“Anyone ever told you that you look like a lost little angel?” he asks in a thick Spanish accent, leaning an elbow on the bar as I slide onto one of the bar stools. “Minus the wings, of course.”
“It’s easy to get lost in this place,” I say, waving a hand at the ball and eyeing the stacked glasses of some rainbow drink that have smoke coming off of them. Very cool.
“That is true, but come on, I want to see a smile on those pretty lips,” he replies and then claps his hands. “I know a drink that will do just that!” Before I can say no to that lovely idea, he has walked off to get me a drink. After a few moments, the bartender comes back holding a cocktail.
"I was going to make you my specialty, Bat Company, but you look like you could use something a bit more fun before you go wandering again," he says before sliding a sparkling, pink cocktail with what looks like a cloud floating on top of the drink. He pops a straw into it before winking at me.
“Thank you,” I say, pulling some cash out of my dress pocket. Thankfully, having a sister who is a designer means she always puts hidden pockets in the dresses. I attempt to hand the bartender the cash, and he covers my hand with his, closing my fingers over it.
“This is The Monster Ball, drinks are on the house. So try to have a little fun, little angel,” he says and lets go, strutting off to talk to a woman in a red dress who sits down at the bar. I place the straw to my lips and gently sip the drink, which tastes like cotton candy. It seems to be a theme for tonight. I eye the comfy couches and their privacy, knowing it’s a good idea to go and sit down in one. I make my way down the few steps, carrying my drink in one hand and passing two of the couches which are full. I’m so busy looking at a dragon shifter doing tricks that I don’t see the man coming out until I slam into him, my drink flying out of my hand as we both fall to the floor.
“Shit, that was my fault,” the man grumbles from under me as I look down and pause as I meet his clear, blue eyes. Everything just seems to stop as we both stare at each other, and The Monster Ball—hell, the entire world—just disappears. I’m not even aware of what he looks like other than his eyes, which feel like they have magically lured me in, and I don’t know how to look away.
“You’re my imprint,” the man says, sounding like he is half happy and half in shock. It’s enough to make me pull my gaze away and let the world slam back into my senses.
“Mr. Brandon, sir, are you alright? Miss?” a guy asks, placing his hand on my shoulder. In a matter of seconds, the man I had landed on is lifting me up with him and pushing the stranger’s hand off my shoulder.
“Don’t touch my imprint.”
Chapter Five
“I’m not your imprint, so you can let go now,” I tell Brandon, who moves his eyes from the terrified-looking guy who is making a quick escape now that Brandon isn’t focused on him—or his hand on my arm. I’ve heard supes can get possessive over their imprints, and anyone touching them. It gives me a moment to really look at Brandon and how Goddamn attractive he is. He has short, white hair that is thicker at the top and perfect golden-tanned skin. Everything from his shiny, white teeth to his muscular body is attractive. And I just knocked him over. Clearly, he hit his head or something to be calling me his imprint. Only supes can imprint, not humans. Supes can marry and love humans, but they don’t often because every supe has an imprint, someone destined to be the perfect match for them.
“You are. Where have you been hiding? I’ve looked my whole life for—”
“I’m human, and you are clearly not. Please, excuse me,” I say, pushing away from him and walking quickly away. I only get a few steps before he is suddenly in front of me, his arms crossed against his pearly white suit. “How did you get there?”
“I’m a panther shifter, and I can easily jump long distances and land without even shifting,” he replies, tilting his head to the side, and I get the feeling he is trying to figure me out.
“Right,” I awkwardly say, crossing my arms. For a long moment, we are at a standstill, neither of us saying a word. I am half tempted to take hold of my ring and ask it to take me home so that I can escape whatever this is.
Another part of me, which I don’t understand, wants to find out more about Brandon.
“Can we start over?” he asks, resting his hand on the back of his neck for a moment in a seemingly nervous movement. It’s sexy as well, and I just don’t get why. “We both seem confused.” He is right there.
“You said I’m your imprint, but that isn’t possible. You must be confused,” I tell him. “Everyone knows humans can’t be imprints,” I reply.
“Why don’t we start with simple introductions? I’m Brandon Rivera; it is an honour to meet you,” he proudly states, holding a hand out for me to shake.
“My name is Raine Gray, nice to meet you,” I say, and I shake his hand for just a second. As our skin touches, even briefly, it’s like the room has suddenly gotten smaller, and I need to press myself closer to him. I drop his hand though he smirks in a way that makes me think he can read my mind. That’s not a power a panther shifter should have, not that I’ve heard anyways. “As in Rivera … the founding family of Rivera City?” I ask.
“That’s us. Though there is only my grandmother and me left now,” he softly tells me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper back, and he shrugs.
“My parents died when I was nothing more than a cub, and I was lucky to have my grandmother. It’s hard to mourn parents you never got to know,” he tells me, and it tickles something in the back of my memory. I remember watching a show with Ivory, who loves anything about history, especially involving the supes. I remember the show saying two of the important Rivera council people had died in a freak boating accident. That must have been his parents.
“On a less sad note, tell me about yourself.”
