Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The art of power is not in forcing attendance, but in crafting an invitation no one dares decline.
Why did this feel like a dummy run for the wedding?
Probably because in the last two days, my aunts had mobilized with invites to key members of the community and the Order, while I’d been blessed with a vampire princess and a teenage shifter who had me outfit swapping like it was a montage from a Hallmark rom-com.
Summer Grove House had been transported into the picture-perfect location elementals would expect from a Roberts gathering.
The last time we did this was prior to any entanglements with the shifters beyond the occasional query from Dangerous Dave regarding a body.
We’d put Maggie in charge of guest arrival, and she was flourishing in the limelight of hosting.
The sweet and genuine laugh she offered to anyone, no matter their faction, was infectious.
Liz oversaw the food and snacks. Indigo sulked at the lack of cabbage rolls on the menu until I reminded her that soul sucking was a potential outcome this evening.
I knew she was me, and I was her. But knowing and accepting were two completely separate things.
Harry had corralled the ghostly community into some sort of order, and tonight he’d led them on an outing to the graveyard located by the magnolia trees.
Once the living were outside, he would bring the spirits inside.
It was a delicate dance, but since everyone had their clothes on, I called that progress.
The Serpents of the Dawn were all too busy for a meeting, no doubt pre-warned by Dave and formulating a plan.
That was fine, but they couldn’t avoid me forever.
Pete the frog was still in my office since Marcia had failed to return with the items I needed.
I was beginning to wonder if she’d abandoned him and whether I was going to need to deposit his froggy butt into a swamp.
Hudson hovered in the background, not pushing his luck in the bedroom, but never straying too far from my orbit should my nightmares or my murderous soul-sucking alter ego threaten to drown me.
We gathered in Rebecca’s room, which we were using as the female dressing room. I twisted before the mirror and bit my lip as I studied the way the midnight silk draped across the curve of my ass.
“Hudson is going to lose it,” Rebecca said with a sparkle in her eyes.
I nodded at her ethereal ballgown. She was the picture-perfect princess in pale pink tulle and diamonds. “And Ezra will have fun taking that off you later.”
She flicked her blonde curls over her shoulder and winked at me. “Ezra needs a lesson in me not being a sure thing.”
“Do not make a scene. This night is planned perfectly without a jealous shifter causing chaos.”
She tutted. “I do not make scenes.”
No, she attracted them.
A gentle rap sounded on the door. “Are you decent?” Sebastian called out.
“Never, but my girl bits are covered,” I answered.
He swung the door open and strolled inside.
He was dressed to kill in a tux that hugged his form in all the right places.
He raised a brow as he took me in, from the thigh-high slit in the dress to the stunning silver strappy heels.
I was channeling my own Bond Girl look. I needed all the confidence for what lay ahead.
“You look stunning,” he noted before swinging his gaze to Rebecca. “Ezra is waiting for you.”
Rebecca spritzed my face with setting spray, squinted at me, then nodded before leaving the room.
“She’s on her way,” Sebastian whispered, in case supernatural snoops picked up on our plans.
“Good. I wouldn’t want this to go to waste.”
“I believe the effect on the Principal will make it worth it.”
I snorted. “The Principal is in the same doghouse as you.”
“But we are making progress in getting out?” He delivered the words in a light tone, but there was a flicker of unease in his gaze.
“I’m getting there,” I promised.
“Do you need anything else?”
I shook my head and smoothed my hands over the silk. I pushed my shoulders back and tilted my chin in the air. “I’m ready.”
“You look like a queen,” he murmured as he linked my arm and escorted me to the top of the stairs. A tremor ran down my arm, and he squeezed my hand. Time to not only look like royalty, but to act like it too.
The crowd’s polite chatter drifted up to us. Faces both familiar and strange milled around sampling snacks. It was very civilized. Classy, even. At least until the clothes came off.
Hudson rounded the bottom of the stairs and stared up at me, mouth popping open as his gaze raked over me and ignited a roll of heat down my spine that bloomed in my core. Apparently, my body had joined my soul and forgiven him. Now he just needed my heart.
I was witnessing my mate in a tux for the first time, and no ovaries would be spared viewing how the fabric fit this hunk of a man like it was trying to contain a beast.
Curious eyes skimmed over me, but I kept mine locked on his. I felt the way our hearts reached out and synchronized. The steadiness being linked to him couldn’t be mistaken for anything but devotion. I was complete.
I descended, and he offered me his hand, a question in his eyes.
I jerked my head in permission. He dragged me into his body, twisted me, and dropped a show-stopping, unhurried, yet hungry kiss on my lips while dipping me backward.
The heat burst into flames and spread through my veins.
I should have taken this step last night.
Now all I could think about was getting this show on the road so we could get back to our bedroom and strip naked.
He pulled away and gave me a wicked grin full of promise. “Keep looking at me like that, little witch, and our deal to remain clothed in public will be broken before the first toast.”
“Let’s do this so we can get to the more important things.”
His lips twitched. “Battle and blood first.”
“I might give you a battle afterwards, mate,” Indigo rumbled, reminding him I wasn’t a weak little woman he could push around.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Rockhard pushed through the crowd of elementals, who were doing a poor job at pretending not to eavesdrop on every single word Hudson and I uttered. “Cora, darling,” he drawled as he took my hand, twirled me under his arm, and dropped a kiss on my knuckles. “You look dressed to kill.”
“No killing today,” I murmured. “Just a little family business.”
Lenson bumped shoulders with his partner and winked at Hudson. “Principal, looking handsome tonight.”
