“Blame your mate’s excellent cooking.” He gave a jaunty little salute, then strode toward the kitchen like the cocky beta he was.
It turnedout that time flew quickly with loved ones, even with Ven locked away from me in the kitchen. Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and it was suddenly time for the punch and everyone to enjoy some appetizers.
And, boy, were there a lot of appetizers.
Even though all the mains were still cooking, the food tables were practically overflowing with finger food. Granted, we were all shifters, so a lot of food was necessary. Honestly, if a dozen orso of our pack weren’t still recovering and on a simple diet, the dishes would have been empty within minutes.
I was worried Ven would stay locked in the kitchen and miss the entire first spread, but she finally emerged, dressed in denim shorts and a ruby-red tank top that made me want to ditch the party and carry her up to her bedroom like a caveman.
I wasn’t an idiot, though, and I knew she had put a lot of work into the party. So, I strode forward and kissed her stupid before offering her my arm and guiding her over to the appetizers.
“Happy birthday, my love,” she said, grinning up at me. The sparkle in her dark eyes made my heart thunder.
“Thank you for making it the best one I’ve ever had.”
She laughed and playfully jostled my arm. “Wait until you taste my cooking before you get all sappy.”
“I don’t need to. It’s the best birthday because I get to spend it with you.”
And there it was, the blush I loved so much rushing up her neck and spilling across those cherubic cheeks of hers. She really was pretty in pink in every way possible.
“That’s notfair,babe,” she murmured.
From anyone else, that was a bad statement, but with my beautiful Ven, I knew exactly what she meant. After a life of so much detraction and people trying to chip away at her confidence, genuine compliments disconcerted her. I kissed the top of her head as we loaded our plates up with the delicious fare.
We sat at the head of the table and dug in, chatting idly with everyone around us. I was going with the flow, but when Ricky handed me an ice-cold beer, I was struck with how incredible this was.
Not too long ago, we’d all been wild animals. Mindless and completely disconnected from our humanity. Lost. But thanks to one woman giving me a simple kiss on my snout, we werealive and restored to our natural way of being. Just a couple of months ago, we were a tragic story. A tale of caution for going up against the powerful. But now? Now the men who had hurt us and so many others were dead, and we were thriving. We were celebratinglifetogether when the brothers had meant to strip it from us forever.
Incredible.
For the rest of my life, I would never take such things for granted again. The ability to have a cookout. The ability to talk and laugh as loud as we wanted to while stuffing our faces. Telling old, embarrassing stories about teenage me, listening as those around me remembered more and more of their lives. Sitting with my arm around my lover, with no threat hovering over our heads.
At least that’s what I thought.
Thunder cracked over our heads out of nowhere, startling a good number of us. While storms were a fairly normal occurrence, this was no normal storm. A normal storm would not have the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
The sky grew dark, like night was rolling in, and lightning flashed a beat later. I rose to my feet, about to order everyone to get inside, when a figure emerged from the clouds and descended downward.
Who the fuck was that? All the brothers were dead, so it couldn’t be one of them. And it wasn’t like they had a lot of allies in the magical world since they’d pissed off or killed everyone they came into contact with. Who could possibly?—
A scent hit me, and I knew exactly who it was. My blood ran cold, and I had to swallow hard to prevent bile from rising in my throat. It was like the brothers’, butmore.Older. More powerful. It had a deep allure that went beyond physical appeal.
“Vanessa, I need you to run. Go to the cave.”
“What—”
“Just go!” I hissed. There was no time to explain that the raven-haired woman hovering in the air was none other than themother.
Katarina Morgana, the powerful witch who hadn’t been seen in over fifty years.
Jet-black hair, alabaster skin, eyes so green they practically glowed. Supposedly directly descended from Morgan La Fay, carrying a power all her sons had tried to emulate.
We were so fucked.
Thankfully, Ven didn’t argue with me. She took off running at full speed, but it wasn’t fast enough. A translucent wall of black shot up all around the garden and cabin, blocking everyone in.
“Now, now,” Katarina chided. “No getting away now. Not when I finally found you.”
