The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Heather Hildenbrand

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because I plan to surprise you a whole lot.”

  “Even though I’m telling you I don’t like surprises?” I put a hand on my hip.

  “Yes.” He put his hand around my waist and pulled me toward him. “That’s something I can’t budge on.”

  “Can you at least tell me if this is a good surprise or a bad one?”

  “No.”

  “Wait. This is when you are supposed to reassure me that of course it’s a good one.”

  “Good or bad isn’t a clear definitive thing. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. He ran his hands through my hair. I presumed he was straightening it out.

  “How are we getting to our meeting with this person?” I prepared myself for another magic transformation. I wondered if I’d ever be able to pull something like that off.

  “Walking.”

  “Walking?”

  “Well, at first. We need to make a pit stop.”

  “And let me guess… that pit stop is a surprise too?”

  “Nope. I’ll let you in on that one.”

  He opened a door I hadn’t seen before. “We’re getting something to drink. I’m afraid you might need it.”

  He linked his arm through mine, and we stepped out of the room and back into the ballroom. No one seemed to notice us materialize through a wall. The band was on break, and a DJ had taken over the music.

  “How?” I looked at him then at the wall behind us. “I am guessing that was some kind of magic too?”

  “I’ll teach you everything I know soon enough.”

  I hoped he would. I’d felt something in my veins when I resisted him, but I wanted more. Kind of like with him, a taste wasn’t nearly enough.

  “What are we getting to drink?”

  He put a hand on the small of my back and led us toward the bar I hadn’t selected the first time. “Something very strong. You may need it.”

  “You know you are starting to worry me.”

  “There’s no need to worry.”

  “Yet I need a super strong drink?” Now that we were no longer alone, it was easier to think straight.

  “Just promise you’ll trust me?” He stopped and turned to me. “I need you to do that for me.”

  “Why? Why do I need to?”

  “Because I don’t know what’s going to be said, or what your initial reactions are going to be, but I promise you here and now I have your back and your best interests in mind.”

  “Now you are really making me nervous.”

  “Let’s get you that drink.” He closed the remaining distance to the bar.

  “Hey, Iridessa.” He smiled at a bartender with teal eyes and matching hair. Even her makeup matched. Talk about coordinated.

  She nodded in response and turned toward the purple glowing shelves behind the bar. A few moments later she set down two tall glasses in front of Delman. There was some sort of steam or smoke coming off of them.

  “Did you compel her to do that?” I whispered as soon as the bartender turned away.

  He handed me a glass. “No. She just knows what I like.”

  “And she assumed I’d want the same thing?”

  He shrugged. “You are with me.”

  “Yeah, but being with you doesn’t mean I’m going to drink the same thing.” I examined the pink liquid in my glass and tried to figure out what the smoky stuff was. The glass wasn’t hot, so I didn’t think it was steam.

  He grinned. “You’re fun. Even more fun than I expected.” He clinked his glass against mine. “To us.”

  “To us,” I said far more warily than I would have said a few minutes before. I was still intoxicated with him. There was no question about that, but I was growing nervous.

  “Drink up, Kitty-Kat.” He took a long sip of his drink.

  “Why do you want me drinking? I don’t think getting drunk with you is a good idea.”

  “You won’t get drunk. I already made sure those earlier drinks wore off.”

  “You can affect my blood alcohol level?” Seriously? What couldn’t this guy do?

  “Of course. And you can too. I’m trusting you won’t mess with mine too much.”

  “I’ll really be able to do that sort of stuff? You’re going to teach me?”

  “Yes. You may get some of this stuff naturally, some of it not so much. But we’ll work through it all.”

  “This meeting is going to be the shoe that falls. Right?”

  “The shoe that falls?” He stopped with his drink nearly to his lips. “Like when everything falls apart?”

  “I mean this stuff with you feels too perfect. Too amazing. I know there has to be a catch.”

  “Don’t let fear create doubt.” He brushed some hair away from my face. “Fear can be such a dangerous thing.”

  “I’ll try to remember that.” I turned to watch the pixie DJ spin. Like the band, she was good. Everything about the ball was good—thought out to the very smallest detail. In some ways that made me nervous.

  I was just finishing my drink when Delman stiffened. “We’re about to have company.”

  The twins strolled over, shoulder to shoulder. “There you are. Where have you been hiding?” Bassett was asking me the question, but his eyes were on Delman.

  “We haven’t been hiding anywhere.” We’d sought out alone time. That was different than hiding.

  “Have you made your decision?” Tony rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Yes. I have.”

  Delman’s arm moved around my waist.

  “Which one of us is it going to be?” Bassett's eyes were on me now.

  “Neither of you. I choose neither of you.”

  “And that seems like a great note to leave on.” Delman tightened his arm around me. “We’re traveling with magic again,” he whispered.

  Just as before the ballroom disappeared.

  We weren’t back in the fireplace room again. This room was also stone, but it held a long wooden table in the center of the room. There were six chairs, and all of them were currently empty.

  “Just wait a moment. Everyone else will get here soon.”

  “Everyone else?” I really hoped I wasn’t going to hate this surprise.

