Chapter 37
Glitz and glamourof the supernatural variety decorate the entirety of the large ballroom space, and it”s easy to see that no expense has been spared for tonight”s festivities. Crystal chandeliers sparkle as the lights flash around the room, showcasing brilliant colors as its beams dance to the beat of its own tune. A sea of tables line the walls, with the middle completely open in the semblance of a dance floor you’d see in a normal club. A DJ spins the latest hits from his position off to the right, and a dais is set above the rest with a long, buffet-style table and honest-to-god throne-like chairs facing out into the room.
Supernaturals that could easily pass as humans weave through the partygoers, golden trays aloft in their hands, overflowing with delicate crystal glasses of bubbly alcohol. They”re all relatively dressed the same in fine tuxedos as all the men here are, and if it weren”t for the subtle snubs from the other patrons and the waiters’ downcast eyes, I”d believe they belong here just as anyone else.
Diamonds and other rare gems drip from the attendees as they laugh and converse with people before moving on to do the same with the next group.
Needless to say, I am so far out of my element it”s not even funny. I feel like I should be sequestered with the waiters, not waltzing around like I belong.
With the ease of a practiced veteran, Luka swipes four bubbly glasses from the passing waiter, handing one to each of us before taking a sip of his own. The waiter stands there stunned for a minute before shaking himself out of his stupor and hurrying away.
“Thank you!” I call over the din of the hundreds or possibly even thousands of voices here tonight. My speculation of them being something more than human is confirmed when the waiter stops and throws me a smile over his shoulder before scurrying onward with his duties.
That’s something else I’ve come to learn about supernaturals thus far in my time of being one. They are freaking rude. It’s not that hard to acknowledge or thank those less powerful for what they do. But the ones higher up in the hierarchy feel that conversing with those lesser will taint them with their less-than-nothing magic. Newsflash. It won’t. I just wish there were others who felt the same way I do. But every supernatural I’ve come to know was born into this world, so their ideals are pretty much ingrained into the fabric of their lives.
But I won’t allow that to be me. Human, witch, lycan, demigod, vampire, it doesn’t matter their species. They’re all living, breathing, feeling entities and should be treated as such.
“Oh, look, Bailey. It’s Hudson,” Marion squeals as she links her arm with mine before strutting across the ballroom in the lycan’s direction. Axel and Luca stay close as they trail behind us like two large and in-charge bodyguards.
Unlike Marion, who attended the party in her human form, Hudson is full-on lycan—fur and all. His massive frame is encased in an expensive-looking black tuxedo, somehow constructed large enough to fit his bulging muscles without popping at the seams. And I’m not sure if my eyes are deceiving me or not, but it looks like he has a subtle touch of red instead of the pink like Marion is wearing.
His inhuman eyes glow an eerie silver as they watch our progression across the room. Not that I want to be anywhere near him. But since this is Marion”s brother, I can play nice. If only for one evening.
Plus, there”s the added bonus of my guys being here to step in between us if he tries anything.
His attitude may have vastly improved since the first day of school—only after the revelation of being his mate—but I prefer this to the pain he inflicted on me. Even if the constant longing in his stare makes me vastly uncomfortable.
I can’t lie, though. I”m still waiting for the other ball to drop. The one where he places me at the council”s feet and lets them extinguish my light. But I won’t let it happen. I’ll just have to be on my game and aware of everything going on around me.
The bubbly in the glass goes down smoothly, making me giggle as it tickles my nose, and no matter how badly I want to chug it, I keep myself to small sips only because this isn’t a situation where I can let my guard down. Anything can happen, and I’d rather get out of here unscathed.
As we come to a stop in front of Hudson and the group he’s with, I let my eyes rove over him, appreciating the sight before me. The corner of his wolfish lips tip up in a bit of a smile at my perusal of him, and I flush with embarrassment, darting my gaze away before his magnetism can pull me in.
There’s no way I can deny that man is gorgeous, even in his lycan form, but who he is as a person, the person he introduced me to when we first met, is not someone I can see myself mating. He may be my goddess-blessed soul mate, but he needs to do some personal soul-searching before he is worthy of one.
“You ladies look beautiful tonight,” his deep voice rumbles, sending shivers down my spine with his deep timbre.
“Thanks, big bro. Now, back the heck up. This wolf is on the prowl for a real date.” I snort a laugh at Marion’s comment, laughing even harder when Hudson’s wolfish face looks more like a gaping fish instead of the predator he is.
