Aniyah clapped instantly. Nova smiled wider. Riot gave one approving nod, while Ezra simply slid her sunglasses back onto her face and stood up in one smooth motion.
“Then let’s go.” She turned toward the exit before pausing abruptly beside the table. Her gaze dropped to my half-finished drink, then back to me.
“Are you wasting that?”
The question hung there calmly, but suddenly every sister’s eyes flicked toward me. Watching. Waiting. A test.
I grabbed the glass without breaking eye contact and tipped it back fast enough the alcohol burned all the way down.
When I slammed the empty glass back onto the table, Aniyah barked out a delighted laugh. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
I wiped my mouth lightly with the back of my hand. “Now I’m ready.”
This time Ezra’s mouth definitely curved. Tiny and brief, but real.
She glanced at the watch around her wrist. “We should move quickly,” she said dryly. “We only have so much time before the boys realize they’ve been manipulated and come sprinting back in a panic.”
Aniyah immediately hooked herself around my arm.
“Oh my god, I’m so excited,” she squealed while dragging me out of the booth with surprising strength.
Nova laughed softly and followed while Riot silently fell into step behind us. The second we stepped outside, the cool night air hit my face.
My brain finally caught up enough for me to stop short.
“Wait—I need to pay for?—”
“It’s handled.” Ezra never even looked back while saying it. The vampire she’d arrived with was already opening the car door for her before she so much as reached for it. Effortless, controlled, and terrifyingly elegant.
I watched her slide into the Rolls Royce like she belonged on a throne instead of a backseat and couldn’t stop the thought that crossed my mind.
Okay. That was a seriously boss move.
***
I was definitely drunk. Not tipsy. Not pleasantly buzzed, but drunk.
When they said girls night, I’d expected something normal. Dinner. Drinks. Maybe dancing. Not… whatever this whirlwind had turned into.
The second I got into Ezra’s car, the night stopped feeling real.
One minute I’d been sitting awkwardly in a restaurant booth, and the next I was wrapped in a robe inside a luxury spa while magical steam curled around marble walls.
Aniyah had shoved Syndicate spiked champagne into my hand before I’d even sat down.
Nova dragged me toward massage tables while Riot silently appeared behind me whenever I wandered too close to an exit or unattended hallway.
Everything blurred together after that.
Warm oil worked into my shoulders until I melted into the chair. Glittering magic sauna rooms that smelled like eucalyptus and smoke. Fresh polish drying on my nails while Aniyah laid across the chair beside me describing vampire sex positions loud enough to traumatize the staff. Nova nearly choked laughing at my face.
Then came the shopping.
Entire stores closed down for them. Designers practically bowed while rolling racks and racks of clothing into private rooms.
Aniyah threw dresses at me dramatically while Nova judged shoes like her life depended on it. Riot somehow picked the most dangerous-looking outfit imaginable and quietly informed me it would be “easy to fight in.”
Ezra barely spoke the entire time, but every once in a while I’d glance up and catch her watching me from across the room over the rim of her sunglasses.
