Chapter 6 Here Now

Violet Soon I noticed the gasps and all the eyes that seemed to be honing in on us as he led me across the dancefloor. He was an incredibly competent and confident partner. I couldn't remember the last person who had led this way other than my instructor. I glanced around the room, noting the way people murmured and stared at us. As I expected having an incredibly handsome date was proving to be a good idea, but I hadn't expected him to be such a great dancer. I loved to dance. I always had. I couldn't remember the last time I had actually danced on a dance floor. It had always been too busy to host balls in Darkmoon outside of the mating balls for the territory, and I never danced at those. "I didn't think you could get more beautiful than you were last night. You've surprised me, and that's a rare thing…" My cheeks heated, and I looked away from the heat in his eyes. “I don’t look any different.” “You’re not the one looking.” He dipped me backward, his lips close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck. I shivered as he whispered in her ear, “Of course, I look forward to how you will change as our deal progresses.” I froze at that. Snapping my head back to meet his gaze. There was a teasing glint in his eyes that set me on edge and poked at something defensive in me. Something pricking at the back of my mind from the tone of his voice. It was heavy with meaning. Too heavy for something as simple as an agreement to continue sleeping together. For a moment, I wondered if he was a beta of a rival pack, but I shook that thought off. He was definitely an alpha he had all the arrogance and exuded all the power of one. That meant he had to be an alpha of a pack with designs on Darkmoon. Great. Another man who wanted to take advantage of me. Before I could ask which pack he was from, Lucas's voice cut me off. “Get your hands off my wife!” I turned my head toward the sound of his stomping footsteps, curios as to why he felt the need to start a scene at the Gathering after causing a scene the night before. Yet, there was something gratifying about the fact that I didn't see Nora with him. Maybe he'd figured out that it wasn't in his best interest to bring her, or simply left her somewhere else in the ballroom. I didn't care which it was, but I was amused by the irony of it. He'd left me behind to run to her the night before, and now he was running to me because I was in another man's arms. How fucking childish and pathetic. I would have never even looked Theo's way if he hadn't done what he'd done to me, but part of me knew he'd never see it that way. Theo pulled me closer, lifting me from the dip but not easing his hold on my waist. He smiled casually at Lucas, almost mockingly. "Wife?" Lucas snarled. "Are you challenging me?" "You would have to be worth the effort first," he said. "And don't be childish. Wives wear wedding rings, don't they? Fiancés, too, right? At the least, wives enter with their husbands, right?" He flushed. "Get away from her, now!" "And if I don't?" Lucas lunged forward, reaching for me. Theo turned, keeping me out of his reach before stepping in between us. "Violet, get away from him now and come with me." He glared at me. "How dare you show up here and embarrass me like this? It seems like you'll never learn." "You're the one embarrassing yourself," Theo said. "And if you try to put your hands on her again, we're going to have a problem." He glared at me. "You are still my wife. I am your alpha, and you will do---" "Nothing," I said, cutting him off. I glanced back as the people parted and Nora came stumbling through behind him. “You should take care of your new lover.” “Don't make a scene," he said. "Have some grace and leave while I'm being nice, or you will regret it." I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're the one making a scene, Lucas. I was peacefully dancing with my date. No one told you to come over here. Now, if you'd like to air your own dirty laundry right now, we can, but you're the only one who is going to be embarrassed." Lucas flushed and looked around. It seemed that in all these years, he had learned something about decorum, even if it wasn't a thing that I wanted him to learn. I supposed seeing me level his beta so easily earlier had given him some things to think about in terms of what he could and couldn't get away with. Given what he'd already done, he was probably figuring out how best to play it safe. I hoped the anxiety about what I was planning ate him alive. He had to know that his empty threats and commands weren't going to stop me from doing what I had to. He had to know that I wouldn't be cowled by his betrayal. I may have loved him once, but I had never shown myself to be someone who would be taken advantage of and not get my revenge. I was more of an alpha than he would ever be, and that made me strong, but being a scorned woman would make me vicious. "Ah," Theo said, reaching into his pocket. "Speaking of." Theo lifted my wrist and took my hand. I didn't pay him much attention until I felt something slipping onto my finger. I looked over and froze as he slid a ring onto my hand where my wedding ring had once been. But it was a completely different ring. In place of the diamonds and gold, the band was white gold and paired with precious gems that sparkled like a rainbow on my finger. The main gem on the band was a soft rose-colored diamond. The name of the shade escaped me, but I could see the quality of the band clearly. The stone had to be worth at least a few hundred million alone. I looked up at him, wondering what he was playing at. He lifted my hand and kissed it with a mischievous smile. "We should get it resized for you," he murmured. "Or I might start to think you don't like it, darling." Lucas choked on a sound. Then, he yelled loud enough that the whole party seemed to shriek to a halt. "You fucked him, didn't you?" Lucas yelled. "How could you sleep with my enemy? How could you betray me? Our pack?" I whirled on him. Furious that he would even think to say something like that. "You fucking--" "Don't go projecting your sins onto me!" I shrieked. The force of my power, my voice, shook the air. He stumbled back. "You betrayed me." I glared at him, growling low in my chest. "You betrayed me. My love, my kindness-- my pack. You're my enemy and you only have yourself and your selfishness to thank for that." I turned from him. "You made your choice and soon, you'll have to live them. From that moment on, what I do, with whoever I do it with is no longer any of your concern." He growled, his eyes flashed and the red light sparked in the air. "Come here," he said. The sound of his voice was distorted, high and low and wrong, rattling through my mind, ripping through my consciousness. "Apologize on your knees!" My stomach lurched. The ballroom faded away. I was back home. Younger. Shorter. Weaker. My father stood over me, his eyes burning red. That same red light filled the air between us, wrapping around my throat, choking me. My heart was in my throat. The urge to run, to fight, to scream and rip and tear was overwhelming. My stomach lurched. Pain shot through my whole body, and I couldn't move. The scent of alcohol burned my nose. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think, and I remembered. Compulsion. He was trying to use compulsion on me. Fury cam next, bubbling up the way it had then, screeching through me. I blinked away the memory. The world swam in a red haze. Lucas was still glaring at me. I knew there was a chance that I would be sick for weeks the way I had been when my father tried to compel me, but unlike then, I was going to tear Lucas's throat out. Here. Now. The snarl grew in my chest. I felt my teeth growing sharper. I'd kill him. I could already taste his blood on my teeth. I lunged forward aiming for his throat. I could already taste his blood on my teeth. “You know, you don’t have to listen to him, Violet.”