Fae Lord Seduced
Real Fae of Othercross 2
Marina Maddix
Contents
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the Author
About This Book
It's all fun and games until someone finds their fated mate.
Fae Lords just wanna have fun. That's Kellen Oberon's motto anyway, so when he's invited to a wedding in Othercross that no one expects him to attend, he's totally down to clown. That is his specialty, after all—deflecting attention away from his lack of experience as a clan leader with humor and a bit of levity. Besides, eager bridesmaids are the perfect diversion from one's own failings.
Then he sees her. Not a bridesmaid, but a sumptuous beauty who lights his every nerve ablaze. He must have her, and to his surprise, the sheltered witch feels the same. By the time dawn breaks, he knows Evie is his fated mate, but there's just one problem—she bolted before he woke. Now Kellen must track her down and convince her they're destined to be together.
Assuming her coven doesn't kill him first.
* * *
Fae Lord Seduced is the second book in a new series of four fae romances set in the Real Men of Othercross world. If you like fated mates, you'll love this quick, steamy romance!
Don't miss the next book in the series, Fae Lord Redeemed!
* * *
REAL MEN OF OTHERCROSS
Vampire Seduction
Vampire Claim
Vampire Temptation
Vampire Reunion
Fae Lord Avenged
Fae Lord Seduced
Fae Lord Redeemed
Fae Lord Bewitched
Chapter One
It was hard for Evanora La Croix not to be jealous.
Her body was following the music’s rhythm as she danced, but her mind was busy soaking up every single detail of the wedding reception. From the bride’s wedding dress to the warm laughter that filled Guildcrest Hall, she was determined not to let a single thing slip by without her noticing it.
Of course, her best witch friend, Kelly Holloway, made that almost impossible. As usual, she was dancing like a maniac, swaying her hips from side to side as if her life depended on it, and she seemed determined to get both Evie and their fae pal Galwyn Murphy to join her in that dance floor madness of hers. Not that Evie minded—after all, she had agreed to attend as Kelly’s plus-one just so she could let her hair down for a night.
“Come on.” Laughing, Kelly laid one hand on Evie’s shoulder and smiled. “Shake those hips while you can, girl. You’re getting old, remember? Soon enough you’re gonna need a cane to move around, so you better work that body.”
With a quick spin, one that had her golden hair whipping around her neck, Kelly turned to Galwyn and gave her a wink. “Evie’s turning twenty-five tomorrow.”
“What?” Galwyn’s eyes widened and, as a smile dawned on her lips, she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “When were you planning to tell me that, Evie? How come I didn’t know about that?”
Evie shrugged. “It’s bad luck to celebrate a birthday before its time.”
Even though her excitement was pretty non-existent, Evie somehow managed to plaster a forced smile on her face. She grabbed three flutes of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and then offered two of them to her friends. “But a pre-celebratory drink won’t do us any harm.”
“It sure won’t,” Kelly agreed, tipping her head back and downing her champagne in a single gulp.
Kelly was the consummate party girl, as well as the wildest of Evie’s small circle of friends, but maybe that was the reason they’d grown so close. Even though their personalities were different, they complemented each other nicely.
“Well, bottoms up, I guess.”
With a quick laugh, Evie followed her friend’s lead and tipped her head back. The bubbly alcohol coated her tongue like satin, and then it went down her throat like the smoothest of fabrics. As she looked down at the empty glass, she could already feel the alcohol working its way into her bloodstream, a pleasant warmth spreading all over her body. She wasn’t used to drinking and, under most circumstances, nobody would find her drinking like Kelly.
Tonight, though, was different.
She had come here to let loose and have one last taste of the real word, and that was exactly what she intended to do. Even if that pushed her out of her comfort zone. After all, when Kelly asked her to be her date for the wedding, hadn’t she promised herself that she’d make an effort to enjoy it? With her big birthday looming—and the shackles that came with it—she deserved this.
As the champagne worked its magic, Evie quickly settled into more comfortable dance moves. She ran her hands through her long brown hair as her full hips swayed and her heart thumped happily. She even forgot about the fact that she would never have a wedding of her own. In that moment, all that mattered was having fun.
Who’s that?
A handsome fae prowled around the dance floor, watching her. He had long flame-red hair and brown eyes that looked almost orange at a distance. His tailored suit fit his swimmer’s body like a glove, and the sharp lines of his jaw made Evie’s heart tighten inside her chest. She dared to return his gaze for a moment, but that was enough for his eyes to flash neon.
Oh gosh, he’s an Oberon, she suddenly recalled, remembering what Kelly had told her about the dangerous fae outcasts.
They were four cousins, each one of them a clan leader, and they had a reputation that preceded them. Apparently, nobody had expected them to attend Kiki and Thayne’s reception, as there was some old feud between the Oberons and the Murphys. Yet here they were.
