‘We walk in. I do the talking. And then we get to sit and have a fancy dinner. Nothing to be nervous about. I’ll be beside you the whole time,’ Jared told her as he led her to the staircase.
‘Done this sort of thing before?’
‘Nope, but it isn’t that hard. The clan meets all the time. It’s the same thing. A bunch of people sitting around judging everyone else, mainly comparing where they would rank against them. It’s really ridiculous as most of us will never see each other again, but that’s night humans for you. They like to compare power and make allies with those that have more.’ Jared shrugged and stepped up the first step. ‘I don’t care about all that, really. No big deal.’
Taking a deep breath, Cassie let him lead her up into the open doorway that was anything but inviting in her eyes.
‘So how do you compare?’ Cassie needed a distraction. She was two steps away from bolting back to the car and claiming she was too sick.
Jared shrugged. ‘Power is just a number like everything else. It means very little if you don’t know how to use it.’
‘So you’re saying you’re weak?’ Cassie knew otherwise, but it was fun to tease him
Jared gave her a little growl, making the people in front of them that had just walked through the doorway turn around. Cassie laughed. They didn’t look at her though, their eyes were completely focused on Jared.
As soon as they crossed the threshold, Cassie could now see inside. The place was basically a very large ballroom. Tables were set up all around with one long table at the farthest wall. Jared held tight to Cassie’s hand like he finally sensed that she was going to bolt. And she might have, if there was somewhere she could go to hide. By walking right into the room, there wasn’t anywhere to go but with him. With his head held high, Jared walked straight between the tables to the long one farthest away.
Cassie watched the ground as they walked, making sure not to trip on her long dress or bump into any of the tables. She avoided looking at anyone they passed, but could tell they were interested in knowing who Jared was.
Jared stopped just in front of the long table, but Cassie kept her head down. She didn’t want to see all the different night human creatures. She had seen enough her first trip walking around with Turner to know that it would be shocking.
“Welcome,” a loud voice boomed over the soft music.
She snuck a peek up at the man talking. He was large, almost as wide as two normal men, and his hair was the color of fire as it shot out from every angle. His face was covered with just as much bushy red hair as his head was. Cassie recognized from the pictures in Turner’s house that the man was his father.
“Thank you, Lord Winter, for the invitation,” Jared replied, his cat voice deeper than his normal voice.
“Thank you for coming. We are always happy to meet new night humans,” Lord Winter replied.
Jared gave a small bow of his head to Lord Winter and turned from him.
‘That’s it?’ Cassie asked. Jared made it sound like he was going to have to flex his muscles or something for everyone in the room.
‘Yep. See? Not scary.’
Jared led Cassie to the nearest round table sitting to the right of where they were standing. He helped her step up as the table was on a raised platform, unlike the tables they had passed. Pulling out a cream-colored chair for Cassie, Jared waited for her to sit. She sat down and finally looked up. Jared was reaching for his shirt and tux coat, which were on the back of the chair next to her. On the other side, Owen sat with a scowl on his face. Whitney sat across from her with a big smile. Cassie was thoroughly confused.
‘It’s a night human thing,’ Jared explained, now dressed and fully back to being a day human.
‘And Owen’s grumpy face?’ It still made very little sense.
‘He doesn’t like how much power I have. Guess I should thank you for that. I was only at about half the strength before we bonded, but don’t tell him that,’ Jared added and winked at her. Owen’s scowl deepened.
‘So you’re not too weak then?’ Cassie said, finishing their conversation from before.
Jared grinned as his response.
‘And what do we do now?’ Cassie asked.
‘Night humans like to sit around and judge each other. Me, I like to watch everyone judging everyone else.’
That made Cassie smile. Of course, he wanted to play that game. Jared had never been one to show his strength to others. In fact, the only time Cassie could remember him even standing up to everyone else growing up was when Nate was involved. Jared was always a thinker and watcher.
Cassie didn’t understand what was interesting for Owen, Whitney, and Jared as more people came into the room and greeted Lord Winter on his dais. The people ranged in colors from the green people that came in before them, to blue and all sort of earth tones. Some people were hairy; others were slimy. Some had scary-looking fangs or eyes, and others looked like normal humans, but one thing was always the same. They weren’t necessarily bowing to Lord Winter as he spoke, but more to the girl Arianna that Cassie had met earlier. The girl and her mate were seated beside Lord Winter, and it was no mistake—each person was staring at her and not him.
Arianna sat in her place and looked each person in the eyes as they approached. All turned away or bowed to her, breaking the gaze first. Cassie watched Arianna. She obviously was missing something since she was just a day human, but there was more going on than she recognized. They were all trying to gain Arianna’s favor. It was like high school with her as the popular person, and everyone wanted to be her friend. It was strange to know that she grew up as a normal day human, and now everyone was walking around bowing to her.
Once the long line of people had entered, expressed their thanks at being there, and were seated, hundreds of servers appeared from nowhere and began setting down food for everyone. At least the food at her table looked normal as Cassie caught a platter of raw meat being delivered to a table not too far away.
