The dress Laina wore to the ball was a style she’d never have chosen for herself. Stephanie, her Zafka—a doppelgänger used as her security detail—had picked it out for her. One of the benefits of having an employee who resembled you was they could shop for your clothes. Laina was thankful that Stephanie had made the time to obtain the dress on short notice, even if the midnight blue strapless gown was more revealing than she preferred. Still, she understood the cut of the dress served a greater purpose than flattery; it revealed the phoenix tattoo on her upper-right shoulder, the sacred emblem of Fireborn pack.
“Princess Laina? Is that you?” Evelyn, the matriarch of Crescent Star pack, adjusted her bifocals and reached out to grip Laina’s right hand. “I expected to see a ring on this finger by now, dear. After the horrors of the last year, nothing would cheer this old soul like a royal wedding.” Crescent Star had lost seven males to Alex before Silas had taken him down. Laina’s heart ached for Evelyn’s loss.
“I guess I just haven’t met the right male,” she said softly.
“Since when did that ever stop anyone,” Evelyn whispered. “Look around. Anyone in a tie would jump at the chance to have a beauty like you on his arm.” She winked before crossing the veranda to enter the ballroom, passing Silas as he walked out to meet her.
“What did Evelyn want?” he asked.
“Nothing more than to dig for gossip.”
“As if she doesn’t have enough stories of her own to tell.”
“What she wants is happy stories to make her forget what happened to her pack. I can empathize, but she’d have better luck reading a romance novel than looking to my life.” Laina frowned.
“You look beautiful.” Silas leaned against the open archway of Rivergate Manor’s ballroom. “I love the hair.”
“Stephanie did it.” Laina shrugged. Her mahogany hair had been smoothed into a glamorous pomp with a high ponytail. Along with the mani-pedi and salt scrub she’d endured at Spa Stephanie, the hairstyle was enough to make her appear a proper princess.
“It suits you.”
“Don’t bother buttering me up. You’re on my shit list, brother. How dare you alpha me here.”
“Would you have come otherwise?”
“Of course not.”
Silas stared into his glass, swirling his vodka and tonic. “Then, I did the right thing. It would look ungrateful if you didn’t show. Like it or not, you’re a princess. You have a duty to your race.”
She groaned. “Silas…”
The tension between them was broken when Cameron James, her childhood friend turned alpha of Rivergate pack, tapped the side of his glass with a spoon. “If I could have your attention please,” he called from inside. “If everyone would join us in the ballroom, we’d like to toast our guests of honor.”
“Where’s Jason?” Laina asked.
“Already inside sniffing butts,” Silas whispered.
“Crude.”
“That’s Jason.” Their little brother was obsessed with the female of the species. Not one female. All females. Laina might have thought it was due to his nature as a werewolf, the wild animal within, only she knew far more wolves who counteracted their curse with a relatively conservative human life. Not so with Jason. The man mated with any female, wolf or human, who would have him. The copulation was quick and the relationships rarely lasted longer than the act itself. Still, she had to hand it to him; her little brother was always brutally up-front about his intentions, and thanks to a pretty face and his career as a highly successful venture capitalist, there was rarely a shortage of females interested in what he had to offer.
The ballroom of Rivergate Manor had been decked out in pale flowers and bright twinkle lights that perfectly complimented the stucco and ivory marble of the Italian palazzo-style mansion. Against this monochromatic backdrop, the colorful attire of the guests became like works of art: ruby, emerald, and sapphire swirling against heavenly white. Laina accepted a glass of champagne from a passing server and took her place beside Jason, slightly behind and to the left of Cameron. Silas stepped to Cameron’s right side, in the true place of honor.
“Should we kneel before our brother-savior,” she groused to Jason.
“Hmm?” Her brother wasn’t listening. He was staring across the ballroom at a blonde in a tight green dress.
“Stop staring,” Laina said.
“Why? She’s been catching my eye all evening.”
“She’s only sixteen,” she whispered. “That’s Cameron’s little sister, Allie.”
“How sixteen? Sixteen, almost seventeen, or…”
“Fifteen, just turned sixteen. Allie has only shifted once before. Just got her Rivergate tattoo. The last thing she needs is the complication of your stow-and-go dick. Plus, it’s against the law.”
“The human law.”
