“I’d say the feeling’s mutual.”

She offered a hand. “Truce?”

I watched her for a moment. This hadn’t been my fight. But we were going to need all the allies we could get. “Truce,” I said, and we shook on it.

* * *

* * *

Georgia asked around the resort, and no one had seen Marcus, John, or Zane in a few days. And no one had any idea where to find them. Apparently, the comings and goings of twenty-something shifters weren’t monitored.

With no trails to track the beasts and no more leads until we talked to Beyo, we gathered in the cabin. Lulu sat on the patio, using a white pencil to sketch the landscape on dark paper. I cleaned my sword while Theo worked remotely on his screen. Connor lay on the couch, eyes on the ceiling, frowning as he considered, evaluated, debated.

There was a knock at the back door, and we all looked warily at it. “I’ll get it,” Connor said, rising. “Elisa has a tendency to threaten people with her sword.”

“It’s not a tendency,” I said, sliding a piece of rice paper down the length of the blade. “It’s training.”

Alexei was preceded by the smell of meat and sauce, and he walked into the kitchen, holding a tower of pizza boxes. “I ordered dinner.”

“There are only five of us,” I said as Lulu came inside, apparently drawn by the scents. “How much pizza do you think we’re going to eat?”

Alexei placed the pizza on the island, began to spread out the boxes, and shrugged. “One of us is a vampire.”

“All right,” I said, holding up my hands. “We need to clear up this vampire eating thing.”

“The thing where you eat everything in sight?” Lulu asked, peeking beneath a lid.

“I literally do not do that. I’m very discerning.”

“Picky,” Lulu mouthed.

“So not constantly voracious,” I said. “I’m not going to eat an entire pizza, and I don’t think anyone else in here is, either.”

“Speak for yourself,” Theo and Connor said simultaneously, then looked at each other, nodded fraternally.

“This is not a war you will win,” Lulu said, putting an arm around me. “So let’s just eat and be merry and wait for someone to tell us where the bad guys are.”

“Aw,” I said, leaning into her. “You’ve been paying attention.”

“As minimally as possible. Where’s the pepperoni?” She flipped up a lid. “Bingo,” she said, and grabbed a slice, began eating from the point.

“I also have beverages,” Alexei said, pulling a bottle of honey-colored liquid from his jacket.

“I wouldn’t say no to some mind erasing,” I said. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards. Alcohol didn’t work the same way for vampires as it did for humans; I could relax, enjoy a pleasant buzz. But that was usually the end of it.

“What is it?” Connor asked, and Alexei passed over the bottle. “Hell’s Glen Fifteen,” he said, then looked approvingly at Alexei. “Good choice.”

Theo whistled. “That’s quality.”

Connor nodded, looked at me. “This will be good for your training.”

“Training?” Lulu asked suspiciously.

“The wolf thinks I need to learn to appreciate good Scotch.”

Lulu snorted, chewed pizza. “Good luck with that. She drinks chocolate wine.”

Connor scowled, bit into his own slice of supreme. “So I’ve heard. It’s a disgrace.”

“Hey, we found something to agree on!” she said cheerily, and gave him a high five.

“You’re both hilarious,” I said, but was secretly pleased they weren’t sniping at each other, even if at my expense. Since I didn’t really care what I drank, it was a low-drag bargain.

“Found another option,” Alexei said, looking through one of the kitchen cabinets. He pulled out a tall bottle. “Moscow’s Own is not a vodka brand I recognize.”

“Hard pass on that one,” Theo said as Alexei found glasses in another cabinet, handed them out. “Light or dark?” he asked, holding up the bottles.

Lulu held out her cup. “Light me up, so to speak.”

Alexei twisted off the screw cap—a sure sign of quality liquor—and poured a finger’s worth.

Lulu just looked at him, cup still outstretched. “Don’t be stingy.”

He poured another finger, which apparently satisfied her. She took a drink, winced. “Good lord. Is there a basement beneath the bottom shelf? Because this is awful.” She smacked her lips. “Like if someone burped legitimate vodka and bottled that.”

“Then you can find the next bottle,” Alexei said, brows raised.

“Great. I’ll find something halfway decent.”

