“No collar, no leash,” he answers with a head tilt. “Trust, if it were up to me, you’d be enjoying this party from one of the pens.” He motions to the ones behind the hedge, and I notice Night isn’t there.
“What happened to Night and the others?” I ask, ignoring his previous comment.
“Thane sent them to one of the other territories. One that isn’t so wolf friendly.” His voice drops an octave at the last part.
“What do you mean by that?” I probe. It’s not like Night and I were ever friends, but being held captive together did create at least a little bond between the two of us.
“Some territories are more mixed, with equal parts vampires and werewolves like here, but others are vampire or werewolf heavy. Thane may have us all under a truce, but trust me…” He dips his head down toward me. “There are plenty who don’t exactly agree with the arrangements.”
“Are you saying they’ll be killed in the new territory?” There’s an edge to my voice that he seems to find amusing. Surely he’s judging me for having human emotions. Something he obviously lacks.
“If they’re not killed, they’ll wish they had been.” He huffs out a heartless laugh before turning around and taking off.
“What a dick,” Sienna blurts, and I can’t stop myself from laughing.
“You know, you’re not what I thought you were going to be like,” I tell her with a playful nudge.
“Maybe you’re just a bad influence on me,” she replies with a teasing grin.
“Well, in that case…” I pull her down the rest of the steps. “I say we get drunk tonight.”
“Yeah right!” She slips her hand from my grip and shakes her head.
“Oh, come on! You said you never get to come to these things, and I’m off-leash. I’d say those are two good reasons to celebrate.”
She eyes me for a moment, and I can see she’s considering it.
“What about Alpha?”
I shrug. “What about him? He’s not even here yet. Besides, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
I chase down one of the servers and chug one of the glasses of champagne before grabbing two more.
“Just one,” she says, taking the glass from me.
“Sure,” I agree, though we both know that’s a lie. “Cheers to us!”
We clink glasses and make our way into the garden. A few of the leaders eye me up and down as we pass by, but when I feign a smile back, they quickly divert their attention. I’m sure they’re not too pleased with the lack of collar and chainsaround my neck, which makes me quite happy. I quickly finish off my second glass of champagne and grab a replacement. Thane could show up any minute, so I’m not wasting any time.
“If you weren’t here tonight, what would you be doing?” I ask, wanting to know a little bit more about this girl who seems to be the only decent person around here.
“Honestly, when I’m not working, I’m usually at home knitting.”
“Knitting?” I bark a laugh, but quickly cut it off when I realize she’s embarrassed. “Well, hell. When are you going to knit me something?”
“You would really want that?” she asks, hope welling in her chocolate brown eyes.
“Sure. No one has ever knitted me anything, and winter is right around the corner, so it’s perfect timing.”
She bounces on her heels, buzzing with excitement. “I know just what I’m going to make you!”
“Just do me a favor and make sure it’s black.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Fine, but one of these days you’re going to learn to love other colors.”
“Grey is pretty nice,” I retort with a wink.
Sienna knocks her arm against mine, making me sway a little. “I’m coming to find I quite like grey,” she says, the smile on her face letting me know she’s not talking about the color anymore. “Ooh look!” She points to someone near the edge of the garden doing tricks with fire and quickly pulls me along to get a closer look.
