Chapter 30 Avery
AVERY
“Uh, this is where the party is?” I craned my neck to stare at the monstrosity of a house through my car’s windshield.
“You’re surprised?” Ian asked from the passenger seat. “The elder Crimson Quad owns one of the most profitable techno-rune development companies in the entire country. That’s six million dollars’ worth of twenty-first century lunar magic right there.”
“Six million?”
He shrugged. “I stalked the online real estate listing. The house is eleven thousand square feet.”
I believed it. We’d been directed to park wherever we could find a spot on the vast lawn, it was there I learned that the two stories visible on approach were actually five stories on the backside slope down to the lake.
At least four balconies jutted off the back of the house, overlooking an expansive two-level patio, and a winding external staircase led to the top of a tower that rose from the middle of the roof.
Brody parked his Jeep next to us. Ian jumped from the car and threw himself into Brody’s arms as if the forty-five minutes they’d been apart on this drive had been forty-five years.
They both wore sweatshirts over swim trunks, their feet clad in flip-flops like we were sunning ourselves at the beach and not shivering in the mountains of Northern Georgia.
I cast a longing look at my duffel bag where it sat on the backseat.
I’d packed my swords carefully away in there, but the itch to get them out and strap them to my back was strong.
I was in a strange place, though with not-so-strange people, but the party atmosphere could bring out the violent side of some shifters. I didn’t know what to expect.
After I slid from behind the wheel, I shrugged my fleece jacket over the flimsy little top I wore at Mallory’s insistence. She did lose the battle over the tiny skirt she suggested I pair with the top. It was jeans or I wasn’t going at all.
Rolling my shoulders, I took a deep breath and squinted up at the house again.
“For the love of the Moon, Aves, act like you’ve been to a party before.”
I glared at Ian and waved a dramatic arm at the house. “We have never even sniffed at this kind of wealth, Ian. It’s a lot to take in.”
Brody chuckled, sliding his hand into Ian’s. “Come on, you two. It’s just hanging out with all the people we see every day—just with slightly less clothing than usual.”
They set off up the winding sidewalk that led to the back patio, and I trudged along after them.
At least fifty people milled around both levels of the stone patio, and more were in the pool, which was indeed two-tiered.
A hot tub connected via a stone waterfall to a large infinity pool overlooking the dark waters of the lake.
Water cascaded from the pool into an only slightly smaller pool down below.
Partygoers floated and splashed and drank from plastic cups with straws that lit up like glow sticks.
Brody and Ian fist-bumped a bunch of Support Squadron guys on the way into the house, and I managed a wave at a freshman girl I knew from Aiden’s class.
She was the serious, studious type, so I was not expecting to see her atop a float in a tiny bikini while a gregarious guy I knew to be a hyena shifter did body shots out of her bellybutton.
Inside were three different living rooms under two-story vaulted ceilings, a media room hosting an aggressive video game competition, and a professional DJ.
Students spilled out of the huge kitchen, where there appeared to be a keg and at least two bartenders slinging drinks from a mountain of liquor bottles lined up on the counter.
Kind of ridiculous. Shifter blood burned through booze quickly, though if we went on a real bender, we could get a buzz for an hour or so. Alcohol at parties was more about the atmosphere.
“Where the hell are Mal and the rest of the group?” I shouted at the side of Ian’s face.
He shrugged. “Around here somewhere. We’ll find them.”
Brody handed me a cup of something fruity for the journey.
We wandered past a set of wide-open French doors, which led to a large side patio.
Phoebe Atkins—beautiful, blonde, Heath’s number-one fan—was on that patio, delicately sipping something not in a plastic cup.
Her bright floral beach dress and coordinating bikini was the epitome of well-bred-Southern-girl resort chic.
She was surrounded by several of her similarly dressed besties—mostly girls who’d already bonded to their Prime quad of choice.
Some of those guys milled around the patio, too, their attention bouncing between their bros and their bonds.
Phoebe curled her perfect lip as I walked by, then she leaned in to whisper something to one of her friends. The girl glanced my way, rolled her eyes, and the two of them giggled together.
Neat.
Mal certainly wasn’t on that patio, so we were moving on.
We hadn’t gone ten more steps into a spacious room containing a bar, a shuffleboard table, and two pool tables when we ran into another bitch who did not like me.
