Page 182 of Entangled

“Hurry on, darlin’. You’re not going to want to miss this.”

“What’sthis?” I stand on my tiptoes, straining to see.

“A mating dance,” Dom mutters under his breath. “He’s going to cause a riot.”

Beau ignores him.

“Thisis your entertainment.” He drops me a grin. “Your new boyfriend is giving you a show.”

Chapter42

Eden

Survival tip #350

Together we are strong.

Lucky?

The music pulses like a heartbeat, intense and expectant. Beau jumps off the porch, and I clamber down after him, my plug pressing in and out of me in an intimate kiss.

We pass the bonfire to find the crowd has swollen on the lawn, forming a large circle. There, I see Jayk for the first time in a week. He’s cleaned up, looking freshly shaven and unfairly beddable as he sprawls over one of the raised wooden vantages the building team has been working on. He’s... is he in a button-up? Where on earth did he get that?

He’s also surrounded by women.

As my eyes land on him, his gaze jerks away. Sloane leans in close, whispering something, and he stiffens, then, slowly, his arm slings around her shoulders.

I stare at it, and rage bursts to life inside me, storming like it did when I had hemlock in my pocket and a camp to kill. Sloane has the unexpected beauty of a Valkyrie—gorgeously strong and with rippling confidence, she and Jayk look like a warrior queen and king beside one another. Worse, IlikeSloane.

My glasses slip down my nose, and I shove them back up furiously.

“Easy, killer,” Dom murmurs beside me, and my lips tighten.

Beau steps in behind me. “He didn’t sleep with her, pet.”

Oh, I knowthat. Jaykob is as transparent as Beau about his feelings, albeit in a very different way. A man like Jayk doesn’t say “mine” unless he means it.

“He’s playing games,” I bite out, cataloguing every inch of tattooed skin that’s touching hers. Jayk is trying to make me jealous.

Of all the petty, stupid,ridiculousthings.

Beau squeezes my upper arms. “Just remember the plan.”

The plan. Right. Of course.

If Jayk doesn’t stop touching her, I am nuking the plan, and I might take him with it.

Even as I think it, Lucky’s voice comes back to haunt me, calling me a hypocrite, and I force my hands to unclench. I’m being a better person today.

The tension in the crowd ratchets higher, and the music takes on a breathless edge. I find myself waiting as anxiously as everyone else, craning my head to see what’s coming.

Then Jasper walks into the center of the clearing, a small pile of cards firmly in hand.

In the darkening night, he seems soaked in moonlight. His arresting beauty draws every eye, silences every squeal and chatter—a prince awaiting proper deference for his address.

The thrumming beat strikes a sharp rhythm in my throat.

“Five years ago, nightmares walked free of dreams and through our streets.”

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