"I can't believe you're bringing your knitting to a ball," Toria complained as she tugged at the bodice of her light blue strapless dress.

Kelsi shrugged and slung the green, quilted Vera Bradley tote bag over her shoulder. Toria could roll her eyes all she wanted—just as she was now doing—but Kelsi didn't care. Since her sister insisted they attend this ridiculous parade of desperate women, she was going to bring something to keep herself occupied.

The parking garage of the Stillwater Casino echoed with the chatter and nervous laughter of dozens of werewolf women. Although the dress code specified semi-formal wear, Kelsi noticed more than a few questionable hem lengths and gravity-defying boobs. By contrast, she wore a rather conservative floral-print dress with a square neckline, ruffled straps, and an irregular hem that dropped below her knees.

"When this is over, do you want to hit the slots for an hour? I've always wanted to see what it looked like inside." Toria asked as they followed the line of women and their mothers into a room with six elevators.

"Sure." Although she had little money to spare, what was twenty or forty bucks? Maybe she'd get lucky and hit a hundred.

Toria raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I thought I was going to have to twist your arm."

Kelsi shrugged. "Might as well try while we're here." In Alpha Owen's time, omegas weren't allowed in the casino.

Her sister grinned. "Now that's the spirit—hey!" she exclaimed as a blonde beta in a sparkly silver mini-dress bulldozed her way past Toria and into the elevator they were going to enter. The girl smirked at them as the doors closed in their faces.

"Bitch," Toria muttered, jabbing at the elevator call button.

Kelsi sighed and adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder. She expected a few entitled betas, but not this soon. Couldn't they at least wait until they got to the ballroom?

The same elevator opened, much to the girl's surprise. As her hand reached out toward the control panel, Toria grabbed Kelsi by the arm and dragged her into the elevator. "Excuse us," Toria called out in a sing-song tone, pushing the button for the ballroom floor.

Kelsi glanced around the cramped enclosure, feeling the eyes of half a dozen beta women on them. Her shoulders twitched as she fought the instinct to belly crawl away. Goddess, it was like high school all over again.

The other women began to sniff the air no sooner did the doors close. Kelsi took a deep breath and wedged herself into a corner. Toria, however, stayed put, defiant in such a small space.

The blonde beta looked the sisters up and down. "You don't belong here," she said with a sneer.

"We received the same invitation you did," Toria replied levelly, although Kelsi could see her sister's shoulders begin to roll forward in submission.

The other girl laughed, causing her boobs to jiggle like two cantaloupes stuffed into a sock. "As if two stinking omegas have a chance with the alpha."

Kelsi's eyes darted around the elevator as a few nervous titters escaped the mouths of the other girls.

Toria looked down her nose at the smaller beta. "The only thing that stinks in here is your god-awful perfume."

Kelsi gasped as the air rushed out of the elevator, leaving a horrible stillness known only to werewolves.

The other girl's eyes widened as a flush blossomed across her chest, neck, and cheeks. "What the fuck?" she exclaimed, shoving Toria forward until she hit the front of the elevator. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Kelsi gasped as her sister bounced off the metal doors with a dull thud. Toria groaned, smearing saliva across the metal as she turned her head. Kelsi lunged, but the blonde beta whipped around, piercing her with a glowing orange glare. Kelsi cringed; she drew back, becoming smaller, subservient.

An omega.

The elevator dinged and the blonde beta pushed Toria through the open doors with a snarl. A garbled scream left her sister's lips, turning into a shout as she fell against a tall, broad-shouldered man. Fear for Toria overruled Kelsi's instinct to cower. She rushed past the snarling beta, only to find her sister propped up by the man.

"Are you okay?" the man asked Toria, helping her to her feet.

Kelsi stumbled to a halt, one arm outstretched as echoes of an alpha's Authority casually washed over her. She looked up into the auburn-haired man's green eyes and realized with a start that this was no beta, but an alpha-descended male.

And there was only one such man in all of Hecate City.

"Yeah," Toria replied breathlessly, looking down at her dress. "Thank you." Fingers trembling, she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You're welcome." Caleb Stillwater, Alpha Ryan's son, handed Toria her purse. "If you'll excuse me, ladies ..." Without another word, he stalked off toward the blonde beta and her entourage, leaving Kelsi frozen in place. The power of alphas—even the son of one—was beyond comprehension. Her heart hammered in her chest and an invisible force pressed down on her shoulders. She wanted to throw herself at his feet and never look up—but similarly, she felt the need to follow his every word and whim with blind loyalty.