  While we waited I took in the dangling chandelier suspended above the table. It didn’t seem to be connected to anything at all.

  “You seem fixated on the ceiling. See something you like up there?”

  “Just wondering if that chandelier is suspended with magic.”

  “Shall we find out?” he offered his hand.

  “Find out how?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead he grinned as our feet left the floor.

  “You can fly too?” I grabbed on to his arms.

  “We aren’t flying. We’re hovering. If you want to fly, we’re going to have to weave our magic together. I’m pretty sure we can figure it out.”

  “Ah, you made it.”

  I looked down, and my mouth fell open. “Rex?”

  He grinned. “Hello, lovely sister-in-law.”

  We started to descend slowly. “Does Belle know you’re here?” I tried to make sense of my brother-in-law’s appearance.

  “Of course not. Do you think I’ve got a death wish?” He pulled me into a hug as soon as I’d reached the ground.

  I patted his back, then stepped away. Rex was always a hugger, so it wasn’t weird, but his presence at the ball sure was. “But why are you here?”

  “Business.” Rex held out his hand to Delman who accepted it.

  “Business.” I watched as they shook hands. Noticeably they didn’t hug. “So it was Rex who called? That’s why we, uh, never mind.”

  Rex grinned. “Glad to see you have a mind of your own, Kat.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I sighed.

  “You’re rejecting the rules. You’re not picking from the lot you were given.”

  “Not a chance in the world.” I thought of my so-called choices. Ugh. Not a chance.

>   “I’m impressed.” Rex nodded his head at me. “Very impressed.”

  “I don’t care if you’re impressed. I want to understand what’s going on.” I looked to Delman. “What’s going on?”

  He shot me an unreadable look. “Just a little business deal.”

  “Yeah, Rex already said that.” I tried to push down my anger, but it was easier said than done. “I need more than that.”

  “Fair enough.” Rex pulled out a chair at the table. “Have a seat. We’ll talk.”

  “What’s with everyone wanting me to sit in order to talk? I can just as easily stand and chat.”

  Delman grinned.

  Rex shrugged. “Fine. Okay. I’ll lay it out for you. It’s time for things to change. The rigid rules? They aren’t helping anyone.”

  “The rigid rules?” I shifted my weight from one heeled foot to another. Maybe I shouldn’t have made the comment about standing.

  “Of pack formation. Of mating,” Rex continued.

  “You’re not happy with how things worked out for you?” As far as I knew he and my sister were doing well.

  “Belle and I are happy. Don’t start over-analyzing my role here. Focus on the big picture.”

  “The big picture?” I walked over to the table and leaned back against it. I wasn’t technically sitting, but I was able to give my feet a rest.

  Rex walked around the table and pulled out a chair. “We need to be broadening blood lines, not shrinking. If we keep staying within certain packs, we’re going to end up weak.” He sat down.

  I turned and took the seat he’d pulled out for me. At least I wasn’t the first one sitting. “So you want to get rid of the mating alliances. I got that. But how is that a business deal?”

  “Do you know who makes all the arrangements?” Rex folded his hands on the table.

  I could feel Delman hovering behind me. “The chiefs of the region.”

  “Yes. And currently, who is in the foremost position of authority over those chiefs? Who’s the supreme chief?”

  “My grandfather. You could have just said that.” There was no need for extra dramatics.

  “But that would have ruined the effect.”

  “Who cares about the effect?” I reached up for Delman’s hand. I wanted him to sit down too. It was strange having him behind me.

  He got the hint and took the seat beside me.

  “I do.” Deedy, the same girl who was supposed to be Bassett’s mate—well, who he’d wanted as a mate—walked in seemingly through the stone wall. “It’s the sparkle that makes everything worth it.”

  “The sparkle?” I narrowed my eyes.

  “Deedy, have you met my Kat?” Delman stood. I did the same to be polite. “Kat. This is Deedy.”

  “Your Kat?” Deedy walked around the table. Her clear heels gave the effect that she had naturally super arched feet. “You move fast, Delman.”

  That should have bothered me. Him saying I was his. Why didn’t it? Was it magic? Was everything magic? My head spun. But that didn’t mean I could let what Rex said get forgotten. “What does my grandfather have to do with this? Is he willing to change things?”

  “No.” Deedy shook her head. “But your grandmother is.”

  “You think so?” Now that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. My grandmother was cool, and I could see her siding with them on this, but she was more a stay out of the negotiations kind of wolf. She left the business stuff to my grandfather and kept a more traditional role once they mated.

  “I know so. This timing isn’t accidental.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “She knew you’d be the one to buck the system. There had to be one to do it.”

  “Okay. So if my deciding not to choose a Madison twin is all it takes, what’s with the talk about business deals?”

  Delman and Rex exchanged glances.

  “We want to change the land boundaries while we’re at it.” Deedy sat down on the table, crossing her legs at the ankles.

  “As in take away land from some packs?”

  “As in share more equally.” Rex leaned forward on his elbows.

  “Yet you and Belle have one of the biggest in the state.” Surpassed only by our grandparents, parents, and Danielle. As the oldest, she inherited the most.