Forcing herself to look away, she did her best to free herself from whatever hold this Oberon guy had put on her, but it was almost impossible. Every ten seconds or so, she found herself sneaking glances at him, and he never failed to lock his eyes with hers. Whenever she looked in his direction, there he was—always on the edge of the dance floor, a soft smile on his lips. He looked like a predator sizing up his prey, and to think of him like that…well, that did something to her body, even though she couldn’t exactly explain what that something was.
All she knew was that her heart was slowly—but steadily—picking up the pace, and that her insides were clenching up. Even when Galwyn was pulled away from the group by her elderly suitor, Lord Rutherford, Evie barely registered it happening. Her whole attention had been ensnared by that fae’s perfect smile.
Even so, she still jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to find the Oberon fae standing no more than two feet away from her, that dangerous glint she had seen before still in his eyes. She’d looked away from him for no more than two seconds, but somehow that had been enough time for him to sneak up on her.
These Oberon guys…they’re predators, all right.
“Dance with me,” he said smoothly, his smile never wavering as he offered his hand.
Before she even knew what she was doing, Evie’s fingers slipped into the palm of his hand. She wasn’t used to having men as handsome as this fae hitting on her and, despite how excited she felt about it, it was probably better for her not to fall under his spell. Her cheeks started to burn right then and there, and she looked around hoping to find some help.
Sadly, there was no point. Galwyn had fallen into Lord Rutherford’s trap and was now dancing on the farthest end of the dance floor. As for K
elly, the minute she’d noticed this fae’s approach, she seemed to have wickedly melted back into the crowd.
“I’m not much of a dancer,” she murmured, her dry tongue thick in her mouth. It was hard to speak while looking into his eyes…and yet, she couldn’t look away.
“Let me be the judge of that.”
Before she could do a thing about it, the fae closed the meager distance between them. He pressed his body against hers, his right hand on her hip, and his smile widened to reveal two perfect rows of pearly white teeth.
“I’ve been watching you dance…” He paused pointedly, one of his eyebrows arching up as if asking her a question.
“Evanora,” she said, and then bit the corner of her bottom lip. “But everyone calls me Evie.”
“Evie.” He said it slowly, almost in a lazy way, as if he were tasting her name. “I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Evie. I’m Kellen.”
She resisted the urge to do what he’d done and repeat his name. Somehow she knew his name would feel like silk on her tongue and she didn’t need to give her heart another excuse to keep ramping up the pace. As it was she was already struggling to think straight.
As the music stepped into a counterpoint, Kellen’s fingers gently dug into her waist, and he guided her across the dance floor with smooth, carefree movements. Even though she had never thought of herself as much of a dancer, her feet were quick to settle into Kellen’s smooth rhythm. Soon enough, she was dancing as though she’d been born knowing how.
Kellen leaned in, his hot breath on her ear. “Not bad. For someone who doesn’t know how to dance, you sure know how to move your body.”
The hairs on the back of Evie’s neck stood on end. Tall flames began warming her body from the inside out, and it didn’t take long before it felt like her blood were simmering inside her veins.
She had never felt this kind of attraction before but, then again, when had she ever been this close to someone like Kellen? The man seemed to have been sculpted into existence by a master—every time they spun around, she felt the twisting motions of his abs—and he had a smooth and charismatic aura about him. He was the epitome of everything Evie considered sexiness to be.
The right thing to do in this situation was to find an excuse and step away from him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Sure, she was turning twenty-five tomorrow, and things would change for her…but she wasn’t twenty-five yet, was she? This was her last chance to experience what life had to offer and she wasn’t willing to let the opportunity slip through her fingers. Even if it was wrong, she was going to seize the moment.
“You’re the one who’s leading,” she told him, and this time she managed to return his smile. “I’m just doing what your body tells me to.”
She was fully aware that her words brimmed with innuendo, but she didn’t care. For the first time in her life, she was letting something other than her rational side sit behind the steering wheel.
“Well, then you’re extremely good at following my lead,” he whispered, pulling a smidge closer.
His words were hot coals. She could almost feel the heat emanating from his body, and her own body was reacting in kind. Welling up from deep within her was lust—fiery and uncontrollable—and she knew that whatever resistance she tried to offer wouldn’t do her any good, so she did the only reasonable thing she could do.
She surrendered to it.
“Want to get out of here?” she whispered, the words coming out from her mouth before she could stop them.
Kellen raised one surprised eyebrow, and his smile curled into a wide grin. Chewing on her bottom lip, she glanced at the crowd, searching for a way out of the hall. It’d be almost impossible to slip out unnoticed, so she’d have to create a diversion. Thankfully, she knew exactly how to go about it.
Focusing on the smoke machine in the far corner of the room, Evie knitted her eyebrows together. She tapped into her inner well of witchy magic, felt that familiar tingling sensation that started in her toes and crept up her legs, and then closed her eyes for a half-second. A burst of energy zipped from her across the dance floor—and then there were sparks.