“Ugh, no, this room is at capacity,” Callista declared from her spot perched on the edge of one of the pool tables. “Find somewhere else to hang out, freak.”
I looked at Ian. “Is she talking to you or me? I didn’t know your proclivities had become public knowledge around campus.”
“I sure hope so,” he replied. His grin widened at Callista’s rapidly flushing face. “I’d hate to think I was being out-freaked by my boring sister.”
Callista slid from the table, her thick wedge sandals clomping loudly on the wood floor.
She wore a strappy black swimsuit that covered less than a bikini would’ve on her voluptuous body, the succubus of a shifter boy’s wet dreams. Her dark hair was in a sleek ponytail, her bold makeup still perfect and unsmudged by party activities.
Her crew gathered around her. Unlike Phoebe, she had a lot of unbonded friends, so the room was bursting with peacocking Prime males and scantily clad blue-blooded girls. It stank like posturing dominance and horny shifters in here.
“You think you’re funny,” Callista said, sneering at me. “Keep it up. Hopefully the next person who pulls a Kace Mahoney will actually finish the job.”
Was she still sore about me holding a sword to her throat in the hallway of the Magical Ed building? That was ages ago.
“The next person who pulls a Kace Mahoney is going to end up dead,” I told her, and I meant it because I’d decided I was no longer taking beatings from my classmates. I let my beast peek through my eyes. “So hopefully no one in this room is thinking about it. We’re not at school anymore.”
Thick, cloying aggression seeped into the air around us. A few of the guys rumbled angry growls.
A stocky blond dude with a ponytail stepped forward, but Brody slid into his path.
“Try it, Jenkins. Avery doesn’t need swords or a beast to rip you apart.
She’d love to do it, too, after I inform her how underhanded and shitty you were to your fellow trainees last year in your failed attempt at becoming a Guardian. ”
That was a bluff, because it’d be difficult for me to best a guy that big without blades or beast, but I appreciated Brody’s confidence in me.
“Look,” I said to the group, “we’re just trying to find our friends. They’re clearly not here, so we’ll be on our way.”
We did not need to get into a brawl in this room, especially because Ian and Brody, while scrappy, would be ordinary shifters facing Primes, and none of us had our weapons.
“There you are!”
A relieved sigh left my chest. “Hey, Mal.”
She trotted into the room, wearing a bright green bikini and a crocheted sarong. Allen and Chance followed on her heels, both barefoot and shirtless, their lean muscles glistening with water droplets.
“Oh, ew, no,” she said, surveying the room. “Why are you guys in here? Ash and some of the crew are on one of the upstairs balcony patios. Let’s go.”
“Yes, please get the stench of filthy female animal out of here,” the stocky blond, Jenkins, growled. “The disgusting cat mixing with whatever the fuck Baxter is hiding is making my beer taste like shit.”
An angry snarl ripped from Allen’s throat, and golden fur rippled across his chest. He lunged for Jenkins, whose brown eyes had turned to molten honey, his nostrils flaring like a bull’s.
Ian and Brody tackled Allen to the ground. He struggled under them, but his fur faded away as Brody expressed some rather impressive dominance, forcing Allen’s wolf to settle.
Mallory, bless her, just rolled her eyes at her bonded mate’s antics. “Yes, Avery and I are taking our stink upstairs. Have the night y’all deserve!”
She grabbed my hand and dragged me from the room, while Ian, Brody, and Chance shoved Allen out behind us.
I rested my elbows on the railing of one of the fourth-floor balconies as I surveyed the pool deck below.
The cascading waters were lit up in a vibrant aquamarine, and there were at least two dozen students floating and splashing around.
Twice as many were scattered around the deck, half naked and trying valiantly to get a buzz from their drinks.
Ian and Brody had taken a dip and were now prancing around shirtless and damp, talking to people.
Hungry gazes tracked their every move. It made me immensely thankful that Ian was so solidly with Brody, which meant I would not have to hunt him down later and drag him off whichever panting boy he decided to get naked and sweaty with when I wanted to leave.
Mal and the rest of the crew had taken over the patio furniture on the balcony. Chance was entertaining the group by reading tarot cards for a few bright-eyed freshmen girls who’d wandered by.
“Why aren’t you down there?”