While humans slept, monsters raved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe it wasn\u2019t technically a rave. There weren\u2019t any glow sticks or electronic music, or club kids with crazy hair and fluorescent clothes. There were a few dozen shapeshifters and a sprinkling of vampires\u2014and one not-quite witch showing off the mural she\u2019d painted in a literal wolves\u2019 den.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was one of the vampires, an unaffiliated Rogue in a city of Houses\u2014including the House led by my parents. The artist was my best friend, a woman with sorcerer parents who\u2019d said no to magic and yes to brushes and paints. And tonight, a lot of champagne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lulu Bell stood near her artwork\u2014dozens of female bodies of all shapes, sizes, and shades\u2014champagne flute in one hand as she gestured with the other toward the painting and spoke to a rapt audience. She was petite, with a shining bob of dark hair that framed her pale heart-shaped face and green eyes. She\u2019d paired a multicolor tunic with gray leggings, red heels, and enormous dangling earrings, and looked very much the part of the artsy girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music shook the air around her, heavy on guitars and drums. Her audience was in clothes that were heavy on the leather. The shifters, members of the North American Central Pack, were mostly wolves, and they were similarly handsome. Strong men and women whose energy seemed palpable, as if their vitality were sturdy enough to actually thicken the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe looks happy.\u201d The man who\u2019d spoken stood behind me, his dark skin and short dark hair contrasting sharply against his brilliantly colored short-sleeved button-down shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was Theo Martin, one of Chicago\u2019s supernatural Ombuds\u2014liaisons between humans and Sups. In his particular case, a former cop with a good brain and a minor obsession with superheroes and, as I\u2019d learned, the comics they lived in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was an OMB staffer, at least temporarily. Roger Yuen, the city\u2019s new Ombudsman, had given me a gig when my plan to continue working for Paris\u2019s Maison Dumas had fallen apart. I\u2019d been helping Theo and Petra, another Ombud, address supernatural problems that cropped up in Chicago; I\u2019d keep helping them until the grant money ran out\u2014or the mountains of OMB paperwork finally disappeared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe does look happy,\u201d I agreed. \u201cAt least some of that is sheer relief. She\u2019s been worried about finishing it in time. The Pack wouldn\u2019t reschedule the party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pack-brewed beer was being introduced in the Pack\u2019s bar today. They\u2019d wanted the mural completed by the time the party started, and they\u2019d refused to negotiate with Lulu for a different deadline. Shifters weren\u2019t usually picky . . . except when it came to business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Theo sipped a glass of brown beer that looked more like chocolate than booze. Then coughed. \u201cIt\u2019s . . . intense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGood intense or bad intense?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He swirled the liquid in the glass, dark beer against pale foam. \u201cI feel like I need a knife and fork. You should try it, Elisa. Your tastes are, you know, different from mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat with the blood and all,\u201d I said dryly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Theo grinned a crooked smile. \u201cWhat with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now or never, I told myself, and took the glass he offered, then a hearty sip . . . and was overwhelmed by flavors. It was sour and tangy and complex and smoky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Theo was right. I wouldn\u2019t say it tasted good, exactly, but its complexity was impressive. Someone had worked very hard to make so many flavors bloom and blossom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that I ever need to drink it again,\u201d I said, looking at Theo. \u201cBut it\u2019s . . . an achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to drink an achievement,\u201d he said. I couldn\u2019t really argue with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He gestured toward Lulu. \u201cShould we go say hello?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lulu was still holding court across the room, nodding at a thin man with bowl-cut white hair. I watched her, waited until she finally raised her gaze and looked around, then lifted my glass. She gave me a wink, returned to her conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDone,\u201d I said. \u201cActual discussion can wait until she\u2019s made it through her court of admirers.\u201d Which gave us time to look around the room. You couldn\u2019t beat the people watching at a Sup party. In addition to the shifters, there were a handful of the scantily clad nymphs who ruled the Chicago River\u2014several of them being wooed by Pack members\u2014and a few vamps from Chicago\u2019s other Houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey!\u201d<\/em>Turning the word into a melody, Lulu squeezed between me and Theo, linked her arms with ours. \u201cIs everyone having fun?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As if on cue, one shifter threw another across the room, the move echoed by tinkling glass. Onlookers cheered and applauded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAin\u2019t no party like a shifter party,\u201d Lulu said. \u201c\u2019Cause a shifter party don\u2019t stop after drinking a reasonable amount of booze.