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Beau waves his hand. “Liberation through libation. The only sacrifice, though, was your virginity.”

My lips flatten. I don’t know how the fuck he knows⁠—

“I can smell the blood between your legs, dear Astra,” he says in a low voice. Almost conspiring.

“Get the fuck away from her. What did you do to us? My wolf⁠—”

“Is napping.” Beau rolls his eyes. “Although he may be pissed to learn he missed the fireworks.”

“I can’t feel him.”

Kian sounds… worried. While I’m growing more and more sick.

“That drink made us do this?” I ask Beau, trying to focus on him. “It made us…”

“It acts as alcohol does.” Beau shrugs. “But it does have a certain effect on mates. Which, really, it isn’t my fault fate deems you irresistible to him, and vice versa. Is it?”

Fuck.

Kian seems too lost in his mind to focus on me.

And me? I’m going to have an internal meltdown.

I hurry past Beau and back into the mob of dancing bodies. I should’ve known better than to trust a vampire—or a wolf shifter.

The crowd has gotten rowdier, the dancing more sensual. Hands reach for me as I pass, catching locks of my hair, trailing over my arms, shoulders. There’s probably something about the sex, the sacrifice of my virginity, that’s affecting them this way. It seems like everyone is in a haze.

I shove people away from me, my lungs restricting. My vision blurs.

Someone snags my wrist and holds on, whipping me around.

“Dance with me.” A man with half-lidded eyes watches me, his fangs already visible.

I shudder. “No, thanks.”

As soon as I fend him off, more hands grab at me. I’m dragged farther into the dance pit, crushed between gyrating bodies.

“I can smell it on her,” a female purrs.

They tug at my clothes.

“Stop it.” I slap them away. But there are too many, pressing close enough that I can barely twist around.

Fear chokes me.

I thought my magic was supposed to swoop in and save me—that it would explode outward and flatten everyone. But all I feel is a shuddering darkness winding through my veins.

What if sex with Kian, if losing my virginity to him, is my downfall?

What if that little bit of power I had was only good while I retained my innocence?

I’d heard of that happening. Stories from visiting witches. They wanted me to stay safe, I think, but my mom always shook her head and told me to ignore them when she discovered what they’d said.

“Release her!” Kian’s voice cuts through the music.

It starts raining. Pouring. I squint upward. I thought we were inside. Was that another trick, or is this? The crowd doesn’t mind it. A cheer goes up.

Within seconds, everyone is drenched—except for me. The drops seem to move around me. As I watch, the water on the dancing crowd crystalizes. It freezes over, frosting on their skin, their clothes.