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.
Palace guards. The king probably didn’t let his four heirs party with the other clans without protection.
“Blue?” Kaja poked me.
Both she and the male wolf Clone #7 stared at me as if I were unhinged, but I was 70.3% sure there was no one else in the house dressed like me, so that was good.
“Mage wine is funny,” I told the dude with a wink. My gaze shifted to the clone, and I raised my eyebrows. “You look like”—I waved my hand in the air, indicating the other occupants—“everyone else. ”
The guy grinned, “All the males took a pact to magic ourselves with the same look.”
Great. Just freaking genius. They all had the same onyx colored hair of the Midnight princes. But the dude I’d kissed wasn’t one of them, because he’d referred to the secret garden as a place his friend told him about. Which meant my magical kisser was friends with the Midnight princes or worked for them.
Awkward.
Half of me wanted to go through the entire room and kiss every single guy just so I could find him and then kick him in the balls for leaving me like that. Why did that kiss have to be so amazing? I couldn’t deal—I needed more wine and chocolate before I could enact operation Kiss Every Dude Here.
“Let’s go, Ash.” I tugged on Kaja’s arm. “Nice to meet you!” I yelled to yellow eyes and walked away briskly with my new bestie.
Three mage wine drinks and a dozen dipped strawberries later, and still, all I could think about was a certain sexy-schmexy wolf dude. I needed to start kissing other guys pronto; someone was bound to make my toes curl … or make magical butterflies descend from the sky? Now, where was my wingwoman? I swayed on my feet, bumping into a tux-clad body as I spun away from the chocolate fountain. “Shh-orry.”
Note to self: three drinks were a lot … way too much … for me to think … right. Although shifter metabolism was a thing of beauty, I had not burned off the effects of those drinks. The good news, no tears. I was doing better than I had a few years ago when my dad gave me that glass.
“You all right, princess?” the dude in the tux asked, his voice like liquid honey.
Grinning, I nodded. “Very much yes—I think.”
Staring at his eyes, I noticed his were green—like spring grass. “Do people change their eye color tonight?”
Reaching out to touch his eyelids, I reconsidered and let my hand fall onto his chest. Hard as a rock. I patted it, wondering if chests could be magicked too.
Was this my kisser?
“Some do.” He seemed amused by me, allowing me to pat his chest as he looked down at me with a halfcocked grin.
“Are yours really that color?” Because if they were, there was a fair chance this dude could be one of the asshole Midnight brothers, Rage or Justice. Too bad I didn’t know if my magical garden asshat’s eyes were really green or just magicked-green.
“No.” His lips pulled up in the corner. “Why do you ask?”
No way was I going to tell, but there was something I wanted to say to this dude. Leaning forward, I dropped my voice and narrowed my eyes. “Are you trustworthy?”
He grinned, a feral, wild grin that