Lights Off
I couldn’t marry Manuel.
The future alpha of the local Moon-Blessed pack was fine in all the ways that mattered. A well-set jaw, chocolate brown eyes that could melt most hearts, and enough money to give me more than just a comfortable life.
“Amaia!” Lucia Serrato, my sister, hissed out the side of her mouth. “Stop staring like he’s about to bite your head off.”
He might.
If he knew what I was going to do.
Deep inside, my wolf whined, lamenting my choice. I did my best to ignore her.
“Sorry.” My face eased into a mask of pleasant neutrality. One I’d perfected over the course of the many state banquets, public events, and whatever else I’d had to attend growing up.
She shot me an approving look, slipping her arm through mine, hazel eyes scanning the crowd gathered in the Salavilla Community Hall.
Packs from all across Lobierra.
All waiting for the wedding announcement I’d avoided for seven years.
My stomach twisted in on itself as Manuel wove his way toward us, flashing that charming smile of his at anyone and everyone who crossed his path.
A foreign dignitary from Kinan, our southern neighbor, pulled him aside. They shook hands. Stood together like old friends while they spoke.
His personality was also fine.
He got along with most people. Constantly showered me with gifts. Enough gifts to fill a room. Even hired a copious amount of bodyguards so I never had to go anywhere unescorted.
Sure, he suffered from an unfortunate habit of snarling at any male who wasn’t a family member, but that was expected from someone like him.
Any woman would be lucky to have such a fine Chosen Mate.
Which was the core of my issue.
My wolf whined again. Louder. More insistent.
“Miss. Soon-to-be-Capistran.” Melania, my closest and oldest friend, filled the gaping hole my sister left when she glided off to talk to the CEO of some firm she and Dad were negotiating with.
My nails dug into her arm. “I told you not to call me that.”
A Beta from the Orivedra pack waved at me so hard his arm looked about ready to pop off. I returned it with a slight shake of the wrist. In the corner of my vision, Manuel’s eyes narrowed an inch, but he didn’t make to move away from the dignitary.
“So sorry, Miss. Mandes,” Melania chirped, bumping her hip against mine. “Never thought I’d see the day you gave up on the impossible.”
“I didn’t.” The whole thing left a layer of bitterness on my tongue.
Had it not been for Manuel’s parents, Alejandro and Beatriz Capistran, threatening to call off the engagement, Mom and Dad never would’ve shoved me in a corner. And I sure wouldn’t be considering the unthinkable.
Moon above, when they found out…
Melania fixed me with a long-suffering look. “C’mon. If the magical he was gonna fall out of the sky to awaken your dormant bond, he would’ve by now. ’Sides, Manuel is a catch and a half. You’re gonna be one of the Blessed.”
She let out a squeal that drew some disapproving looks from the higher-ranking members around us. I cleared my throat, guiding her to a quieter part of the hall.
“If you think it’s so great, why don’t you marry him?” I whispered, waving at another guest I should’ve recognized but didn’t.
“Oh, you betcha I would! I’d have jumped him the same damned day.” She waggled her brows at me, chestnut brown eyes twinkling.
The very idea of being in his presence, let alone intimate, had fighting off an involuntary gag.
Not even the goddess herself would get me in front of that altar.
Clarisa and Renata’s arrival saved me from whatever other fan-girling Melania was about to put me through. The three of them, standing side-by-side with their near-identical curls and varying shades of brown eyes, could’ve been related. Maybe not siblings, but definitely cousins.
My pin-drop straight hair and I were the odd ones out.
A fact that regularly turned me playfully pouty.
My distraction with admiring the gems I called my friends gave Manuel the perfect opening to block my only exit. His handsome face broke into the same charming smile he’d given me since my parents announced our union.
The same charming smile that pulled my skin tight over my bones.
“Light of my life, you look simply delicious tonight.” He threaded his fingers through mine, bringing them to his lips.
The audacity to call me such a ridiculous thing. As if I held even a fraction of the importance in his life that Global Tech & Defense, and his self-love, did.
“An appropriate dress, I hope.” An amicable answer.
It seemed to satisfy him, because he dipped his head. “Absolutely.”
“Come, girls, let’s leave the stars of the night to chat.” Melania fluttered her long lashes at me, barely restraining her giggles as she linked arms with Clarisa and Renata.
She’d regret this.
If I ever saw her again.
My wolf howled, so jarring I almost jumped away from the man next to me.
Shoving both the negativity and my wolf’s petulance aside, I focused on Manuel, skin bruising against the mask of polite submissiveness I squeezed onto my face.
None of them understood my insistence.
Not yet.
But they would.
They’d see I was right. What I was doing was right.
“Your friends are truly endearing, light of my life.” He offered me the crook of his arm.
“They are.” I feigned greeting a passing politician in the vain hope I’d find a reason to leave my fiancé behind.
He gave me nothing.
Neither did the three other people I tried engaging, two of whom found other places to be after taking one look at Manuel. The third…she fixed me with the most poisonous stare imaginable before scampering off to have a drink.
