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I tossed mine into the fire. It disappeared into the red-hot depths in an instant, with a sizzle I felt as much as heard. A smile tugged at my lips.
Around the fire, more and more of my kin threw in their own tokens. Their faces glowed now with more than just the reflected firelight. In that relief, I saw all the proof I could have needed that I belonged here.
Chapter 9
West
My fellow alphasand I had all grabbed tokens of our own to join in the fiery ritual Ren had suggested. Aaron and Nate jotted down a few words quickly and let theirs fly. Marco smirked to himself as he scrawled something.
I stared at the blank surface of mine, the hot sharp smoke tickling my lungs. My fingers had tensed around the pencil.
“Having trouble thinking of anything to put?” Ren said teasingly.
I grimaced. “No. I know exactly what I most need to let go of. It’s the doing it that’s not easy.”
But I’d committed to this course already, hadn’t I, in a much more concrete way than writing a word on a scrap of wood? My body balked for a second longer, and then I scribbled the letters quickly.
Prejudice.
That covered it in a nutshell. I flicked the token into the flames to join the others.
I wasn’t sure I felt all that much of a release. My gut was still tight when I left my mate and the other alphas to see where Felix had gotten to.
I’d been a little worried I’d find him literally wrapped up inhisalmost-mate, that friend of Ren’s, but they were just chatting with a few of the staff near the fire. I caught the fox shifter’s eye and motioned him off to the side.
“Should we head out to get him?” I asked.
Felix checked the time on his phone. “He’s not supposed to meet us at the pick-up spot for another half an hour.”
“It’s a fifteen-minute drive,” I said. “I want a bit of time in advance to scope out the lay of the land. He might be acting friendly, but he’s still a bloodsucker.”
Felix shrugged. He was my main liaison to the vampire community in New York, helping keep the peace with them since we’d overcome their attacks last year, but he didn’t dispute my sense of caution. “We can go, then. You’re the one who invited him.”
I glowered at him, and his jaw twitched as he lowered his eyes apologetically. But it was true. I’d invited the bloodsucker. I’d probably have felt a lot better if this whole thinghadn’tbeen my responsibility.
Kylie ambled over to us. “What are you two discussing all secretively?” she asked, setting her hands on her hips.
“Nothing anyone who doesn’t already know needs to know yet,” I said, and paused. “If Ren starts looking for me, tell her I’ll be back soon.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure she’s going to be real happy with that answer,” Kylie said, but she didn’t push. “Make sure you bring my guy back in one piece, you hear?”
I shouldered Felix toward the garage. “I think that depends more on him than me.”
Felix gave her a little wave before loping ahead of me to the garage around the side of the estate house. He was already in my favorite car, the engine just rumbling into action, when I came in.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea making this a surprise?” he said as I dropped into the passenger seat.
“It’s not going to be a surprise to the guards,” I said. “They’re all prepared. I’ll handle the rest. I don’t think anyone’s going to be all that happy about the idea without the proper context.”
I couldn’t say for sure they’d be happy about it even with the context, but I guessed that was on me too. This plan had seemed like a good idea when I’d thought of it, after Ren had started on her Christmas obsession and Aaron had mentioned to the rest of us his bright idea of reaching out to the fae monarch.
Of course, the difference was that during last year’s battle, the fae had stepped up and helped us survive. The vampires had been the ones trying to kill us.
Felix drove the car out through the side gate and along the road that rambled off farther to the northeast. The pines loomed on either side in pointed silhouettes.
We stopped at the crossroads I’d suggested as the meeting spot, pulling up on the gravel shoulder. No one else was nearby that I could see. I stepped out of the car and prowled around the intersection, drinking in the air. Not a hint of that sickly undead smell reached my nose.
No ambush. Everything was proceeding according to our agreement so far.
