Seeing them kissing, Landry proclaimed, “I was right! See! If we hadn’t barged in, the night would already be over!”
Landry was dressed in a tuxedo shirt and black and white checkered pants. Her hair was drawn back in a bun, but somehow, she still had hair covering her eyes. She was also carrying an open bottle of Veuve Clicquot that she took a swig from.
“You were right! DRINK!” Wally cried as he drank from a bottle of Guinness in hand.
He nearly hit the balloon-animal hat that he had on to top off what could only be called a 1970s disco outfit in mismatched stripes and plaids with bell bottoms so wide that one couldn’t see his feet.
“You’ve got to remember that Landry’s human, Wally, we can’t get her too drunk yet. It’s just the beginning of the night!” Rose laughed.
She had on some styling black jeans and a bedazzled tight t-shirt with a very cute bee on the front. Her yellow and black hair were done up in two pigtails. Her makeup matched with her upper lip in black lipstick and her lower lip in yellow. Gold dust was sprinkled on her cheeks.
“Hey, I can drink you under the table, missy! I went to prison and drank something brewed in a toilet!” Landry poked Rose’s belly with the champagne bottle.
Rose wrested it from her and drank half the bottle. “Shifters don’t get drunk.”
“Unless I put Ambrosia in the bottle.” Landry grinned.
Rose blinked a few times and put a hand to her forehead. “Oh, my! Yes, you did!”
“So now you’re getting into the party mood!” Landry laughed. “C’mon, Caden, you’ve got to drink and be drunk with us!”
“I’m coming!” Caden laughed. “But where are the others?”
“Oh, we will be picking up some Dragon Shifters and some Swarm Shifters and some, well, humans and all of it on our way to our final destination,” Rose told him, her cheeks now both rosy and glittery.
Caden looked up at Valerius again. What he saw made him happy. There was no sadness in his Black Dragon King. He was grinning, looking more like he was excited. He framed Caden’s face with his powerful hands.
“I’ll see you later,” Valerius said.
“Promises, promises.”
They kissed and they only stopped when there was some hooping and hollering from below. Laughing, Caden jumped down from the platform to the bottom floor and landed in that perfect pose.
“Wally, that better not be a Black Dragon balloon hat!” Valerius called down, hands on his hips.
“It is not! Though Landry here tells me that there’s been a run on them at the shop!” Wally informed him. “I am trying to start a new trend.” He turned so that Valerius could truly see the animal the hat was based on. “It is my Rat Hat, thank you very much!”
“Actually, we have been selling some rat merch since it came out about Wally being such a hero and being Caden’s Councillor!” Landry reported.
“What did I tell you? Once you have a rat, you can’t go back!” Wally struck a pose.
“I need to have some of what you guys are having!” Caden grabbed the Veuve Clicquot bottle that Rose offered him and took a big swig. His throat tingled as it went all the way down and his stomach felt warm once it reached there. Iolaire’s eyes widened and its tongue slid out as if tasting the Ambrosia. “Now I understand!”
“Remember the hangover, Caden. Because I still do.” Valerius touched his temple.
“Right on! I’ll be careful!” Caden said and took a smaller swig before handing it back to Landry. “Love you! See you later!”
He waved to Valerius, sending him an air kiss, the Black Dragon King waved back. The four of them then piled out of the room, buoyed by Ambrosia and the excitement of the night to come.
“So where are we going?” Caden asked as Rose led them to a black SUV parked in the courtyard. Simi was driving and Ngoye was in the front passenger seat.
“Simi! Ngoye! I’m so glad you’re coming!” Caden cried.
The two Claw captains were dressed in club clothes, but both shook their heads when Caden offered them the Veuve Clicquot. “We’re working until we get to the final place where–supposedly--we won’t need Claw security.”
“Final place?” Caden looked at Rose, but she just giggled and said nothing.
The first place they went was a gorgeous champagne bar on the highest level of Reach. The bar was onyx. The walls were dark mahogany. The lights were golden and low. The champagne was top-notch. There were little puff pastry cheese crackers that Caden loved. There were also fresh oysters with tart mignonette sauce, huge shrimp with cocktail sauce so spicy it cleared the nostril passages, and crab legs covered in a delicate cream sauce that Caden licked off his fingers long after it was gone.