“Understatement,” Rockhard agreed as Liz offered us a tray of goodies. My stomach twisted. No food for me tonight. I was too nervous.
We got pulled along into the throng of elementals. My Southern manners were in full swing, greeting folks and giving them the warm welcome they expected when they were choosing to spend their solstice with the Roberts.
“It is about time you ladies hosted,” a fire elemental noted. “The Roberts name was becoming something of myth and legend.”
I smiled at him. “Just turn on the news, Stu, you’ll find my grandmother flitting about.”
“Are you saying she represents your family? Because I have to tell you, the community is not in love with how she is approaching this brewing war.”
“Family? No.”
Hudson gripped my elbow. “Excuse us, I need my mate.”
He guided me away from tricky conversations and warranted accusations. “Thank you. We make a great team.”
These people had been chosen for their ability not to fall under Eloise’s spell. I needed witnesses that would recite the truth of the night, not a twisted version my grandmother would try to spin.
My mind whirled, caught in the rising tide of tension threading between the Roberts women.
Every one of us had gathered for this moment—to finally sever the chains binding us to my grandmother’s reign.
Liz, Anita, Dayna, Stella, and Sophia drifted through the room like elegant storm fronts, smiling, laughing, weaving alliances with practiced ease while pretending not to feel the weight of what was coming.
No one mentioned the elephant in the room, because the elephant was blood, and it was ours.
Dayna nodded toward the window. My gaze swept up to view the stunning full moon shining high in the sky. It was time. Now for the dance with the dead.
Harry’s head popped through the front door, making an older elemental squeak like a high school girl. He gave me the thumbs-up and disappeared.
I stalked to the stairs and climbed a few, giving me the height I needed to get everyone’s attention. Rebecca handed me a wine glass and a metal spoon. This really was a practice run for a wedding. Was I meant to give a speech on my special day? I hoped not. I was terrible at public speaking.
The spoon made a pleasant ringing sound, and the gathering quietened as they turned to me.
Hudson gave me a soft, encouraging smile.
“Thank you for choosing to spend your solstice with us. We are honored that you trust us with a night promised to give a much-needed boost and clarity to your magic for the next six months. If you would follow Elizabeth Roberts and the shifter dressed in black outside, we can get this party started.”
A current of anticipation and excitement rumbled through the crowd as they did as I asked.
I glanced down the hallway, spotting Harry leading the ghosts into the house from the back while Dave and Liz led the breathing people out the front.
So far, so good. Bella darted from upstairs, dashed between my legs, and shot out the front door.
“Ready?” Hudson murmured.
My lips quirked. “Are you?”
He frowned, and I grabbed his hand with a chuckle. The Principal might think he knows what a witchy party entails, but unless you had experienced one for yourself, it was impossible to quantify in words.
The elements spread out in a loose circle around the candles wedged into the ground. Laid between them were cut flowers forming the shape of a pentagram.
“This looks suspiciously like a sacrifice or a spell to summon the devil,” Dave grumbled as he and Liz joined us.
I smiled. “The devil needs no summoning; you know this by now. He goes wherever he damn well pleases, when he damn well pleases.”
“I note you didn’t deny the sacrifice,” Hudson said, his hand clutching mine a little tighter.
“Afraid of a little bloodshed, Principal?” Liz asked, stepping onto the first point of the pentagram. She was enjoying this a little too much.
“Only if it’s my mate’s being spilled,” he growled.
Stella, Anita, Dayna, and Sophia took their places on the other points, and I gave Hudson a quick kiss. “See you on the other side.” I stalked to the center of the pentagram.
The cooling night breeze caused goosebumps to erupt down my arms. The five points of the pentagram glowed faintly in red, blue, gold, silver, and green, each tethered to the elementals standing in place.
Their eyes were luminous in the moonlight, skin gilded by the silvery wash.
One by one, the elementals undressed, casting aside silks and formal clothes until bare flesh shimmered in the pale light.
This wasn’t sensual—it was sacred. The moon was a jealous lover.
The more of her light they soaked into their skin, the stronger the spell would be.
I kept my clothes on, as I didn’t need a feral mate losing his shit.
Power pooled between us, a living pulse that hummed through the air like the beat of a heart.
A low thrum built from the ground upward, making my teeth ache as the runes woven into the grass flared to life. The air thickened, heavy with the scent of ozone and salt and old magic.
Hudson, Dave, Sebastian, and Rebecca gasped almost in unison. Their eyes went glassy as the drugging nature of the spell licked up their spines. The elemental call didn’t care about rank or species. It was primal, seductive, and ancient.
The candle flames stretched higher, bending toward the center where I stood, the focus of their energy. My blood sang. I raised my arms and called to the moon, to the ancestors, to the drowned and the damned.
A crack tore through the silence. The temperature dropped.
And then—her.
“Well, well. Look here, my prodigal granddaughter playing hostess to half the supernatural world.”
Eloise stepped out of the shadows, her silver cloak sweeping over the grass like spilled mercury. Her eyes gleamed sharp and cold as she surveyed the pentagram. “Was my invitation lost, darling?”
I tilted my head, forcing a smile. “The architect of my nightmares doesn’t get invitations.”
She prowled closer, her heels crunching over the salt line. The air shimmered once, twice, then sealed behind her with a quiet snap only I seemed to hear.
Eloise’s lips curved. “You always were dramatic.”
“And you,” I said, my voice steady even as the wards coiled tight around us, “always were predictable.” The power in the circle surged, hungry and bright. The pentagram flared, swallowing her in its light.
I met Hudson’s wide eyes across the boundary.
“Gotcha,” I whispered.