Chapter 161 Chapter 161

Chapter 161 Chapter 161
Amber
The principal stepped forward the moment the screens went dark, relief written so plainly across his face that it almost looked comical. 
His shoulders dropped as he spread his arms wide to the still-stunned crowd.
“Well!” he declared, voice bright and just a touch too loud. 
“What an honor and a privilege it was to interact with the alphas. I’m sure you all must have learned quite a lot through just this single interaction.”
Nobody cheered or made a sound.
He cleared his throat. “And now we shall honor another tradition established long ago by the Alphas themselves.”
I blinked, still half-leaning into Damian’s steadying hold, my legs not yet willing to trust their own strength.
“Lets dance,” the principal continued, beaming as though he had just announced free drinks for life. 
“Before every Hunt, the heirs and one of their chosen hunters open the evening with a formal dance. It serves as a reminder of elegance, unity and the grace we carry even into the bloodshed that awaits at dawn. The Alphas began this custom generations ago. Tonight, it is our turn to uphold it.”
A dance?
I stared at the principal in pure, unfiltered shock. We had just survived a public interrogation by four of the most terrifying men alive, and now he wanted us to dance?
He clapped his hands once, and the sound was sharp in the cold night air. He looked around the stage with sudden, almost boyish excitement.
“So! Which Alpha heir shall we begin with?”
Dread pooled thick and heavy in my stomach. Damian’s hand was still loosely around my arm so I hastily started to ease away from it.
But then the principal’s gaze landed on us with unmistakable glee.
“Students of the Silvercrest Academy. Put your hands together for Damian Blackwood and his hunter, Amber!”
Fuck!
The crowd erupted into applause and scattered cheers. 
Every eye in the open grounds swung toward us again. I wanted the stage to open and swallow me whole.
Damian, of course, looked completely unbothered. He released my arm only long enough to extend one open hand toward me. His palm was facing up and his silver eyes looked calm and faintly amused in the floating light.
I hesitated, glancing out at the sea of faces and whispered in a low and urgent voice.
“I don’t know how to.”
His mouth curved in a knowing smile. “Lucky you because I do.”
There was no room to refuse him so I reluctantly slipped my hand into his. His fingers closed around mine, and he drew me closer. He guided one of my hands to rest on his back while he intertwined our fingers with the other.
The heat of his body soaked through the thin fabric of the dress where my palm rested against him.
“You just have to sway with the music,” he murmured.
I clung to him, terrified of the hundreds of watching eyes, of the high slit in the crimson skirt. I was a hundred percent certain that I was about to make a complete fool of myself.
“I am going to fall.”
His grip on me tightened. “Do you trust me?”
I looked up at him and saw the silver of his eyes catch the light. 
I nodded because my mouth couldn’t form a response but then he started moving me with him.
“Relax, dance is a lot like fighting.”
The first twirl was sudden and smooth. A startled breath left me as he spun me and then a second later I landed back against his chest.
“See, easy”
I held onto him tightly, my heart still racing.
Soft music fell on my ears but I could barely hear it over the roaring of my heart that could burst my eardrums.
At first I was rigid, and very conscious not to tread on his feet or trip over my own. But Damian led me effortlessly like he had done this a thousand times before.
“Just follow me, you are doing fine”
Damian, my trainer, who never left a chance to reprimand me on the smallest mistake was being completely opposite tonight.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked and his lips curled into a smirk.
“Because for the next twenty four hours, I wont”
Before I could respond, he spun me and then pulled me hard, making my body slam onto his.
I thought I would trip again but his hands steadied me and the chill of the night faded under the heat of his nearness. He looked down at me for a long, unbroken moment, silver eyes tracing my face as though he had all the time in the world.
“You look gorgeous tonight.”
Now he was also complimenting me?
Heat rushed up my neck and into my cheeks until I was certain they had turned the same deep red as the dress.
“You… look stunning too,” I managed.
He gave a small nod. “I know.”
I shot him a look that was half glare, half helpless amusement. 
The corner of his mouth lifted in answer, and then he twirled me again, a bit faster this time.
We were moving across the stage now and I chanced a glance past his shoulder toward the watching students and the other heirs.
“They’re laughing at me.”
Damian’s hand left my waist only long enough to catch my chin, his thumb brushed the edge of my jaw.
“Girls would die to be in your place right now… and here you are. Distracted.”
He clicked his tongue and I blinked at that, the words cutting through the noise in my head. 
“It’s absurd,” I murmured, almost to myself. “Making us dance like this the night before they send us out to die.”
He gave a small shrug, never missing a step. “That’s how it is.”
I wasn’t paying enough attention and my heel caught slightly on the stage. A sharp spike of panic shot through me as I felt I was going to face plant myself on the stage but then Damian lifted me.
His hands slid along my body as he raised me, his palms skimming the bare skin of my thighs where the high slit parted, then higher. The heat of his fingers brushed the underside of my breasts through the thin fabric of the dress. A startled gasp tore from my throat as he lowered me slowly, inch by inch. My body slid down the hard length of his until my feet found the stage again, but he didnt step back.
We remained pressed together, chests rising and falling in the same uneven rhythm. For a moment our faces hovered so close I could feel the warmth of his breath against my lips. 
His gaze dropped to my mouth and my eyes fluttered half-shut, my body tensing in anticipation.
Not tonight”
He might as well have poured ice cold water all over me because the heat that had been building inside of me was suddenly snuffed out like a candle. Embarrassed, I started to pull back but then his hand at my waist tightened.
“Survive tomorrow. Make it through the Hunt. And afterward… I’ll give you everything you want.”