Page 183 of Entangled

Tension ripples through the crowd. My eyes are riveted on Jasper.

“In one night, our cities burned. Order perished. And unkindest of all... we saw what humanity was capable of. Our neighbors murdered. Our friends rioted. Our authorities stole. Good people transformed, and this new world warped many of them in merehours.”

A chill steals over my skin as a low breeze stirs. Jasper glows like a beacon, silvered by starlight, and his dark eyes travel the crowd.

“But not you,” he says softly. “Many of us here have done things we aren’t proud of to survive in this new world—but with every choice, we learn. And by standing here, on the anniversary of that deathful day, and not with men like the Sinners, we show we are making new choices. We choose to build, rather than to destroy. We choose friendship over fearmongering. Community before coercion. We choose each other, and we choose to be better than our worst choices.”

Solemn agreement whispers over the crowd. I cast my eyes around, shocked at the number of people nodding. Ava has her head bowed, like Jasper’s words are hard to hear, and Ida has Ethel’s hand pressed to her lips as she listens.

My throat thickens, and something shifts for me, then, moved by the music and moonlight and Jasper’s words.Thiswas what he was trying to say last night. This isn’t just my fight. Every one of us has been through this. Day Death demanded sacrifice, and it didn’t just claim the lives of our loved ones. It claimed pieces of our souls.

And it’s not just me who wants more.

I can see the want in their faces. It’s in the way they’ve thrown themselves into making Bristlebrook a home. We all want a life that is more than survival. We all want a way to thrive without carving out everything about ourselves that makes usgood.

Jasper inclines his head, and for a moment, I feel his eyes on me. Without a single lash in hand, he’s cut me to my core.

“I cannot pretend our suffering is over. But none of us made it this far without discovering our strength. We will draw on every ounce of it in the days and weeks ahead—and when our own strength fails, we will lean on those around us. Together, we are strong.” Jasper pauses, then smiles gently. “Welcome, my new friends, to Bristlebrook. Our home.”

A cheer goes up, and my eyes sting as I laugh, carried away by the crowd. Beau’s lips press against my hair, and I nestle back into him.

Jasper waits, that smile still shining from his face, until the noise begins to die down. As it does, the music changes again, slipping into something slick and sexy, with a heavy, fast-pumping beat.

“In honor of our new home, and in the spirit of our new friendship, we have thrown this”—he looks down at the card in his hand and sighs—“bond-fire.”

I have to stifle another laugh. This is Lucky, if I ever heard it.

“Light a candle and hang it on our tree in remembrance of those you loved, and please enjoy the music, the fire, and the vast selection of alcohol.” Jasper’s expression is a little pained at that—I know he’s quite fond of his collection. Or he was. “We have also arranged for a pig to be roasted as a special break to our rations.”

The cheer from the crowd is even louder this time. Akira is in charge of Team Bacon, as they’ve been anointed, and they’re the unofficial heroes of the night.

“Finally,” Jasper calls over the excited jeers, “we have some entertainment for you tonight.”

He looks down, skimming his notes again, and frowns. He turns toward the lodge and calls, “Lucien, I refuse to read this.”

There’s no answer—except the song abruptly cuts off, then starts again, playing that slick, introductory beat.

Jasper presses an index finger against his forehead and rubs it, sighing again as he turns back around.

In a flat, unimpressed voice, he reads, “He simmers with sex. He’s more scorching than sin. He’s the hottest man in this house. Yes, hotter than Jayk. He’ll set your panties on fire. He sizzles with... untamed masculine energy.”

Jasper closes his eyes, shaking his head minutely, and I can’t stop my giggles anymore. The crowd is hollering, riotous.

Jasper gives them a scathing look, then finishes hurriedly. “Please give a warm welcome to the smoldering smokeshow himself—Lucien.”

As soon as the last word leaves his lips, he shoves down his cards and stalks over to us.

He ends up next to me, shoving the cards in his pocket. “I don’t know how I let him talk me into this.”

“I do,” Dom says under his breath. “And he really could have done it inyourroom.”

The usual spike of jealousy, curiosity, and lust hits me, but right then I see a shirtless, gleaming Lucky appear at the head of the circle, a long, thick staff in one hand.

The music pauses for a beat—and then Lucky winks.

He whips the staff into the air, and it catches fire on both ends in a wicked bloom that has the crowd roaring back as the playful, sexy music crashes back in. Grinning, Lucky throws himself into a series of rapid flips and turns, the staff spinning and flaring around his arching body as he hits every beat of the music, and the thumping music starts a rhythm inside me that demands an answer.

He slides to his knees in the middle of the crowd, in front of me and Jasper, spinning the fiery staff faster and faster over his head, around his neck, above his chest. And in the middle of it all, his bodyundulates, thrusting up from the earth in an erotic, unholy dance.

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