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure anything else could top this,\u201d Theo said. \u201cThis may be the last party I ever need to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great party,\u201d I said to Lulu, kissing her cheek. \u201cAnd the mural looks amazing. Congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo Lulu!\u201d Theo said, and we lifted our glasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you, thank you. I\u2019m still shocked I got it done.\u201d She lifted her gaze to the crease where the wall met the ceiling. \u201cI\u2019d avoid touching that corner,\u201d she said with a pixie smile, \u201cunless you want to wear paint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do not,\u201d I said. \u201cAnd I doubt even shifters would get drunk enough to climb the literal walls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne never knows,\u201d she said, and was beckoned by someone across the room. \u201cI\u2019ll catch you later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHave fun,\u201d I said, and she moved through the crowd again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A hush fell over the room. I looked around, thinking she was about to make a speech, or I\u2019d been wrong about the effect of booze on shifters and someone actually was inching up the mural. But that\u2019s not why they\u2019d gone silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, well,\u201d Theo said, gaze on the corridor at the other end of the space. \u201cLook who\u2019s back in town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I scanned the crowd, and my gaze came to a halt just as Theo\u2019s had done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor Keene, the prince of wolves, had come home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If \u201cswagger\u201d was a mood, he\u2019d perfected it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor was tall and broad shouldered, hard muscle under taut skin. His hair was dark and wavy, his eyes pale blue under thick brows. His jawline was chiseled and marked by a sexy dimple in his chin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was the son of the North American Central Pack\u2019s Apex, and he moved into the room like a prince among royals. I\u2019d have called it arrogance if he wasn\u2019t able to back up his words with action. Even if I didn\u2019t know there was competence beneath that wicked facade, care for those within his circle, and an unquestionable loyalty to the Pack, I\u2019d have put money on his being Apex one day. His power was strong enough to send eddies of magic swirling in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had been weeks since I\u2019d seen him, since we\u2019d fought back a group of fairies intent on destroying Chicago by replacing our world with theirs . . . and he and I had shared a shockingly good kiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was strange to have kissed someone\u2014to have wanted<\/em>to kiss someone\u2014who\u2019d driven me crazy as a kid. But he\u2019d grown up, become a different kind of man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019d stayed in Chicago to help us fight despite Pack obligations that would have sent him across the country. But when our battle was done, duty called again. Not in Alaska, but in the Pack\u2019s Midwestern territory, where he\u2019d been sent to solve problems that arose as the Pack traveled cross-country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019d texted while he was gone. He told me about the drama he was dealing with, the internal and external politics of the Pack. I told him about my daily interactions with paperwork and Supernaturals. Having been raised a vampire\u2014the most political of Supernaturals\u2014I was smart enough to understand the subtext: the prince of wolves was making time for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It took only a moment for his predatory gaze to track through the partygoers and land on me. When surprise and pleasure flashed in his eyes, I was very, very glad that I\u2019d skipped denim and leather for a body-skimming midcalf dress of deep vampire black. I\u2019d left my sword and scabbard at the loft, but I\u2019d tucked a dagger into a thigh garter, and my red heels were thin and high enough to serve as literal stilettos in an emergency. My hair, long and blond and wavy, was loosely tied at my shoulder with a thin ribbon of deep crimson velvet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor began to cross the room, making his way toward me like a missile locked on its target. Anticipation was like an electric charge across my skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Connor and I had been kids\u2014and hadn\u2019t liked each other very much\u2014I\u2019d seen him with plenty of girlfriends. All shades, all shapes, all sizes. Always gorgeous. I hadn\u2019t been jealous of them, but I\u2019d definitely been curious, wondering what it was like to be the object of his attention, to be the one he was walking toward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a thrill. A song, low and sexy and seductive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrat,\u201d he said to me when he reached us. The nickname was a holdover from our icy childhood, but his tone was plenty warm. \u201cTheo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou never call,\u201d Theo said. \u201cYou never write.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor kept his gaze on me, and I could all but feel my blood heating from the power of it. \u201cI wrote the ones that needed writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The words were a thrill, the emotion still a shock. As was the fact that we\u2019d grown from irritating enemies to . . . something very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow was Colorado?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou do some skiing?