I grimaced.
How hard was it to remember the name Sadie?
My best friend kissed me harder like she couldn’t help herself.
Personally, I thought she was acting crazy, but I just let it happen because we all had our breakdowns.
Seconds later, I was hugging empty air.
The crowd had parted around us.
“How fucking dare you touch our Revered?” Scorpius’s tone was deadly.
John and Luka had pulled Sadie away from me, Malum was on fire, Scorpius was trembling with rage, and Orion’s eyes were wide, pupils dilated as he stared at Sadie like he was fantasizing about hurting her.
Sadie was smiling like she’d won a war.
“You have one ssssecond to remove your handsssss from my mate before one of my ssssnakes bites you,” Cobra hissed as he sauntered forward.
John swore and leaped away from Sadie. A shadow snake darted across his skin.
Cobra flashed pointed canines. “One.”
“What’s going on here?” Jax asked calmly as he joined the growing group of testosterone-laden idiots. Xerxes flanked him with daggers drawn, and Ascher cracked his tattooed knuckles.
I sighed heavily because I wasn’t high enough for this.
“Does anyone have any demon brew?” I asked tiredly.
“Really?” Malum asked. The rug was on fire beneath him.
Luka nodded and handed me a bottle of demon brew. The twins settled in behind me, both tangling their fingers in my curls like they needed contact.
I relaxed back against them and chugged.
Intoxicants filled my bloodstream.
“What happened?” Jax repeated as the kings and the rest of his male mates bristled with aggression.
Sadie winked at me.
I chugged faster. Demon brew dribbled down my chin and mixed with the black makeup.
“I heard your mate,” Scorpius spat with disgust. “Making out with our Arabella.”
My stomach flipped over at the use of “our,” and pain streaked down my back. I tipped the bottle and took a long swig because I wasn’t intoxicated enough if I could still feel things.
The twins tugged on my curls like they were upset.
The song switched, and the new beat was more frenzied. The partygoers shrieked with excitement as they recognized it.
“Are you kidding me?” Cobra hissed out. “Of all the people in the realmssss, you wanted to kisssss her? What issss wrong with you?”
The anger exploded hot and fast. I slammed the bottle onto the ground, and it shattered. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I glared at Cobra. “She kisses you? Clearly her standards aren’t that high.”
Flames leaped higher on the carpet.
“You admit to kissing her?” Fire exploded from Malum’s mouth, and his silver eyes glinted with mania. “I can’t fucking do this.”
I shrugged. “Then don’t.” I took a step forward, but his arm shot out quicker than I could follow and slammed me back.
“There’s glass on the floor,” he said through gritted teeth. “You could get hurt.”
“I know, I put it there,” I drawled. “Stop trying to protect me.”
Silver became steel, and he growled, “Stop kissing this pathetic woman who is not your mate. We’ve forgiven you for the twins—but this is too far!”
“Since when have you forgiven me for the twins?” I asked.
“Everyone, calm down,” Scorpius snarled, sounding very uncalm himself.
He tried to step between us, but Malum breathed fire in his direction, and he stumbled back.
Ice crackled across my fingers, and the rug turned slippery beneath my feet. It expanded and extinguished some of the flames.
We glared at each other.
“We promised we wouldn’t be like this,” Orion whispered as he stared at me and grabbed Malum’s shoulder.
“I didn’t promise anything,” Malum said grouchily.
I tipped my head back and laughed. “I knew it—I knew you crawling and promising to be my hound was all a ruse. I knew the news story in the beast realm was just as fake as you—it’s all for show—you don’t mean any of it.”
I didn’t dare mention how he’d opened up about his past. It hurt too much to say.
Malum’s bronze skin darkened in the shadows of the party. A dagger glinted on his neck.
What had I honestly expected from a man who had “we conquered” tattooed on his skin?
White teeth contrasted with bronzed skin. “I meant every fucking word about serving you. I’ll fall to my knees a million times if it means you’ll forgive me.”