Without overthinking it, I reached up and traced his jawline. His eyes were the most captivating, searing green I’d ever seen. A slow buzzing sensation filled my body then, and my breath caught as he stiffened against me.

Something white and fluttering caught my eye, and I glanced up to see over a dozen white glowing butterflies descend upon us. His whole body tensed further as the butterflies landed on us, one by one.

Laugher pealed out of me as he held me tightly.

“Oh, my mage, this is crazy!” I said.

The buzzing grew stronger; the urge to draw closer to him seized me. I dropped my gaze, and my lips parted. His hands gripped my hips, his eyes widening, and his skin blanched as the butterflies settled onto my shoulders and his arms.

“It’s you,” he whispered, his voice filled with awe.

“What?” I didn’t have time to process anything more because, in that moment, he leaned in and captured my mouth in a kiss. When our lips touched, warmth exploded within my chest and traveled downward, pooling low in my belly. The buzzing tingle saturated my entire body, and I reached up and threaded my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. He nipped at my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to him. He tasted of honey and promise. I kissed him harder; his fingers kneaded my back, reeling me into him until I was smooshed against his hard body. I’d never been kissed like this. Not James from the clan, not Kevin the farm boy who lived next door. Not ever. This kiss was earth-shattering. I was hungry for him in a way I’d never felt before. He deepened the kiss, and our tongues tangled, causing him to moan against my lips.

I swallowed his breath, wanting more of him. As I pushed my hands into his hair, the rest of the world faded until there was only him and me and this heat between us. I needed his kiss like I needed air. I needed him. I—

“Friend!” a voice that sounded a bit like Kaja shouted. “Blue-haired friend that I came with and now can’t find…!”

I froze.

Crap, she couldn’t say my name without giving me away.

Just like that, he pulled back, breaking the kiss, and the butterflies that had landed on us took flight and disappeared into the forest.

We stood there staring at each other, panting, lips swollen and red from our kiss.

“Who … who are you?” Screw the rules. I needed more of that kissing, and I wasn’t about to leave this party without this guy’s name.

“No.” He backed up, chest heaving, his gaze looking me up and down as if I were the plague. Okay … maybe he did care about the rules.

“FRIEND! I’m calling werewolf 911, AKA the king, if you don’t—”

“She’s in here!” the dude called out and turned away from me, booking it for the gate.

“Wait!” I called after him. “Seriously?”

He reached the gate and looked back at me, his eyes, like glittering emeralds, brimmed with sadness.

“I can’t. I … won’t.” Then, he left.

What. The. Mage?

“There you are! You had me so worried.” Kaja was nearly falling over, holding two glasses of mage wine and looking over her shoulder at the mystery kisser’s retreating form.

“I’m … fine.” Was I fine?

No. I’d never be fine again.

Not after a kiss like that.

Chapter 7

I’d stared at his retreating form until he disappeared, and even then, I just kept staring at the gate. Legit … what … the … mage … just happened?

“I can’t … I won’t.” What did that mean? I didn’t initially take sexy-shmexy homeboy for an asshat, but what did I know? Maybe he really was one. I mean … obviously, he was! Who kissed a woman like that and then left?

Green-eyed asshats.

“Who was that?” Kaja asked, toddling over to me with two half-filled glasses of mage wine. “And what did you do to freak him out?”

The sparkling liquid glowed golden in the crystal glasses, and the sinking feeling in my stomach needed to be quenched. I was not going to cry over someone I didn’t even know—especially if he was douchy enough to run off after kissing me. Did it matter if that kiss was the best I’d ever had? Nope. I’d just have to find someone else to give me a better one.

“That was a douche-canoe,” I said, plucking one of the crystal flutes from her hand. “And this”—I raised the glass—“is me taking charge of the rest of the night. We’re going to eat enough delicious food to last a lifetime and find someone else to kiss who makes our toes curl.”

Kaja nodded with a grin and solidified her role as my new BFF by raising her glass. “Challenge accepted.”

We both drained our glasses, and the heady concoction tickled my insides as it slid through my chest and into my stomach. My anger over the asshat-wolf melted away, and I grinned at the prospect of kissing another stranger. “Did you see they have a chocolate fountain?”

Kaja licked her lips and then smacked them loudly. “You betcha. The only thing better than that is the mage wine. I could swim in it and not get enough, ya know?”

“Swim in it?” The idea had merit. “Let’s go.” I grabbed her wrist and tugged her along with me, determined to have fun. “One night to live it up, right?”

“Yass!” She giggled as she stumbled alongside me. “I knew there was secretly a fun chick hiding in there with all that sass. Let’s go live it up, Blue!”

Blue. It reminded me of the best kisser in the world, AKA asshat-wolf calling me Miss Blue … but we obviously needed code names. Staring at her black hair and silver dress, I dropped the first nickname that came to mind. “You call me Blue, and I’m going to call you Ash. It’s perf.”

“I love that,” Kaja said, her eyes wide as she clutched the empty flute to her chest. “I’ve never had a nickname before.”

We exited the magical garden, and I resisted the urge to look back. Not going to happen. If a dude was going to kiss and bolt, he shouldn’t be allowed to take up space in my thoughts. However, no matter how much I tried to steer my thoughts, they went back to that kiss, those green eyes and soft lips. Didn’t Justice have eyes like that? Rage? And one dude from Daybreak I saw earlier. Maybe more … I hadn’t exactly been an eye connoisseur. Until now.

The full lips reminded me of another guy I’d seen at the ceremony. I was desperate to know who I’d just made out with.

“I think the wine is affecting my thoughts,” I announced with a giggle. We stepped back into the house, and I turned to look back the way we’d come. “Oh. My. Mage. Did we float here?”

Kaja blinked and then burst into peals of laughter—which only made me laugh harder.

“What’s so funny?” a guy said, sidling up to us.

I glanced at him dressed in a black tux and wearing a black mask, and my snicker died off as a lump formed in my throat. Was this the same dude? His hair was black, but my interest waned as soon as I noted that his eyes were honey yellow. The guy was hot. They all were, but he wasn’t my kiss stealer. It hit me then. They all…

I scanned the room, and my laughter returned. Oh mage … no flippin’ way. Every single dude in here was wearing a black tux—and a black mask, his hair dyed black. Asshat dude could be any of them. We only had about fifteen heirs here between the four clans, and those all ranged from first to fourth years. But there were at least thirty people at this party.