Minutes passed, and Nasai found herself alone in a corner of the hall, observing the atmosphere and the people. At events like these, she didn’t know why, but her heart would tighten, making her feel uncomfortable, as if memories from the past drifted through her mind, causing her headaches.
“What are you doing here alone?” asked a man approaching her without receiving any response. “Are you shy? Shall we dance? Come on, don’t be so shy.”
“Thank you for the invitation, but I’d rather…” she tried to refuse as best she could.
“Oh, don’t be so uptight,” the man insisted more forcefully, grabbing her arm.
“I’m sorry, I…”
“Come on, let’s dance. A woman like you shouldn’t be alone…”
“No… please, let go of me…”
Yuna’s boldness, daring, and bad temper were completely opposite to Nasai’s character, which often put her at a disadvantage. Her poise and good manners prevented her from defending herself as she wished—something Yuna knew well. And so, while she continued dancing with Vincent, she noticed a man harassing her sister—an act she wouldn’t tolerate. Just as she slipped out of Vincent’s arms, lifted the sides of her dress, and prepared to take off her heels, a man with a deep voice stepped between the aggressor and Nasai.
“Hey! Are you deaf? She said she doesn’t want to dance with you,” Patrick said irritably to the man.
“Mind your own busin…” began the man, but as he turned to face Patrick, he froze, paralyzed by the young man’s murderous stare. “I… I… I’m sorry… I didn’t know she was accompanied.”
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He apologized, filled with fear as he saw Patrick approaching him slowly. The youngest of the Dokovic brothers gestured for him to leave, and the man quickly obeyed.
“Thank you very much,” Nasai said to him with a sweet smile.
“Why?” Patrick thought, “Why had he helped her?”
After Tult?en’s death, he hadn’t been the kind of person to get involved in human conflicts; in fact, he always stayed away from them. But upon hearing the young woman’s voice and seeing her distress, something in his heart led him to her, unable to suppress his instincts. A supernatural attraction, one he hadn’t felt in ages, had reignited the spark within him.
“I… it was nothing,” Patrick Dokovic replied, for the first time in a long while, shy and at a loss for words.
A few seconds of silence passed, with both of them speechless. Eventually, Nasai moved to the side to let him pass, but as he was about to leave, something inside him stopped him. Something deep within him pleaded for him to stay with her, with this mysterious masked woman.
“Would you like to…?” Patrick asked, extending his hand to her.
Uncertainty filled Nasai, but like Patrick—and unlike how she’d normally act—Nasai wanted to dance with this stranger. So, with a shy smile, she placed her hand over his, and they stepped onto the dance floor to begin the choreography. As if they were the only two there, lost in the melody, they danced in harmony, capturing the interest of many guests, among them Annie, who watched the scene with sadness, abruptly stopping her dance with Ronnie.
They were both utterly immersed in each other’s rhythm. Such was the attraction Patrick felt toward Nasai that, as he inhaled her sweet scent, the intense emerald color of his sharp eyes briefly turned an inhuman shade of sky blue. Gradually, he drew closer to her, leaning in toward her neck, but a sharp pain in his heart brought him back to his senses.
Shocked by what he’d been about to do and weakened by the pain in his chest, he pulled away from Nasai, leaving her in the middle of the hall and rushing out without looking back, hiding in the mansion’s corridors. With his forearm covering his mouth, he leaned against the wall.
“This feeling… why…?” Patrick asked himself, lowering his arm to reveal his fangs, which had emerged against his will.
