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“It gets better,” I say, bending down to open a latch located near the floor at the bottom of a wall. Once it’s unlocked, I push on the wall itself and it opens with a creak, straight to the outside, far away from the front of the building where all the activity is. Behind the building is an empty parking lot overgrown with trees and weeds. On the other side of that is the part of town none of our esteemed guests would want to be found in.
“Kick-ass,” Thorn says, peering outside. “It’ll be a piece of cake to get them out of here unseen.”
“Nice,” Syn says.
“What’s the plan?” I ask, directing the question to Yves.
“We’ll do what we do best,” he explains. “Get in their heads, lure them to us, make them think we’re on their side.”
“Then we’ll ask if they can step away to talk business,” Syn says. “Make them think we hate you and want a piece of Neubrook.”
“We’ll feed his pride,” Raphael says, his voice soft but deadly. “He’ll eat right out of our hands.”
“Me and Midnight will work on the other two,” Eros says. “Trust us. This is what we do.”
“Oh, I trust you implicitly. I’m very grateful for your help. It would’ve been much harder without you here.”
“You never have to be alone again, Michel,” Yves says. “In fact, you and Eli should come out when things settle here and spend a weekend at our club.”
“You have a club?”
Syn laughs softly. “I think of it more as a Gothic fantasy for vampires.”
Yves nods. “It’s nice there. We can take a break from blending in and just be ourselves.”
“That does sound nice.”
“It is,” Thorn says. “It’s a great way to build community. We should all stick together.”
A feeling I’ve only experienced with Eli spreads through my chest, hot and forceful, pushing me nearly to break down. I understand what it is. Belonging. Yves seems to sense my feelings, and simply pats my shoulder with a smile.
I clear my throat. “Our guests should start arriving within the hour.”
“Perfect,” Yves says.
We all return to the ballroom, where things are coming together nicely. As the lights dim, Eli enters the room, pausing to scan the space for me. When his eyes land on me, my breath hitches. Syn pats my back.
“You’re a lucky man, Michel. His love for you pours off of him.”
I nod, offering a slight smile. “He’s the man of my dreams.”
“Well, go get him.”
I cross the space quickly, wrapping my arms around Eli when I reach him and nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his incredible scent.
“Did you miss me?” he asks, chuckling.
“Whenever we’re apart.” I pull back enough to meet his eyes. “You look incredible.”
“Thank you.” He brushes his fingers over my cheek. “I have a surprise for you.”
“What?”
“I hired some fake Elis.”
I laugh. “Did you?”
“Yeah. I can’t be away from you all night. Had to throw people off. Besides, there’s no way I’m missing the big event.”
