“That’s very kind of you, Phillip. I’ll be sure to look you up.”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Right, then. Well, we do need to get back to business here... .”
Cassandra’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded, and the other girls followed her lead as she backed away. “We’ll talk more later.”
Gabriel didn’t answer, his gaze locked on Tiffany as he spoke in low tones to his companions.
Heather and Alexis were quite pleased, speaking with carefully reined enthusiasm. Cassandra was silent, brooding, and Tiffany gave no hint as to her feelings about her introductions beyond a sly curve to her lips.
“Well, this has been rather enlightening,” Tiffany said.
“I hope the whirlwind introductions didn’t leave you dizzy,” said a man waiting in the shadows of a nearby cherry tree. His teeth gleamed, a slash of pearl in the dark as he smiled, before he stepped forward to offer his arm to Tiffany. He inclined his head to the other girls, who were unamused by his theatrics. “I beg your pardon, ladies. I hope you don’t mind if I steal Tiffany away for myself for a while.”
“Not at all, Travis,” drawled Heather. “I’m sure you two will have fun.”
Tiffany feigned a blush and smiled up at Travis, taking his offered arm. Cassandra shook her head and the three werewives drifted off as Travis led Tiffany back toward the house.
“That’s not going to end well,” Alexis mused.
“For who? Him or her?”
“Both,” Alexis said, gesturing for the girls to walk with her toward the woods at the edge of the property instead of back toward the mansion. “I foresee her eating him alive and spitting him out. He’ll moan to the other males about what a frigid bitch she is. Then, in a few days, she’ll seduce another one of them and start the cycle over again.”
Heather nearly choked on the drink she was sipping, a touch of laughter in her whispered words. “Keep it down, someone will overhear. What makes you say that? You barely know her.”
“Maybe. I’ve known enough like her to see the signs. She’ll keep working her way up the social ladder until someone takes her in hand.”
Cassandra frowned. “If that’s really the case, we need to contract her—and do it before she pushes one of the boys too far.”
“Gabriel didn’t seem very interested. He might not let us do it,” Heather said.
“I know. I’ll talk to him about it after he gets home. I need to clear my head so I can think. You ladies want to go for a run?”
Heather glanced back toward the house, frowning. “I’d like to, but I’m Tiffany’s ride.”
“She’ll make it home fine, I’m sure,” Alexis said. Heather gave her a scathing, offended look before collapsing into giggles as Alexis added a leer and suggestive waggle of her brows to go with it. “Come on. The party is winding down anyway. Let’s go have some fun.”
Together the ladies drifted into the woods, pausing only to remove their shoes. Once they had their heels in hand, they did not stop until they reached a small clearing far from the lights and prying eyes at the party. Alexis cursed when her silk skirt caught on a thorn and tore, yanking the delicate material free so hard that she widened the rip. Heather smothered a laugh, while Cassandra busied herself with removing her blouse.
“There goes fifteen hundred dollars.” Alexis sighed, tugging the offending material off and hanging it on a low-hanging branch.
Vera silently drifted out of the shadows, her eyes aglow and her feet bare, Jimmy Choos dangling from one hand. She took in the scene, the curl in her lip lessening when she noted Tiffany’s absence.
“I take it Gabriel said no?”
Heather, busy removing her own clothing, huffed impatiently. “Darling, I don’t know why you’re so dead set against her. Even if you’re suspicious of her, it wouldn’t kill you to be polite.”
“I’m rich. I don’t have to be nice.”
Heather frowned at her. “It certainly wouldn’t hurt for you to try once in a while. Besides, Gabriel hasn’t given his answer yet. Cassie will convince him tonight.”
“With a little lip action, I’m sure,” Alexis muttered. Cassandra shot her a glare that she pretended she hadn’t seen. “Give the man some deep throat and he’s yours.”
Heather and Vera broke out in laughter while Cassandra swiped nails arched into talons at Alexis, who danced out of the way just in time. Grinning, she shimmied out of her skirt and top a safe distance away as Cassandra growled and huffed, tugging off her own clothes and folding them into a neat pile.
“I’ll get you for that!”
“Got to catch me first!”
Alexis laughingly dashed off into the dark, her body changing as she ran. Her skin grew darker in tone, limbs stretching, bones and tendons cracking as the shift brought out her inner beast. Without losing a single stride, she was soon running on four legs rather than two, the gray-coated timber wolf racing deep into the forest.
Vera, who had already shed her clothing and jewelry in preparation for a shift, set the bundle of her belongings aside and joined her. Her coat as a wolf was as dark as her deep auburn hair, a rusty reddish brown that easily blended with the forest. Cassandra raced to catch up, ghosting between the trees as a pale gray shadow, seen only briefly as she flashed through patches of moonlight that filtered through the canopy of foliage. Heather was the last to shift, a mousy brown color, smaller than the others, but much faster. She soon caught up, and they were away, a silent pack running together and enjoying the freedom of the night.
Tiffany stepped out from between the trees, tucking a video camera back into her purse before she toed the clothing the girls had left behind.
CHAPTER 6
I don’t need a man in my life.
—Enya
Afew days after the party, the ladies made plans to meet again. Cassandra had been attempting to corner Gabriel long enough to speak to him about Tiffany, but he was too tied up in both his company and his pack’s business to discuss it. She’d put off getting together as long as she could; Tiffany had started questioning Heather about whether she’d upset Cassandra.
As they didn’t want to have her snatched up by another pack or to take the lack of time spent together as a slight, Cassandra was bound and determined to make this their last social call before she put a contract in front of Tiffany.
By way of apology, Cassandra had offered to pick up the tab for dinner at a new restaurant that had just opened a few blocks from Times Square, some fanciful place with a theme of diamonds and crystals. It was all the rage, garnering rave reviews in the local papers and an excellent ZAGAT rating. Anybody who was anybody had been spotted there. It was, rather inevitably, called Star Dust.