Wicked Ties

packed and we ended up having to park in a garage two blocks down from Flux.

Ren stopped me as we walked out of the shadowy garage. "Are you ready for this?"

The question humored me. "Are you?"

He grinned. "I'm ready for anything and everything."

What he said came across as meaning a hell of a lot more than what we were about to do, and it brought that reckless feeling to the surface, as if I was standing at the edge of a cliff with one foot dangling off the precipice.

There wasn't much time to really think about that. We were at the club, and I needed to focus on what we were doing. A human male worked the front door, checking IDs, but he appeared to be more interested in the way we looked than how old we were or who we were.

He eyed us like we were cows being auctioned off.

"Have fun," he said, voice sounding like he'd swallowed nails as he handed our IDs back to us.

Tiny hairs rose along my arms as we crossed the deep blue carpet in front of the tinted black double doors. The low, melodic thump of music drifted outside. The door opened before we reached it. Another human male, brawny and rough looking with a shaved head, had opened it.

Ren's hand settled at the small of my back as we stepped inside. I wasn't scared, and I probably should've been, but curiosity was the reigning emotion as I got my first look at the club trolled by ancients.

It looked so incredibly normal, like any upscale club in any large city. Lit with low, flattering lights, there were a lot of dark areas full of shadow-shaped people at the fringe of a large, slightly raised dance floor. On the other side was a long bar with brighter lights showing off the line of high priced liquors. A spiral staircase was near the bar, leading to a second floor. From our vantage point, I could see couches and roped off areas.

But as we walked further in, I began to make out more of the details of those in the shadowy enclaves surrounding the dance floor and the high tables.

I gaped as I stood on the polished floors.

There were mortals in those shadows, their bodies entwined together on the lush couches, a flash of hands moving and glimpses of flesh. But there weren't just mortals. There were fae among them. Their pale blue eyes shined eerily bright in the low light, their skin a beautiful shade of silver. Their hands and bodies moved among the mortals.

Ren lowered his mouth to my ear. "You see what I'm seeing?"

I nodded, unable to speak. My skin felt hot as I stared into the shadows. Some of them . . . they weren't just kissing or touching. Oh no, they were doing much, much more.

"They are everywhere." His hand stayed on my back. "Jesus."

Dragging my stare from the unexpected porn show, my gaze flitted across the dance floor and to the bar beyond. Ren was right. Some were at the bar drinking. Others were on the dance floor. A few lingered on the staircase leading to the second floor.

They were everywhere and there were so many of them. At least thirty.

Instinctively, I knew Ren had stumbled onto something major when he followed Marlon to the club. "I've never seen so many together."

"Me neither," he said grimly. Straightening, his hand slipped off my back and found my hand. He threaded his fingers through mine.

Ren led the way around the dance floor, and I did everything in my power not to look into the shadows. We edged around a group of college-aged girls crowding a table, and a fae stepped out of the shadows, directly in front of us.

My breath caught, and my free hand tingled with the need to grab the stake. Ren's hand tightened around mine as the fae looked us over with pale eyes before moving on to the group of girls.

Ren and I exchanged a long look as we continued to the bar. If we could hear anything, it would be there, but as I glanced at the stairwell, my heart lurched in my chest.

"Shit," I hissed, drawing to a halt.

"What?" Ren turned to me.

Turning to the side, I let my hair fall forward, shielding my face. "It's him. The fae who shot me. He's coming down the staircase."

Ren looked over his shoulder and muttered a curse. Hiding my face wasn't a great shield considering my hair probably gave my ass away. "He hasn't been in here this whole week," he growled. "Dammit."

This was bad. The moment the ancient saw me, our cover would be blown to pieces, and with so many fae being inside the club, I knew we wouldn't make it out. I started to reach for my stake just as Ren started walking toward the shadowy recesses surrounding the floor. My brain balked at the idea considering what was going on in those shadows, but it was either that or throw down in the middle of a fae infested club.

Staring straight ahead, I didn't dare look at the couches we walked past, but I heard the sounds—the soft moans and guttural groans, the panting of many breaths and sharp inhales, the echoes of flesh against flesh mingling with the steady thrum of music.

Oh dear lord in heaven . . .

Couples danced near the couches—uh, on second thought, I wasn't sure what they were doing was dancing. My step faltered as Ren suddenly stopped. He turned to me, and still holding my hand, he hauled me forward against his chest. Throwing my hand to his shoulder, I steadied myself just as he let go of my hand and circled his arm around my waist, sealing our bodies together—front to front.

Immediately aware of the hard breadth of his chest, I stiffened against him. "What the . . .?"

Ren's other hand curled in my hair, scooping it to the side as he lowered his mouth to my ear once more. "He's on the dance floor with another fae."

