Chapter 16
The afternoon passed like hours do when you’re dreading something—slowly, and then all at once.
Mavy had dubbed my room the dress-up area by noon.
By two, everyone’s belongings had overtaken the space.
Her dress hung in my closet, the door open, her shoes lined up in a neat row, at attention.
Nikki’s bag was large enough to suggest she was moving in, and took up most of my bed—a feat itself.
After that, the room stopped being mine entirely.
I didn’t mind. It took my mind off things to be swept up in the craze. I preferred it to sitting alone and counting down the minutes.
The suite smelled of hairspray, new clothes, and the frantic, pheromone-heavy energy of excitement.
Nikki leaned back, her eyes narrowed as she applied the final coat of mascara to my lashes.
She hadn’t let me look in the mirror for an hour, and the suspense had become its own slow-burning fever.
I kept repeating my new mantra in my head: This is just a night. This is just a mask. One night.
“There,” Nikki whispered, a sharp contrast to the dread pooling in my stomach. She squeezed my shoulders and nodded. My legs felt heavy as I stood, but I turned toward the full-length mirror anyway.
I didn’t recognize the woman looking back.
The smoky eyes were a dark smudge of defiance; the eyeliner swept into a lethal wing that pointed toward my temple.
My hair fell in heavy, luscious waves of perfection.
My lips were a plush, taunting pink, and my cheekbones were high and carved by the shadows Nikki had painted onto my skin.
Then there was the dress. It was a marvel of red silk that fell effortlessly and hugged my curves. The neckline dipped into a sweeping V that left my chest exposed to the cool air of the room. The back was nonexistent and dipped dangerously low.
“Oh my Goddess, Adea,” Mavy breathed, stepping up behind me.
She was royalty in a floor-length gown, her eyes catching the light in a way that reminded me, not for the first time, that she was her father’s daughter.
Something calculated flickered across her face as she looked at me in the dress—a moment of assessment so quick I almost missed it.
“We chose the right one.”
“We did,” Nikki added, adjusting her own dress—a sheer, thigh-length dare that left almost nothing to the imagination. She wasn’t wearing a bra and she was a siren designed to wreck whole fleets.
“Do you think they’ll know?” I whispered, my hand fluttering to my bare throat where a mate-mark should have been. “The visitors? Will they smell the void?”
Nikki paused, her green eyes softening for a second. “They’ll be too busy trying to breathe, babe. Besides, finding a mate isn’t a fairy tale. It’s a hostile takeover. If yours is in that room, he won’t care if you’re wolfless. He’ll just care that you’re his.”
A sharp knock at the door cut our chat short. Mavy’s spine straightened, the Alpha’s daughter mask sliding into place. She opened the door, and the air was sucked from the room.
Shane.
He stood there, dark elegance made solid, his hair slicked back, save for one loose curl.
But it was his eyes—usually a dead black, currently flashing with the dangerous gold of his wolf—that pinned me to the spot.
His gaze traveled. It was a slow crawl down my body, lingering on the curve of my chest before snapping to mine.
“Brother. You’re early,” Mavy huffed.
All traces of gold vanished, but he ignored her, sauntering over until he was in my personal space.
My body went on high alert as he loomed over me.
He wrapped a heavy arm around my waist, pulling me flush against the hard planes of his chest. The scent of his cologne tried and failed to mask the scent of rot.
“Words can’t describe how beautiful you are tonight,” he whispered into my ear, his breath warm against my skin. He pressed a lingering kiss to my earlobe, his hand sliding lower to give my hip a firm, possessive squeeze.
I stiffened, my pulse hammering in my neck as my eyes locked on Mavy’s, wide with surprise.
“Manners,” Mavy snapped, her hand on her hip. “You’re unmated. Don’t give the visitors the wrong idea.”
“I think that’s the point,” Shane drawled, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I think we’re ready. I need my phone,” I said, reaching for my clutch. He held me close, my hands curling around my phone, my fingers trembling as I typed out a quick text.
Adea: Leaving now. Meet us in the hall.
Gabe: Be right out.
“Gabe is ready,” I said, putting as much distance between us as he’d allow. “Let’s go.”
As we neared the door, Shane opened it, playing the part of the perfect gentleman as we stepped into the onyx-lined hallway.
The air here was cooler and lighter. Gabe was already there, stepping out of his room.
He was a beautiful tragedy in a gray tux and a matching shirt, his diamond earrings catching the light, cold as ice.
Beside him, Lilith was a sharp contrast in a pencil-thin silver skirt. She was tucking her blouse in with a satisfied grin that told the whole story of their afternoon. Her green eyes laughed as she hooked her arm into Gabe’s.
My best friend’s eyes zeroed in on Shane’s hand, which had already found the small of my back, his fingers hot against my skin. A low vibration hummed in his chest. Gabe gave Shane a hard look that lasted a second too long to be polite.
“Let’s go!” Nikki squealed, pushing past me. I laughed as we walked down the hall.
“You look hot!” I teased over my shoulder at Gabe.
“Look who’s talking.” He smirked. Shane’s grip on my waist tightened and I faced forward.
We piled in the elevator and the space easily dwindled as we packed inside.
The air turned thick with the scents of cedar, rain, sandalwood, and Lilith.
Shane stood directly behind me, his body a fierce heat pressing into my back.
I gasped softly as a hard, unmistakable line dug into my lower spine.
I gripped the clutch tightly, staring at the closing doors as if they were a cage.
Mavy and Nikki’s conversation became background noise as Lilith curled under Gabe’s arm.
