Page 26 of Ethereal Shifters

Annie comes out of the lift, eyes widening as she looks between us and her cheeks going as bright red as my dress. “Ready to go?” she squeaks.

“Yep.” I link my arm through hers, mostly to stop me from going to my mates and saying fuck it.

“Gwenieve.” Finnegan stops me and leans down. “Tell me you have panties on under that dress, because it really doesn’t look like it from here.”

I innocently bat my lashes at him. “The dress was too tight for them.”

He groans and steps closer, but Rhodes pushes him back with a shove. “You look heartbreakingly gorgeous. You will be a brilliant distraction.” He kisses my forehead. “Be careful.”

“Stunning,” Alek agrees, and he clears his throat. “Red. Red is definitely your colour.”

“Don’t die,” Hollis offers. I ignore him completely for a moment, but when I look his way, I wish I hadn’t. His eyes aren’t on me, they’re on my dress. Running up very slowly. He is looking, and it’s so confusing.

Finnegan steps closer again, and he looks a little more in control. “We’ll be nearby if anything goes wrong.”

“I will be fine, I promise.” I kiss his cheek, leaving a red lipstick stain, and grin at them all before leaving.

It’s weird to have people looking after me. It’s weird to have people lusting after me like they do. Gods, I think I would fall to my knees if I saw all of them in suits looking, well, any more handsome than they already do. There’s a limousine waiting outside, a driver holding the door open, and Annie climbs in first. I slide in after her, and the driver shuts the door behind us. Annie taps her foot as we drive through the city. “I’m nervous.”

“It will be okay. It’s lame to say that, but it will.” I shrug. “Worst case, I’ll let my Nexus out and she will freak out so many people that you’ll have plenty of time to run.”

She glowers at me. “You don’t have to do that. I’m choosing to help you and go against the alpha. I wouldn’t run until you were safe. He took my parents from me. He hurt you. He’s in control of our entire city, and I quite like this city and the people I grew up with. My father made mistakes and I’m not sure I’ll ever know all of them, but he told me he was loyal to the innocents in our city, and that’s why he chose to be alpha. I’m loyal to them, too.” She puts her hand on her knee to stop the tapping. “So we need evidence. There has to be something to stop him.”

“I have an idea,” I offer. “It will cause trouble, but it will be enough of a distraction for you to disappear. I can try to keep him distracted as long as possible.”

“I would suggest using that mate of yours, who he doesn’t want you anywhere near.” She wags her eyebrows. “And you get time with him. Even watched is better than nothing.”

“Great minds think alike.” I wink at her.

We arrive outside amid a row of limos even though we are late to the party. Annie looks surprised too. The building is astall as most of the high-rises but thinner, and every inch of it is black, even the windows, which can’t be seen. The bottom floor looks like an older building, and the rest seems like it was added above. Rows of rangers stand all around every inch of the high gates, surrounding a perfectly manicured lawn with a path cutting in and bushes shaved down into star shapes.

One of the rangers checks the driver before nodding and letting us park up. The driver opens the door and I thank him before hooking my arm with Annie’s and walking in with her. It literally feels like stepping into another world. At the door, the rangers look at Annie’s invite and nod once at her, barely even glancing twice before we go in.

“Someone’s going to get fired for that,” I whisper to Annie.

“Most definitely, but they are paid well either way.” She giggles. I smother my laugh with her. There are some benefits to having money. We head past dozens of people going up a thick staircase in the entrance hall, some of them nodding to Annie and me. They don’t run and they don’t stare at me. Annie says it first. “They aren’t recognising you.”

“To be fair to them, the pictures they put of me in the newspapers are not the most flattering. I kind of look a bit different right now,” I suggest.

“You mean the newspaper articles Finnegan has tacked all over his office?” she whispers.

“How do you know they’re in his office?” I ask her. I haven’t been to his office in a while, but it doesn’t surprise me that he has the newspaper articles on me.

“Oh, I was looking for you,” she explains. “I didn’t find you, of course, but I was surprised to see newspaper articles tacked up on the wall, and they are framed. He says he’s proud of them.”

I snort. “It’s just a Finnegan thing.” After a few minutes of waiting in a small queue to get in, I admit it to her. “We slepttogether.” I end up blurting it out, and several people look our way with a mix of interest or disgust.

“I was waiting for you to tell me.” She laughs low. “I don’t know or want to know how you’re getting away with it in the academy, but good for you! It’s about time.”

“I didn’t know sex could be… I was worried that it would affect my Nexus somehow, that it would be like, I don’t know, fuel for her. But if anything, it sated her. She’s calmer. We’re actually agreeing on things. She’s helped me. I don’t know whether it’s the dream state lessons or the sex or the fact that we’re pretty much on the same page when it comes to all our mates. Except for, you know, the issues that we have with Hollis and…” I don’t say his name, but she knows. “Anyway, what I’m saying is I like sex.”

“Good.” She chuckles. “I’d be worried if you didn’t like having sex with your mate. I guessed because you both look happy, and I’m glad you have that, some real happiness. You deserve it, Gwenieve. All the crazy shit that’s going on? You deserve this.”

“Thank you. Anyway, we will need to continue talking about the sex, because Finn does this thing—” I’m cut off as we finally get through the door and into the main room. Annie’s cheeks are the brightest shade of red, but I end up focusing on the only man in the room that exists to me.

Onyx.

The massive ballroom stretches the entire base of the tower, and there’s an orchestra playing right at the back, and people are dancing in the middle. The walls are gold and the tiled floor glitters silver, reflecting the light from the dozens of chandeliers on the ceilings. It’s like stepping back in time, but everyone’s wearing much sluttier dresses than they were back then.

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