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She snagged it out of the cup holder and held it up. Before she could say anything, the man opened the gate.
“Oof, that was close,” Chloe mumbled.
The women remained silent as they drove down a long, narrow road, darker and windier than the one they had just been on that led up the mountain.
“I didn’t think about how isolated this would be,” Lillian said, worry in her tone.
“What did you think? They’re humans who turn into animals,” Alexis pointed out. Did they not understand what they were getting into here?
Fiona put her notepad down and pulled out her phone. “And they definitely have the space for it. This article says the estate is over four hundred acres, and it’s owned by the Powers family.”
“Never heard of them,” Alexis remarked. And she knew a lot of the more affluent people in town as they all attended the same Chamber of Commerce meetings and other business gatherings.
“They own a lot of property from the looks of it,” Fiona continued.
“Probably for other shifters to rent. Maybe he’s the leader.”
Fiona scoffed. “He’s called an alpha, and it would be his pack. Depending on the animal this Powers guy is. He’s not bad-looking, either.”
“Let me see!” The others crowded to the middle to see the picture as Alexis kept her eyes on the lane.
“He is hot.”
“He’d do it for me,” Lillian said with a quick glance. “Wow.”
“You have arrived at your destination,” the GPS informed them. Alexis slowly pulled up to the modern-day castle. Holy hell, who was this shifter person?
“Holy shit,” Fiona whispered.
A man in black pants and a white shirt waited for her to pull up. Wow, valets even. The women grabbed their recently purchased masks and helped one another tie them on before getting out of the car.
Alexis handed the SUV keys to the valet, who looked at the car doubtfully. Yeah, yeah. So it wasn’t the newest or most expensive. As the owner of her own company, she didn’t have a second source of income if her next venture took a nosedive. She had to be conservative with her money.
At the entrance to the mansion, a strange looking photo booth-like structure blocked the double doors.
“What is that?” Chloe asked. “It looks like one of those places where you get your picture taken in goofy poses.”
Alexis studied the structure for a moment. She’d never considered shifters would have such frivolity about them. “I wouldn’t have thought shifters would be into something so … human,” she said.
Fiona smirked. “What? You don’t think having your photo taken at a sex party wouldn’t be fun?”
They watched as a barely clad woman stepped into the booth and closed the door. They waited to see what happened next, and when the woman didn’t come back out, they glanced at each other.
“Is she still in there?” Chloe asked. “How many pictures is she taking?”
One of the valets waved at them. “Go on in,” he hollered. “She’s done.”
When none of them moved, Alexis grabbed Lillian’s arm. “Come on. If we stand around looking stupid, they’ll know we have no clue what we’re doing.”
“We don’t have a clue,” Chloe confirmed.
Alexis couldn’t agree more, but she wasn’t about to let it show. She opened the booth’s door and stepped inside.
A screen on the wall where the camera probably was had “Welcome to the Masquerade.” When the last girl was in, the door closed, and the room was pitch black.
“Shouldn’t there be some kind of light in here? How can the camera …”
“Ow! Who stepped on my toes …”