“Why?” I ask him with a frown. “We don’t know each other, and we would never usually cross paths.”
“Nothing about The Monster Ball is usual. Will you dance with me?” he asks, holding a hand out for me to take. “See, my grandmother made me promise I would dance with a beautiful woman tonight. I can’t break that promise.”
“I wouldn’t want to let your grandmother down,” I say, and my lips pull up into a big smile that mimics his. Something about Brandon Rivera just makes me smile. I slide my hand into his, overwhelmed with that feeling again as Brandon pulls me onto the dance floor. His arms wrap around my waist as he presses me to him, and I place my hands on the back of his neck. He swirls around to the music that sounds like it is playing right next to us and for a moment, I forget that he is a complete stranger. He sure doesn’t feel like one. I eye the dragon behind him in the corner, noticing his eyes fixed on my hand and no doubt my ring. Dragons do like shiny things, after all.
“No one else is dancing,” I say, feeling a little embarrassed.
“Someone always has to dance first. Why not us?” he replies, and I suppose there is some logic to that. I chuckle as he lets me go to spin me around and pull me back into his arms. A few more couples come near and start to dance.
“Seems we have started something,” I reply.
“It’s definitely the beginning of something, Raine,” he tells me though I suspect he isn’t talking about the dancing. “You look very beautiful by the way.”
“You say that, but you have no idea what I look like normally. I usually have paint in my hair and on my clothes,” I tell him. “And my addiction to cheese and pickle sandwiches means I smell like cheese and pickles most of the time.”
“You paint?” he asks me, clearly not put off. “I would love to see some of your paintings one day, and I will tell you a secret. I love cheese and pickle sandwiches, too.”
“I doubt we will see each other again after this Ball, Brandon,” I say even though he is successful in making me smile.
“I like how you say my name,” he replies, completely ignoring my suggestion that we won’t see each other again.
“Raine, d
o you have a clue who you are?” he asks me just as the song stops. We stand still, staring at each other, and I struggle to move my gaze away.
“I don’t understand what you are asking me. Well, not enough to give you a real answer,” I reply to him.
“You’re a panther, an alpha female. Mine, to be exact. I’ve waited my entire life to meet and fall in love with you,” he explains to me. No pressure at all then.
“I’m human,” I tell him once again, wondering if he is actually crazy. Ivory always says all the good guys are rather crazy or gay. I think I would have noticed if I could shift into a panther.
“You’ve never been human, Raine. You’ve just been the sun hidden in the rainy clouds, waiting to shine,” he tells me, and I push away from him.
“You’re wrong, Mr. Rivera. I’m sorry, but I’m not who you think I am,” I tell him, backing away. “I’m human.”
“Saying it doesn’t make it true, Raine,” he tells me. “You haven’t been around a panther shifter long enough to activate your powers, but that has changed now. You will shift soon because I’m alpha. Then you will know who I am to you. You are a panther shifter, Raine.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Rivera,” I tell him and place my hand over my ring, looking down at it. “Take me home, please.” Nothing happens for a second as tears prick the corner of my eyes. Someone must be feeling sorry for me because, in a flash, moonlight shines down on me, and I look up into it as I’m taken home.
Chapter Six
Brandon Rivera
One second, Raine Gray is standing in front of me, looking like an angel in her white dress with her stunning appearance. I felt like a deer in headlights from the second I saw her, and I know I went too far telling her everything. It’s too much for her to handle, and I was an idiot not to know that. I should have talked to her more, just about normal shit, before dropping a huge bombshell like her being a panther.
Then, she is gone, thanks to witch magic by the smell of it, the same magic that brought me here by moonlight along with everyone else. I walk out of the crowd, moving to the side as I really start to panic.
“Whoever it was that let her leave, you have to let me leave as well. She is in danger if you don’t.” I feel like an idiot as I talk to thin air, and no one replies to me. A few seconds later, moonlight shines down on me, and I’m transported out of the ball and left right outside my house on the front porch.
I’m a fucking tool at times. At least that’s what everyone is going to say when I try to explain this to them later. I rub my face for a second before heading down the steps of my house. I make my way to where my limo is waiting, right where I left it. My driver gets out like he can sense me, which he likely can, being part of my pack. I’m surprised he stayed in the limo, waiting all night though. He must want that promotion he’s been after far more than he is admitting.
“Are you all right, sir?” Dominic asks as I rest my hands on the limo for a second.
“No. Just drive, and roll up the screen; I need to make a private call,” I tell Dominic, who nods once before opening my door for me. I slide onto the seat and pick up my phone as he gets in the front seat and does as I ask, raising the window between us. It’s not that I don’t trust him because I do. But he is a fucking chatterbox in the pack. If Dominic knew, then by tomorrow, everyone would. I have a big meeting tomorrow to discuss some problems with the southern area of our part of town. I don’t need everyone asking about Raine when she disappeared on me. I’m blaming myself enough for scaring her away. I call the only man in the world who I know can find anyone, anywhere—my fellow council member, Ronan Wolfe.
