Excerpt reprinted with permission

“It's all right.” I sighed. “I feel the same way.” And I did. My body was tense, as angry with me as he was; thrumming with need for a man we could never have. So stupid.

“Then why are you denying us this?” Tiernan looked over at me; his eyes wide with confusion. “A fairy would never ignore an attraction so strong. Pleasure should be taken wherever it can be found; especially for those of us who rarely find it.”

“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “Don't you dare try to imply that you don't get laid all the time.”

“Ah.” He gave a grim laugh. “There's that crudeness I was referring to.”

“As if fairies aren't crude.” I lifted a brow at him.

“Not the sidhe”—he shook his head—“and I wouldn't couple with a lesser fey.”

“Well, there you go. I'm obviously not the girl for you.” I glanced away; unsure why his criticism of my behavior should hit me so hard.

“Stop doing that!” Tiernan grabbed my upper arm and gave it a little shake. “This is not going away; no matter what you say. And no, by the way, I don't get laid all the time.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I looked him over. “Not only are you gorgeous, you're a freaking Lord of the Wild Hunt; as you keep reminding me. That alone should drop some panties.”

He just sat there and gaped at me. Did he really not know how hot he was? I'd seen enough fairies to know that even among their stunning throng, this guy was something noteworthy. His humble, shocked expression had to be pretense... and it probably worked on a lot of women. God damned fairies; they were good at getting what they wanted.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I finally growled. “I'm not going to fall for your Eeyore routine.”

“My what?” He went from shocked to baffled.

“You know,” I said. “Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh; Thanks for noticing me.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about, but this person sounds pathetic, and I assure you; I am not that,” he said stiffly.

“No,” I said and laughed, “you're definitely not pathetic. Which leads me back to my point. You'll have no trouble finding another lover. So, why don't you go and do that, as will I, and we can both forget this ever happened?”

“There will be no forgetting.” Tiernan started up the car angrily. “This is far from over, Seren, but I refuse to sit here arguing with you about it on a public street where we could both potentially become targets.”

“I am not a target,” I groaned as he pulled out into traffic. “No one is trying to kill me.”

That was when the first wave of magic hit.