Sienna looks at Anne with sorrowful understanding. “I didn’t know. I mean, I knew you didn’t date, but I didn’t realize why.”
“It’s not something I talk about much.” Anne straightens, forcing brightness back into her expression. “But yeah. That’s why I throw myself into work. Keeps me from thinking too much about what I don’t have.”
“Work is good for that,” Sienna agrees, but there’s a heaviness inher tone. “I haven’t found my fated mate. Some people simply don’t, I guess. So, work it is. Youngest chief strategic advisor in Moonvale’s history.” She raises her glass in a mock toast. “All because I have nothing better to do with my time.”
“That’s incredible, though,” I say. “Chief strategic advisor at twenty-five? That’s not just filling time. That’s real achievement.”
Sienna’s smile turns more genuine. “Thanks. It is something I’m proud of, even if it wasn’t exactly the life plan I had when I was younger.”
“Well,” Anne says, lifting her glass. “Here’s to the three of us. Making the best of what we’ve got.”
“To survival,” Sienna adds.
My glass clinks against theirs, and a warm, fierce feeling blooms in my chest. “To survival.”
We drink deeply, the alcohol burning away some of the old hurts. The music swells around us, and for the first time in longer than I can remember, I feel like I belong.
Sienna grabs my hand. “Dance with us.”
“I don’t really—” I start to protest, but they’re already pulling me toward the dance floor.
The crowd swallows us, bodies moving in rhythm to the pounding beat. Anne and Sienna move with easy confidence, their bodies fluid and unselfconscious. Stiffness locks my movements at first, hyper-awareness making every gesture feel awkward, but then, the music takes over.
Eyes closed, I let myself feel it. The bass thrumming through my bones, the heat of bodies around me, the freedom of being anonymous in a crowd of humans who don’t know my name or my shame. My hips sway, my arms lift, and suddenly I’m dancing. Actually dancing, not just going through the motions.
When my eyes open, Anne and Sienna are grinning at me, their approval clear even in the dim light.
We dance until sweat dampens my skin and my legs ache. Back at our table, we collapse into our seats with breathless laughter. Another round of drinks appears, andthen another.
The music pulls at me even while we’re seated, and my body moves of its own free will, loose and fluid in a way it never is when I’m sober. Another drink appears in my hand, and I down half of it before Anne grabs my wrist and pulls me back onto the dance floor.
The room tilts slightly when I move, and everything around me is softened at the edges. Perfect.
We dance in a tight circle, Anne and Sienna laughing at something I can’t hear over the music. A spin sends my arms over my head, and that’s when awareness prickles across my skin.
I feel eyes on me.
Mid-spin, I stop and scan the crowd. Strobe lights flash and bodies press together, everyone focused on their own fun, their own partners.
Then, I see him.
Across the bar, half-hidden in shadow near the entrance, Darius leans against the wall. Even from here, I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way his jaw is tightly clenched. His eyes burn into me, dark and intense, tracking my every movement.
Heat floods through me that has nothing to do with the dancing or the alcohol. The way he watches me, raw hunger barely leashed in his expression, makes my breath catch.
Someone moves between us, and when the gap clears, he’s gone.
My heart pounds. Did I imagine him? All those drinks are making everything fuzzy, unreliable.
“You okay?” Sienna shouts over the music.
“Fine,” I yell back, but my skin still tingles.
The music pounds through my chest, and I lose myself in it again, letting the bass drown out everything else. Anne twirls me around, and I laugh, the sound foreign and wonderful.
But I can still feel him watching. The weight of his gaze is unmistakable now, a physical presence that makes the room feel charged with electricity.
We’ve just returned to our table for a breather and some more drinks when a creepy voice cuts through the noise.
