bringing it down and tossing it onto the sink closest to him. He takes a deep breath.
“How much of that did you hear?” he asks slowly, looking into Rhys’s eyes warily.
Rhys’s jaw clenches even further. “Everything after you said that you didn’t want to get distrac
ted by her.”
“Fuck,” Sage mutters quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He takes another deep breath to steady himself. “Rhys,” he says, his voice low, “I’m so sorry.”
Rhys’s eyes sharpen, and he growls again. “What do you have to be sorry for?” he asks tensely. He chuckles bitterly. “You didn’t even do anything wrong.”
“I didn’t know that she was going to say all of that stuff, Ree,” Sage replies, exhaling sharply and running a hand through his hair again. “And I wasn’t getting distracted by her. I was distracted because we were dancing.”
“That’s great,” Rhys says, and Sage snaps his eyes up quickly. Rhys’s scowl deepens as the shadows of his face turn grim. “You know, you don’t really have to tell me this. I already know she’s practically in love with you. I could smell it all over her.”
“Rhys. . .” Sage trails off, his throat tightening. “I. . .I’m in love with you. She knows that. And she’s not in love with me.”
Rhys growls again. “Yeah, you told her that you were in love with me, and she still said she that she didn’t care, Sage.”
Sage starts to shake his head, beginning to open his mouth to say something, to grasp at anything to try to make Rhys feel better, but Rhys cuts him off, taking a step forward.
“You don’t think that I know exactly what she’s talking about? You’re all I think about, too. I hear your heartbeat all the time, Sage! Everything about you makes me—crave you,” Rhys says, now only a few steps away from Sage. He inhales deeply, his eyes wild. “The way you smell drives me insane. The feel of your hands on my body is enough to get me aching for you. You’re absolutely beautiful—the prettiest human I’ve ever seen. Your lips,” he says, his voice heavy as he takes another step forward until he’s standing only a few inches away from Sage. He growls, repeating, “Your lips are the sweetest thing that I’ve ever tasted. I think about you all the time. I can’t stop thinking about you. All I want when we’re apart is to be near you again. You’re—” he cuts himself off, cupping Sage’s face now, breathing heavily. Sage’s own breathing is sporadic and uneven, his heart in his throat. “You’re a part of me. You’re in my fingertips—in my blood. I feel you in every fiber of my being.” Rhys’s voice is only a whisper now, a melody that has no ending or beginning. “I’m completely consumed by you. I’m so in love with you that I can’t even think about anything but you anymore. I want to make you laugh, make you smile, make you happy, for the rest of my life. I want to—God, I want so many things with you.” Rhys’s body completely envelops him, and Sage feels boneless against him, helpless. He’s frozen against the sink, completely at Rhys’s mercy. “I know exactly what she’s talking about, Sage, because I know what it feels like to be in love with you.”