Free Bound by Faerie: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Stolen Magic Book 1) by WB McKay

his disorientation rose and dipped without any prompting. As long as he didn't get too clear-headed before I was gone, it was all fine with me. "It comes in handy at times like these."
    I'm sure it did. He winked, like a slimeball. As far as I could tell, his only redeeming quality was being a good kisser. And maybe those pretty green eyes. Well, I guess he also had convenient taste in books. And really he wasn't— Stop trying to make the guy you're stealing from a good person. I needed to stay focused. I was here to complete a job. If he didn't have a top of the line fae security system, we would have never spoken.
    Owen led me past the staff door and down a wide hallway with several doors on either side. He grabbed the knob of the third one on the right. It glowed red, and the ozone smell of a charm yielding filtered through the air. He staggered into an office that looked like it belonged at the top of a skyscraper, furnished with oversized leather chairs and an enormous mahogany desk. Somebody was overcompensating.
    He gestured at the opulent room. "Welcome to my home away fr—" His words cut off when he stumbled backward and disappeared into the wall.
    I groped the wall and found nothing more than cold brick. I pulled up my second sight and extended the rest of my senses as much as I could. I detected... nothing . Not a hint of magic. Ava had said I wouldn't be able to get through without him, but I hadn't really believed her until just now. "Well, shit. Now what?"
    I was hopelessly touching the brick when Owen popped back through the wall. "Ooooops," he drawled. He grinned at me and offered his hand, waiting. His smile was so silly and innocent that I had to grin back. "Come along m'lady, and journey with me to my humble abode."
    Touching him, focusing and refocusing every which way I could think of, I still sensed nothing from the wall. It was magic—he was still half in and half out of it himself, so it had to be magic—but nothing registered within me. It was like seeing someone driving a car—moving down the road, turning the wheel, chugging exhaust into the air, singing along to the radio—but not being able to see the car wrapped around them, smell the exhaust, touch the door handle, or hear the radio. I knew it had to be there, but all of my senses told me it wasn't. And I was about to get on the freeway in that car, so to speak. What if it stopped existing while I was in it?
    Good sense told me not to enter the portal.
    Apparently I didn't have any of that.
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    It was like passing through the barrier between the club and the restaurant portion of Smoke and Mirrors, but with the intensity turned up all the way. Vertigo spun through me as all my senses fought to catch up with the new environment. The room was dim. The dull thump of the music from the club disappeared, its absence like a weight lifted from my shoulders. A large bed dominated the space, and the rest of the room felt crowded by bookshelves that hid the walls. Well, finding his book collection wouldn't be a problem. I craned my neck and found the room was bigger than I'd originally thought. We were in the sleeping area of his L shaped bedroom. The other half was taken up by more bookshelves, and plush chairs that looked like comfortable reading spots. They were framed by side tables with lamps and a coffee table, properly scuffed up like someone propped their shoes on it regularly. Unlike the office, there was no corporate hubris here. It was an oasis. "Nice shelves," I said before catching myself. I loved books.
    "They try ," he said, with no indication that my voice wasn't what he expected. "I love books." He opened his arms wide and flopped on the bed like an overgrown child. "Home sweet home." He raised his head and patted the bed. "Make yourself comfortable."
    "Do you mind?" I asked, pointing at the shelves. I tried to use as few words as possible in case his alcohol addled brain caught on that I sounded