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“You’re going to blow a fuse if your heart rate goes any faster,” Bruno called from the other room.
I could hear them laughing through the bedroom wall.Don’t answer him. It’s exactly what he wants.I finished dressing and stormed out of the room, clobbering them both across the head.
“Hey! We’re just messing with you. We’re on your side,” Jacob yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me into a headlock and mussing up my hair. “Now you don’t look too serious,” he announced, letting me go with a satisfied smirk.
I stormed out of the apartment with their laughter trailing behind me.
* * *
It didn’t take me long to get to the family mansion. It was situated on the top of the highest hill in town and belonged to my great-great-grandfather, though no one in the family lived there anymore. Grandfather was the last of us to live in it. Mother used to throw her balls there, but since she’d retired a committee of humans had taken over, running them about four times a year. There wasn’t much excitement in this small town, so we all loved having a big get-together when the occasion arose.
I parked the car under a tree I used to climb when I was a boy. The entrance was quiet now that everyone had arrived, but I could hear music and voices floating out the doors. There was something in the air, a scent I had smelled before but couldn’t place.
I nodded at the man taking tickets at the entrance. He knew my family and let me in without asking. I chuckled at the thought that Brandon came with actual tickets; he’d tried to make it look official in front of the women.
As soon as I entered the mansion, the scent I’d detected was immediately replaced by the aroma of fine perfumes. One circle of the lobby had me politely saying no to multiple dance card offers. I didn’t want to dance with anyone but Jill; she was why I was here.
I walked into the ballroom and spotted Brandon deep in conversation with Becca. Why the two of them didn’t just call each other a couple was beyond me. Brandon had never fated before, and Becca was a lovely person. There was no reason to not follow through with it, apart from his weak excuse that he liked to be “free.” I shook my head and walked toward them.
“Luc! You made it. I knew you’d come to your senses,” Brandon said, pulling me in for a big hug. He was the touchy-feely brother. Mom always said he gave the best cuddles.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Of course,” he said, giving me a raised eyebrow.
“In private.”
He turned to Becca. “If you’ll excuse me.”
She gave a nod and a smile, and I could feel her eyes on us as we walked away.
Brandon followed me outside into the still night air, where there were a few people congregating. We didn’t have this many people in the town, and I wondered where all of them came from.
“Did you smell something when you came in?” I asked Brandon.
“You mean the smell of perfumes?”
“No!” I brushed my hand through my hair.
He gave me an odd look but thankfully didn’t push me. “I think I smelled something off, but you know how my sense of smell is. It’s not what it used to be.”
I rubbed my hands down my face, suddenly realizing I had asked Brandon the one question he couldn’t answer. “I’m sorry. I’m so wound up, I wasn’t thinking.”
“No problem. Your girl is inside looking at the masks on the wall, the ones that Mom says she’s never giving away because they belong in the family.”
“The ones that gave us nightmares growing up?”
“Those are the ones.”
“Great.”
Brandon clapped me on the shoulder. “Have fun tonight, you deserve it. You’ve been so tense lately, Luc. Let loose. Dad’s still alpha, and you can just enjoy life right now.”
“Easy for the non-firstborn to say.”
“I’m only a year behind you. And technically, you’re not the firstborn, Sandy is.”
I growled. “You know what I mean.”
