Page 67 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

"Anything you want," she told him, her voice so low she didn't know if he heard it.

"Silly little red," he chuckled darkly, "trusting the big bad wolf with the keys to your kingdom? You know what that does to me."

God, she'd missed him so much. Before he could say anything, she saw Morana looking around for her.

She felt the body behind her disappear, leaving her cold and alone on the dance floor. Lyla took a deep breath in, not letting desolation set in, knowing that he was at the party enough to raise her spirits.

She walked to where Dante and Amara were now sitting, a round table filled with the others. Morana spotted her, her whole body relaxing, and joined her on the walk back to the table.

"Listen," Morana began, not missing a step. "I can't keep things from Tristan. I haven't said anything about him yet."

Lyla kept a straight face, looking straight ahead. "About who?"

Morana stopped, taking hold of her arm, her eyes serious. "You know who I am talking about."

Lyla stayed silent, not knowing what to say. She hadn't decided when she would bring up her relationship, but not at the moment. He had been right about things becoming about him once people knew. Right now, she was focusing on her relationships and building them with others. She wanted to keep it that a little longer.

Morana sighed, suddenly looking too weary. "If it's not what I think it is, great," she told Lyla, her tone empathic. "But if it is, I get it. Trust me, I do. But sooner or later, you'll have to make a choice."

"Thank you." Lyla extended her hand, placing it on the other girl's arm, and watched her wince slightly. She immediately pulled back, her brow furrowing. "Are you okay?"

Morana nodded. "Just pulled a muscle. Don't worry about it."

Lyla let it go, not wanting to pry. It could be a sex injury for all she knew.Ew.Shedid notwant to think about what her brother and Morana got up to.

They reached the table and took a seat.

"Where's Tristan?" Dante asked Morana, taking a sip of his scotch. Amara sat by his side, holding a glass of wine.

"He's checking in on Xander."

Lyla's heart stopped. Tristan loved the boy and she was so grateful for it. She gripped her dress under the table, looking straight at the orchestra, trying not to let her nerves show. No one knew who he was, who she was to him. It was going to be fine. She just wanted to look at him up close and not from a distance and see how he was, maybe talk to him and see who he had become in-depth. Dainn had told her he was smart, and she had seen the same, but she wanted to know more. For now, seeing her brother and Morana loving him so deeply settled an instinct that had been turbulent inside her for years. Her baby was loved, he was safe, just as she'd wished upon him that fateful night.

Dante, standing up, broke through her thoughts.

She turned to look at what had caught his attention, and her heart stopped for the second time in as many minutes.

Dainn was heading to their table, out in the light and out in the open, dressed in an all-black suit that just added to the aura of danger he wore like a cloak around him, a tiny gold box in his hand.

Lyla drank in the sight of him after so many days, that felt more like months of separation than they did days, greedily swallowing him with her eyes, taking him into her veins and getting high off of it. There was something so ridiculously sexy about him, from the dark hair she had run her fingers through countless times to the chiseled jaw she had kissed to the tall frame she had climbed over.

"Ooh," Zephyr whistled opposite her and Alpha groaned. Lyla felt a smile come over her lips, feeling something akin to pride. Even though she wasn't on his arm in public, that man washers.

"Blackthorne," Dante stepped forward, extending his hand and greeting him warmly.

"Maroni," he replied back in the same tone, so convincing even she would never have doubted how sincere it was if she didn't know him.

Both men shook hands. It was such a bizarre thing for her to witness, her worlds colliding without anyone knowing anything about it. She discretely looked around to see if anyone had noticed anything, but Morana was on her phone, Amara was smiling politely at the new guest, and Alpha and Zephyr were now whispering to each other.

Her entire world was vibrating with a force strong enough to knock the breath out of her and not one person was noticing it.

Dainn didn't look at her, didn't give any indication that he knew her at all. He gave the gift to Amara, a smile on his face that looked warm but she knew was fake. She knew his real smile, the way the corner of his mouth twitched, one higher than the other, defrosting his mismatched eyes just a bit.

He dialed up the charm to a hundred. "For the princess."

Amara's eyes widened slightly, and Lyla felt a slither of jealousy coiling in her stomach. It was completely unfounded. She knew Amara was madly in love with Dante and knew Dainn was not flirting, but just the fact that his undivided attention was on another female reared up something ugly in the lizard part of her brain. She grit her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him, wanting to stand up and bite that infuriating lip, show everyone that he was hers and hers alone, have him kiss her back so it would become clear to every single soul present at the party.

Her hands fisted on her lap with the need to restrain herself from doing just that. It was such a change too. In Bayfjord, she'dbeen free, free to do anything she wanted, free to be anything she wanted, free to behave in any way she wanted. But she was learning that society wasn't free. Society gave the illusion of freedom while trapping everyone with invisible strings. There was nothing free about being in a social setting, and she could see that clearly, having experienced what true freedom meant.

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