Page 63 of Knot What She Seems
“Did I tell you yet that my mother was a ballroom dancer?” Nic asks glibly, unworried as Ridge shoves aside the couple behind us.
I don’t have time to respond before one of his hands releases mine and grabs my ass—but not the way I’ve ever been grabbed before. His hand slides, and suddenly, I’m lifted into a split, that hand as my seat. A surprised giggle escapes from me as I find myself hovering over Nic’s head and lording over Ridge. I have just enough time to toss a hand up playfully in the air and strike a pose before Nic spins us away from a furious Ridge.
A cheer goes up from the crowd at the impromptu lift, and a small circle forms around us as Nic puts me down and then shows off, leading me through a few more basic ballroom moves.
“I’m impressed,” I manage to get out breathlessly.
“Please write my mother a note and tell her that. She’ll die of happy superiority knowing she was right to force me to go to lessons all those years,” Nic says as he dips me low.
“Done and done,” I respond, because how could I possibly refuse such a request?
“Do another lift!” a female voice calls out. I’m pretty sure it’s Harper, egging things on, but I can’t see her through the crowd.
“Another lift! Another lift!” The crowd takes up the chant.
“Should we give the people what they want?” Nic asks playfully.
“Always,” I reply.
Just then, a furious Ridge breaks through the knot of people, Colter not far behind. Their burgeoning anger adds to the thrill.
Nic spins me so that my back is plastered to his chest. I can’t resist sending a wink to Ridge, and the way he swallows hard sets my thighs on fire and makes it hard for me to stay upright. Makes it hard for me to stay in Nic’s arms when every particle of my being says I shouldn’t be here.
But Ridge doesn’t deserve me.
He does deserve to watch this and hate it. Loathe it. Jerk off later thinking about it.
Nic dips his head and whispers in my ear, “Legs up.” I kick my feet out and he immediately turns, rotating in place until I feel like the rotor on a helicopter. I go up and down—I think he might even whirl me under his legs at one point. The crowd’s faces are such a blur that I don’t even realize he’s moving us as he spins until he stops and I set my heels down—slightly dizzy—on the edge of the dance floor.
Immediately, my eyes want to search for Ridge, to see his reaction, see if he’s mad with lust because, even though there’s no way anyone saw anything past my calves with this disastrous dress my mother bought, the chance that theycould havewould normally drive an alpha mad.
I want to see that expression on his face—him driven into amorous rage. Protective. Claiming. Dominating.
But I stiffen my neck and refuse to let my head turn…because that would give away my pretense. It would let him and the other alphas on his team know that their declaration about our scent match is true. It would let them know I care.
Can’t have that.
“Now, here’s the part where you get to tell me what you want, Cinderella. Are you going to run from the ball? Or are we doing something else?” Nic asks.
I glance to my side to see all the members of Alpha Team X bearing down on us like intensely hot, wrathful gods of war. I’m not certain if the orchestra is intentionally sound-tracking my life right now, but the music switches to an instrumental version of Evergrey’s “Ominous.”
Time seems to slow as my eyes trace over every single member of X. Colter’s biceps bulge beneath his suit jacket, and he looks seconds from ripping through it. Luka’s tracing an angry hand across his cropped beard. Kylian’s eyes are liquid fire. Ridge has even stripped off his bow tie and wrapped it around his knuckles, as if he’s preparing to punch Nic.
Even through the disgusting taste of the perfume soaking my dress, I can smell the scent of each and every one of them as clear as day. My knees grow weaker, and I bite down on my tongue hard, forcing myself not to give in.
They don’t deserve me.
It feels as if every eye in the room is on me as Brock and Jamie appear out of nowhere at Nic’s side.
“What’s it going to be, Princess?” Brock asks unironically.
“Would you all like to meet my brother?” I put on my best hostess face. “I think you would get along great. I mean, he is going to be yourfuture king, after all.” I throw that last line out as loud and pointedly as I can.
Ridge seems to stop in his tracks, and the other X team members follow his lead. I try to ignore the burn of the blond man’s glare. In fact…I turn from Brock slightly and raise my eyes to meet his anger with my own. Defying propriety. Defying him. Defying the scent match claim.
There are legends that say the old gods could touch lightning and throw it like spears. For a moment, it feels like I have that power, as though electric heat is surging through me and then shooting out through the air. I imagine it hitting each member of X, though I doubt even lightning could kill those men.
They’re heartless demons and if I struck them down, their true nature would just be revealed.
