
Dancing With Danger
Amelie Bergen · Ongoing · 94.3k Words
Introduction
Jack brushed his lips over the soft skin of my neck. “Me too. You have no idea.”
I let myself go in that moment, needing to just feel as Jack and I moved against one another as one. My heart was slamming against my ribcage as I felt him press against me, his knee gently parting my thighs.
Ballet dancer Mia rushes home to tell her roommate and best friend, Abbie, only to find the girl facedown in a pool of blood.
Mia is thrust into a world of mystery and organized crime as she seeks justice for her late best friend. Things become even more complicated when she develops intense feelings for Jack Drake, the insanely hot detective assigned to the murder case.
As the two work together to solve this mystery, they must work even harder to quell the undeniable desire between them.
Neither is successful.
Dancing with Danger is created by Amelie Bergen, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.
Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Facedown
Mia POV
Heart still slamming repeatedly into my ribcage, I blew out a breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I leaned against the cream-colored wall of the dance studio hallway, trying to appear casual, but really needing the support as my head spun.
That had to be the best audition I had ever had, and it was for the lead role in Swan Lake of all the possible shows! It was hard to beat down the smugness that was threatening to erupt from within me as I replayed the last few hours in my mind.
I had known to expect a rigorous last day of auditions but I didn’t expect to nail it like I had. The roles would likely be announced within a day or two. The thought made my heart start to do double time once again.
This was the first time I felt overwhelmingly confident after an audition. I had little doubt that I would secure my dream role, the coveted leading part of Odette.
The competition was fierce, but I was prepared to be even more fierce as I strode into the studio earlier that morning with my head held high. I breezed through the warm-up routine, feeling as if I were floating with the familiar and grounding sensation of polished wood beneath my slippers.
It wasn’t until the audition reached its climax with the iconic “White Swan” solo that I began to feel the other eyes watching me in the vast, mirrored room. I felt the eyes of my fellow dancers, reflected in the shining wall opposite us, but I also felt the intense gaze of the panel of ballet masters, carefully judging each move we made.
As the gentle music washed over me, It was easy to forget the fact that they were heavily scrutinizing every graceful leap and step, watching for the tiniest misstep or lack of technique that might take place.
As my fellow dancers and I were thanked and dismissed, I couldn’t help the tiny smile that toyed at the corner of my lips. I had no doubt that I had performed the routine perfectly.
I waited for a couple of girls to disappear around the corner of the hallway before I let the smile spread out across my face. I made my way to the dressing room to gather my things, relieved to find the large room empty.
Everyone else must have already been there and left while I was trying to compose myself in the hallway. As I approached the line of white lockers to grab my stuff, the initial high from the near-flawless audition waned, making way for something else entirely.
My best friend hadn’t made it there.
It wasn’t unheard of for Abigail to oversleep, or to be late. When we were at Julliard together, I had to literally pull her out of bed at times to make sure she made it to classes and other events on time.
She took auditions seriously though. She was always on time for them, although admittedly, she cut it way too close a number of times. I grinned slightly as I pictured the way she would burst through the dressing room doors, just minutes before we were scheduled to meet with the judges, out of breath with wavy hair flying in every direction.
But this was the first time she hadn’t made it at all.
Concern twisted my stomach. I roughly pulled the pins from the bun on top of my head, letting my flaming red hair tumble down my back.
I threw the metal white door of my locker open, fishing around for my phone. I frowned at the screen when I saw that I had no missed calls or texts. This wasn’t like Abbie at all.
I pressed the phone to my ear, biting my lower lip nervously as it continued to ring before going to voicemail.
“Abbie,” I said into the phone. I chuckled lightly. “You better have a damn good excuse this time. I’m on my way home, and you’re going to make this up to me when I get there!”
“I doubt your little friend has a good excuse.”
I nearly dropped my phone as I whirled around to face the nasty voice. I narrowed my eyes at Natalia.