“Well, if I’d have known you were going to ditch me, I would have brought someone else,” he grumbles, backing up a step. His words pierce straight through my heart, making me flinch and leaving me bleeding internally. His own mate is standing in front of him, and he would have brought someone else. “Shit,” he breathes, obviously catching the hurt on my face before I can mask it. “Bailey, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Axel’s unnatural coolness shields me from Hudson’s hurtful words as he pulls me back into his chest, wrapping his arm around my waist. I lean into the safety of those arms as a large hand folds into mine, drawing my attention. Looking over, Luka’s face is pinched in a scowl, staring down the lycan. His mouth opens to say something, but before he can, we’re interrupted.
“Bailey.” Thaddeus pulls me from Axel’s hold, giving me a tight squeeze even as the vampire grumbles his displeasure at the fae for taking me away from him. “You remember my girlfriend, Veronica.” Thaddeus steps back, holding out a pale blue hand for his lavender-skinned date. She tucks herself into his side, her hand resting possessively on his chest.
“It’s good to see you again, Miss Matthews.” She’s polite as always toward me, but there’s no mistaking the tightness around her eyes. My insides squirm as I shift under her scrutiny, feeling like she’s picking apart every bad thing about me.
“You, too, Miss Izzicle,” I murmur, retreating back into the safety of my dates’ arms.
A loud gong rings around the ballroom as the music cuts out abruptly, and conversations cease as all eyes turn toward the dais. Large reptilian wings are all I can see over the other patrons until they come to a stop next to the still-empty thrones. My eyes widen, and a quiet gasp escapes my lips as I see my very first dragon. It’s one of the supernatural types I’d always thought was nothing more than myth, which I then confirmed in my time thus far at Stonewell since there were no students—or professors otherwise—that looked like one.
But shit. They actually exist. I want to squeal in excitement and race over to him and ask so many questions, but Axel’s hold tightens, and a rumbling hiss emanates from the vampire at my eagerness to get close to another supe.
Before I can placate him, the dragon lifts his scaly arms, and smoke billows from his nostrils as he starts speaking. “Welcome, everyone, to the annual veil-shattering gala. It was on this day, in this very spot, fifty years ago, that we escaped the shadows and showed ourselves to the world.” He pauses as everyone cheers. When they quiet once more, he continues. “Since then we’ve thrived in this world, and we have the council to thank for that.”
Doors I didn’t even notice behind the dias open, and a flood of robed individuals practically float into the ballroom, each one stopping next to a throne. Ten. There are ten council members, and hoods obscure their facial features, making me uneasy. We’re nowhere near them at this very moment, but I swear it feels like they’ve collectively got their eyes on me. Which is freaking ridonklous considering there are thousands of other people here tonight.
The dragon fades into the background as all but one council member takes their seats, leaving themselves in the spotlight.
“Who’s that?” I murmur quietly, knowing one of my guys will hear me.
“That’s the head of the council,” Luka replies in his own whisper. “They have the final vote, the tiebreaker if the council can’t decide on something.”
Anticipation is thick in the air as everyone waits for something to happen. I shift from foot to foot as that foreboding feeling from earlier rises with a vengeance, making my breath catch.
“Let the festivities begin,” a disembodied voice booms through the silence before the head council member takes their seat with the rest.
Praises echo around the room as partygoers acknowledge their council, and then glasses are raised in the air, toasting to the greatness of the ten members in the center of the room. I follow suit so I don’t stand out, wanting nothing more than to blend in even when my eye roll game is almost strong enough to overpower me.
The DJ kicks the music back on, the beat flowing around the room like it’s a tangible thing. Groups of supernaturals break apart, some heading toward the tables while others shake their groove things on the dance floor.
Cool lips brush my ear, and I have to swallow my moan as I remember what those lips can do. “Dance with me, cor meum?” I snort, eyeing the supes who are already out there. What they’re doing cannot be considered dancing. In any way, shape, or form. It looks like they’re fucking. Straight up fucking in front of everyone.
“I thought we were supposed to be meeting your mom.” I’ll take any excuse I can to keep from bumping into the dance-fucking couples in the middle of the room.
Axel chuckles at my obvious deflection. “She’s not here yet,” he murmurs, pulling me closer into his orbit.
“How do you know? There are thousands of people here.”