“Your brother and alpha is a cop. Don’t make me ask him to order you to leave her alone.”
He drained his glass, the smell of bourbon filling her nostrils when he spoke again. “Relax, big sister, I’ll leave her be. Plenty of other bitches in the doghouse.”
“Gross.”
“It’s my responsibility as a royal male to sow my noble DNA. There isn’t a woman in this place who’d turn me down.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?” She raised an eyebrow. “Spare me the DNA business. You’d have several litters of pups by now if you weren’t being careful.”
He straightened his bow tie. “Just keeping my equipment in good working order for when it is needed.”
She rolled her eyes. Cameron raised his glass again and the room went silent.
“We’ve come here tonight to honor Silas Flynn and the royal family of Fireborn pack. Just weeks ago there was a mortal threat on every life in this ballroom. Because of Silas, Alex Ravien Bloodright is dead and the dragon scale amulet has been returned to the dragon fae, restoring amicable relations between our communities. Please raise your glasses, and help me toast leader, alpha, and all-around hero, Silas Flynn.”
Applause broke out in the expansive room, and Laina caught Jason wrinkling his nose as if he’d stepped in dog shit. All-around hero? he mouthed to her, left eyebrow raised. She stifled a giggle.
It wasn’t easy living in Silas’s shadow. No wonder her little brother was such a manwhore and she was a workaholic with no discernable personal life. At times like this, it was impossible not to feel like a pawn in a game she couldn’t win.
“How long do you think we have to stay?” she whispered to Jason.
He chuckled. “Just long enough for Silas to have his ego properly stroked. And for me to find a woman who will properly stroke me.”
She snorted despite herself.
“And now,” Cameron continued, “Silas has given me the honor of kicking off the evening by joining his stunning sister, Laina, in a traditional folk dance.”
Laina almost fell out of her shoes. In fact, she wobbled so violently that Jason had to steady her. Her glass tipped, spilling champagne.
Cameron approached and took what was left of the drink from her hand, passing it to one of the servants for safekeeping. “Are you okay?” he whispered. “You look like you might be ill.”
“I’m fine. Silas neglected to tell me we were opening the show. You caught me off guard.”
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous. We’ve been doing this dance since we were children.”
“I remember.”
“Please, Laina. You’re the only partner I’m comfortable with.” He lowered his lips to the back of her hand. They were warm and soft, too soft. Cameron was attractive. He had the long, lean physique that was typical of a werewolf and a face that belonged in a Hollywood blockbuster. But he was also gay. Blazingly gay with shooting rainbow stars that followed him everywhere. Gay enough that even his wolf had gay tendencies. He’d come out to her when they were both seventeen, trusting that their tight friendship could endure the shared secret. Of course, she’d accepted him fully and supported him throughout their young adulthood. Still, now that he was one of the society’s most eligible bachelors, the steward of Rivergate Manor, and alpha of Rivergate pack, it was harder than ever for him to avoid suspicion. She was the only partner he could dance with because she was safe, a genuine and true pillar of support.
“I’d never turn down a dance with you. Lead the way.” She collected herself, raising her chin and straightening her back. She hated Silas for forcing this on her, but she wouldn’t take it out on her friend.
Cameron grasped her hand and led her to the center of the dance floor, where he pulled her against his body, free hand landing in the groove of her back. A string quartet in the corner of the room broke into a traditional folk song called the “Rose and Her Thorn.” The dance they would perform was unique to their kind, similar to a tango but more violent. The movements told the story of star-crossed lovers entangled in a volatile affair, constantly teetering between the heat of passion and the fire of rage.
Cameron bent over her, dragging his teeth up the skin of her neck. Laina snaked her leg around his and shoved against his chest, following his big, dramatic steps backward across the floor. They’d practiced this dance hundreds of times as teens; she could do it in her sleep. Still, Cameron caught her twice when the height of her new heels caused her to miss a step. Despite the errors, when they ended with her dramatically sagging into his chest, a move that represented her death in the arms of her lover, the room erupted in applause.
“I’m glad you came tonight, Laina. You don’t come to Rivergate Manor often enough,” Cameron whispered in her ear as he helped her to her feet again.
“I was just here a few days ago for the shift. I’m here once a month for the full moon.”
“But I miss your nonfurry friendship.”
