Kade’s posture was rigid as he glared at the male wolf alpha. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
I narrowed my eyes, not believing what he’d said. I thought of how Kade and I had recently fought with Zacal, and the image of Kade’s wolf growling in Zacal’s face came to my mind. Zacal was likely still salty about it, and I could only imagine the lies he was telling about that night.
I went to ask Kade about one of the other wolves standing with Zacal when my gaze locked onto someone else across the room. I hadn’t even realized I’d been searching for him until Locke’s black gaze held mine with an intensity that made me feel exposed. Leaning against one of the back walls, Locke stood with a goblet in his hands, his posture relaxed as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
As I watched, Perene led Lana over to him, and I ground my teeth before looking away. I didn’t need to see that. What had Perene said?My son must mate with a vampire who can coax him out of the cesspool he insists on wading into.It was now obvious who Perene had in mind to become Locke’s mate and supposed savior. The thought of them together made me sick, but I reminded myself that I didn’t give a damn about the asshole.
Motioning toward my drink, I asked Asher, “What’s in this?”
The demon leaned closer to me, and his scents of musk and leather became stronger, making my mouth water.Fuck. What is wrong with me?
“It’s safe,” Asher explained. “It contains Acaralia, but instead of mixin’ it with water, they’ve combined it with alcohol.”
Right. So it’s still birth control.
I remembered something Losak had said then and asked, “Wait, what did Losak mean about me taking advantage of my situation?”
Darian was the one to answer me this time. “We’ve told you that you have to be of the same type of monster to join specific houses, but you also have to be the same type of monster to mate with another. So shifters mate with shifters, centaurs mate with centaurs, and so on. But there are no rules against bedding different monsters as long as it’s purely recreational. However, when you join a house, while you’re still allowed to bed monsters from other houses, it gets trickier. Some houses have running conflicts with other houses, and if you bed someone from an enemy house, your alpha may disapprove and punish you. The Week of Orash is one of the few times when you can bed whoever you wish without repercussions. You don’t have to think about the impact it may have on you or your house. So, let’s just say, over the next few nights, there will be a lot of…connecting.”
“He means fuckin’,” Asher clarified for me with a grin. “There will be a lot of fucking.”
I rolled my eyes at his shit-eating grin but became unsettled when I thought of Losak’s words:If you want to know what it’s like with a real alpha, come visit me.I mean, I’d suspected it was some sort of proposition, but I hadn’t thought he was literally inviting me into his bed.Having sex with the alphas of the higher houses wasn’t exactly on my to-do list. I was going to have to be careful not to give any of the damn monsters the wrong idea.
Now that I knew the fizzy pink liquid in my hands wasn’t poison, I downed the whole goblet. If I was going to survive the night, I could use a little bit of liquid courage.
Darian gave my empty goblet to a satyr passing by us with a tray of drinks, then he linked his arm with mine and began leading us through the crowd of people. “Well now, let’s move along. There really are some people you should meet.”
CHAPTER 17
~ Raine ~
Itwaseasiertoappreciate the magnificent ballroom now that I was surrounded by Darian and the others. Everywhere I looked, the space screamed opulence, and if it weren’t for the fact that Darian had shown me his garden, I wouldn’t have believed something so beautiful could exist in the mountain. On the right side of the room, opposite the windows, we passed one of the tall archways that led to a sitting area. The space was dimly lit by blue torches, and white chaise lounges were grouped in pairs and shrouded by white gauze that streamed down from above.
“What is this place?” I asked Darian as he led me past another archway and across the room beneath one of the sparkling chandeliers.
The siren leaned closer to me, his breath tickling the side of my face. “This is the main ballroom of the royal castle. The ancient structure was built on the side of the mountain, with its lower levels carved from the rock itself. When the monarchy fell and King Adrien was overthrown, the Taratun council found ways to repurpose the spaces. Tunnels were made deep into the mountain in the years following, along with the majority of the caverns and rooms, but the original foundation of the castle remains.”
A castle?It certainly explained the grandeur. As we passed a high table, I reached out to touch one of the black bell-shaped flowers, but Kade swiftly knocked my hand away. “They’re poisonous,” he warned. “Stay away from them.”
I stopped to gape at the wolf shifter. “Whywould there be poisonous flowers at a party? What if someone accidentally touches them?”
Asher shrugged as if the fact the monsters used dangerous flowers to decorate the room was the most natural thing. “Monsters have a sick sense of humor. If anyone touches the petals, they might get a bad headache and hallucinate.”
“For anyone who isn’t immortal, it would kill them,” Darian said with a grim expression, leading me away from the table and vase of flowers.
Oh great.So they’re death flowers. I wanted to chastise Darian and the others for not telling me that incredibly important information straight away, but I knew it’d be too risky. The other newbloods wouldn’t be as wary considering the flowers wouldn’t kill them, and I had no idea who might be listening to our conversation.
Darian continued to lead us through the mass of monsters until we reached a female with milky white eyes, skin the color of smoke, and an ivory velvet gown that reached down to her pointed white heels. The shades of gray on her mottled skin seemed to move as I stared as if her skin was a living being on its own.Creepy.The female was surrounded by a handful of other monsters who had a similar ghostly appearance, and I quickly scanned their faces.
A slender female had her head turned away from us, and her mousy brown hair was arranged into a braided bun above her head. The shape of the female’s body and the color of her hair was so familiar that my heart began to race as hope exploded inside me.Cara?
Before I could say anything, the female turned my way, revealing a heart-shaped face dotted with freckles and pale gray eyes. I blinked as I continued to stare, but then my chest caved inward as disappointment went through me. It wasn’t her.
Oblivious to my internal frustration, Darian stepped forward and dipped his head toward the female in the ivory dress. “Mabel, you look spectacular as always,” he complimented her with a flirtatious smile.
The female with the heart-shaped face was looking at me now as if she knew I’d been gawking at her, and I carefully avoided her gaze, moving my attention to the pale-skinned female called Mabel.
Mabel lifted her pointed nose into the air as her assessing gaze swept over us. “Darian, I was wondering when you’d come to say hello. I see you’ve brought your delightful new friend to meet me,” she said, her unnerving white gaze fixed on me.
