Whirl (Ondine Quartet Book 1) by Emma Raveling Page A

leaned against his shoulder with my eyes
closed. The music pulsed inside me and my brain swirled with heat.
Jake softly stroked my arm and whispered in my ear, "Wanna
dance?"
    "Hmmm?" I glanced up at him.
    "I'd like to see that body of yours in
action." His eyes ran suggestively over me and I felt a responsive
shiver.
    "Sounds like fun."
    Aubrey and Matt had their arms locked around
each other and were already involved in some hot tongue action.
Chloe and Jason were whispering to each other, their lips inches
apart.
    I held Jake's hand and led him out to the
dance floor. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close,
his hands resting on the small of my back. I lifted my arms,
loosely entwining them around his neck. My head fell back, hair
brushing against his hands with each sway.
    The throbbing music wrapped around me. My
body and hips began moving on their own and I pressed myself
against his body.
    His hands gently traced small circles on my
back. He looked at me like he was mesmerized.
    "You're amazing," he breathed.
    The heat in his eyes was turning me on and
his body rubbed against me in a way that excited me.
    I reveled in the sensations, feeling free for
the first time in days. Nothing existed but the pulse of the music
and my body's instinctual movements to it.
    Jake kissed me enthusiastically. It was kind
of sloppy and a little too wet for my taste, but still.
    I'd been in desperate need of physical
release since I came to Haverleau and the dancing and kissing was
the most enjoyable activity I'd had since I arrived.
    Breaking off the kiss, I kept my arms around
his neck and turned so that my back was against his chest. Closing
my eyes, I undulated against him, the music spurring me on.
    Jake moved my hair to the side and his mouth
brushed against my neck.
    "Nice tattoo," he whispered.
    I'd almost forgotten what it was like for
someone to simply notice my tattoo without adding any meaning to
it. I released a small portion of my Virtue's mental filters and
reached inside Jake.
    A mixture of admiration, desire, and
eagerness for me as well as a small degree of smugness. Out of
everyone in Axis, he'd been the one to get me for the night and he
was pleased with himself.
    Satisfied, I let myself go, sinking into his
admiration, into the hazy feel-good state where everything was
forgotten.
    The edges of my Virtue suddenly twitched and
I felt a solid presence against it. Someone was watching me. I
opened my eyes and scanned the club, searching for the source of
the feeling.
    There. Across the dance floor. Tristan.
    The flickering strobe lights alternated to
both illuminate his gorgeous face and cast it in shadows. His
expression was unreadable, but I could make out the dangerous,
barely controlled glint in his eyes.
    Motionless, he stood there staring at me.
    Great. My selkie jailer, here to take me back
to my prison.
    Pressing harder against Jake, I tilted my
head so that my hair spilled forward and continued dancing. My eyes
never left Tristan's and his never left mine.
    A part of me knew I shouldn't be challenging
him like this, but the recklessness I'd felt all night consumed me.
I wasn't sure whether I was trying to prove something to him or to
myself.
    He continued to watch me with that intense
stillness and after a few moments I sighed and let go of Jake. He
protested, but I murmured something about seeing someone I knew. I
was going to have to face Tristan at some point, and it was
probably better sooner rather than later.
    Tossing my hair back, I sauntered towards
him, suddenly conscious of the curves on my body and the sway of my
hips.
    Tristan's entire body was crouched in
tension. Even from a distance, I sensed that extraordinary warrior
energy coiled inside of him, waiting to explode. His dark eyes were
brooding and stony.
    But something else flared there, too.
Something I'd never seen before.
    Just like the night at the Governing House, I
wondered what he saw when he looked at me. But my thoughts