Destiny and Deception by Shannon Delany Page A

fun.”
    “What?”
    “You’re the one suddenly tossing around terms like grand mêlée in the midst of a snowball battle.”
    “So I’m being penalized for improving my vocabulary?”
    I began to drag her toward the dining room as she sputtered out her protests. “I’m really not a gamer.… I don’t know the first thing about this stuff.… This really isn’t my thing.… I…” But her mouth shut when she saw Max sitting next to an open chair.
    She shook free of my grip and straightened.
    “Hey,” she greeted him. “Jessie was just telling me about this quest.…”
    “Great,” he muttered, pulling the chair out for her. “Then you can explain it to me.”
    “Jessie!” I heard someone call from the other side of Max. Smith leaned around him, waving to catch my attention. “There’s a seat open here…,” he said, pointing to a spot located conveniently at his side.
    Luckily it was also at Pietr’s side.
    “Thanks,” I said, slipping into the chair between the two of them and right across the table from where Hascal and Jaikin sat, fully mesmerized by the existence of Cat—who was looking as nervous as her namesake in a room full of rocking chairs.
    Alexi lounged nearby, his chair tipping back haphazardly as he texted on his cell.
    “Nadezhda back in the States?” I asked him, noting how intent he was on reading and replying.
    He spared me a glance and a grin—all I needed to answer my question. Then he returned to what he was doing.
    “So,” Smith announced, clearing his throat and rising from his seat, “the first matter of business—”
    Amy groaned, “ Business? Isn’t this supposed to be fun?”
    “Just the turn of a phrase,” Smith assured her, looking her over skeptically. He had a gift for occasionally backhanding someone with a wry cynicism, but I knew he’d keep his mouth shut about Amy.
    He knew she was my best friend.
    And I knew—god help him—he was still crushing on me. Hard .
    It was flattering, really, having a guy with a full scholarship to nearly anywhere—based on his brain alone—crush on you, especially when it appeared Pietr had nearly become his geeky doppelgänger.
    I did a double take.
    Well-combed hair, button-down shirts, downcast eyes …
    I was sitting between two studious, bright (and decidedly pale, I added to the checklist—Pietr was going to need some light other than what bounced back to him off his computer monitor’s screen) guys. One who’d crushed on me since we started our frequent flirters club in the school van taking us to and from our Service Learning project, and … Pietr.
    And as clever as they both were … I would’ve accepted a less studious Pietr if he’d just returned to studying my lips. Or my neck. Or …
    I straightened, suddenly warmer than the room should make me. I looked at Pietr. He was looking at a paper. The same type of paper Smith thrust in my direction.
    “… character design,” Smith concluded.
    I gulped, hoping I hadn’t missed anything vital.
    The next twenty minutes were a blur while I tried to catch up and fill in the blanks that had gaped open while I’d fantasized about Pietr kissing me. And holding me … Maybe Pietr was exactly all he could be as a simple human. Maybe if you wiped all the alpha out of any of us you were naturally left with someone gentle and kind and too willing to please and study and …
    Focus, Jessie, focus  …
    Dice were rolled, numbers were scrawled on my paper by a doting Smith, and people began babbling knowledgably—even Amy and Max—about a game I was already struggling with.
    Smith seemed a bit disappointed in my lack of focus, but he coddled me, repeating things more slowly—and was he using simpler words?!—than with everyone else.
    Dude . I was frustrated, not stupid.
    Finally my character sheet was filled out and approved. By none other than Smith: self-appointed Dungeon Master. Where was Amy with a snide remark about the odds of that?
    But leaning against