"Hey."

A touch on her arm shook Kelsi out of her shock. Toria shouldered her purse and took a deep breath. "You okay?"

Kelsi blinked and pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heartbeat slow as the alpha's son drew further away. "I should be asking you that." She hadn't been shoved up against metal doors and thrown out of an elevator. "Do you want to go?" They didn't belong here. Betas and gammas were still going to treat omegas like shit, no matter the alpha's edict.

Toria glanced over her shoulder in the direction where Caleb Stillwater had gone. "No."

"No?" How hard had Toria hit her head, anyway?

Her sister folded her arms. "You and I are going to march into that ballroom and show that bitch that we deserve to be here as much as she does."

Kelsi sighed. "Toria ..."

But Toria's lips pressed into a thin line. Kelsi knew that look—it was her don't-give-me-any-shit teacher's look. Their mother had that one down to a science.

Kelsi opened her mouth to protest, but Toria's frown deepened. Facing a losing battle, Kelsi threw her hands up into the air. "Fine," she said. They'd taken Toria's car, anyway.

Toria's expression flipped and she smiled, looping her arm through Kelsi's. Sighing, Kelsi soldiered on.

The sisters followed the flow of eager young ladies and their mothers to the ballroom. On the way there, a pair of security personnel marched past, a blonde woman wedged between them. Angry tears streamed down her contoured cheeks as she clutched a tiny handbag with white, manicured fingers.

That's not ... Kelsi's eyebrows shot up as she recognized the woman.

"Holy shit, they kicked her out," Toria hissed to her as they stopped outside the entrance to the ballroom. Kelsi couldn't help but notice the glimmer of glee dancing in her sister's eyes.

"Invitations and IDs please," a tall, dark-haired beta male in a blue sports jacket asked.

Toria eagerly dug hers out of her purse and presented it to the beta. He looked everything over, returned it to Toria, and took Kelsi's. "Head on in, ladies," he told them, giving Kelsi her ID. "Be sure to stop by the check-in table for your seat assignment."

"Thanks," Toria said, breathless with excitement. Her eyes sparkled as she grabbed Kelsi's hand and practically dragged her into the ballroom.

Kelsi grunted as the toe of her shoe caught on the metal plate separating the ballroom carpet from the hallway. She stumbled, but thankfully her werewolf equilibrium saved her from face-planting into the ground.

Cheeks flushing, Kelsi looked around to see if anyone noticed her faux pas, but thankfully everyone was too interested in finding their seats to pay her any attention.

The ballroom of the Stillwater Casino was not as grand as she'd expected: A mosaic carpet covered the floor and the walls were paneled in warm brown wood. Bronze chandeliers hung from the white ceiling, each holding a dozen or more electric candles. At least twenty tables covered in pristine white tablecloths stretched from one end of the room to the other. Simple black chairs with walnut-colored upholstered backs and cushioned seats ringed each table. In the center of the tables were tall wooden vases filled with artful sprays of white carnations, lilies, and roses with dark green ferns and other decorative leaves. Potted plants on tall pedestals were lined up against the wall, situated between two bronze sconces.

At one end of the ballroom, closest to the doors, was a raised dais and a long, rectangular table. Six chairs were arranged facing the opposite wall where more than a dozen covered trays, baskets of bread, and bowls of salad waited. Kelsi's stomach rumbled quietly, reminding her that she hadn't had much to eat today.

To her left, the wall was paneled floor to ceiling with massive windows. Dark brown curtains were partially drawn back to allow guests to look out over the casino's courtyard. Two large doors opened onto a wide balcony, letting cool air circulate throughout the room. People flowed in and out, each time returning with a drink in their hand.

I might need one—or two—before the night's over, Kelsi muttered.

Toria jerked her head toward two tables set up near the balcony. "C'mon, let's get our seats, then a drink."

