Chapter Twenty-Two

I made my way through the crowd to Vaughn. “You’re shaking,” he said. He pulled me to his body, and I burrowed in, warm and safe.

“What’s happened?” Vaughn asked.

“An extra-large dose of Travis,” I said. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, though.” I didn’t want to ask him about what the lead singer had told me. I wanted to hang out with my boyfriend and forget about all the problems piling on me. Just for the night.

We held hands as we wandered outside. Connor and Skyler followed close behind. It was almost as packed in the backyard as it was in the house.

“Pool!” Beckett said. He pulled his T-shirt and jeans off and cannonballed into the water.

Watching him swim made me shiver. It was October, which meant it got cold at night. He went to the shallow end and started splashing around.

“You’ll freeze to death,” I said.

“It’s heated,” Beckett replied. Skyler’s neighbor Rika gave him an admiring look as he goofed around. She looked like she was thinking about stripping down and joining him.

The boys in the band hadn’t listened to my warning. Instead, they joined us in the backyard.

Travis called everyone “darlin’” with that faux twang in his voice. He swaggered from group to group, tipping his hat like they did in old Westerns.

Skyler stood watching Travis as she stood alone by the fire pit. I joined her and bumped her shoulder with mine.

“We can go if you want,” I said.

“I’m okay,” she said.

“Even though Travis and the band are here?” I asked.

We both stared at the flames until Vaughn joined us.

He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips to my neck in a brief kiss. “Sorry it took so long,” he said. “I got trapped in the kitchen talking to Marcus about baseball.”

Beckett finally hauled himself out of the pool and came over, dripping water all over the tile. I found a towel in one of the storage boxes and handed it to him.

I looked away, and that’s when I saw Travis walk up to Skyler and try to hug her. “Oh, hell no,” I said.

I started toward them, but Connor beat me to it. “Take your hands off her. Now.”

Armando and Ozzie pushed through the crowd. “Is there a problem?”

“There won’t be as long as your friend takes his hand off Skyler,” Connor said in a growl.

“Is this your new boyfriend?” Travis said. “I see you traded down.”

Skyler shook off his hand. “Unlike you, Connor doesn’t have to compel girls to get them to go out with him.”

“I’m hurt,” Travis mocked. “I thought we were in love.”

“Travis,” I warned. Connor was a hair’s breadth from going full-on wolf in front of our whole school.

“I’m not breaking any laws, am I?” he asked.

“Is that how you talk to your queen?” Connor growled.

Beckett shook out his long hair, and a few droplets flew toward Travis.

He jumped straight up, a little higher and longer than normal, to avoid the water.

“Something smells bad,” Travis said. “Like wet dog.”

“It smells like someone died in here,” Beckett said, then pretended to notice Travis for the first time. “Oh, it’s just you.”

“Shut up, puppy,” Travis replied.

I wanted to punch him in his smug face, but Connor did it for me. Without warning, he lunged. He hit Travis square in the nose and then wrapped his big hands around Travis’s neck and squeezed.

People were watching. There was nothing like a fight to make everyone pay attention, but a werewolf and a vampire beating the shit out of each other was not what I needed right now.

When they saw Travis and Connor fighting, the rest of the Thirsty Thieves rushed over. Then the werewolf pack joined the fray.

“Connor, let go of him,” I said. They were going to go full supe in front of a party jam-packed with humans.

The other vampires’ fangs started to come down.

Xavier and Beckett snarled, then a low howl sounded right before they charged at the other vampires. Fortunately, they still had enough control that they retained their human forms, although Beckett was looking a little shaggy.

I grabbed Skyler and moved her out of the way right before Armando went sailing by. It was werewolves against vampires, and it looked like the werewolves were winning.

“Connor, don’t!” Skyler said. “He’s not worth it.”

His grip tightened as he lifted Travis higher. In a stunning show of strength, he threw Travis across the yard.

“But you are,” Connor told Skyler.

There was a thud when Travis hit the brick wall that separated Christian’s backyard from his neighbor’s. Being the kind of vampire who valued his own survival, he stayed where he was.

The drummer growled at Vaughn, but he ignored him. It wasn’t a full moon, but the air was fraught with the smell of angry wolf. Would they shift when it wasn’t a full moon?

Vaughn’s back was to me, but I could tell he was punching someone, probably Boris. When his arm drew back again, it was dripping blood. I couldn’t look away from the blood as it spattered onto the concrete.

Xavier and Beckett were still facing off against Armando and Ozzie. It was chaos as the other party-goers tried to dodge the guys who were throwing punches. Ozzie tried to bite Xavier, but he held him off with one hand. Werewolves were crazy strong, but I didn’t want Connor and his friends to get hurt.

Thorn and Rose came to stand guard next to me. Thorn’s body was tense, probably from the effort of not joining the fight.

There was the sound of breaking glass, and then minutes later, Christian came running outside. His pants were on, but his shirt was off, and there were telltale bloody smudges on his chest. He’d obviously been in his room with Travis.

Ozzie and Beckett rolled through an open slider door and into the living room. The vampire started throwing knickknacks, probably expensive ones, at Beckett. One shattered, and Christian swore. “My parents are going to freak.”

The glass doors gave me a perfect view of the fight going on inside. Beckett tackled Ozzie and lifted him up, using one hand, and left the vampire dangling in the air.

My gaze volleyed from what was happening inside the house to what was happening in the backyard.

“Stop it!” I shouted. I put every ounce of magic I possessed into the command. Everyone froze, even Connor, who seemed to be resisting the magic more than anyone else. “Now, calm down,” I said. “Beckett, let go of Ozzie.” He dropped him, and Ozzie swore as he hit the highly polished floor of Christian’s living room.

Travis groaned, and Connor nudged him with his toe. “When will you learn?”

He groaned again and then shouted for Gary. Gary was the band’s familiar slash roadie and probably had the worst job in the world.

Connor jerked his head, and Xavier and Beckett picked Travis up and carried him out. From his screams, I think they threw him into a rose bush.

I tried not to giggle, but honestly, after everything Travis had done, I needed to get my thrills where I could. Since I couldn’t actually kill him without breaking my own laws. Which would make me a shitty leader and an even shittier human being.

“Party’s over,” Christian hollered. “Everyone out!”