Chapter 73
It’s insane how planned everything was, every move that anyone made was an order from their king. Gabe would probably rather dance with Nora or Abby or maybe there was a completely different girl that he fancied but he was stuck babysitting me.
“Please? I do like the waltz,” he lowered his head while looking up at me with rounded puppy eyes.
“Of course you do,” I giggled and let him lead me onto the dance floor.
I don’t know if he followed Darian’s orders because he was his brother or because he was his king.
Gabe put his hands in position and I did the same. I was glad to see that he was a good lead, I never danced if I could help it, my feet couldn’t move like the others did and it didn’t look like I was floating- falling or wailing like a seal on dry land would be a more accurate description of how I looked on the dance
floor.
f
“You’re doing good. Just relax your arms,” he instructed with a never-failing smile.
I caught a glimpse of Nora stepping back through the crowd and moving away from the dance floor. She carried herself with a power I envied and swayed her hips from side to side while putting her glass down on a table on her way.
Where is she going?
to
She headed around the pillar and towards the door where Darian and the council members had walked off. When I leaned to the side I saw that that was exactly where she was going and Mrs. Smith was holding the door open for her with a feral scowl. Once Nora was inside the room, Mrs. Smith closed the door and locked it with one of the keys on her massive keychain before she put it back in the pouch on her plaid dress. She walked away like the mere existence of the joyfulness in the room was causing her to rot and the scowl, which I thought couldn’t get deeper, created another wrinkle between her eyebrows.
“Charming isn’t she?” Gabe smirked.
I would’ve laughed but I was too busy thinking of a way to phrase my question.
Gabe watched me, he scanned my face and searched my eyes with the softest gaze.
He gently rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb and looking up at his eyes was like staring at the sun; blinding and perfectly warm..
“What’s wrong?” He asked with sincerity.
“Nora just walked into the back room,”
He nodded and waited for me to continue.
I shrugged my shoulders and pressed my brows together.
“Don’t you care?” I asked.
Gabe scoffed and his face twisted in genuine confusion.
“Why would I care about Nora?” He countered.
Was it so beyond the realm of possibility that he cared about the girl that he brought here?
“I just thought-”
“That because I fucked her I should marry her?” He asked with an amused grin.
Well…
I couldn’t say it aloud but thought I saw something between them. First at MarryBell and then again earlier this night after their little alone time during the
Ball.
1/2
Chapter 73
“I’m sorry,” if it was something I should’ve learned by now it’s to not speak out of place.
There was just something about Gabriel that made me feel safe enough to express myself.
A husky chuckle vibrated from him which was nice to hear so at least I hadn’t crossed a line.
“Don’t be. It’s hard to know love on someone else when you’ve never experienced it yourself,”
It was like the world stopped spinning on its axes and the air was sucked out of the ballroom.
The couples started twirling in slow motion with the dresses blowing in the wind like brush strokes on a canvas.
Gabe’s eyes slowly fell, so very slow, and his lips parted.
“Oh no,” he said and those words echoed in my ears like a fucking drum.
I sucked in my cheeks and chewed down on them. My eyebrows rose high and I counted my breaths to keep myself from crying. But no matter how hard I bit my inner cheeks I couldn’t seem to keep the tears down. The first one fell before I realized what had happened and I was quick to wipe it away but the others were close behind and I didn’t want every socialite in Valeria to see me cry.
The Alpha’s Hunt