  “I realize that.”

  “Does she know?” I of course meant Belle. There was no way she was going to take this well. I sat back down. Delman joined me.

  “No.” Rex shook his head. “Like I said. I don’t have a death wish.”

  “Wait. So you’re going to try to pin that on me too?” Ugh. I saw where this was going, and it wasn’t a train I wanted to be on. Messing things up with my contract was one thing. Being the one held accountable for taking my sisters’ land was another entirely.

  “I won’t let them do that.” Delman covered my hand with his.

  “It would be a smart move. Belle wouldn’t hurt her sister. She loves her too much.”

  I laughed. “Oh yeah, right.”

  “You don’t believe she loves you?” Rex raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

  “Sure she loves me. In theory. But she hates me. You know that as well as I do.”

  “She’s jealous of you.” Rex ran a hand through his thick brown hair. “How could you not see that?”

  “Yeah. Right. She’s always been the best at everything. I’ve never been the best at anything.” And she never let me forget it.

  “Yet you’re the one with magic.” Delman scooted his chair closer to mine. “Or did you forget that detail already?”

  “That’s not exactly something I could forget.”

  “No. I suppose not.”

  “Oh my, you two are cute.” Deedy swung her legs in our direction. “Too cute.”

  “We aren’t cute.” I wasn’t going to be patronized.

  “Yes we are.” Delman put an arm around me.

  “Cute? I don’t think that word could ever apply to you.” Delman was a lot of things, but cute didn’t exactly describe him.

  “I’m not cute?”

  “You’re more alluring, handsome, sexy. Not cute.”

  He laughed. “Cute can fit on that list.”

  “I just want to make something clear. I’m not taking the blame and earning even more of my sisters’ wrath. Got it?”

  Deedy smiled. “Not a problem. I know exactly who can take the blame.”

  “Who?” Her smiled worried me. She was entirely too upbeat about it.

  She pressed her palm into the table. “The twins.”

  “But they’d have accepted me. Or at least they were acting like it…”

  “But they weren’t before. Trust me. I used to date Bassett.” She wrinkled up her nose.

  “I remember very well.” I had to stop thinking about that day. It was time to move on.

  “I was a bitch.” She straightened up to a sitting position.

  “Did you know it was me?” I’m not sure why I asked. It wouldn’t change anything.

  “Of course I did. It was less than a year before I had to mate with Bobby. I was angry. It’s no excuse. But that’s part of why we have to end these arrangements. They turn us into wolves we don’t want to be.”

  “You guys still haven’t told me what makes this a business deal.” And I was losing patience.

  Deedy folded her hands in her lap. “Letting wolves choose their own mates is fine and all, but they might still need help. My idea? We start an agency to help with all that.”

  “Let me guess. You are going to run it?” I tried to sound neutral.

  “Yes, but I need magic for some things. Hence the business deal.”

  “And Rex? What’s your role in all this?” I eyed my brother-in-law. He’d fallen quiet, which wasn’t like him.

  “I’m going to be an equal partner with the rest of you. I have the connections.”

  “So what next?” I found myself eager to get out of the room and back to the ball.

  Deedy jumped to her feet. �
��We get the twins on board so we can plan the next phase.”

  “And you really think they are going to agree?” I couldn’t imagine them doing anything without there being something in it for them.

  “Oh.” A slow smile spread across Deedy’s face. “I think we can be persuasive.”

  “Or you could make them your first clients. Find them mates.” The idea came to me all of a sudden.

  “You think anyone is going to take either of those guys?” Deedy studied my face as if to see if I was being serious.

  I shrugged. “Maybe not. But if you can manage that, what couldn’t you manage? Great PR and all.”

  “Yes, but I want nothing to do with it.” Delman stretched his legs out under the table. “I’m still pissed as hell at them.”

  “You got the girl. What does it matter anymore?” Deedy touched both of her earrings. Maybe she was making sure they were still there.

  There was a knock on the wall.

  I looked around the table. “Were you guys expecting anyone else?”

  “No.” Rex shook his head. “No, we weren’t.”

  Chapter Nine

  I don’t know who I expected, but it definitely wasn’t the woman standing across from me.

  “Grandma?” I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t imaging that it was really her.

  “Hi, darling.” She took both of my hands in hers. “You look so beautiful in that dress. I just knew you would.”

  “Uh, thanks. But. What are you doing here? I didn’t know you had an invitation.” I hadn’t expected to see any family members, and I’d now seen two.

  “Honey, I always have an invitation.”

  That came as news. Evidently Delman wasn’t the only wolf who was frequently invited to the Monster Ball. “Oh. None of my sisters mentioned seeing you when they went.”

  “Because I didn’t want to be seen.” She winked. There was something different about my grandmother tonight. Maybe it was the floor length black gown, or the diamond earrings she wore, but I thought she had a new sparkle in her eyes. She seemed younger, lighter somehow.

  “Oh…”

  “So Delman, huh?” She grinned. “I knew you’d be attracted to another magic.”

  “You knew I had magic?” Had she really known and kept it from me? All those years of feeling inadequate, and she never told me?