She was equal parts excited and exhausted. It was the night she got to go to the ball, even if Leth had kept her up well into the night on Thursday and then again on Friday, though not for any fun reason. More because he was determined to teach her how to dance. And she definitely wasn’t any good at it. Then, after they were done with that, he’d moved on to how she was supposed to address royalty, and her head was still spinning from that, especially as he seemed unable to tell her anything about how to greet the Fae Queen of Summer, other than she had to curtsy. Turned out that he was even more confused because of who she was. She wasn’t fae, and she was only mated to a halfling, well quasi-mated, they still hadn’t slept together, meaning that their bond probably remained unsealed. If only they hadn’t spent the evening before dancing. But anyway, her position with the fae was complicated, especially as she had the powers of one. Well, some of the powers, apparently there were other things that the Fae Queen of Winter could do, but Leth wouldn’t expand on exactly what they were.

She could tell it was November. The air was crisp, even if there was no frost, and darkness had begun to fall even though it was still early. She began to make her way home, walking through the dimly lit streets. It wasn’t far, and she made the trip most days, but something about today felt different. She shivered and summoned ice to her fingertips. Maybe not that much of a weapon maybe, but she’d make do.

Listening intently, she continued walking down the street, the only sound she could make out was the clicking of her boots on the pavement, but that was doing nothing to soothe the uneasiness that was following her. Something was up, but she didn’t know what it could possibly be. Normally, she’d listen to music while walking home, or text Izzy, but today that felt wrong.

She turned a corner and made out the frame of a tall man leaning against one of the walls. Her heart lifted while calming slightly as she recognised Rueben’s broad frame, and she started to give him a wave. She hadn’t seen him since he’d walked away the other night, though he had text to check that she was okay. She’d been of half a mind to completely ignore him, but had soon had the better idea of sending him as many suggestive messages as she could. It seemed to have worked, as after a few weak protests, he’d relented and joined in. She smiled at the memory, knowing that there was going to be some serious fun for her in the future.

The man moved towards her and everything changed dramatically. As he stepped more into the light, his features came more into focus, and she could see that it wasn’t her vampire coming towards her. Though it was a vampire, and one she recognised at that.

“Well, well, we meet again.” His voice was almost emotionless, like he didn’t know or care what he was doing. Eira racked her brain, trying to remember the man’s name, and failing. She knew it was the same person who’d fought with Rueben in the club, but she’d been focused on other things, and hadn’t managed to remember it.

“Hi,” she said instead, trying to skirt around him and continue on her way home. She had a ball to prepare for after all, and she didn’t want anyone getting in the way of that. “Please excuse me,” she added, trying to remain calm and polite, after all that’s what she’d been taught since she was a young child.

Instead of letting her pass, the man reached out and grabbed her arm, his grip tighter than was comfortable and restricting the blood flow. She’d have a bruise there tomorrow, she’d just have to hope that none of her men would realise, otherwise that could end badly. She could just picture how protective Josh would get, and Rueben was teetering on the edge due to his stupid decision to deny himself her.

“Let me go.” Coldness seeped into her tone as she channeled her powers through it. Well, kind of. It’s what she pictured herself doing, but really, she had no clue if it’d work, she had experimented much with her abilities, though maybe she should change that. Now she had some other paranormals to practice with, she may have a chance of sorting it out. Maybe Josh would even be able to direct her more, using his witch powers as a guide. Or Leth. Her powers were fae after all. Eira pushed the thoughts away. Now really wasn’t the time to be thinking complicated thoughts. Now was the time to get the man off her.

“No,” he responded. “I can’t do that. Eira is it?”

She frowned at him, unsure how he knew her name.

“The witch used it.”

At least that answered that question. “What do you want?” she asked, trying her best to remain calm and not just scream out for her mates. That wasn’t desirable at all. Or it was. But not like this.

“You. You smell delicious.” He licked his lips, revealing a pair of sharp fangs that repulsed her, in such a complete contrast to how seeing Rueben’s made her feel. The act triggered a memory in her mind, reminding her of the man’s name.

“Let go of me, Edward.” She ground her teeth together. She could feel the ice and snow building inside her, and knew that it would only be a matter of moments before it exploded in his face. She couldn’t even decide if that was a good or bad thing. Exploding in public was probably bad, but it might get him away from her at least.

