He mumbled some half-answer, but his gaze never left me.
The music shifted into a new section, and the officiant cheerfully suggested a “swap partners” round. The dancers on the floor began to rotate, changing partners in time with the music.
When a hand reached out to me, I looked up—
It was Alexander. I hesitated for a second, then still placed my hand in his.
He didn’t say anything. He just led me forward, his steps as smooth and familiar as ever.
There was a standard polite distance between us, but his Alpha presence still pressed around me like heat.
We’d barely turned once when a metallic creak sounded overhead.
The chandelier was shaking.
I looked up, and before I could react, the entire fixture—frame and crystal—came crashing down.
Instinct made my body jerk sideways, but
