“You don’t fool me,” he finally said, voice low and smooth—decadent and sensual.

“Hmm?” I asked, eyes scanning all the many pictures of Lacey. Lorcan shifted closer, just a few inches but it was all it took to send every hair on my body on end and have me grinding my teeth even harder together.

“No one is immune to me, Puca. Stop trying to prove otherwise. You’re only irritating me,” he said in annoyance. I flicked my eyes to his and the red color seemed to move like an ocean of blood, waves coming in and out. I was unable to look away.

“Maybe I want to goad you,” I said.

“Typical,” he sneered, moving even closer but never touching. His eyes traced the shape of my body. I could physically feel it, an unseen force dragging over me and leaving electric sensations.

“You’re just prey to me,” he said, tilting his head and looking down his nose.

“Tread softly, Lorcan, lest you bite off more than you can chew.” I turned towards him and stepped closer, a risk I felt compelled to take. He immediately moved backwards. That was his thing, afraid of his own power. His back pressed to the wall as I leaned in, hands still in my pockets to keep myself from touching him.

This was a dangerous game but I found myself constantly driven to it like picking at a wound. We were a trainwreck together. His personality only made me want to bother him more despite the self-destructive results I’d create.

“I’d swallow you whole,” I whispered. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. I began to remove my hands from my pockets. I really shouldn’t touch him. I knew that. Yet…

“Will you two cut it out,” Dullahan grumbled as he came into the room, liquor bottle in one hand, two glasses in the other. I shook my head and walked away quickly.

“You’re up next,” I said to Lorcan as I motioned to Dullahan for a drink. Dullahan rolled his eyes and I rolled mine right back. He and I had fallen into easy camaraderie when we met up a month ago. Despite all the years apart, we still felt comfortable and at ease with one another. It was almost a shame we’d likely part ways again after this. It was a rare pleasure to have someone just as brutal as me as a companion.

Lorcan moved to sit at the long table in the middle of the room and I pulled a chair up to the other end rather than sit next to him.

Dullahan dropped a half-filled glass of Irish whiskey with a loud thunk in front of me before falling into the chair between Lorcan and me. The chair groaned in protest to his intense size—something most objects and people did.

We sat in silence for a moment, Dullahan and I drinking warm burning liquid while Lorcan frowned at the pictures on the wall, distaste sculpted into his lips. He was always so obvious. The more he frowned, the more he revealed his desire for her.