“Celebrate what?” Rosie asked, rejoining us, Gavin giving her a kiss on the forehead before joining the rest of the guys.
“Our victory.”
“Fuck yes, it is.”
We all gasped at Rosie’s curse.
“Rosie. Wow. My ghasts are flabbered,” Moira said.
Kiki giggled. “Oh, don’t be so hard on her. Sometimes you just need a good fuck.”
“Hell yeah, you do,” I cheered, making the girls laugh harder.
Once we could come up for air, Sunday wiped a tear from her eye. “I mean it, though. We should make this a regular thing. Make a point to celebrate what we survived together.”
“I agree. So . . . same time next year?”
We all exchanged excited glances, smiles stretching widely across our faces.
“Looks like it’s a date.”
THE END…or is it? Keep reading for a sneak peek of what’s next in The Mate Game’s Universe.
Forbidden
A HADES SOCIETY SHORT
Chapter 1
EDEN
You’d think for a girl known throughout supernatural society as the Harbinger of the Apocalypse, sneaking around and breaking rules would be second nature. The truth was, I was a glorified daddys’ girl—how could I not be with four very protective dads? A goodie-two-shoes. A good girl who aspired to break free, except one step out of line and all the horrible rumors about me would be proven true.
But tonight was my chance.
With an extra hour to go before my scheduled summons, I approached the bouncer standing outside the open, nondescript door I knew led into Lilith Duval’s infamous club,Iniquity. The heavy bass of house music vibrated from the darkened hallway behind the gargoyle.
“Name, love?” he asked, arms crossed over an impossibly jacked chest.
“Eden. Eden Farrell. I’m expected this evening.” The false confidence in my voice was obvious to me, but he didn’t even flinch.
“Lilith has you down for a later arrival.”
“I know. But if you’re not early, you’re late. I can just wait at the bar until she’s ready for me.”
He stared at me for a second and I thought for sure he’d make me wait it out, but then he winked and offered me a black silk mask. “Masquerade night. You’ll need one of these if you want to blend in.”
“Thanks,” I said, stumbling a little over the word due to my nerves as I took it from him.
“Have a good time, little miss. If anyone bothers you, just ask for Joff. I’ll see ‘em off with pleasure.”
I flashed him a grin before affixing the mask to my face and heading down the hall. The walls and ceiling were painted midnight black, the only light a softly glowing crimson coming from beneath the low hanging fog covering the floor.
Following the hallway, I stopped just before crossing the threshold that spilled out into what looked like a massive rave. I couldn’t remember ever seeing this many people in one spot before, unless you counted the pack full-moon parties, but even those were maybe a third of the size.
It also couldn’t be more glaringly obvious to me that I did not belong here. There was so much skin and glitter on display and I’d dressed for a meeting.
Internally groaning and chastising myself for not thinking to bring a change of clothes, I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to figure out how to repurpose my outfit. First step, take off the soft black and white flannel shirt and tie it around my waist. I’d worn a black lacy cami bra, which for me felt incredibly revealing, but here was practically conservative. At least now I had some cleavage and belly showing. It was something.