I swallowed, wondering how well the ancient could see into the shadows. "Crap."

"Yep."

My hands curled around the material of his soft shirt. "What do we do now since this was your genius idea?"

"You agreed."

"Ren," I seethed.

"Blend in." He pressed his cheek against mine, startling me. "We just blend in."

"Blending in means having sex," I retorted. "Or haven't you noticed that's what's happening around us?"

"Oh, I've noticed." The hand in my hair tightened, and I gasped as his lips brushed the skin of my neck. "Dance, Ivy."

Dance? Did it seem like this was the appropriate moment to dance? I wanted to push Ren down and kick him in the side, but as I dared to peek at the people near us, I had to admit that dancing was better than just standing here. At a quick glimpse, the couples did look like they were dancing. Maybe some were.

Closing my eyes, I tightened my hands along his shoulders until Ren let out a low growl that was part warning, part something else entirely. The last thing I needed to do was dance with Ren. Or was it? A low hum of excitement trilled through my veins, but I blamed that on adrenaline. I opened my eyes, focusing on the tan stretch of skin exposed through the vee of his shirt.

I started to dance.

My pulse skyrocketed as I swayed my hips, and it was as awkward as a three-legged cat trying to walk a tightrope. Dipping my chin, I hid my flaming face. Between my jerky movements and the indecently loud sighs surrounding us, I wanted to pitch myself in front of a bus.

"He's still talking to the fae." Ren's voice was low and surprisingly soothing in my ear. "He hasn't noticed us. You're doing good, but I know you can do better."

I stilled. "What?"

"Dancing," he replied, and as my gaze shot up to his, he winked. "You own a dress like that, I know you can move that body."

"I am moving my body."

He glanced behind me. "You're just moving side to side."

"Screw. You."

He chuckled. "Okay."

"Pervert," I shot back, but without much heat. He was right, though. I was sort of moving side to side, kind of like I was at a high school prom. Actually, they danced better than this. Gathering up my courage, I draped an arm around his neck. "Remember. You asked for this."

He arched an eyebrow.

"Try to keep an eye on the ancient."

Ren's stare turned lazy and wholly arrogant. "Oh, I haven't forgotten why we're here."

Holding his smug gaze, I started to move against him, but not like before. I found the beat of the music, letting it resonate in my veins, through my body, and into my limbs. My fingers found the hair at the nape of his neck. I tugged with just enough force to cause his eyes to open wide.

I smiled innocently up at him but immediately regretted it when he dipped his mouth to my neck. "That was naughty," he mused, his lips brushing the sensitive skin below my ear. "And I liked it."

"Figures," I muttered. Even though I wanted to pull his hair again, I decided that wasn't a wise or beneficial act. "What's he doing now?"

"Still talking. He's at a table now, on the other side."

I resisted the urge to stomp my foot, because the longer I moved against Ren's body, the more I became aware of him. The feel of his hard chest against my much softer one. The way his hand had flattened on my left hip and how the hand in my hair had moved to my back. My heart was beating faster, and it had nothing to do with dancing.

My other hand slipped off his shoulder to his chest, and I felt his deep, sudden inhale. I glanced up quickly, and our gazes collided, held. I was snared. The green hue churned restlessly. His hand on my back slid down the line of my spine and then trailed back up, leaving a wake of shivers behind. With the hand on my hip, he tugged me even closer to him, fitting our hips together. The act left me warm, and that heat spread through me, causing my body to relax and tense at the same time.

The arrogance from earlier was gone from his gaze, replaced by a stark and powerful emotion. Desire. Want. Need. It was all there, and he did nothing to hide it. He didn't shy away from it, but I wasn't ready to see it, to even begin to deal with it. Moving sideways, I turned our bodies so when I gave Ren my back, I wasn't facing the dance floor directly. I could see the ancient, and he was no longer talking to just one fae. Another had joined him.

Swaying to the music, I bit down on my lip when Ren's arm crept around my waist and hauled me back against him.

"Careful," he said, his nose grazing my cheek. "I know damn well he hasn't forgotten that face of yours."

I had no idea if that was just a statement, a compliment, or an insult, but then his hand slid across my stomach, his fingers expanding, and as I danced, I realized this position was a bad idea. Every slight move of my hips sent a jolt of shivery awareness through me. His other hand rested on my hip again, and as he finally started to move behind me, finding the rhythm I'd set, I struggled to remember to breathe.

This . . . this was too much, and yet I didn't pull away. I didn't put distance between us.

Our bodies were virtually one, and the feel of him against my back turned my insides into molten lava that simmered and then flared hotly the moment I felt his mouth, wet and warm against my neck, just below my ear. Ren didn't move those decadent lips. He waited for my reaction, and each second that ticked by I was losing myself to the shadows, to the way we moved against one another, and to the act it simulated.