Thirty minutes later, drinks in hand, the sisters made their way to their assigned table. A pair of gamma girls and their mothers were already seated. They smiled as Kelsi and Toria sat down and introduced themselves. Neither of the girls looked familiar and Kelsi promptly forgot their names. She praised Hecate no betas were sitting with them, since all six chairs were taken.

Taking a sip of her Long Island iced tea, Kelsi scanned the room while Toria played social butterfly. The tables were quickly filling up and she was grateful for the open balcony doors because it was starting to get warm. There were so many girls present who were taller than her, prettier than her—mostly betas, with some stand-out gammas and omegas sprinkled throughout. Thank Hecate she had no intention of trying to become Alpha Lee's luna. There was no way in hell she could ever compete with a crowd like this.

At 7 o'clock and with more than half her drink already gone, both doors to the ballroom swung open. The conversational hum that hung over the room died, leaving a preternatural silence in its wake.

Kelsi set her drink down and lifted her head. Caleb Stillwater entered the room first, a faerie woman on his arm.

"Holy shit, I've never seen one without glamour before," Toria whispered in Kelsi's ear. Kelsi, who had gone to school with several faeries, nodded. Glamoured faeries were generally indistinguishable from humans, save for their rainbow-colored hair and slim, dancers' builds. But the one hanging onto Caleb Stillwater's arm affected no illusions—heavy lavender hair cascaded down her back, flowing between a pair of shimmering purple wings that trailed from her shoulder blades like a gossamer scarf. Her sun-kissed skin was infused with motes of gold that sparkled beneath the chandeliers. A simple pale blue strapless dress hugged her thin frame.

One of the gamma girls leaned over. "That's Sawyer Bloodmoon, Alpha Lee's sister. She and Caleb Stillwater are engaged."

Good for them, Kelsi thought.

The faerie turned her head and said something to Alpha Ryan's son, showing off a long, pointed ear studded with diamond earrings.

"Alpha Lee's parents," the gamma continued to narrate, nodding at the practically-dressed couple who followed behind. "And Alpha Ryan's wife." A fierce-looking woman with fiery red hair entered with the couple.

All five walked up the dais and stood behind their chairs, leaving the center one free.

"Lee Bloodmoon," a woman's voice called out. "Alpha of Silver Rush!"

Kelsi's head snapped up as a torrent of power crashed into the room. If Caleb Stillwater was an echo of his father's Authority, Lee Bloodmoon was a goddamned tsunami. Kelsi gasped, fingers digging into the pristine white tablecloth as her nose was nearly shoved into the table. All around her, women trembled, their inner wolves bowing to the supernatural submission ingrained in them from the goddess.

The flood receded as swiftly as the waves crashed over the ballroom. Kelsi inhaled sharply and lifted her head. It felt as if a giant hand had removed itself from her back. A quick cut to Toria showed her sister experienced the same sense of relief.

That was ... unnerving, Kelsi thought, pushing herself upright in the chair. Unnerving and another reminder of how low she was on the werewolf totem pole, for a glance around the room showed the betas were far less affected than the gammas and omegas.

Framed in the doorway was a tall, broad-shouldered man with black hair that curled against his neck. He wore tan pants, a white shirt, and a light blue sports jacket—and a tight expression.

Alpha Lee Bloodmoon had arrived.

A collective sigh rose from the women present. Even from her position towards the back of the ballroom, Kelsi could see how uncomfortable the reaction made Alpha Lee. His jaw muscles bunched and he reached up to tug at the collar of his shirt.

"Thank you for coming," he said, his voice a hesitant baritone that nevertheless carried to the far corners of the ballroom. "Uhm, enjoy the food."

Kelsi glanced at Toria as the alpha quickly jumped onto the dais and took his seat, clutching his hands together. Her sister shrugged as six wait staff entered the room through a small swinging door in the lefthand corner of the ballroom. They walked to the back and began uncovering the trays.

Delicious smells of sirloin steaks simmering in an au jus sauce, fragrant golden-roasted chicken, and rosemary-encrusted pork chops assailed Kelsi's senses, nearly making her forget where they were. Goddess, she was hungry.

A young human woman dressed in a member of the wait staff's black and white uniform appeared behind them. "You ladies can go up first," she said, a pleasant smile on her face.

"No need to tell me twice," Toria said with a laugh, reaching down to grab Kelsi's hand.

For once, Kelsi was eager to comply.