My mouth gaped as we entered the party. It was nothing like the Ianuarius celebration, which was the only party I’d ever attended.
The village event was basically just a dance club.
Dark, loud, and sexy.
Strobe lights flashed through the inky darkness, and the writhing mass of dancers glowed neon.
There weren’t any tables. A massive dance floor took up the entire room.
The bass was low and heavy, and my bones shook in time to the reverberations.
Bodies writhed, and arms flailed.
I’d thought it was going to be an intimate party with a few fae competitors and had been worried about dealing with Ryak.
I’d been worried for nothing.
It looked like they’d invited the entire village. Hundreds of fae were packed together and grinding like their lives depended on it.
It was amazing.
Aran and I smiled at each other…and sprinted into the crush of flailing bodies.
It didn’t take long before we both lost ourselves in the freedom of dancing to the heavy beat.
I was one more gladiator fight and nightmare away from suffering a catastrophic mental breakdown.
Now I closed my eyes and just moved.
The best part—even though fae danced around us, not a single person pulled out their dick or groped us.
It was sensational.
Either the fae were super respectful—which seemed improbable because they loved vulgar chants and violence—or there was some other reason they weren’t touching us.
Everyone was packed tightly against each other, but every time we drifted near them, they scurried away like we were poisonous.
The only thing I could think of was they were avoiding us because Aran was the crown princess.
I shrugged and just had fun dancing with Aran.
The fae gave us an even wider berth as we dance battled each other aggressively.
Aran said I couldn’t dance, and I understood why. She moved like a graceful swan, while I fist-bumped and vibrated with energy.
Compared to her, I was a twitching squirrel with zero rhythm.
Suddenly, Aran jumped up and landed on the ground in a full split.
I screamed, “Oh shit!”
My legs and vagina cramped as Aran held the split. Touching my fingers to my toes was still out of my range of physical abilities.
But I didn’t let it hold me back.
After a while of running in place, pretending to go shopping at the store, and swirling around like a snowstorm, I heaved and stopped moving.
Sweat dripped down my brow as exhaustion set in. My thigh muscle cramped, and I barely hobbled to the beat.
Aran kept spinning and kicking like she was built to dance, but she stopped when she realized I was twitching, and not voluntarily.
“Thigh cramp!” I yelled over the loud music.
She yelled back, “I know how to fix it!”
A few seconds later, I was super glad the fae were giving us such a wide berth.
Aran had me lie on the dance floor and stretched my leg forward toward my hips. As she pushed, the debilitating cramp stopped stabbing my leg.
She pulled me to my feet with a laugh and dragged me off the dance floor. “Come on, let’s get something to drink.”
I followed behind her, confused where we were going to get a drink, because the entire room was a dance floor.
Once again, bodies parted quickly in front of us and moved out of the way so we could pass without a single person touching us. In the darkness, it was impossible to discern who was who.
Finally, Aran stopped at the far wall of the room. There was nothing around, and bodies danced on the fringes.
Aran shouted to me above the loud music, “Watch this!” She grabbed a sparkly lever that stuck off the wall, and she put her face underneath it.
A bright-gold fluid poured out and filled her mouth. She leaned back and smiled, a warm flush traveled across her pale skin and her turquoise eyes twinkled.
She gestured to me. “Now you try it!”
I turned my head upside down, and Aran poured the golden liquid into my mouth.
As soon as it touched my lips, it fizzed and glided down my throat.
My mouth tingled as I dragged my tongue over my lips and tried to get every delicious drop.
It tasted like bubbly happiness.
Immediately, everything sparkled around me.
Unlike at the Ianuarius celebration, my thoughts didn’t boomerang, and the world didn’t spin on its axis.
I wasn’t drunk.
This was different.
I felt exactly the same, but my vision sparkled. Literally sparkled.
It was like someone had dumped glitter on the world.
I looked around in awe.
Everything gleamed with a glittery shine. “Whoa.”
The liquid was definitely enchanted.
Aran grinned at me. “Isn’t it awesome? I helped the palace mixologist invent it. I call it sparkle juice.”
I gaped at Aran; she could be so violent and aggressive it was hard to reckon the girly side of her personality that loved clothes and sparkles with the vicious side.
You know, the side that had slit a man’s throat to get a portal bracelet and escaped from her evil mother by disguising herself as a boy in the shifter realm.
I threw my arms around her. “You’re so cool.”
She hugged me back and flipped her turquoise hair over her shoulder. “I know.”
A great idea struck me. “We should drink the sparkly juice while in bubble baths, reading smut books. In a white marble bathroom. Everything would sparkle around us, and it would be divine.”
“Girl, you’re a genius.” Aran put her hand up and we high-fived.
With the enchanted juice pumping through my system, sparkles burst around our hands and shimmered in the air as our palms touched.
I loved it.
Suddenly, the heavy bass music stopped and everyone in the room went still.
A large platform slowly lowered from the high ceiling. Earth and air fae must have controlled it.
The platform stopped and floated about an arm’s length above the crowd of dancers.
On the floating disk, one naked woman and two naked men sparkled and held microphones in their hands.
A small purple rock floated and spun in the air around them. Their naked bodies were being broadcast to the entire realm.
Golden spotlights illuminated them.
The naked woman was stunning, with heavy breasts, curvy hips, and dark skin. Her hair was bright purple and hung to the floor in a sparkly cloud.
Behind her stood two handsome pale men. They had sculpted bodies and matching long pink hair.
They were attractive, but I preferred my men taller and covered in bulging muscles.
The naked fae woman spoke, and her voice was a raspy croon, not much different from my own scratchy voice. “The fae queen wants to thank all the competitors for enjoying her hospitality, and she says to have fun at the party.”
