Swallowing hard, I tried to steady myself.
No fight night.Just dancing.
For a moment, I made a game of spotting matching marks. Sword and wings; sword and scales; sword and dripping honey; snakes; scorpions. There were what felt like dozens of variants. All of them symbolized the same thing: Justice.
My shoulders eased, the relief of knowing these people could be trusted.
Maybe it shouldn’t have been comforting. The truth was, each mark also meant death. At least one. I saw firsthand what kind of person ended up under the Violence’s knife.
They had all deserved it.
As we walked toward the crowd, it parted for Dom. With each step, Dom drew a command over the room. Random patrons nodded their heads to her, others shook her hand. Her presence demanded to be acknowledged and no one in the Hollow would be caught dead without paying homage.
Once we were at the center of the floor, the crush moved in on us — swallowing us whole. Not that any of us minded being all that close. Except Dom who managed to hold firm, keeping her arms crossed a foot or two away.
Turning to Leo, I pulled her ear to my lips. “Why is everyone trying to talk to her?”
Leo followed my gaze to Dom’s pouty face. “She doesn’t come to stuff like this often. She’s like the King of Valemont. Nothing happens here without her approval.”
I let the music wash over me as I thought about it. Closing my eyes, I let my body move along to the DJs mix. But when I opened them, Dom had disappeared into the crowd.
Spencer danced in front of me, her hands on my waist as she bobbed to the beat. Her dark eyes met mine under the red, strobing lights of the dance floor. A devilish smile passed over her lips as she felt my hips.
From behind me, Leo’s hands teased my legs. Her long fingers trailed up my dress, my clit pulsing under their touch.
My head rolled back, enjoying every second.
Until Dom’s raspy voice broke the spell. “Here.” In her hands were four drinks, all balanced in her massive hands. If she wasn’t a tech executive, she would’ve made an impressive bartender. Although, she certainly didn’t have the people skills for that.
“Thanks, Dom.” Leo nodded to her as she grabbed a cup off the stack, passing me one as she did.
Turning to Spencer, Dom held out one of the two remaining cups.
Without a word, Spencer snagged the cup and threw the drink back. In one, greedy slurp, Spencer took the entire thing down. She held the cup out to Dom, her mouth sealed closed. I knew from experience that the burn of whatever liquid was inside would be heating up Spencer’s tongue by the second.
“Seriously?” Dom growled, ripping the cup from Spencer's hands and putting her own cup inside it before swallowing her drink whole.
The two of them hadn’t cooled off since the night of Dom’s meeting with Gabe. And even after the holidays and some time away, Spencer could hardly stomach being in the same room as Dom.
There was only one thing left to do: distract myself from their strap-measuring contest.
Looking into the clear liquid in the strobing red light, I could hardly tell what it was.
Leo leaned into my ear, her rumbling voice managing to drown out the music. “It’s Hollow Moonshine. Strong shit, but you’ll party.”
“Perfect.” Before I could let the fear creep into my mind about what this shit would do to my stomach, I put the cup to my lips and tilted my head back.
“FUCK.” I yelped as the music reached a crescendo, the hot acid of the liquor dumping down my throat as I swallowed.
Spencer grabbed my hips. “That’s my brave little Bunny.”
Just as the drink went down, Dom grabbed my cup and stacked it with the other empties, the DJ cleared off the stage and the place went eerily quiet for a brief moment.
My nerves were on edge, the sudden vibe shift making my pulse race. But from the look on Spencer, Dom, and Leo’s face, this was to be expected.
A low thrum rang out from the speakers, a drone like a summoning call.
And then a bright red light created a silhouette of the stage where the shadow of a drummer started to kick the bass drum.
