Chapter 149

Zane POV

There were no members of the press at the Erinose summer place “social” after the long day’s memorial services. How callous we would all look downing drinks and laughing after what we’d been through, but the day’s toll was precisely why we all needed this downtime. We were all exhausted and strung out, and without alcohol or something stronger in our systems, we weren’t going to sleep for days.

I saw as Sarah entered the ballroom, looking fresh overall but bone-tired in her eyes. She’d been putting the girls to bed. I knew she had answered their hundreds of questions about the day, praised them for being so very good, and read a bit from The Little Mermaid before she’d kissed their foreheads and left them to sleep.

I was going to walk over to her, but Melissa got there first, holding out a martini with three olives. I saw Sarah sip it cautiously, then smile in relief when it proved human-strength.

It was odd, the way those two had bonded so well, a human plucked from obscurity and a pack-level alpha raised in privilege and groomed from the crib for success.

But then, Sarah could make a friend out of almost anyone, I had learned. Unfortunately, that thought made me consider Scott and his strange emails. What was my half-brother up to?

I shook the worry off. He was back in our home territory and under surveillance, and I doubted seriously Sarah would be checking her email tonight before bed.

The two of them walked over to me together, smiling. Sarah’s was fond, and Melissa’s was understanding. I had a moment of wishing I could just mate them both, which was a thought about two thousand years out of date, and I was chuckling when they reached me.

“What’s up?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, please,” Melissa said. “I’d kill for a reason to laugh right now.”

“I suppose we could talk about how Pack Alpha Aguilera fell on his face while lighting the Remembrance Candle,” Sarah said. “But in truth I just felt so sorry for him.”

“He recovered with good grace,” Melissa said. “And really, what was the point of having him scamper over all those rocks on the Remembrance Path?”

“It’s supposedly to remind us that memories can be obstacles to the future,” I said. “But I suspect it’s to make people fall on their faces.”

We all managed a forced chuckle.

“Frankly, I thought the highlight of the day was the campus ‘Oracle’ they trotted out at Erinose University,” Melissa said. “Poor thing was so nervous, I didn’t understand half of what she said.”

“You managed half?” Sarah asked incredulously, and we all laughed a bit more naturally at that.

“Are you all talking about that poor Oracle?” an elderly alpha female asked us. She had a male on her arm that was just about the prettiest beta I had ever seen.

“Ambassador Torrin,” Melissa said. “So nice to meet you, and yes. The poor thing.”

“She did make it difficult to keep a straight face, which is most unfortunate when there are a dozen cameras pointed at your face.”

“Yes, and anything you do wrong will be on TikTok in five minutes with a rude caption,” said the beta.

“Claude Torrin,” Sarah said, holding out her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you too. My girls are huge fans of your YouTube channel.”

“Grace and Chloe watch my channel?” he asked, obviously charmed by being recognized. “Should I give them a shout-out?”

“Please do. They’d love it.”

Talk turned easily to plans the ambassador, whom I finally recognized, had made to appear on Claude’s channel, which evidently commented on Disney movies, which is how I learned that Grace adored Princess Jasmine and Chloe worshipped Elsa.

“I recognize those names,” I said, “but I have a feeling I need to watch those movies again.”

“Just ask the girls, and you’ll see them twenty times in a row,” Sarah said with a mock-weary tone, and we laughed as a human waiter passed by. Sarah turned to stop him, which he did with a smile, and exchanged her old martini glass for a new one.

Melissa caught her eyes in a challenge and stopped a gamma waiter to swap out what looked like G&Ts. The Torrins did as well, so I tossed back the last of my whiskey and helped myself to the last glass left on the tray, I suspected purposefully, as it was a piña colada complete with a fussy little umbrella and a large chunk of pineapple, basically a standing drinker’s nightmare.

After laughing, the ambassador harrumphed and waved a hand at another waiter. I was soon holding another whiskey while the piña colada was promptly sent back to hell, or at least the kitchen.

“I need to visit Orleans Territory,” I said with a smile I hoped was charming, “if I’m going to be treated this well.”

“You’ll be more than welcome,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “I know Orleans is about an eighth the size of Cavendish, but we do host on of the most prestigious historically human colleges in the world, and the dean would owe me for life if he could meet Ms. Astor here.”

“Do call me Sarah, please. And I’ve always wanted to see Old Orleans College. I confess, I grew up re-watching episodes of Old Orleans Glee Club.”

“Then it’s a date,” I said to generally pleased smiles.

“Do I get to come?” Melissa asked.

“I assumed so,” the ambassador said in just the right tone of generosity and obsequiousness. It was really quite impressive. “But I can arrange for separate—”

“Nonsense,” I said to Melissa, my interruption being both courteous to her and a little reminder to the ambassador that I was in control. One state visit she could get out of this exchange, not two. “It would be rude of us all to exclude you.”

“I’m going to assume I’m bringing the girls,” Sarah said.

“Of course,” Claude said. “Fans of mine must come!”

“Besides,” the ambassador added, “Chloe must take a tour of our Erinose Natural Preserve, where we both grow the most exquisite Ceylon ebony trees in the world and house a consortium of woodcarving artists.”

I was impressed not so much with the Ceylon ebony trees as I was by the fact that the ambassador’s brief on the memorial attendees had included the news of Chloe’s art award. I was going to find some sort of diplomatic way to say that when Sarah gasped and turned her head slightly toward me.

“Oh, goddess. It’s Alpha Aguilera, and he’s got a bruise on his forehead. Do we invite him over for sympathy or pretend we don’t see him?”

“Oh, just nod and smile and keep your distance,” Ambassador Torrin said. “If he finishes that massive vodka he’s got going he’s going to fall on his face again.”

“Mother!” Clause said, scandalized, then ruined it with a snort. I could see why he was good on camera.

I meant to mingle more, but the Torrins were actually the best fun I’d had at a state event in years, and we ended up including others over the course of the night but didn’t separate from each other. For their part, the Torrins seemed to be enjoying how Sarah and Melissa tag-teamed being charming.

I could not help admiring them both, neither could I help admiring Sarah most of all. How could it be that someone so perfect for me, so courageous, intelligent, caring, and socially skilled, could also be so unsuitable? Cavendish Territory needed her as much as I did. Why were we both to be denied?