“Fellow dancer” would be too kind a term to describe that witch. She decided on day one that she hated Abbie and me, throwing us dirty looks and trying to make us look bad in front of our dance instructors.
She learned quickly that Abbie and I were too skilled to fall for her little tricks as she tried to trip us during practices.
I openly glared at her, frustrated that I had to tilt my head up to do so as she sneered down at me. She might be a witch, but she was a beautiful one.
I hated to admit it, but her tall, lean figure and smooth auburn-colored hair spoke for themselves. She was one of those girls that never had a hair out of place and made sure to act like it.
My hands twitched, the sudden urge to slap her across her pretty face overwhelming, but I forced a passive expression. “Abbie wouldn’t have missed today if she didn’t have a good reason.”
Natalia just rolled her eyes, one hand resting on her hip, her black leotard accentuating her limber body. “I’d hardly call nursing a hangover a good reason.”
I gritted my teeth, taking a deep breath to calm myself. Natalia had run into us on an unfortunate night months before. Abbie had just been through a nasty breakup and drank herself silly at a nearby dive bar in Manhattan. She had been a mess, make-up running down her face, and barely able to walk.
I’d never forget the shock followed by the pure delight when Natalia caught us leaving the bar, with Abbie leaning heavily against me. Since then, she’d been spreading rumors that Abbie was an alcoholic, despite the fact that my friend hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since that night.
It took every ounce of self-control I could muster to swallow my pride and smile pleasantly at Natalia.
“Look, I really don’t have time for this. Great job out there. May the best dancer win, and all that jazz.” I quickly grabbed my baby pink duffle bag and attempted to slip past her.
Unfortunately, I noticed her calculating look a second too late before she seemed to trip over nothing and stomped on my foot. Hard. I yelped and dropped all my things, but managed to stay upright.
Several obscenities flew through my mind at that moment, but I just glared silently at her, picked up my bag, and fled from the room. I didn’t have time to deal with her.
I couldn’t help but slam the dressing room door behind me. I winced and wiggled the toes of the foot she had stepped on and was relieved that nothing was broken.
Anger welled up inside me as I hurried out the doors of the studio and immediately hailed a taxi to take me home. It was no secret that it would have been devastating to have a foot injury as a ballet dancer. Natalia was taking this rivalry between us too far.
As I buckled myself into the backseat of the smelly cab, I replayed the audition in my head once again, lingering on the moments when I felt the most confident and graceful. It had gone so well, and I wasn’t going to let Natalia ruin it for me.
I called Abbie again, planning to complain to her about the bitch, but this time, her phone went straight to voicemail. Unease filled me as I stuffed my phone in my bag. I reasoned that she must have misplaced her phone, which was more common than I thought was humanly possible for a girl in her mid-twenties.
I tried to calm the mother hen that was rising in me. Abbie and I had been roommates for just over three years now, and it was more than enough time for me to learn how clumsy and accident-prone the girl was.
She was the type of girl that would walk into poles and trip over ladybugs. Miraculously, when she danced, she was as graceful and sure-footed as a dancer with triple her experience.
I practically flew out of the cab once it stopped in front of our shabby apartment complex. I hurried through the doors leading into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time until I felt my phone vibrate.
Finally! I frowned when it wasn’t Abbie’s name that appeared on my screen, but my heart started to beat wildly when my brain registered who it was.
“Hello, this is Mia.” My voice squeaked and I swallowed thickly.
I could feel the world around me disappearing as I struggled to make sense of the magic words that the producer of our dance company was saying. My shocked brain barely processed the most important ones: Congratulations … impressed with your performance … lead role … Odette … excited to work with you.
My lips were barely moving as I struggled to respond. “I really got the part?”
“Yes! Congratulations again, my dear. We’ll be in touch soon with the next steps.”
I finally snapped out of my shock long enough to be able to thank the producer profusely before ending the call. I stood there dumbly for several moments, just staring down at my phone.
