Page 342 of A University of Betrayal

Miles said nothing and instead continued to guide me across the dance floor.

“Don’t think you know me. Because you don’t,” he said under his breath.

His voice was so raspy, so different. It was as if he was just another Miles, and all sorts of questions popped into my head.

What if he was really only like that withme? What was he like to Larissa when they were alone? Why was he like that at all? Was there a Miles I could like if he weren’t a Ruisangor?

Suddenly his hand came away from my back and he spun me around, holding just my hand so I moved a little away from him. My dress lifted slightly and spun with me until he pulled me back to him. An involuntary sigh escaped my mouth.

I would never admit it out loud to him, or to anyone else, but if there was one thing he could do better than drive me insane, it was dancing.

He led me past him and back, we spun together, and then he spun me away from him so that I held his hand – which was a little warmer than usual – in mine until he spun me again, pulling me back to him. He brought his hand back down to my waist and led me across the hall, almost elegantly.

I looked to the side and saw all the looks from the students, who were obviously admiring Miles’ dancing style.

After Julie’s entrance, I hadn’t expected to be the center of attention this evening. But Miles made me feel like a goddamndancer.He pulled me to him again, slid his hands down my body and led me further and further so that I sank into our steps.

I looked around again. This time I met the eyes of the Ruisangors.

They all looked as if Miles had made a mistake or seemed shocked. Only the head of the clan stared at me as if this man wanted me dead.

“Don’t look at them.” Miles turned me slightly, turning my attention back to our footsteps. “Focus onme.”

He said it so softly, with a tenderness in his voice I’d never heard before, that I had to look up at him. Goosebumps spread all over my back.

“Let them talk,” he continued, applying gentle pressure to my back so that I moved closer to him.

There it was again. That scent that fogged my senses in a different way.

Miles DeLoughrey smelled damn good, and I was dancing with him.

There was something about this situation that I didn’t like at all, but his proximity made my body’s voice louder than my head’s.

“Why...” I began in a shaky voice, but the sentence just wouldn’t come out. I was so confused, so speechless, held by him far too close to his body, a body that was warmer than it should be and that made more heat rise inside me than it was allowed to.

“A little drama raises your market value,” he said with that smirk.

God, his fucking smirk. And that inappropriate comment.

What did he think he was going to accomplish with that move? What wasreallyin it for him? He couldn’t actually think I would come to his door with a gift basket and thank him for it.

“You’re only doing all this so that my family has one more reason to marry me off to Mikhail.”

I didn’t wait for an answer to come from his lips, but rather watched for the one in his eyes, as if I could find something in the bronze fibers without losing my mind.

Miles seemed to hesitate while he kept looking at me before he finally continued.

“Isn’t that what you want?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. After the first few weeks with the Rolanows, with Mica, after all those years of duty to the pack...

Pure anger welled up inside me. I hadn’t expected thatoneperson could make me question such important things. Andhimof all people.

“To make your family proud?”

Why did the words coming out of his mouth sound so wrong? Almost venomous?

I felt like I had just committed a sin. Only I couldn’t tell if, in this version of reality, Miles represented the priest to whom I was confessing my betrayal just by making eye contact, or the devil who was feeding me all these thoughts and emotions so he could get what he wanted.

---