\u201d Theo wondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor shook his head. \u201cShifters in Colorado who don\u2019t acknowledge the Pack\u2019s existence had some objections to our riding through what they call their territory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Theo nodded. \u201cI\u2019m assuming the Pack disagrees?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Pack does, but it\u2019s handled. For now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I took a guess. \u201cBecause the Pack made it through Colorado, but you still have some thoughts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFeelings linger,\u201d he agreed, gaze on me. \u201cI\u2019m leaving again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disappointment covered desire like a heavy cloud. But before I could ask for details, another shifter slipped to Connor\u2019s side, whispered something in his ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was male, with dark blond hair, a trimmed beard, and angular brows. His eyes were hazel, his mouth a firm line. There was something familiar about his face, his magic. But I couldn\u2019t place him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shifter whispered something to Connor, face turned away so we couldn\u2019t read his lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a moment, Connor nodded. \u201cTen minutes,\u201d he said, and the man walked away without so much as a word to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s friendly,\u201d Theo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho was that?\u201d I asked. \u201cHe looks familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlexei Breckenridge,\u201d Connor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My grandparents were friends with patriarch of the Breckenridge family, Michael Sr. But the family was less friendly with my parents. Alexei was our age, but I hadn\u2019t seen him in years, and probably only a handful of times before that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know Brecks mingled with the rest of the Pack these days,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the few,\u201d Connor said dryly. \u201cThe Brecks prefer to live within the human world these days. But Alexei\u2019s good Pack. If not entirely sociable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything okay?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will be. Business as usual. And I\u2019d like to talk to you about that.\u201d He looked at Theo. \u201cMind giving us a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo problem,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to see a shifter about some meats.\u201d He cut through the crowd, disappeared, leaving Connor and me alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor looked down at me, a corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that was partly cocky, partly unsure. He knew exactly who he was. But we were both still figuring out who we<\/em>were. Our beginning had been sandwiched between years of teenage sniping and weeks of separation. Uncomfortable, given I generally preferred clear steps. Rule books. Plans and procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey back. It\u2019s good to see you,\u201d I ventured, and his face lit, his smile widened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s good to see you, too, Lis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Pack\u2019s good?\u201d I asked quietly, not wanting to force him to spread internal struggles through the room, and betting he\u2019d tell me more than he\u2019d said in front of Theo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDrama,\u201d he said. \u201cAlmost as bad as dealing with vampires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, that\u2019s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. Want and trepidation dancing in the air around us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m going to Minnesota,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d like you to go with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at him. \u201cYou want me to go to Minnesota with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes. Grand Bay, on north shore of Lake Superior. Beautiful place. My cousin\u2014a second cousin, actually\u2014is being initiated into the Pack, and I\u2019m going. Night to drive, night to attend the initiation, night to drive back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy would you want a vampire at a Pack initiation?\u201d They were notoriously secretive events, just for family and close friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe I\u2019m interested in your company. Does there always have to be an ulterior motive?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m a vampire. So yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A corner of his mouth lifted. \u201cColorado wasn\u2019t the last of the Pack\u2019s troubles. The initiation is happening within a clan\u2014a small community\u2014that\u2019s got issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat kind of issues?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s the question. The clan is being mum on the details, and I want a firsthand look at it. I need<\/em>a firsthand look, but I know I\u2019m biased; you won\u2019t be. And in case there\u2019s trouble, I know you can handle yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re using me for my sword?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIsn\u2019t that the vampire specialty?