Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,95

Greyworld’s most prized possessions, I could’ve felt like a princess.

I twirled, my skirt flaring around my legs, before I tucked my hand over Rafe’s and Jensen’s arms. Silas walked ahead of us, looking broad-shouldered and dapper in his suit.

Maybe I could feel like a princess anyway.

The four of us went into the ball, passing the bouncers who stood there with wands gripped lightly, surreptitiously checking for traces of magic. One of them stared at my gown, then relaxed as he realized the magic was only in the ever-changing silver waves that chased each other across the hem of my skirt.

Well, and in the tools hidden in the folds of all this beautiful fabric.

As he four of us entered the ballroom, Silas’s hand fell on my lower back. “A turn on the dance floor, my lady.”

It wasn’t a request. It was better if Silas and I danced; in all of our preparation for our time in the Greyworld, having the men all take dance lessons had never come up. Although I realized suddenly that was a missed opportunity.

Silas pulled me close as the two of us danced to a bouncing reel. He was a good dancer, and he led easily, making me feel graceful and smooth even though he’d only taught us the steps that evening.

Until I wasn’t.

Silas said, “Oh, you stepped on my toes,” with a face etched in pain.

I was wearing stiletto heels, but still, I’d seen Silas take punches to the face with less dramatics. Then I realized he was pretending to give us an excuse to hobble off the dance floor and toward another room that branched off from the ballroom.

“Sorry,” I hissed as he limped dramatically.

“It’s all right.” He waved my worries off as we entered another room, mostly empty, where an elaborate display of food was arranged. He took two glasses of champagne off the table and offered one to me. I took it and we raised our glasses in a wordless toast to each other.

Then he led me down a hallway, and the two of us took a brief tour of the ground floor of the castle, searching for the shield.

Whenever we heard people, Silas kissed me, his hands gliding all over my body, and despite the danger—or maybe because of it—those quick teases of touch excited me.

“Quick thinking, pretending I stepped on your toes,” I teased him.

“You did step on my toes, but normally I’d be too much of a gentleman to admit it hurt.”

“Oh? You’re a gentleman now?”

He ran his hand up my spine to cup the back of my neck loosely. The touch reminded me of Echo, and strangely, liquid heat pooled between my thighs. The way his lips pursed to one side in a smile was all Silas, though, and that turned me on too. He leaned forward and whispered into my ear, “Never.”

The heat of his breath against the shell of my ear had me biting my lip, because I couldn’t jump him right now.

Silas was complicated and always-changing, and he thought that meant he might not be good enough for me in the long-term. But what if that was part of what I loved about him?

Silas wasn’t perfect, but the man was also never boring for a moment.

We found the shield in an empty room off the main hallway, a spotlight on it and a handful of other artifacts scattered around the room. The other worlds all seemed obsessed with the story of Camelot—the true story we’d ruined in our world, where Guinevere became a villain —and there were more images of Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere in here too. There was even one of just Arthur and Lancelot, who apparently had lost Guinevere for the night but were doing just fine without her.

Silas glanced at the pornographic statue of double-penetration across from the shield and said, “We won’t be alone here long, and we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Someone will take this art work as an invitation. We should return to the dance and wait for later, when everyone’s drunk and sated and ignoring us.”

He said the last words in a whisper, because we’d both heard footfalls outside. I looked up to see Jensen and Rafe round the corner.

“Too early,” Silas said in a whisper, his hand settling firmly on my lower back before we headed toward them. He jerked his head to the party beyond. “We need to wait.”

“We’re alone,” Rafe said. “There’s no better time to get the shield and get out of