People yelped as the smoke machine misfired and a mushroom cloud of smoke started enveloping the hall. When the smoke wrapped itself around them like a veil of invisibility, Evie seized the opportunity and dragged him out of the hall.
I’m doing this, she thought, her heart hammering inside her chest. I’m actually doing this.
Chapter Two
She was a forward little creature, that was for sure. As the lovely Evie pulled him by the hand, Kellen couldn’t help marveling a bit at his own good fortune. Being the youngest of the Oberon cousins, he’d always felt just a bit overshadowed in their company. Maybe that’s why he’d cultivated a ready charm—anything to distinguish himself.
And yet here he was, being stolen away from the party by the single most beautiful woman in attendance. Not only that, but the sexy banter they had just indulged in gave him a clue as to what might lie ahead. While most who knew Kellen might have called him a bit of a flirt, the situation he found himself in was tantalizingly foreign.
They found themselves breathless in a narrow corridor, where the vibrations of the music buzzed the stone walls. With a sudden ferocity, Evie turned on him, pushed him back into the cool, rough surface, and stood on her tiptoes to reach him. Their lips met in a mad crush and he could just taste the wine that must have emboldened her. But that wasn’t what he found intoxicating.
“Gosh,” she said when she broke away for a breath.
The combination of the hunger in her voice and the chaste girlishness of the word flared inside him. In that instant, he could hear all of a very sheltered life packed up inside her, screaming for release.
“Evie,” he whispered, taking her chin in his hand. She nipped for his lips and they enjoyed the gentle play of resistance, but the teasing only stirred his appetite further. “What now?”
She looked up to him with wide emerald eyes. There was something between fear and desire behind them, and he could feel she was as enraptured and as lost as he was. Pulling her back to him, she searched his mouth with her tongue and grappled at his clothes with insistent fingers. There was something irreplaceable about the first flush of attraction, and they were toppling headlong into it together.
You know what? Kellen thought. Fuck it. We’re getting out of here.
Making out in a dim hallway was delicious, but they were both eager for more than just a taste of passion. He knew it in himself and he could feel it pounding inside her.
“Let’s go.”
This time, he took the lead. Leading Evie by the hand, they fled the creaky Guildcrest Hall on impatient, silent feet. When they broke out into the cool of the evening and the night air rushed in around them, she nestled in close under his arm. Anyone might have thought they were a couple snuggling against the chill but the way her hands searched under his jacket, he knew it was far more than that.
The walk to his inn was brisk and passed in that crackling silence which accompanies newborn desire. His mind raced with the excitement of what lay ahead, and he could feel her heart beating into his side.
It was staggering to be wanted so desperately. For the last few months, Kellen had spent so much time feeling out of his depth that it sometimes seemed as if no one wanted him. As the freshly minted Lord of Ravencut clan, he spent most of his time feeling like a grubby little fraud. Nobody else seemed to have caught on yet, but that didn’t stop the anxiety from sitting just next to his heart.
Bad enough to have lost his father so suddenly, but to be thrust into those immense, waiting shoes was doubly intimidating. Kellen had barely been afforded time to grieve before the myriad responsibilities of leadership came to rest heavily on his shoulders. He worried that his charm would only carry him so far.
And yet the bright young thing clinging to him gave no sign of doubt. His worries were strangers to her, and the freedom of that only made him need her mo
re. Not just as a lover, but as a companion. Someone who could help him find respite from the worries that clung to his daily life. Perhaps she was seeking refuge in him as well.
At the entrance to the inn, he pulled up short and turned Evie to face him. There was no way he was going to find himself taking advantage of a heated moment, no matter how much his body yearned to get to the good stuff. Gazing down into her eyes, he let her read the seriousness of his question.
“Are you sure?”
The words hung between them for a moment, then she stood up on her toes to find his mouth again. When she broke away, she smoothed back a strand of his long hair with her fingers and kept her palm on the side of his face.
“Thank you for asking. Now take me inside.”
The heat rumbling underneath her gentle command sent them both soaring up to his room. As soon as the door closed behind them, the frenzy of kissing kicked up again. But with the safety of privacy, it had intensified to a roiling boil.
Those quietly thirsty hands had grown ravenous, shoving his jacket over his shoulders. That done, they helped themselves to his chest, tearing at his buttons. When he loosed his grip on her body to help her with them, she sprang back. For a startling moment, he worried that he might have done something wrong.
Far from it.
She snatched down the zipper on her dress and let it fall in a crumpled heap at her feet. The sudden revelation of so much skin snapped his manhood to full attention. He’d never been so hard—he ached with it.
“Gods. Evie.”
He slammed into her with hopeless abandon, burying his face between her luscious breasts. His hands were too busy worrying the flare of her hips to bother with much else, and Evie released a gasping moan as she fumbled with the clasp on her bra. As soon as it broke free, she shot her hands over him and dragged her nails lightly up his back.
Fae Lord Seduced: Real Fae of Othercross 2 Page 1