?Chapter 332:

    “This is her.”

    My heart gives a loud thud. This was going to be a long, long party.

    “She’s gorgeous.”

    “The firstborn Viper. Incredible.”

    I ster on a polite smile, nodding at the endless parade of strangers congratting me. But all the while, my heart felt like it wasn’t in my chest. It was somewhere else. With someone else.

    And then I felt it.

    That pull. That bond. That fucking smell.

    I froze, my fingers tightening around the champagne ss I’d been handed.

    “Fuck,” I whispered, scanning the room.

    There he was.

    Ryder.

    He was leaning against the far wall, his dark eyes locked onto me like a predator sizing up its prey. Even from across the room, I could feel the heat of his gaze, the raw intensity that had always made my knees weak.

    Those looks. The ones that made my core clench. The ones that made me suddenly go insane. But not now. Definitely not now.

    “Of fucking course he’s here,” I muttered, setting the ss down before I crushed it.

    Before I could decide whether to march over and p him or run in the opposite direction, he started walking toward me.

    “Jasmine,” he said when he got close enough. His voice was low, gravelly, and far too familiar.

    Nothing about today screamed danger, not a single damn thing. The sky was clear, the room filled with excitement, and the party was still going strong. Everything looked… normal. At least, it did until Ryder showed up.

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    The moment I saw his face, my heart did this stupid little flip, and I wanted to p it for betraying me. No, I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I had worked too damn hard these past three days to build walls around my heart, and Ryder wasn’t about to stroll in like some Disney prince and knock them down.

    This isn’t a fairy tale. This is my life.

    So, I curtseyed. Yep, I gave him a polite little bow, like he was just another face in the crowd. Trust me, it took everything in me not to crumble under the weight of his gaze. Even A was fussing and pacing inside me. She wanted to run to him, to be held, to im him all over again.

    “Go to him,” she begged, her voice coiling through me. “He’s ours.”

    “Not happening,” I muttered under my breath as I turned away from him. But honestly? My heart was a mess. My mind was even worse.

    The wee party was still in full swing, and for a moment, I could almost forget Ryder was here. Almost.

    I stood in the middle of the grand hall, dressed to the nines in a sleek ck dress my mother had picked out. She was hovering nearby, beaming at me like I was the best thing since sliced bread.

    “Breathe, Jasmine,” she whispered, giving my hand a squeeze. “You’ve got this.”

    “Sure,” I muttered, trying not to fidget.

    This wasn’t just any party. This was my official induction into the Viper pack. My father—yes, the man I had only just started calling Dad—stood proudly at the front of the room. His voice boomed as he talked about the importance of tonight, about how the Viper bloodline had been made whole again.

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