He Rejected The Wrong Wolf

Chapter 14

Brielle's POV

The longer the party went on, the harder it became to pretend everything still felt normal.

At first, Brielle had convinced herself she was just overwhelmed. Too many people, too much noise, too much happening in one night. But that explanation stopped working the more the hours passed, because this wasn't just nerves anymore. Everything around her felt sharper now, clearer in a way she didn't know how to explain. Voices carried farther than they should have, cutting through layers of music and conversation until individual words stood out from across the room. She noticed movements before they happened, tiny shifts in expression and posture that made reactions feel predictable before anyone actually spoke.

It was exhausting.

But underneath the exhaustion sat something else, something quieter and harder to ignore.

It felt right.

That was the part she couldn't stop thinking about.

"You're staring into space again."

Wren's voice pulled her back before Brielle realized she'd drifted off for the hundredth time that night. She blinked and looked down at the drink in her hand, finally noticing she'd been turning the glass slowly between her fingers without taking a sip.

"I'm thinking," she said.

"That's usually concerning."

A faint laugh slipped out before Brielle could stop it, and Wren's expression softened immediately, relief flickering across her face like she'd been waiting for proof that Brielle was still grounded somewhere beneath whatever strange mood had taken hold of her tonight.

They stood near the edge of the room where things were slightly quieter, though quieter still meant music pulsing through the floor and people crowding shoulder to shoulder beneath warm gold lighting. The dance floor was packed now, bodies moving together beneath the massive crystal chandelier hanging above the center of the room, its light scattering across polished floors and glittering dresses every time it swayed.

Wren leaned against the wall beside her, watching her carefully. "Okay, seriously," she said after a moment. "What's going on with you?"

Brielle opened her mouth automatically with the same answer she'd been giving everyone all night, but the words stalled before they came out. She wasn't sure she believed them anymore.

"I don't know," she admitted instead.

Wren's brows lifted slightly, surprise flashing across her face at the honesty.

Brielle let her gaze drift back across the room, following the movement of people through the crowd. "Everything just feels... different tonight," she said slowly. "Like I'm noticing things I shouldn't be noticing."

"What kind of things?"

"People," Brielle said after a second. "The way they react before they even realize they're reacting. The way moods shift in a room."

Even now she could feel it happening around her, tension and excitement and irritation rolling through the crowd in quiet waves she couldn't fully explain but somehow understood anyway. It was like standing in the middle of a storm and sensing the wind change before the clouds moved.

Wren stared at her for a second. "Okay," she said slowly. "That sounded way more dramatic than I think you intended."

Brielle huffed a quiet laugh and shook her head. "Yeah. Probably."

"You know," Wren continued, nudging her lightly with her shoulder, "most people celebrate turning eighteen by drinking too much and making bad decisions. You're over here sounding like you've unlocked some ancient supernatural crisis."

The laugh that escaped Brielle this time was more real, brief but enough to loosen some of the tension sitting in her chest.

"Maybe I have," she said lightly.

Wren's grin faded almost immediately.

"...You weren't joking."

Brielle's smile slipped too, though more slowly. "I don't know what I'm saying yet."

"That somehow makes it worse."

The music shifted again, deeper bass rolling through the room as more people crowded toward the dance floor. Brielle looked up automatically, her attention drifting over the packed crowd beneath the chandelier hanging overhead. Crystal caught the light every time it moved, scattering tiny reflections over the ceiling and walls.

Then the lights flickered.

It happened fast enough that most people barely noticed. Conversations continued uninterrupted, laughter blending into the music as the room settled again almost immediately.

But something inside Brielle tightened sharply.

Not fear.

Recognition.

Her head lifted slightly, attention locking onto the chandelier without fully understanding why.

Beside her, Wren frowned. "Okay, that was weird."

Brielle barely heard her.

The awareness inside her had gone completely still, every instinct narrowing toward one point as she stared upward.

The chandelier moved.

Not much.

Just enough.

The massive chain holding it trembled faintly against the ceiling.

No one else was looking.

No one else saw it.

But Brielle did.

A sharp metallic sound cracked through the air beneath the music, quiet enough that it should have disappeared into the noise.

Instead, it cut straight through her.

Her body reacted before her mind caught up.

She shoved away from the wall so fast Wren startled beside her. "Brielle-"

The rest of the words disappeared behind the music as Brielle pushed through the crowd toward the center of the room. People stumbled aside with confused protests as she forced her way between them, her pulse hammering harder with every step.

The chain snapped.

This time the sound was loud enough to hear.

A violent crack split through the room, and suddenly the chandelier dropped.

Everything happened at once after that. Crystal shattered as the massive fixture came crashing downward toward the crowded dance floor below, people screaming as they finally realized what was happening.

"Move!"

Brielle's voice tore out of her before she even realized she was shouting. She lunged forward, grabbing the nearest girl and throwing her sideways hard enough that they both nearly hit the floor as the chandelier exploded into the space where they had been standing seconds earlier.

The impact shook the room.

Glass burst across the floor in glittering shards, metal twisting violently as people stumbled backward in panic. Music cut off abruptly, leaving behind nothing but shouting and ragged breathing and the sharp sound of crystal still falling in tiny pieces around them.

For one suspended second, the entire room froze.

Brielle stayed crouched on the floor, breathing hard, one hand braced against the ground as shattered crystal glittered around her like ice.

The girl beside her stared up at her wide-eyed, too shocked to speak.

Then the noise returned all at once.

"Oh my God-"

"Someone could've died-"

"Did you see-"

Brielle barely heard any of it.

Because across the wreckage, Thaddeus was staring at her.

Not distracted.

Not dismissive.

Completely focused.

And this time-

Everyone else was too.