Page 71 of Satanic Shadow
Maybe someone is playing a prank on me. Or maybe someone has hexed me with a spell that covers mortals with tattoos, toshow that I’m beneath them—branded with the symbol of the Mortal Realm as a sign of where I should be.
Valin walks into the ballroom, sans his usual three-piece suit. His white shirt flows around his body, his sleeves rolled up and the top three buttons unfastened. The suspenders clipped to his pants hang on each side, and his hair is disheveled.
Dane clears his throat and leans his elbows on his knees.
“Have I missed it already?” Valin’s deep voice asks.
“Of course not. Are you wanting to learn the routine?”
He nods, his eyes finding mine, staying on me for a beat too long before walking towards Dane and sitting beside him.
The headmistress watches them then instructs the first pair to the middle of the floor.
22
By the time the twins are up and down, Poppy is crying, Mel is comforting her, and Orsen is apologizing for stepping on Mel’s toes. It’s my turn, and Dane doesn’t offer me his hand like the other partners did—just walks right into the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets.
He doesn’t look at me when I join him, or when he takes my side and pulls me closer to him. The touch burns, but when my hand slips into his free one, a blazing inferno blasts through me. Fire and electricity and a forbidden urge to melt into him.
My core pulses, my clit throbbing against the material of my panties.
Concentrate.
I’m trying,I admit.
The academy is trying to do things the way mortals do and has found some songs to use for the dance. But for me and Dane, the headmistress doesn’t play the same song the rest danced to.
A piano rendition of the song begins, the faint melody filling the ballroom.
“Follow Dane’s lead,” his mother says. “This is not your typical slow dance, Miss Winters. I will excuse myself. I don’t think I have the stomach to witness my son kissing a human.”
Before I can offer a retort, reminding her she’s the one who refused to let us switch partners, Dane spins me so my back is to the door, where his mother exits.
The students had chatted while previous partners danced, but now, everyone is silent and still. They’re watching us, not making a sound as their gazes follow us around the dancefloor. My feet do exactly what Dane’s do, and each time he twirls me and snatches my waist again at each crescendo, he keeps his eyes everywhere but on me.
Why isn’t he looking at me?
He abruptly dips me, my hair touching the floor, and our eyes crash together like thunder in the middle of a stormy sea, the waves of recognition and regret between us making everyone around us disappear. He keeps me in this position, his hand on my thigh, gripping, tightening, his throat moving as he swallows.
Suddenly, I feel overwhelmed again. I’ve felt like this before, like I was suffocating on my own thoughts, but now it’s an emotion that’s flooding me. One I can’t pinpoint.
He pulls me to my full height that’s barely to his chest, and takes my hand to the right, his other on my waist again as I follow his steps. Him being around eight feet, I struggle, but with the grip I have on his shoulder, I somehow don’t let go.
“Please pay attention. Your feet are not moving correctly,” he says quietly, spinning me away and then back to him, and I slam into his chest. “You said you weren’t a virgin.”
He gives me whiplash with how abrupt his conversation is. “Why are you bringing up my virginity?”
He swallows, and a wave of nerves hits me. “Tell me what happened.”
I laugh, but he glares down at me, so I ask, “What, the first time? Why?”
He stops moving, and I trip over his feet. “There have been other times?”
This guy is unbelievable. “Obviously, Dane. I’m not talking about this, okay? Pay attention.”
“Who?”
“Not telling you,” I reply, refusing to tell him about mine and Grayson’s friends-with-benefits set-up. He’ll call me a whore like he always does, and I can’t be bothered with his mood swings. “Poppy looks like she might throw a hex at us if we keep missing steps. She’s very serious about this dance.”