The elevator chimed, and I sighed in relief as we poured out.
The lobby was a mix of excitement and lust so thick it felt like walking through sludge. Shane pulled me close, cutting the distance I’d tried to keep. When we stepped outside, a black, sleek limousine waited in the drive.
Shane stepped forward, his hand never leaving my back as he pulled the heavy door open.
“Get in, bitches!” Nikki squealed, the tension breaking just enough for us to scramble into the dark leather interior.
Lilith practically crawled over Gabe to claim the middle seat, forcing him to sit by the door, while Shane steered me into the seat directly opposite them.
He sat next to me, all dark fabric and overwhelming focus.
The limo pulled away, the citadel lights beginning to smear against the tinted windows. There was a loud pop and I jumped as it bounced off the ceiling. Nikki was pouring champagne, the bubbles hissing.
Lilith climbed on Gabe’s thighs and he pushed her back down. As glasses passed hand to hand, Nikki raised hers. “Cheers to Desert Moon.”
Everyone clinked glasses. Shane leaned back, one arm draped over the seat behind me; not touching, just present, and let out a low, easy laugh at something Nikki said.
For a beat, the ink in his eyes thinned, and I almost caught a glimpse of the teenager who Mavy used to drag into the kitchen with us for midnight snacks.
The one who’d once spent an afternoon showing me how to throw a punch.
That Shane, I’d liked.
The one before puberty hit and the Alpha blood pounded in his veins.
Then his eyes slid to mine, and the warmth narrowed into something hot and intent. He leaned close, until I had to tilt my head back.
“You used to do that,” he said quietly, his voice a low vibration meant only for me.
“Do what?”
“Look at me like I was worth something.” The words were said without cruelty, almost like a confession. His jaw tightened, but his gaze never left mine. “Before.”
My stomach dropped as I glanced out the window. Too much had happened. Though a part of me wondered if my mate had been there all along. I pushed it aside. The silence that followed was a door I didn’t want to open.
The hiss of the tires against the wet gravel was the only sound as the limo slowed, the engine’s purr vibrating through the floorboards before we came to a final, heavy stop.
***
The Hall sat fifteen minutes from the territory.
A cathedral of dark stone that seemed to grow straight out of the canyon floor stood above its surroundings.
Torches flickered in the wind, casting long, dancing shadows that made the very ground look like it was breathing.
Gabe and Lilith headed in first, followed by Nikki and Mavy.
We walked up the red carpet behind them.
Shane wrapped his arm around my waist as we crossed the threshold, and I let him. Walking in alone was not an option I had—not tonight.
I forgot to breathe.
The approach was designed to break you—a long, torchlit walkway flanked by Enforcers standing at attention, their faces frozen in masks of discipline.
In their arms, silver-plated rifles loaded with wolfsbane bullets.
The flames threw gold against onyx walls that rose on either side, pillars against the sky.
It wasn’t a festival. It was a procession toward something ancient and hungry.
The stairs at the end were wide and black, each step carved from dark stone. I climbed them with Shane’s hand at my back, trying to pretend he wasn’t taking advantage of the lack of material there.
Then the ceiling opened up, and I stopped moving entirely.
There was no roof. Just the night sky, vast and unobstructed, the full moon just out of sight.
The sparkling lights lit up the hall and sent a glow that the walls caught and held.
Hundreds of wolves moved beneath it—gowns and tuxedos flashed.
The air was thick with the scent of males ready to claim their mates.
Desert Moon hadn’t decorated for the Festival.
They had simply opened their ceiling and let the Goddess do it for them.
We reached the edge of the overlook, and I stopped entirely.
Below us, the hall was a roiling sea of silk and muscle.
Shane tugged at my waist, steering me toward the grand staircase.
We began our descent into the mouth of the crowd.
As we reached the bottom, a ripple moved through the room before I understood the cause.
It started at the far end—a subtle shift in posture, heads turning, conversations dying mid-sentence. The crowd parted in an instinctive wave, and I followed the line of it.
The music died as he entered from the upper level, descending the staircase with the unhurried certainty of a man who had never once needed to announce himself.
An Alpha. He was flanked by his inner circle, but the eye couldn’t linger on them.
Everyone in the room had reorganized itself around a single point.
The mask glittered—black, severe, the iron spikes catching the light, a crown.
Beneath it, his jaw was set, his shoulders filling the tuxedo, too large for the room around him.
He moved through the crowd without acknowledging the heads dipping in his wake.
His green eyes—the only unguarded things about him—moved across the room in a slow, methodical sweep.
Taking inventory.
I watched him from across the room and felt my pulse do something it had no business doing. Shane’s hold on me went rigid, but my eyes were still tracking the mask through the crowd.
Shane steered me away from our group, his body a barrier between me and the unmated wolves prowling the floor.
“Stay close,” he murmured, his breath hot against my ear.
I didn’t argue. I couldn’t. I just needed to get through this night. I followed him toward the long tables at the edge of the hall, desperate for something to do with my hands. The pastry table was a spread of dark decadence—spun sugar and deep chocolates.
I reached for a cream puff, my hand unsteady as I lifted it. The chocolate was dark and rich, melting across my tongue. For a fleeting second, it was pure bliss.
Then a scent hit me.
It was sweet and specific, cutting clean through the noise of the music and the heavy clouds of perfume. I looked down at my plate, but it wasn’t the food.
I went very still.
“Mate.”
A voice—not Nikki’s, not Mavy’s, but a voice from somewhere deep inside me—spoke from behind the cold wall I had spent ten years pressing my hands against.
For the first time in my life, something pressed back.