I’d have gladly switched places with her, had my partner been more willing to let me go.
“You enjoy dancing, don’t you?” He ran his fingers down my arm, sending tingles into my fingertips.
“As much as any other lady.” The muscles in my back tightened.
Here it came.
His smile broadened into a grin. “Then we must dance!”
I opened my mouth, ready to deliver one of the many excuses I’d prepared when my sister’s penetrating glare caught my eye. The message was clear:
Don’t start.
My throat constricted, limiting my response to an inclination of the head. He angled us toward the already packed dance floor. One hand slid to my lower back, lower than propriety allowed, while the other wrapped around my own.
The band raised their instruments.
Music seized the room, all sharp edges and sudden stops, led by a fanfare of trumpets. An orchestral call to arms. Castanets rattled a dry, wooden warning at anyone who dared to fall behind the frantic pulse of the drums.
It echoed in the hollow of my chest. My ears. My skull.
Manuel was as relentless in his dancing as he was in business. Each step, each spin, each dip was decisive. Precise. Chosen at just the right moment to elicit gasps from the crowd who watched us closer than a hound watched its bowl at supper.
At the swelling of the notes, he drew me against him. “Beautiful. Bask in their attention. Lift that chin higher. You are the envy of every woman here tonight. Revel in it.”
His lips brushed along my jaw. Salt and saliva flooded my mouth.
“All of this was done for you.” He spun me around, pressing my back against his chest. His mouth found my neck again. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I’m honored.” It came out a breathless squeak.
I ground my teeth against his sultry chuckle of approval. Shudder-worthy as it was, his misunderstanding worked in my favor. For now. It wouldn’t really matter, though, if I lost my dinner on his shoes.
“Once we’re bonded, you will want for nothing. These parties, with all their glamor and attention, will become everyday life. Exciting, isn’t it?” His hand, splayed on my stomach, drew me closer.
“Very. I can’t wait for the future.” A future without you.
Manuel pushed me away, only to twirl me back again. As he dipped me, I picked out my bodyguards who stood out worse than neon signs on a moonless night. Their stares were almost predatory, following my every movement as though they expected me to vanish.
Thankfully, they had no idea how right they were.
My next spin gave me an ample view of the exit; three in total. The main entrance was a no-go; far too much security crawling around inside and outside. As for the side entrance on the left, I’d have no luck slipping between my bodyguards.
That left the right-side entrance.
Not ideal—too many guests. Too many opportunities for someone to follow me. Get in my way.
I had to try.
Even if failure meant losing whatever freedoms Manuel and my family allowed me. The minuscule chance I could put things to an end permanently…it was too tempting to ignore.
Manuel spun me as the music crescendoed.
Faster.
Around.
And around.
And around.
The crowd turned to streaks of color, melting together. A tainted sweetness wafted from them. Tickled the inside of my nose. Churned my already knotted stomach. I wanted to pinch my eyes shut. Bolt. Scream for everything and everyone to stop.
And it did.
With a final squeal, the instruments fell silent. Manuel yanked me to a halt against him, mouth moving around words my ears couldn’t hear over the dull thumping.
The drums or—
People swarmed around us, carried by the next wave of lively notes, their bodies a writhing swarm of glittering diamonds and more throat-closing perfume. The tickling sweetness of it turned to a sharp sting that singed my sinuses.
Who in the nine hells was so scent-blind?
A hand clamped around my upper arm, half-dragging me into the pulsing line of dancers.
“Manuel. Please, I need a moment.” I gasped around the cloying sweetness dripping from my tongue into my throat. “Outside. Please. Just one moment.”
Either he didn’t hear me, or he opted to ignore me. My fist connected with the rough fabric of his midnight-blue suit. On the second strike, my deflating brain connected two dots that stilled my blood in my veins.
Manuel never wore dark colors.
Obsidian eyes met mine, my new partner’s roguish smile so unlike the refined charm of the future alpha. On the far end of the floor, Manuel stood with an arm loosely slung around the waist of a blonde I’d never seen before.
His face was a storm of fury that promised death.
“Excuse me.” I angled myself back to my partner, giving him what I hoped was an apologetic look. “I need a drink and some fresh air.”
When I tried to move away, his fingers dug into my lower back. His face grew increasingly blurry, his cocky smugness deepening the broad scars running from his temple to his cheeks.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
I needed to leave. Before he end up a smear under the Blessed’s boot. Before I…what?
A shrill whine erupted from every speaker around the room, sending the guests to the floor, their hands clamped over their ears. It cleaved my skull right down to my shoulders.
My vision doubled. Another wave of salty saliva infiltrated my mouth.
The lights clicked out. Impenetrable darkness swallowed the room and my knees buckled under me. I fell for what must’ve been an eternity, and yet the floor never came. Instead, a hard shoulder dug into my ribs. The glaring rectangle that was the door grew larger and larger until it engulfed me.
Cold night air cut through the white-hot haze, one thought clearer than the rest:
Being kidnapped had not been a part of my plan tonight.