“It’s nearly two in the morning. What the fuck do you want?” he replies, sounding just like the asshole I know and usually get along with.
“Help. I will owe you,” I tell him, and I hear him move in his bed, sitting up most likely.
“I just put the twins to bed, thanks to their teething, so you have about half an hour before one of them wakes up,” he explains to me, yawning. Wolf shifters grow our four sets of teeth between the ages of one and ten. I feel sorry for my friend with his twins right now.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” I say, so wrapped up in myself that I forgot how much he must be struggling with the twins he looks after on his own since his imprint died a few years back. They are three now, and man, they are trouble whenever I see them. “Did the new babysitter not work out?”
“They set fire to the new babysitter’s hair, and she quit. Only the ninth one so far this year. Tenth’s the fucking charm, right?” he says with a groan. Something like that.
“I’m sorry, man,” I tell him, rubbing my forehead.
“It is what it is. You didn’t call me to hear me moan about my troubles. What do you want?” he asks.
“I met my imprint—who thinks she is human, by the way—and then she disappeared,” I tell him, and he just laughs for a few moments.
“How high on catnip are you?” he asks with a laugh.
“I’m not fucking high, and for the last time, catnip doesn’t work on panther shifters,” I say with a groan. But I do get his point; I sound crazy. “I just need you to find where she lives. The city is too big for me to track her, and I’m worried she is going to shift and hurt someone. You know we don’t have any control during the first shift.”
“Got it,” he says, sounding serious because he understands the threat just as much as I do. I don’t want Raine to be on her own and scared. Only an alpha will be able to talk down her panther on her first shift. “Give me three minutes, and I will have an address.”
“Thanks. I owe you one,” I say.
“No, you owe me a few hours babysitting this weekend so I can get some sleep,” he tells me, and I cringe. I know zero about kids, but I really want to find Raine. Also, I think Ronan needs a break, and I’m his goddamn friend.
“You got it. I will take them out to the park,” I say, and he chuckles.
“Good luck surviving that. Got to go, work to do. Finding people isn’t that easy,” he says, though I can hear the sarcasm. Ronan Wolfe isn’t the council leader and next in line to be alpha of the wolf pack of Rivera City for nothing. “By the way, congratulations on finding your imprint. Later.” He puts the phone down, and I rest back against my seat, looking out the window at the view of Rivera City’s tall buildings as we drive towards them.
I just hope I find her before she shifts on her own.
Before she does something she can’t take back.
Chapter Seven
As the cold feeling leaves me, I find myself in my living room, standing in front of Ivory as she chucks a piece of popcorn into her mouth from the bowl on her lap. She has fluffy, pink pyjamas on, her hair is up in a messy bun, and she looks cute.
“Wow, you’re back early. I’m surprised,” she says, patting the seat next to her. “Sit your butt down and tell me everything.” I collapse into the seat next to her as she pauses the old history program on the TV that she was watching. Saturday night, and she is watching history programs instead of a movie like normal people. I do love her, though.
“It was magical in the weirdest way,” I tell her, picking up a piece of popcorn and eating it as I turn to face her.
“You met a man!” she squeals, clapping her hands, and the popcorn bowl rolls in her lap, spilling onto the floor. “Ah, shit,” she says, looking at the popcorn for a second before facing me again. “Never mind, I want to know everything.”
“His name was Brandon Rivera, and he is a little crazy,” I say because it’s true. I don’t know where he got it in his head that I’m a panther shifter and that I’m his imprint. I’m human, living in a supe world. If there were any supe in me, then I’d know about it.
“All the good ones are crazy, taken, or gay. There is no in-between out there,” she replies, making me laugh.
“He thought I was—” I gasp as I feel a sharp pain in my stomach, and Ivory moves closer, placing her hand on my shoulder. The pain intensifies and spreads through my
body until I can’t even talk.
“You are boiling hot, Raine,” she says, and I cry out as the pain just gets worse. I try to push her away as the world grows blurry, but she doesn’t move. “I’m going to call someone to help us. I know there is a witch in the building. Maybe she knows a healer.”
“No,” I gasp as the pain briefly subsides. “I’m okay—”
I scream as the pain comes back full force, and this time, I fall off the sofa. My whole body starts shaking uncontrollably, and I can only hear Ivory’s panicked shouts in the background. Suddenly, everything just stops again. The pain, the shaking, the world. The world is blurry for a moment, a pure moment where I wonder if Brandon was right. Am I shifting? Rapidly, the world spins once more, and this time, it goes black for a second before I open my eyes again. Everything in the world seems more focused, down to the tiny flecks of dust floating in the room and the scent of my sister’s fear. A strange noise leaves my mouth as I get up, feeling odd because my body doesn’t feel right.
What the hell is going on? I turn around and pause, looking at myself in the mirror behind me on the wall. A beautiful white panther stares back at me. Her long, fluffy body is silky, and her ears are up. She has a long tail with dark grey stripes down it and beautiful black eyes. Her nose is a dark brown colour, and her sharp teeth are huge. I tilt my head to the side, and the panther does exactly the same thing. It takes me more than a second to realise the panther is me.
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