“Some of the clans prefer raw meat to blood,” Jared said as he saw where her gaze was directed.
The servers returned with glasses full of red liquid. At any other place, it would be wine, but she had the distinct feeling that wasn’t the case at this party. Jared waved off the person setting down the blood in front of him. The server replaced it with a glass of water like Cassie’s.
“And some of the clans prefer to drink their victims dry,” Owen said from beside Cassie as he glared at Jared.
“You promised to play nice,” Cassie said to the guys.
Jared shrugged. “He can say what he wants. He knows nothing about me or the wendigo.”
Cassie found her gaze traveling back to the head table. Jared had seated her perfectly that if she looked just to her right a little, they were centered in front of her.
Arianna sat beside the large Lord Winter, and it made her appear even smaller than she already did. It was quite the feat, too, since she was tiny. However, it wasn’t her size that struck Cassie, but the way she watched the world around her. She was completely attentive to the large man as he talked. Every now and then he would make a joke and pat the back of Turner, who was seated at his other side. At the same time, it was like she was completely in sync with her mate, Andrew. Every now and then Andrew would reach up and touch her arm or her hand, his hands never far from her, but she never once had to turn to him to touch in him reply. They existed in the world, but seemed to be a complete package together. Cassie watched, entranced by what she saw. She had had crushes over the years, but she knew enough that what she was seeing here was love, real love.
Cassie finished her meal as she watched the night human world around her and didn’t join in the conversation at her table. She really had no clue what Whitney and Owen were debating with Jared. The night human world was more expansive than anyone could have ever told her about, and she had much more to learn. Even if they had told her before, she would have never believed them anyway. She paused while eating her d
essert as someone approached Arianna at the main table.
After a second glance, Cassie recognized her as the woman who had done her hair. She bowed to Lord Winter and Arianna like everyone else, but then approached closer. No one else so far seemed to dare to be that close to Arianna. Cassie had a feeling it was the glare Andrew gave every night human that dared look at her, or maybe it was the military-looking people with weapons slung over their shoulders standing behind her at perfect attention that dissuaded everyone, but this woman was different. No one batted an eye at her.
The beautiful blonde talked quickly to Arianna, and then they both turned and looked at Cassie. Even across a distance that was greater than twenty feet, Cassie was mesmerized by the blond lady’s eyes. Cassie stared harder, and they both turned back to their conversation. She wanted to see those eyes again. There was something about her. She just felt like … home. Cassie sucked in her breath. She knew exactly why those eyes seemed familiar now.
“What?” Jared asked Cassie.
She stood up. The woman’s eyes were identical to Cassie’s father’s eyes. Cassie had seen only one picture of her father, but she was sure. The woman had to be related. She felt familiar, and that must be the reason why.
The lady noticed Cassie stand and hurried away from the table in the other direction. Cassie didn’t wait to see where she was going, but followed. The lady quickly went out one of the many side doors to the back of the ballroom. Cassie followed and was surprised that, while there were no hallways in the front of the place, there was one long hallway in the back. She watched the woman hurry away, her deep green taffeta gown swishing as she walked.
“Wait,” Cassie called to the woman. Deep down she knew that this woman held answers for her.
The lady turned back one time to look at Cassie and then ran out the doorway closest to her. Cassie hurried as best she could in heels and her long dress to catch up. This was one answer she longed for. She made it to the steel gray door and pushed it open. It wasn’t another hallway, but an outside courtyard. Cassie ran down the three stairs and stopped on the dirt pathway. The lady was nowhere to be seen. Cassie glanced around. It was night time, but not dark by any means. She saw the fruit trees to her left and the beautiful pink roses to her right. But the lady was gone.
The door to the ballroom opened behind her. Cassie didn’t turn around. She knew it was Jared; she felt him before he opened the door.
“What was that?” Jared asked.
“The lady that did my hair. I think I know who she is,” Cassie replied, still peering into the empty garden in front of her, searching for some sort of sign where she was hiding.
“Where’d she go?” Jared asked, coming to stand beside Cassie.
“I don’t know, she just disappeared,” she replied, still nothing moved around them.
Jared glanced back and forth, then nodded.
“There’s no one out here,” Jared replied, telling Cassie what she already knew. “Who is she?”
“I think she’s my family.”
Cassie slowly walked down the hallway back to the ballroom. She heard the musicians warming up outside the doors they had to use to re-enter. As she got closer with Jared, they all paused to stare at him. Ignoring them, he opened the door back inside. People were all sitting around either finishing their desserts or talking with their neighbors. It was obvious that certain groups got along better than others. The green-skinned people were only talking to other green-skinned people or the red fiery-eyed ones, but not with the furry ones. And the guys with wings were doing their best to avoid the ones that looked like the wolf man from old movies Cassie had seen growing up.
After making their way back to their table, Jared pulled her chair back out for her, and Cassie sat back down. Whitney raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing out loud. Cassie got the feeling from her silent conversations with Jared that the wendigo and skinwalkers agreed on one thing: they didn’t trust the night humans around them.