My breaths were coming out as pants as what had just happened sunk in. I let out an excited shriek that echoed through the dank stairwell before I resumed my thunderous ascent up to the fifteenth floor of the building.
I was completely out of breath when I finally made it to our floor. With shaking hands, I fumbled to grab my keys to our apartment, excited to tell Abbie that I got the part. If it had been anyone else in her position, I’d be nervous to tell her, worried she’d be jealous, but Abbie had a heart of gold and I knew she’d be nothing but happy for me.
I froze in confusion as I approached our door. It was ajar. Frowning, I nudged it open with my foot. I squinted into the pitch darkness of our living room, my confusion multiplying.
“Abbie!” I called out, feeling the wall behind me so I could flip the lights on. “Why the hell is it so dark in here–”
I somehow swallowed the scream in my throat.
Blood. Everywhere. On our plush blue sofa, the coffee table we had picked out together, and the framed pictures of us on the opposite wall. Most of it was on our polished wood floor, a huge pool of it.
And my best friend, Abigail, was facedown in the middle of it.
Last Chapters
#50 Chapter 50
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#49 Chapter 49
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#48 Chapter 48
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#47 Chapter 47
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#46 Chapter 46
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#45 Chapter 45
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#44 Chapter 44
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#43 Chapter 43
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#42 Chapter 42
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#41 Chapter 41
Last Updated: 3/3/2025
You Might Like 😍
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
Cursed Fates
Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate
Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.
Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?
Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...
Excerpt:
She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.
She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.
Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.
As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.
Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.
He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
The Ice Between Us.
Then comes Jax Miller.
Jax is a hotheaded rookie with a lightning-fast puck and a reputation for burning bridges. He doesn't follow playbooks, he doesn't respect authority, and he’s determined to melt Julian’s icy composure. When a viral video of their on-ice collision threatens to bankrupt the program, Coach Clain delivers an ultimatum that feels like a death sentence: they must live together in a cramped, two-bed dorm for the duration of the season.
Forced to navigate the high-stakes world of sports fame, "forbidden" locker-room tension, and the mysterious blackmailer who caught their first mistake on camera, Julian and Jax must decide what’s more dangerous: losing their careers, or losing themselves to the person they were supposed to hate.
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
Twin Prince Alphas Student Mate
As her 18th birthday approaches, her brothers warn her about the powerful pull she might feel toward dominant wolves. But it's not just any wolves they need to worry about—it's her teachers. Cameron and Samuel are more than just older, wiser, and off-limits; they might just be her fated mates.
While navigating complex relationships, academic pressures, and the normal trials of young adult life, an unexpected threat jeopardizes the academy. Explosions rock their world, forcing Lyla and her love interests into a chaotic swirl of heroism, heartbreak, and hard choices.
Will Lyla follow her heart and let destiny lead the way, or will the very rules that bind their world tear them apart? Amidst turmoil and taboo, Lyla must make choices that could forever change the course of her life and the lives of those she holds dear.
Discover a story where love isn't just complicated—it's forbidden, ageless, and defies all rules. In a world of supernatural beings and extraordinary stakes, will Lyla's love life be another casualty, or her saving grace?
A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)
For centuries, she has been on the run, helping the supernatural community under the cloak of anonymity while she works to clear her name and save the very people after her from destruction.
Enemies are closing in, but an unexpected complication befalls her when she realises she’s been fated to someone who wants her species exterminated. After all, an evil chance seldom comes alone.
A Queen Among Darkness is the 4th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.
Books in the series in order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Generation Coming Soon)
The Spy Who Left
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Survival Island
Zane, a powerful vampire and the island's owner, has spent centuries unable to feel desire for any woman. But when he notices Zara's intelligence, resilience, and determination to survive, she awakens something in him that no one ever has. For the first time in his vampire life, he is interested in a female, and his member is also starting to come to life. Who is this woman and why does he suddenly crave her and not just for her blood?