“She would have stolen you from us by now,” he grumbles indignantly, making me giggle. “So, come on, just one dance, cor meum.” It sounds suspiciously like he’s pouting again, but instead of pointing it out, I head in the direction of the dance floor, knowing both of my dates are right behind me.
Lady luck must be shining down on me this evening because the moment Axel pulls me into his lithe frame, the music changes to something slower, sultrier. Almost like it was planned from the beginning.
A husky, feminine voice croons about lost love, the potential for new starts, and finding the one she’s meant to live for as we sway in each other’s embrace. It resonates deep within me. Ten times over being in the arms of my vampire. While Luca may have been the first one there after my change, Axel was the one who welcomed me with open arms, allowed me to cry my woes on his shoulder, and has been there every day since, even if when it was only in a friendship capacity.
Emotions bubble up inside me, and while it may feel too soon, I know exactly what it is. Love. A love I chose, not one that was decided for me. It doesn’t make what I feel any less when it comes to Luca and our soul bond, but this whole thing with Axel feels different. Like I’m grabbing life by the balls and doing it my way.
Tears gather in my eyes as I lift my head from his chest, ready to utter my emotions out loud for the world to hear.
But as I go to say the words, panic that he doesn’t feel the same way threatens to overtake me. Before I can loose my nerve, I swallow the panic down and turn to our mate bond. You can’t lie about how you feel when there’s a powerful bond at play.
Everything he feels for me comes through his side of the bond, even if he’s not conscious that he’s left his feelings open so freely. Or maybe he is. Maybe he wants me to know how he feels without expressing the words.
But I want to hear them. No. It’s much more than want. It’s a need. An innate need to know our hearts are in the same place.
A brilliant, fangy smile lights up Axel’s face as he gazes down at me with adoration shining in his red gaze.
Finally ready to take the leap and put my heart on display, I open my mouth to tell him how I feel, but a cry escapes me instead when a body slams into me, tearing me away from Axel and propelling me onto the unforgiving ground. Feral snarls and the telltale hiss of a pissed-off vampire ring loudly in my ears as the music cuts out and all the dancing patrons back away, leaving me in a mess of a heap on the floor.
Gasps, whispers, and muttered curses drift through the horror-filled crowd. A chant starts up next, calling for death. Death to who? What the hell is going on?
“Rise, curiomancer,” that disembodied voice comes again, but this time, there’s an underlying threat present in their words.
Oh. Oh fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. My hand curls around empty air as I search out my snowflake necklace, only to come up empty.
That means… Tears flood my eyes at the implication of their words and the revelation that my glamour is gone.
“I said rise!” bellows the disembodied voice, the words punctuated by the chanting supernaturals mobbing around me.
My legs quake beneath me as I find my feet, wobbling precariously on the heels Marion wanted me to wear. They threaten to give out completely, but I lock my knees, refusing to show these assholes weakness. And speaking of Marion, I seek out her eyes in the crowd. When I finally find her, I flinch at the betrayal staring back at me. The bad part is I deserve it. She’s been there for me from the first time she sat with me in the dining hall, and I’ve been keeping a big secret from her.
Unable to take the hurt any longer, I find Luka, Hudson, and Thaddeus fighting to get through the throng to save me. But there’s no saving me now. What’s done is done. The truth of my identity is now laid bare to the entirety of the supernatural world. Axel is nowhere to be found, which should worry me, but being faced with an entire room of preternatural beings who’d rather see my head on a pike than actually get to know me, I think he’d understand.
Every eye watches me with barely veiled violence, and I do my best to hide the fear percolating in my veins. But that’s not the only thing I’m trying hard to tamp down. My magic is going freaking haywire in my system, short-circuiting my every thought. It’s a hell of a fight I’m putting up against my own self to tamp down the glow begging to break free from my flesh.
“Name, curiomancer.” The robed head council member is poised on the edge of the dais, like he’s biding his time for an opportune moment to strike me down.
With the ease of someone well-versed in magic, I direct a thin trickle of power to the amplifier rune on my throat before answering, “Bailey Foss.” My voice booms over the death threats being hurled my way, instantly shutting everyone up, and while I may not normally go by my birth parent’s last name, they don’t need to know anything more than that.
“Curiomancer.” I grit my teeth at the blatant display of disrespect by not using my given name. “Your kind is not permitted to exist. You are too overpowered, like those who came before you, and must be put down for the safety of our world. I sentence you to death. Immediately.”
Ahh. Fuck.
To Be Continued…