Chapter 149

Chapter 149:

Kade, noticing my attention had drifted, excused himself and left me alone. I didn’t even like this particular champagne, yet I downed a huge gulp without thinking twice. The taste was awful; my face twisted into a grimace, and I set the flute down.

“I noticed you’ve been on your own for quite some time now. Would you care for a dance?” The voice came from behind me, close to my ear, his breath slightly alcoholic and fruity. It was rich and alluring. The only thing that sounded better than watching the man I liked dance with my enemy was dancing with whoever owned that voice…

“Sure,” I smiled coyly, turning slowly to face its owner.

Screw being faithful. To hell with being his lady. If he, of all people, could ignore me for weeks and still flirt with Isabelle—of all people—then why the hell should I care? Isabelle, the woman who wanted me dead. Isabelle, the one who spiked my drink with wolfsbane. And yet Ryder acted like it was nothing, like he didn’t even care, and danced with her like it was all just fine?

Well, I was done with playing the good Alpha lady. If he wanted to play those games, I was about to make him regret it.

I glanced at him again. Ryder’s stormy ash-grey eyes were locked on me from across the room. His gaze burned with intensity, the kind of heat that had once made me feel safe. Now it just pissed me off. His jaw was clenched, his expression a mix of disbelief and rage. Good. Let him feel that.

The man who had asked me to dance—Enzo, he’d said his name was—was still holding me close, though his grip had tightened just a little too much for comfort. His hands were on my waist, pulling me in, but his touch felt nothing like Ryder’s. It wasn’t warm, it wasn’t familiar. Ryder’s touch used to make me feel like I belonged. But right now, as I stood there, practically nose-to-nose with Enzo, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ryder.

I shouldn’t have cared. I shouldn’t have.

But there was something about the way Enzo’s fingers dug into my skin, something about his attempt to claim me, that made me realize just how much I resented it. I wasn’t some random girl to be pawed at. Not anymore. Not when I knew what real connection felt like. The connection I had with Ryder—no matter how much he pushed me away—was something different.

I shifted slightly in Enzo’s arms, trying to ignore the way his hands kept inching lower. His breath was hot against my ear as he whispered something about the stars shining brighter tonight. But I wasn’t listening. I couldn’t focus on him. Not when Ryder was still burning holes in the back of my skull with that fiery gaze.

Fióm is the source

Then the music changed.

The beat slowed, the tempo shifted, but instead of feeling like the world was finally catching up with me, everything around me seemed to blur. A haze of thoughts, emotions, anger, and regret all swirled in my head like a storm waiting to break. I glanced over again.

Ryder.

His fists were clenched at his sides, his posture stiff. His usual confidence had bled out of him, replaced with something sharp, something like fury. His jaw was ticking, his chest rising and falling as if he was trying to hold back the storm raging inside of him.

I almost laughed.

The guy was seething, and for a brief moment, I wondered if he was jealous. If he felt threatened. If he cared, just a little, that I was dancing with another man.

Good. I wanted him to feel that. He had no right to treat me like I didn’t matter, like I was just some distraction he could forget when he got bored. I wasn’t going to be that anymore.

Enzo spoke then, his voice low, as if he was trying to be mysterious, but it did nothing to pull me out of my thoughts. “You feel oddly familiar,” he said, the words barely audible over the music.

I blinked, momentarily snapped out of my haze. “What?” I glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.