The bass pounded through my chest like a second heartbeat, and I wanted to murder my sister.
"You're twenty-seven, not seventy," Sofia hissed, her manicured nails digging into my wrist as she dragged me past Eclipse's velvet rope. "When's the last time you did something that wasn't work related?"
Never. And I liked it that way.
Eclipse was everything I despised about Ravenwood's elite—excess wrapped in designer labels and called sophistication. The air was thick with expensive perfume, desperation, and something darker that made my skin prickle with unease. Politicians' wives snorted cocaine off Hermès clutches while tech moguls bought bottles worth more than my rent, and everyone pretended this was normal.
"I should be reviewing the Morrison files," I muttered, but Sofia's grip was iron.
"The files will still be there tomorrow. Tonight, you're going to remember what it feels like to be human."
If only she knew how human I felt right now—pulse racing, palms sweating, every nerve ending alive in ways that had nothing to do with the music.
"There." Sofia's voice dropped to something reverent. "Corner booth. That's him."
I followed her gaze and forgot how to breathe.
He commanded the space like gravity itself bent around him. Sprawled across black leather with the lazy confidence of a king, all sharp angles and dangerous curves. His hair fell in midnight waves past his shoulders, and even in the club's strobing lights, I could see the network of scars mapping his olive skin like a roadmap of violence.
Beautiful didn't cover it. This man was devastating.
"Kane Drax," Sofia breathed. "President of the Iron Fang MC."
My throat went dry. I knew that name—had seen it in case files, heard it whispered in courthouse hallways. Criminal. Dangerous. Everything I'd built my career to fight against.
So why was my body melting like I was seventeen again?
"He's a criminal," I said, but my voice came out breathy instead of disgusted.
"He's gorgeous." Sofia's elbow found my ribs. "Just watch."
A brunette in a dress that cost more than my car approached his table, moving like liquid sex. She was perfect in that artificial way money could buy—sculpted features, enhanced curves, practiced seduction. When she leaned down to whisper in his ear, his laugh was dark honey that made my thighs clench involuntarily.
*What the hell is wrong with me?*
He crooked one finger—barely a movement—and she straddled his lap without hesitation.
My breath caught.
Kane's hands settled on her hips with casual ownership, and she began to move against him in a rhythm that had nothing to do with the music. Slow. Deliberate. Obscene. The jumpsuit should have hidden the evidence of his arousal, but I could see the hard ridge straining against the denim as she ground against him.
I should look away. Should grab Sofia and leave before—
Kane's head fell back against the leather, and a sound escaped him that wasn't quite human. A growl that vibrated through the air and straight into my core, making me press my thighs together desperately.
"Jesus," I whispered, unable to tear my gaze away.
Other women watched from the shadows like predators circling prey, their hunger barely contained. One in particular—a blonde in white Chanel who screamed old money—looked ready to commit murder. Her perfectly manicured nails dug into her champagne flute until I expected it to shatter.
Kane's hands moved higher, spanning the brunette's waist, and she arched into his touch like she was performing. Maybe she was. The heat between them felt real enough to burn, real enough to make moisture pool between my legs despite every principle I'd ever held.
"That's Victoria Ashford," Sofia murmured. "Senator's daughter. She's been hunting Kane for months."
The blonde. Of course. Spoiled, entitled, accustomed to buying whatever she wanted. Her rage was written in every rigid line of her body as Kane's hands explored another woman's curves with proprietary skill.
The brunette kissed him then—all tongues and teeth and desperate need. Kane's fist twisted in her hair, controlling the angle, the depth, and I found myself wondering what those scarred hands would feel like fisted in my curls, what that mouth would taste like against mine.
The thought horrified me.
This man represented everything wrong with the world—lawlessness, violence, the belief that power made right. He treated women like entertainment, commanded through intimidation, lived outside every rule that held society together.
But God, the way he moved. The casual dominance. The way every person in that VIP section oriented toward him like he was the sun.
My nipples hardened against my bra.