“I’m only as far as my animal hospital in Carlton City. Come in any time. I’ll stick a thermometer up your ass and check you for fleas.”
He chuckled. “It’s nice to have you around. You don’t know how dark things have been around here because of Alex.”
“You’re too close to the politics. You need to find a vocation outside the pack. It’s important to self-protect.”
“Hard to do when you’re the alpha responsible for maintaining safe shifting grounds.” When she paused to think about it, Cameron’s position was more limiting than her own. As alpha of Rivergate Manor, he was ultimately responsible for the mansion and its surrounding acres of protected woods—the perfect place to exercise their monthly curse without interfering with humans. Cameron had become alpha the same way Silas had: his parents had been murdered at the same time and place, shot to death in a crowded theater by a madman they would later learn was Alex Ravien Bloodright. And, just like Silas, he’d been thrust into the position far too young.
“Your parents would be proud of you,” Laina said.
He smiled weakly. “Come on. I’ll show you what I’ve done in the garden.” He led her, arm in arm, through the halls and out the glass doors to the protected grounds behind the manse. They strolled along a stone walkway that snaked between newly planted flowering trees and shrubs.
“It smells amazing,” she said.
“I did that on purpose. Once we’ve shifted, we’ll always know where home is by the scent.”
“It’s brilliant, Cameron.” She ran her fingers over the plate-sized bloom of a potted hibiscus.
“Are you cold?” He offered her his jacket.
The early evening held a late-September chill, but she wasn’t uncomfortable. She shook her head.
“I have a confession to make. I didn’t bring you out here to show you the flowers.”
“No?”
“I want to ask you something, and I hope you will take my question in the spirit in which it is offered.” He placed a hand on her elbow, and she stopped to give him her full attention.
“What are you asking?”
“Will you marry me?”
She almost swallowed her tongue. A fit of coughing overtook her and she held her chest as she tried to catch her breath. He thumped her back until she regained her composure.
“Are you joking?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but it would solve both our problems. You could do whatever you wanted to do, whenever you wanted to do it. You could run your veterinary hospital. If you didn’t want children, I’d lie and say we were trying. No one would know the difference. If you wanted kids, we could make that happen too. It wouldn’t be easy for me.” He glanced away from her and pointed his fingers at his lower torso. “I’ve never been with a woman. But I hear there are ways. Medical ways.”
“And, I take it, part of your plan is pursuing your personal desires on the side as well?”
He nodded. “His name is Byron. He’s an accountant. Human. I can’t help myself.”
“I… Cameron, this is so unexpected.”
“I know. There was no easy way for me to broach the subject, but we’re both twenty-nine. The society isn’t going to be patient much longer.”
“The society has never pressured males to marry. You can sire pups into your senior years.”
“Maybe. But if they marry off my best girl, there will be no female left I’d ever share my life with.”
No female who understood his secret. Eyes burning, Laina took an interest in the half moon above her. Empathy was one thing, but martyrdom was another. “Cameron… I…”
Cameron rested his hands on her shoulders. “It’s a beautiful night. I’m sorry to ruin it for you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You haven’t. What you propose isn’t crazy or unheard of. It’s an amicable solution.”
“But…”
“But…” She narrowed her eyes at the moon. “Since the day I was born, my life has been dictated by my curse. My brother has the power to control my every move. Thank God he doesn’t exercise it often, but the fact that he can sometimes make me feel like I want to chew off my own arm to escape his hold over me. When it comes to this one thing—deciding who I will marry—I want my freedom. I want to find someone or not find someone of my own volition.” She faced him, begging for his understanding. “Isn’t determining who we love the most basic, intimate, and personal choice? Why should either of us have to pretend anything?”
He frowned. “The pack is made up of human animals. Maybe it’s in their nature to be cruel.”
“Last I checked, the human part of me was in control.” She smoothed her hair and wiped under her eyes. “You were kind and brave to propose to me.”
He snorted. “Not bravery but desperation. You’d be an answer to my prayers.”
“Does your proposal come with a time limit? Can I think about it?”
He smirked. “Fifty years. If you don’t decide before we’re eighty, all bets are off.”
“Come here.” She embraced her friend, kissing his cheek. The happy moment was short-lived.
A high-pitched scream blew them apart.