Chapter 46

Sarah POV

Thank the goddess I’d packed a cocktail dress. Well, thank Hans, really, as he was the one who suggested it when he saw all I had packed were some walking-around clothes and business suits. It was the classic little black dress with some sparkle at the shoulder (Chloe’s choice) paired with black strappy sandals and a clutch in a chic harlequin pattern of black and white.

I could help looking in concealed amazement at the amount of alcohol being consumed around me. Of course, werewolves had a much higher tolerance than humans, but even so, the bartenders were in constant motion mixing, shaking, stirring, and pouring concoctions and confections of every color in the rainbow.

After I had recovered from my first real experience with alcohol that night with Zane, I decided that ignorance about something so fundamental to werewolf and to business culture was just being stupid. I researched the differences in various wine, beer, and spirit types, particularly the differences between human and werewolf fermentation levels, and discovered the whole thing involved a lot more art and science than I had ever expected.

I would never be a mixologist or anything, but it was a fun game to guess at the different drinks as they passed by. Zane noticed my gaze as I looked over a tray of drinks headed for a group of five in the corner and chuckled.

“Are you going to get something?” he asked, looking devastatingly handsome in a Tom Ford tuxedo. “I’m sure they have Chardonnay.”

“I was thinking perhaps a Kir Royale,” I said primly, though my lips were turned up in a smile. “Or perhaps a Bellini.”

He raised his brows. “Look who’s been studying.”

I made a little nod-bow. “It seemed a good idea to be informed.” I looked over at a drink in a beta’s hand and said, “I believe he’s got a Tom Collins.”

Zane made an impressed-looking face, then scouted around. “What about the beta female in the white cocktail dress? What’s she got?”

I shot him a look. “You picked an easy one. That’s a margarita glass, and they don’t serve anything else in those.”

He hummed and looked around some more. “Oh, I don’t recognize that one the alpha female in the green maxi dress has.”

“It’s a Pink Lady. You make it with an egg white and grenadine to get it that color.”

“Impressive indeed.” He sent me a smile of approval, then looked over at a passing server whose tray was empty.

The gamma stepped up sharply. “May I get you something, Alpha Zane?”

“A B&B.”

The server nodded and looked at me.

“Tanqueray martini, up, clean, dry, two olives.”

He nodded again and walked his tray over to one of the bar stations. I realized Zane was looking at me.

“A human should always name the brand of liquor they want to make sure they get a human-level proof,” I explained.

“Clever. And have you ever actually had Tanqueray?”

“No, but the bottle looked pretty.”

He chuckled again. The server was back soon with our drinks, and while I didn’t much care for the taste of the martini, I loved the elegance of the glass and stood there feeling quite sophisticated.

“Zane, darling!” an older alpha female said with a trill as she walked over to us, her partner at her side. Both of them looked impeccable, and I was pretty sure I could buy a large house with what that diamond necklace must have cost.

“Cynthia,” Zane said warmly, snagging the hand she held out and kissing the back of it lightly. Then he shook the man’s hand. “And Geoffrey. Good to see you both.”

“Alpha Zane,” the man said, sounding a little irritated. “Would you mind going over with me to Alpha Kolya? I can’t make him understand the danger he’s getting into doing business with his latest MLM scheme. I swear, he’s going to bring his whole pack into the thing.”

“Has another one of those found him?” Zane asked, sounding amused.

“Please. He just might listen to you.”

Zane turned to me. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Take your time.”

Cynthia stayed with me with a little roll of her eyes. “Kolya’s never met a Ponzi scheme he didn’t like, I swear.”

“Or one that didn’t like him, I’m guessing,” I ventured.

She nodded and sipped at what I was pretty sure was a Sea Breeze. “Geoffrey’s always trying to explain that pyramids aren’t sustainable, and Kolya’s always saying this one is different.”

“Kolya’s the alpha for a territory in Belarus, right?”

“Yes, and his pack has many other things to be spending their efforts on. Do you know their largest export is potassic fertilizers and rapeseed oil?”

“No, I didn’t.” For some reason the image the words conjured made me want to laugh. “What does one do with rapeseed oil, exactly?

“Cook with it, I suppose.” She took another sip of her drink, so I did as well. The taste was starting to grow on me, though it was a little like gasoline. “Though it might come in handy with a dildo.”

I did not choke. I did not. At all.

“I suppose so,” I managed to say.

“Ah, so you’re the famous Sarah Astor,” a woman’s voice said from behind us. Cynthia and I turned to find two twenty-something betas in lacy cocktail dresses standing there with decidedly non-admiring expressions.

“I am Sarah,” I said with a smile and held out a hand to shake. It was ignored.

“I cannot believe the Luna Temple signed off on your position in Alpha Zane’s household,” the one on the left continued. “The honor must have astounded you.”

“I managed to come through it unscathed,” I said, my smile fixed.

“Are you sure about that?” the other one asked. “I read the tweet, you know.”

“Which tweet would that be?”

“You don’t know?” She seemed appalled.

I shrugged. “I keep up with Instagram, mostly.” My thoughts went to that article about the hunt.

“Oh, but you’re all the rage,” the one on the left said. She pulled a phone out of her purse without spilling a drop of her Brandy Alexander. She scrolled for a moment, then read aloud, “A human goddess-mother? What’s next? A monkey Oracle?”

I laughed. “A monkey joke about humans! I’ve never heard one of those before.” I smiled as brilliantly as I could.

The betas snorted and curled their lips. “Did you enjoy the challenge? You’ll be seeing more of those,” the one on the right said. “Alpha Marin won’t be the only wolf here who thinks Alpha Zane’s lost it and needs to be taken down.”

“I did rather,” I said. “Zane makes for a beautiful wolf.”

“You call him Alpha Zane, you little—”

“Oh, do run along now, Tiffany, before you cause a scene,” Cynthia said. “Or should I call Chairman Ho over here to tell him about two betas who think they have an insight into alpha politics?”

After looking me up and down in disgust, the ladies left with an almost identical toss of their hair.

“Thank you,” I murmured when they were out of earshot.

“Think nothing of it, my dear. I expect you’re starting to get used to such things.”

I smiled at Cynthia. “Starting too.”

“And while Tiff’s warning was misplaced, you do need to start paying a bit more attention to all the social media platforms, if you don’t mind some friendly advice.”

“No, I’m grateful for the tip.”

As I spoke, Cynthia pulled out her own phone and scrolled before turning the screen to me. It was another tweet, this time of a photo of Zane and me in the park as I was showing off my bracelet. The comment read, “He dove in2 the lake 4 her??? LOVE IT!”

“Oh dear.”

“Quite. Zane is used to being in the media’s crosshairs. I’m afraid you’ll need to get used to it as fast as you can.”

I met her eyes, looked back at the photo, and then downed the rest of my martini.