“Ah, so you do remember my name. I was worried that Rueben would drain the sense out of you.”

Eira shuddered. That didn’t sound good. “Rueben hasn’t touched me,” she half-lied. While he had touched her, he hadn’t in the way that she was sure Edward meant.

“Excellent, means you’re unspoiled for me.” He tugged her towards him, and bent his head, bringing his mouth closer to her neck. Hell no, that wasn’t happening if she had anything to do with it. Focusing on her ice, she pulled it towards the surface and sent it down to where his hand was gripping her skin. He growled a little in response but didn’t let go. Damn, that wasn’t good. “That’s not going to work on me, little fae.”

“Fae?” she repeated, too shocked by the reference to actually think about what she was saying.

“Yes, you reek of fae. Autumn if I’m not mistaken. Or Winter with a hint of Summer. It’s an interesting combination, that’s for sure.”

At least that meant that her bond with Leth was definitely there. Without that there as next to no way that she could smell anything like summer.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think you do Eira,” he repeated, moving back to where he had been before she’d tried to freeze him. Reaching inside herself, she called for her ice again, except this time, it felt a little different, a little like a combination of ice and electric. But she didn’t have the time to work out quite what was going on with that, and pulled it to the forefront anyway, this time blasting Edward with her full power, hoping to stop him completely in his tracks. She squeezed her own eyes shut in response to doing so much magic, and when he finally let go of her arm, she opened them.

“What the—” She looked around, searching for Josh. He must be here. He had to be here. Otherwise, there was no explanation for the green sparks that seemed to be going crazy over Edward’s body, holding him against the shop window that was next to them. Odder still were the snow flakes that seemed to be playing with the sparks. At least she’d done something. “Josh?” she called out, but received no reply. That was strange, he’d never just ignore her, they’d been friends for far too long, and that was even before their night together.

“There’s no one here,” Edward said, his voice laced with discomfort, and she frowned.

“How can you tell?” She took a step back, but didn’t want to go out of range for her magic and give him the upper hand again, even if she did want to be away from him. He laughed painfully.

“I’d be able to hear them.”

“Oh.” She fumbled in her pocket, pulling out her phone and hitting the speed dial number for Josh.

“E?” he answered after it had rung a couple of times, and relief flooded through him. It was good to hear his voice.

“Josh, where are you?” she asked, eyeing up the vampire in front of her.

“At Rueben’s.”

“Oh.” That meant he was nowhere near here, not unless Rueben lived closer than she thought he did.

“E, are you okay?” he asked, concerned.

“One second.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and covered the microphone with her hand. She didn’t want Josh to know about this until she was safe, otherwise he’d only panic and do something stupid. Maybe, probably, she wasn’t too sure, but she also wasn’t in a hurry to find out. “If I let you go, will you leave me alone?” she asked Edward, already aware that she was probably making a monumental mistake.

“Yes,” he said quietly, and nodded for emphasis.

“Good.” She pulled her ice back inside her, hoping the sparks would follow, she reckoned they would, but even so, she was relieved when they did. The vampire pushed to his feet, giving her an odd look before running back into the night. “Hi, Josh,” she said, bringing the phone back to her ear.

“What’s going on?” He sounded worried, and she instantly regretted not waiting longer to call him.

“Erm, I kind of sparked.”

“You did what?” He sounded more amused than shocked, so maybe it wasn’t something to be surprised about.

“I sparked. You know, green bits of electric stuff.”

“Oh, good.”

“Good? Not worrying?” She began to continue her walk home, knowing she still had a lot to do before her day was over.

“Yes, good. It’s just the bond settling in. It’s all perfectly natural.”

“Oh.”

“How did it feel?”

“Electrifying.” She smiled as she said it, and was rewarded with a laugh on the other end of the phone before a shuffling noise and a low rumble as another man, presumably Rueben, asked Josh something.

“Eira,” Josh said, not speaking to her. “Rueben says he’s looking forward to seeing you later.” He sounded louder, clearly speaking to her this time.

“And you?”

“I’m always looking forward to seeing you.” His voice sounded like sin and promises. Mostly like the voice he used when they were alone. She could get used to that. He needed to use that voice more often.

“Will you be home soon?” she asked, only realising what she’d said after he chuckled knowingly.

“Yes, we’ll be home soon.” She sighed in relief. “But, E, if it’s going to be home for us all, you may need to get a bigger bed.”