"Calla?" Sofia's voice seemed to come from very far away. "You're flushed."
I was burning up. My blazer felt like a straightjacket, and my carefully pinned hair was sticking to the back of my neck with sweat that had nothing to do with the crowd. When Kane's gaze swept the room, I ducked behind Sofia like a teenager hiding from her crush.
*Pathetic.*
But before I could flee, the dynamic shifted. Victoria Ashford approached the booth with predatory grace, her white dress stark against the dark leather. She moved like she owned the space, owned him, and the brunette's face fell as reality crashed her fantasy.
Kane's hands stilled. He said something—too low for me to hear—and the brunette climbed off his lap with obvious reluctance. Victoria moved to take her place, but Kane's hand shot out, catching her wrist.
"Not tonight, princess."
His voice cut through the bass like a blade, rich and rough and absolutely final. The authority in those three words hit me like a physical blow, and I felt my body respond with a clench of need so intense I had to grip the bar to stay upright.
*What is happening to me?*
Victoria's perfect composure cracked. "You can't be serious. You'd rather have that nobody than—"
"I'd rather have my choice." Kane's grip tightened, and Victoria winced. "Walk away."
The rejection was brutal. Public. Absolute. Victoria's face cycled through shock, humiliation, and finally, cold rage. She leaned down to whisper something venomous in his ear, but Kane just smiled—sharp as winter, twice as cruel.
"Threatening me, Victoria? Daddy teach you that?"
She straightened like he'd slapped her, color high on her cheekbones. "This isn't over."
"It is."
Victoria spun on her designer heels and stalked away, her entourage scrambling to follow. The brunette had already disappeared, and Kane was alone again—king of his dark corner, seemingly unbothered by the scene he'd orchestrated.
He reached for his drink, and I found myself staring at his mouth as he brought the glass to his lips. Full, sensual, made for sin. Made for things I had no business imagining.
"Holy shit," Sofia breathed. "He just destroyed Senator Ashford's daughter like she was nothing."
I had seen it. Watched Kane reduce a woman who could buy and sell half this city to a petulant child with a few words. It should have disgusted me—the casual cruelty, the abuse of power.
Instead, I was wet.
The realization hit me like ice water. My body had responded to his dominance, to the way he commanded respect through sheer presence alone. My pulse was racing, my skin hypersensitive, and there was a persistent ache between my legs that had nothing to do with standing in heels.
I was attracted to Kane Drax. To everything he represented. To everything I'd spent my life fighting.
"We're leaving," I said, my voice hoarser than it should have been.
"What? But we just got here—"
"Calla, wait." Sofia grabbed my arm, panic flashing in her eyes. "Do you know how impossible it was to get these passes? I had to sleep with Marcus from the mayor's office, and his breath smells like pickled herring. We can't leave after ten minutes!"
"I don't care—"
"Please. One drink. Just one." Sofia's grip tightened desperately. "I promise we can go after that. I really, really need this tonight."
The desperation in her voice made me pause. Sofia had been working herself to death lately, and when was the last time I'd seen her actually smile?
Against my better judgment, I glanced back toward Kane's corner.
He was watching me.
The noise of the club faded to nothing. There was only him—dangerous, magnetic, wrong in every way that mattered—and those hazel-gold eyes cutting across the crowded space to meet mine. For a heartbeat that lasted eternity, I felt stripped bare, like he could see straight through my professional mask to the want I was trying desperately to hide.
Then he smiled. Slow. Knowing. Like he could smell my arousal from across the room.
Like he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
My face burned with humiliation and something far more dangerous. I spun toward the exit, desperate to escape before I did something catastrophically stupid.
"Fine," I gasped. "One drink. Then we leave."
But as I let her drag me toward the bar, I could feel Kane's gaze following me like a physical touch. And despite every principle I'd ever held, despite my mother's memory and my career and my carefully constructed life, part of me wanted to turn around.
Part of me wanted to see what would happen if I walked back to that dark corner and let the devil himself corrupt me.
The thought terrified me.
Because I was starting to think I might let him.