“If your stomach isn’t strong enough,” Alexei said, “you could always pour it back into the bottle.”

Eyes on Alexei, Lulu tipped back the cup, finished it off, then held it out again. “Next.”

Alexei poured her another finger.

I crossed my arms, watched them. “I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that she’s found someone other than you to fight with.”

Connor chuckled. “It does make for a change. And he’s still a shifter, so at least she’s keeping it in the family.”

Since neither whiskey nor vodka sounded to me like a good match for pizza, I grabbed a bottle of blood from the fridge.

Theo cleared his throat. “So, at the risk of being a complete asshole, could I try a sip?”

“Sure,” I said, and offered him the bottle.

After a heartening breath, he took a drink, then winced, handed it back. “Not for me. It’s like drinking pennies.”

“I’ve never eaten a penny, so I’ll take your word for it.” I took the bottle back, finished it in a single gulp.

Then realized the others were watching me.

“Sorry,” I said, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Too vampiric?”

“No,” Connor said with a light in his eyes that was hard to mistake.

“It’s cool,” Theo agreed, then cleared his throat again, looked down at his slice. “And I should probably just eat this pizza.”

“Wise choice,” Connor said with a grin. “Wise choice.”

* * *

* * *

We ate and talked like normal people—not a collection of Sups trying to solve a problem and release a handsome prince from an evil spell.

The Scotch was poured, sipped. “Jesus,” I said between coughs, fairly certain someone had replaced the alcohol with gasoline.

Lulu snorted. “I told you. It’s not her thing.”

“Take even tinier sips,” Alexei said, ignoring her. “Just enough to wet your lips. You’ll taste the caramel that way.”

I sipped again, barely touching tongue to liquid. And, okay, if I breathed just right, I could detect a mellowness that wasn’t awful. But liking it might be a challenge that required immortality.

“At the risk of blowing up this great party,” Theo said, swirling the whiskey in his glass, “do you think Cash is going to be satisfied with whatever you tell him?”

“Words?” Connor asked. “No. Evidence? Maybe. Ultimately, Cash will believe what he wants. But he can’t avoid Beyo forever, and we’re going to find the rest of them. The clan will see the truth, and there’s a pretty good chance it will change the balance of power.”

“In that case, we look forward to the big reveal,” Theo said, tipping an invisible hat in Connor’s direction.

“Have you heard from Ronan?” Lulu asked.

“No,” I said. “It’s day two, so they’d still be feeding her. I think he’d tell me if she hadn’t made it, at least so he could blame me for it.”

“Lot of guilt throwing in Minnesota these days,” Lulu said. “What happened to Minnesota nice?”

“Only applies to humans,” Theo said.

“I guess.”

“Will you be able to . . . control her?” Alexei asked.

It was the kind of question that might have rankled, if there hadn’t been genuine curiosity in his eyes.

“No,” I said. “Even Masters don’t control the vampires they make. They usually have a telepathic connection, and a Master can call the other—make them come to the Master. From the way my father tried to describe it, there’s a more general connection. Not parent and child, exactly, but something protective. But she didn’t have much of my blood, so that probably won’t happen here.”

It wouldn’t be tested unless Ronan allowed me near her again. And he didn’t like or trust me.

“Sup life is hard,” Lulu said, taking a sip. “That’s why I opted out.”

“You could use your power for good,” Alexei said, and the look she gave him had nothing friendly in it.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’ve got good magic. I can tell.” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a waste for you not to use it.”

Lulu stiffened. “You don’t know anything about me or my magic.”

“I know enough,” he said.

“I think you should mind your own business. Power corrupts,” she said. “It changes the person who uses it. It changes the people around. It becomes a bargaining chip, something to fear. Just look around,” she said, spinning a finger in the air to indicate the cabin. “This entire resort consists of shifters who don’t want humans to know what they are. That’s not so very different from what I’ve done.”

“They’re still shifters in private,” Alexei said.

“And I am who I am,” Lulu said. “I can’t change it. But I’m not the only person in the world with a skill they aren’t using. Humans who speak multiple languages don’t get chastised because they enter into careers other than being translators. And if humans are allowed to have gifts and not use them, so am I.”