\u201d His eyes gleamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of several,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo that\u2019s a yes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to say yes. To drive away with him into darkness and woods, to give ourselves a chance to be together without the pressures of Chicago or our families or their expectations. But this wouldn\u2019t be a vacation, and it wouldn\u2019t be without its own pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked around at the crowd. The Pack had noticed Connor and I were talking, and several shifters were watching circumspectly. Others were being perfectly obvious about it, and their gazes were cold. To their minds, vampires were arrogant, calculating, high-maintenance, manipulative. They weren\u2019t going to bother hiding their disgust that a contender for the throne was giving attention to a vampire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t see Miranda\u2014one of the Pack\u2019s shifters who tended to hang out here at the HQ. She had feelings for Connor\u2014and negative ones for me, and not just because I was a vampire. Considering her attitude when Connor had announced he was staying in Chicago\u2014and the fact she thought he\u2019d breached his duty to the Pack\u2014I also suspected she had designs on the Pack, the desire to be Apex and take the throne from the Keene family. She probably wasn\u2019t the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their derision was more dangerous than they imagined. Not just because I was fully capable of taking care of myself\u2014vampires were arrogant for a reason\u2014but because their interest in turn madeit <\/em>interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was vampire. But I wasn\u2019t just vampire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was more to me than fangs and immortality: There was the monster that lived inside, created\u2014as far as I\u2019d guessed\u2014of the same fragmented magic that had allowed me to be born, as the first vampire ever created by birth, not by bite. I had no name for it\u2014hadn\u2019t wanted to give it one\u2014so I referred to it only as the monster, and I worked to keep it hidden. A difficult mission, given it tended to overwhelm me when I was vulnerable\u2014when blood had been spilled, when danger was high, when other monsters threatened. And pushing it down again was a test of my control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor knew the monster existed; he was the only one I\u2019d trusted with that information, and even he didn\u2019t know the full origin story. Lulu and Theo suspected there was something unusual; they\u2019d both seen me in berserker mode. But I hadn\u2019t told them anything. My parents were completely in the dark\u2014about the monster, the effect, my theories about why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor suggested I use the monster and the power it provided instead of pushing it down, which might keep it from overwhelming me. In the last two weeks, I\u2019d been trying to let it stretch, to give it space. Not a partnership, but an acknowledgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This, I decided, was one of those times. I let it rise and stretch, shift and undulate beneath my skin, see the world from my eyes\u2014but not quite enough to color my green eyes the monster\u2019s particular shade of crimson. I met the shifters\u2019 gazes, let them see I wasn\u2019t intimidated and was more than willing to fight. That I looked forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the shifters turned away\u2014whether bored or satisfied or intimidated, I didn\u2019t know. But I suspected this wouldn\u2019t be the only time they looked at me like that, or doubted Connor\u2019s judgment. I wanted to learn more about him, about us. But given those looks, I wasn\u2019t sure an initiation\u2014a private shifter event\u2014was the right vehicle for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said, looking back at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a flash of surprise in his eyes; Connor wasn\u2019t used to being turned down. And the teenager in me was a little too excited that I\u2019d been the one to deliver that. \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt means I appreciate the invitation, and I\u2019d like to see the initiation. But we both know there would be . . . consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cConsequences.\u201d His voice was flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Pack doesn\u2019t much care for me and you being in the same room together. And if that room\u2019s a secret Pack ceremony? That\u2019s going to be controversial. You\u2019re going to take heat for it. And your father might, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His flat expression became a cocky smile. He took a step toward me, close enough that I feel the heat of his body. \u201cThere\u2019s something you should know about me, Elisa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice was barely a whisper. His words a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can handle my own heat. And I don\u2019t care much about controversy. Let me know,\u201d he said, mouth hovering near mine. Then he stepped away and smiled, his expression satisfied and cocky, before disappearing into the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need more Elisa? Order WICKED HOUR at your favorite retailer:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Barnes & Noble<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Amazon<\/a> | Books-A-Million<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0iBooks<\/a> | Indiebound<\/a> | Audible<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While humans slept, monsters raved. Maybe it wasn\u2019t technically a rave. There weren\u2019t any glow sticks or electronic music, or club kids with crazy hair and fluorescent clothes. There were a few dozen shapeshifters and a sprinkling of vampires\u2014and one not-quite witch showing off the mural she\u2019d painted in a literal wolves\u2019 den. I was[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":8080,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8349","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8349"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8430,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8349\/revisions\/8430"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}