He pressed a kiss against my fluttering pulse, and another gasp escaped me. My eyes drifted shut as he rained a tiny path of sweet, brief kisses along the length of my throat. This was just pretend. I kept telling myself that as his thumb moved in a slow circle just below my breasts. We were pretending. That was all. But my body didn't recognize that. My breasts ached, and the area between my thighs pulsed. Arousal hummed through my body.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a couple standing across from us. Both were human, and they too were pressed so closely there was no telling where one body ended and the other began. Their mouths were fused together, and his hand was under the skirt of her dress.

God, I wanted Ren to touch me like that. Though that would be entirely wicked and completely wrong, the mere thought of him doing that caused my back to arch and my bottom to press back against him.

Air left my lungs in an unsteady rush. I felt him, and knew at once what I saw in his stare was real. He was not uninvolved in this. He was hard and thick against my lower back as my hips rolled against him.

This was getting out of control.

Ren's hand on my hip moved, inching down my thigh. The tips of his fingers brushed the bare skin of my left leg, and I shuddered. There was no hiding it, no mistaking it. His mouth trailed back up my throat.

"He's still at the table," he whispered, barely audible over the music, the whimpers echoing around us, the sound of my pounding heart.

I opened my mouth, but he caught the lobe of my ear between his teeth, and my words were lost in a moan. He chuckled, and I wanted to hate him for that, but my senses were alive, sending heat through my veins.

His hands were on the move again. The one on my stomach had inched up, his thumb smoothing along the underswell of my breast. Damn that bra, because it proved a formidable barrier, but I could feel the tips of my breasts hardening, and the ache grew stronger. My breath was coming in short pants, and I wasn't sure if we were dancing anymore or just grinding on one another.

My wild gaze flickered to where the ancient was and saw that Ren had not lied. Tiny, delicious knots formed low in my belly when his hand slipped under the hem of my skirt, causing me to jerk against him, losing the rhythm. I gripped his arm, my nails digging into his skin.

Ren waited.

Because I was obviously losing my mind, I didn't pull his hand away, and that was all the permission he needed. His hand swept up my thigh. There was fire in my blood, incensed by the deep sound that rumbled out of Ren from behind me.

His breath danced over the slope of my neck and then my jaw. He pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth as his chest rose and fell heavily against my back.

"Honored," he whispered.

My heart stuttered blindly. Almost as if I was somewhere else, I watched through a haze as the ancient who could recognize who and what I was stalked across the club toward the exit. He was leaving. We were safe, and it was time to stop this, but his fingers were so close, skimming the crease of my thigh, and I couldn't ever remember feeling like this—like I couldn't breathe. Ren cupped me with his hand, and my entire body reacted to the intimate touch.

The thin scrap of lace was no protection. His hand was hot, and as he pressed his palm against the spot he just seemed to know, against the bundle of nerves, I thought I saw stars.

This was insane.

But I burned for his touch—for him. Thoughts of the fae and the ancients fell away. Being distracted as we were was so incredibly dangerous and ridiculously stupid, but as I held on to his forearm, holding his hand there, I shook with a need I didn't even fully understand.

"Fuck," he cursed. "I want to make you come. Right here. Right now."

The words jarred me into reality, but his fingers had found that spot, brushing over the damp stretch of panties and dragging out a bolt of sharp pleasure. The knot in my belly tightened as he trailed his finger back and forth. Desire clouded all sense of rationale.

"Tell me yes," he ordered huskily. "Tell me yes and I'll do whatever you want. Anything you want. Just let me do this."

Shocked by his words—shocked by the way I rode his hand and by how badly I wanted him, I knew I had to end this because of—because of reasons. But I was urging him on, pressing myself against him, wishing deep inside that he'd slip one of those long fingers under my panties. My gaze danced over the club.

"Ivy." He breathed my name like it was a curse.

The word was on the tip of my tongue, forming on my lips as I saw him glide across the floor. Reality rushed me. I jerked forward, breaking free. His hand slipped over my thigh as I whirled around, facing him. I ached—throbbed. My body was screaming what the hell at me, and even my brain was kind of confused. My entire being craved release at his hands.

Ren looked dazed as he stared down at me. He took a step forward, and my heart jumped. Hard desire was etched into his striking features. He no longer looked angelic, but more like a fallen angel hell-bent on claiming me. Two words drew him up short.

"He's here," I gasped out. He stiffened, his gaze never leaving my face. "Marlon is here."





Chapter Thirteen





For a moment, the look that settled into Ren's features said he really didn't give a shit about the ancient, and as my heart raced, I really thought he was going to close the sudden distance between us and we were going to end up like one of those couples on the couches.