Page 36 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

With a snort, Lyric shook her head just as music began to drift through the speakers. She glanced at the windows, but through the dark tint, she couldn’t tell what time it was outside.

The volume in the other room had been steadily growing, and it seemed the dinner crowd had finally arrived. Their privacy would end pretty soon.

Lyric hadn’t ever been to this restaurant, nor a lot of the ones in the same area. But now that Desi had introduced her, she’d have an excuse to stop eating at the same taco truck so often.

“Are you drunk enough to dance yet?” Desi asked, and pushed her chair back.

“I don’t need to be drunk to dance,” Lyric answered.

“That’s what we like to hear,” Nohen said, tapping his temple before pointing to her. He pushed his chair back as well. “Dance with us,” he said to the alphas as he held out his hand to her. It was almost a dare.

“We don’t dance,” Emerson grumbled, and clasped his hands together before knocking his pinkies on the table.

Lyric grinned. “Your loss.”

She took Nohen’s hand, and he pulled her onto the dance floor in a flawless swish.

In jeans, flat soled sneakers, and a tunic tee, she was dressed down compared to the two betas, but since it was just them, she hardly noticed. Mainstream pop music played from the mounted speakers, and she was never more thankful for her comfortable shoes than she was as they danced.

And danced.

And danced.

She retreated to the table a few times to quench her thirst with her fruity drinks that somehow kept refilling themselves, but as she met the stoic stare of Emerson, a new thirst reared its head.

She escaped into Desi’s arms, where they laughed and teased and danced with Nohen.

As she moved to the beat, her thoughts turned to the band. Just after one good practice day, things felt so much lighter. So much more hopeful.

Her worries were lessened the longer she moved with Nohen, whether from the alcohol or the release of endorphins of a good time. Laughter burst out of her as Desi turned around and shook her hips in the most chaotic, obnoxious fashion.

Desi was safe. And fun and sweet and they were on a totally different level of understanding than she would ever have with the others.

Nohen was… she liked him. He was an easy person to be around, and she hated to think it stemmed solely from him being a beta. Besides the fact that he was gorgeous, he was talented and she felt safe with him too. All in all, a possibly dangerous combination, but one she didn’t feel like heeding as a warning. So she swayed her hips a little more and soaked up Nohen’s warmth.

As for the two alphas?

Unbidden, her gaze turned to them just as the song faded into another. A familiar one.

She stopped and arched a single brow before walking over.

“Are you two really going to sit there while my own song plays?”

They shared twin glances and she read the reluctance in their frames, stacked stories high with pride. But a long moment later, after she held out her hand and motioned with her fingers, Adra was the first one to push his chair back.

Her heart pounded as he stepped closer, and she realized a split second too late that these alphas were definitely dangerous. She was drawn to them, to Adra’s strong silence and dislike for cursing, his gentle gaze and even gentler touch as he placed his hand in hers. His palm was warm, his deep colored skin contrasting against hers in a beautiful golden way under the dim lighting.

Then Emerson approached, tension decorating the lines painted around his mouth.

“Fine, princess.”

I don’t have enough hands. She thought forlornly. And a little tipsily.

She offered her other hand to Emerson and pulled them backwards as a steady but mellow rhythm began pumping from the speakers. The smile that curled her lips was a relaxed one, even if her thoughts weren’t quite on board yet.

How does one dance with two men at once?

The same way you’d have sex.