The crowd whooped.
Aran shook her head. “Mother loves to take any chance she can to seem like a magnanimous non-psychotic leader. She has the best PR team in the entire realm.”
The queen really was a master manipulator. I was being forced to fight for my life in brutal, awful battles. Yet everything seemed staged and scripted.
It was weird.
A soft crooning sound filled the room, and the fae began to sing a slow melody.
All three of their naked bodies swayed erotically.
Under the influence of the sparkly juice, I stared at them, enraptured.
It was mesmerizing.
The crowd below the floating singers slowly gyrated to the beat.
I turned and asked Aran, “Where are the guys? I just realized I haven’t seen them.”
It was becoming a pattern, attending parties with Aran and forgetting about the other alphas and Xerxes. There was something about music that made me want to dance and not think about anything.
Aran pointed across the room and said, “They’re right there.”
They were shoving their way through the crowd, but fae women and men were throwing their bodies at them and grinding against them. They screamed Cobra’s name and were creating a commotion.
Jax, Ascher, and Xerxes stood around Cobra. They pushed the fae away, who were desperately trying to touch him.
Even from afar, Cobra’s jewels glinted extra sparkly, and his handsome face was beyond perfect as strobe lights glanced across his cut cheekbones and jaw.
He was so stunning there wasn’t a word that described his beauty.
Still, his jaw was clenched tight, and his emerald eyes burned with anger.
My stomach pinched, and I fought the urge to march over and beat up every man and woman that touched him against his will.
Suddenly, I felt like shit for wanting to go to the party. I hadn’t thought about what it would be like for the men.
With each challenge, each of the alphas had become more popular. Fae screamed their names and asked for signatures all the time in the village.
Even Xerxes had gained a following when the fae had realized one of the queen’s personal guards was always with us.
Women and men tried to touch his hair and propositioned him all the time.
My stomach twisted, and I rubbed at my aching sternum.
The fae citizens were so amorous it was annoying as hell. I was glad Aran didn’t act like them.
Before I could stalk through the crowd toward the men, a familiar blood-orange mohawk filled my vision.
He had dark skin, bright-green eyes, and was built wide and tall.
It was one of the half warrior twins.
“You look gorgeous tonight.”
My face flamed. Was he the tiger I’d played with? Or was he the one who had set me on fire?
Either way…awkward.
Also, he was also a childhood idol of mine. Demetre had always been my favorite, but the twins were a close second.
“Um, thanks,” I said awkwardly.
I was unsure how to respond to nice men; I was used to them trying to stab me aggressively and, sadly, not in a sexual way.
“What do you want, Noah?” Aran snapped and rolled her eyes.
Apparently, my best friend had no issue telling the twins apart and was on a first-name basis with them.
Noah sneered back, “Nothing to do with your spoiled ass, that’s for sure.”
Hostility radiated off the big man as he glared down at Aran.
Noah’s attack felt personal, and I didn’t like the way he looked down at Aran like she was scum.
Also, Aran didn’t immediately defend herself like she had against Cobra.
I moved in front of her. “Don’t talk to my friend that way.”
Beside Noah, another blood-orange mohawk appeared. Noah’s twin, Shane, sneered, “You shouldn’t defend a pampered princess. Arabella doesn’t deserve it.”
Aran bristled behind me, and it confused me when she said nothing to correct them.
Then Demetre appeared beside the twins.
His pink eyes were bright against his tan skin, and his tribal tattoos decorated his neck.
As usual, his black hair was a shiny, straight mass that hung to his butt.
All three of the half warriors sparkled like they had bathed in glitter, and I lost my train of thought as I admired my heroes.
Demetre sneered, “Arabella wouldn’t know hard work if it bit her in her privileged ass.”
Yep, all men sucked. “Are you guys kidding me? Aran is a badass. I’ve seen her take dow—”
Aran pulled me to the side to cut me off.
She flipped her turquoise hair over her shoulder. “It’s fine, Sadie. These men know nothing about me, and they never will. They’re just dumb gladiators, jealous of my mother’s power.”
Aran didn’t sneer at her mother’s name like she usually did, and I realized there was a lot going on between her and the half warriors that I had no clue about.
At the mention of the queen, their eyes began to glow. Bright-pink and bright-green eyes stared down at Aran with anger.
Demetre’s alpha scent spiked until the space reeked of burning steel. Notes of leather and gunpowder wafted off the twins.
Aran’s dark, frosty scent joined the maelstrom of aggressive smells.
I coughed at the awful smell.
Unlike the rich mouthwatering scents of my alphas and Xerxes, the half warriors’ scents were a brutal warning.
They burned my throat.
Before I could remove myself to get some fresh air, Noah gently grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the dance floor.
I yanked away, but Aran shoved me forward and said, “I’ll handle these overgrown babies.”
Not what I would have called the famous half warriors, but I trusted her judgment.
“Let’s dance,” Noah whispered as he leaned closer to me.
At this point, I was just going to assume he wasn’t the twin that had set me on fire.
I also sighed with relief when I realized he was the one that smelled of leather. His scent was almost tolerable.
Still, it was a little too smoky and rough for my liking, and I didn’t enjoy the sensation of another male touching me.
I backed away and created space between us.
Thankfully, at that moment, the slow song ended, and the naked singers hovering on the platform above the crowd screamed into the mics.
With the rest of the crowd, I put my hands up in the air and jumped.
Noah did the same and grinned down at me.
I closed my eyes; I was just a twenty-year-old bobbing her head to heavy metal music.
It was nice.