The new musicians made it into the room and sat down in the corner near the door. Cassie watched them as she got lost in her thoughts.
Jared had said the woman was a sidhe. Cassie knew the sidhe, but didn’t explain that to Jared. It wasn’t like he would get her aunt in trouble; it was just that she knew now what sort of reaction he would have. Cassie had visited them before she knew what night humans were. She went off to an isolated village where she was a walking dinner and never knew. Jared wouldn’t like that in the least. Now Cassie was more confused. If the woman was really family, then what did that make Cassie? Arianna said she was having someone come to confirm what type of night human she thought Cassie was, but was that the woman? She never asked a single question, and Cassie was sure that there was no blood exposed for her to smell. Jared made sure she understood in a night human village, the most dangerous thing was to have a bleeding cut and that she was to keep any blood covered up at all times. The lady had been talking to Arianna, and Cassie wished she could have listened to that conversation.
The music started, and Cassie was momentarily distracted as Arianna stood with Andrew and walked to the center of the cleared off dance floor.
Arianna was tiny compared to Andrew, but that didn’t seem to matter. He bowed to her, and she made a curtsy to him with a sly smile on her face. There had to be a silent conversation going on as she reached up and placed her hand on his chest rather than stretching for his shoulder. While the musicians played a waltz, they moved in sync around the dance floor like professional dancers that had been practicing for decades. Arianna gently touched Andrew’s shoulder and got a grin from him. He easily lifted her into the air as he spun them around. They moved together like one person. It was magical.
The song ended, and Cassie was still staring at the two of them alone on the dance floor. It was as if they sparkled; at least Arianna’s smile was sparkling as she stared at Andrew and he gazed down at her. There was no one else in their universe. Cassie was amazed that Arianna could have ever had any other mate. She was perfect with Andrew.
“May I steal your mate for a dance?” Turner asked as he appeared beside Cassie.
Jared looked up from his seat. Cassie could feel the conflict within him. He still didn’t trust Turner completely, and very much didn’t trust his father. It had to be a night human thing. Cassie felt nothing but friendship from Turner, and he was as loyal as a friend as you could get.
“You want to dance with Jared?” Cassie teased as Jared mulled over a reply.
Jared looked over at her as he realized Cassie had answered before him.
“Of course,” Turner replied, offering a hand to Jared.
Smiling, Jared shook his head. His mood of distrust vanished instantly. Turner was completely on the same wavelength as Cassie. Neither one seemed to understand or care about the night human way where the female was supposed to follow the lead of her mate. Jared didn’t worry anymore as he looked at Cassie and felt the brotherly feeling she felt toward Turner.
“It might make less of a scene if you dance with him,” Jared replied, basically giving his consent without actually speaking for Cassie. She grinned at him.
Turner offered Cassie his arm and led her to the middle of the dance floor.
“You know it is dangerous to ask someone to dance that’s not good at it,” Cassie told him. It was easy to joke around with Turner. He just had that type of personality.
“It shouldn’t be a problem since I can’t dance either,” Turner replied, placing a hand on her hip and taking her other hand in his.
Cassie was a bit uncertain as her only real dancing experience was gym class years ago, but Turner was only joking when he said he couldn’t dance. All she really had to do was follow his lead. Soon enough Turner had them dancing all over the floor, turns and all.
“Do you know the blond-haired lady that was talking to Arianna before the musicians started?” Cassie asked. Turner seemed to have all the information.
“Yes,” Turner replied before twirling C
assie to a new spot on the dance floor.
She waited a moment for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. Friendly, talkative Turner was silent. That was a little odd, but not unnerving. He was still grinning at her as they danced by a couple that slightly floated in place where they moved.
“And you don’t want to tell me who she is.” Cassie deduced she wasn’t going to be getting the answer she wanted from him.
“Want to? Sure, I’d love to. But I can’t. I promised Arianna I would let her handle it. I think she wants Devin to come talk to you, but he’s a bit busy right now,” Turner replied.
“Devin? Then that means she really is a sidhe like Jared said.”
Turner glanced over Cassie’s head to the table where her friends sat.
“Yes, she’s a sidhe, but don’t ask anything else. I can only tell you that since Jared seemed to already figure out that much.”
“So you can’t tell me how I’m related to her?” Cassie added, fishing for some sort of confirmation to what she felt.
Turner turned another time and danced them farther away from her table of friends. She felt a misstep as she mentioned family, but he was still smiling as he gazed down upon her.
“My lips are sealed,” Turner replied and continued to spin her in circles.
All the night humans around her whirled together as she spun, and Cassie had to giggle. Turner was good at distracting her. Suddenly, Turner stopped their fun. Cassie looked up at him as he dropped his hold on her and nodded his head to the person behind her. The music ended and began a new song. She turned around, expecting to see Jared. He was wary of Turner, yes, but since she was having such a fun time, it seemed like he would be stepping in.