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Kinsey turns to face the backseat. “Okay, Jonah and I discussed strategy last night. One pair spies on Sean and Gayle. The other mingles with shifters outside of our packs, preferably Twilight.”
Nathan agrees the Feral Pack angle is too far-fetched. I’ve only really been exposed to two packs—Daybreak and Lunar—but the rumors about the rest are that they’re just as strict. There are rejected shifters from Twilight at Greystone Academy. If there was a pack of abandoned wolves nearby, wouldn’t they know about it? Wouldn’t they do anything to not show up at the Rejected Mate Academy?
Beggars can’t be choosers, though, and my options are dwindling. So, pretend Feral Pack, here I come.
Nathan and I navigate Jonah to a side street he can park on to avoid the traffic heading toward the festival. All of our huge parties are held in a meadow just to the south of Daybreak proper, and the Winter Solstice celebrations are no different.
Each year, the pack that hosts the different solstices tries to outdo every single one that came before them. Mom told us a few of the plans when we had dinner the other day. Daybreak is going all out. There’ll be live music downtown, along with shopping booths and food carts.
Oranges and pinks blush the darkening sky as we get out of the car. Street performers and spectators walk toward the clearing, and we fall in line with them. Acrobats on huge stilts breathe fire from their mouths or juggle. The theme for the solstice is Awakening. Some of them take it in a dark route with fangs and black paint. Others went lighter, yellow sunshine and enlightenment.
Moody music plays from an enormous, concert-level stage. Giant speakers hang off metal supports on both sides, blaring the tunes back at us. A crowd of shifters—both wolves and humans—form a semi-circle around it, dancing and screaming. The woman singing is a firecracker, running around on stage and rocking out with her all-male band.
Kinsey wraps her arm around mine. Nathan and I are both wearing our Greystone Academy uniforms so we don’t rock the boat, and yet, she has no shame in showing everyone that she’s hanging out with me.
She leans over. “With Jonah’s background, he and Nathan will search out Sean and Gayle. He says two pretty girls like us should be able to talk a couple of male shifters out of anything, so we’re on the rumor hunt.”
I smirk. I highly doubt Jonah said anything close to calling me pretty because Kinsey would probably tear his heart out.
What can I say? Shifters are a jealous bunch.
But I’ll go with it. We both know I can’t be asking any questions like that with my Greystone Academy uniform on, anyway. This will have to be all Kinsey while I wait in the wings.
Before we split, Jonah drags Kinsey to him in a hug. Words pass between them, whispered into one another’s ears. Then, he tilts her head up, and I look away, giving them a significant amount of time before looking back.
Come to find out, I hadn’t given them nearly long enough.
Kinsey breaks away with a laugh. “Go get ‘em, Big Guy.”
Jonah gives her a daring look before she and I walk away. I peer over my shoulder to find Nathan and Jonah making their way through the crowd. I only wish I could’ve given Nathan an equally sexy send-off. He looks back, meeting my gaze, and in that moment, I know we’re both feeling the same thing.
Whatever we do next is for the two of us. If I focus on that, I can do anything.
“Where are we going?” I shout to Kinsey over the music.
“We’re going to wherever people are drinking. Loose lips and all that.”
I can still feel the dead weight of the alcohol I’d consumed the other day.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to partake,” she tells me. “We’re going to pretend.”
That sounds like a good plan. I take control, steering her toward the area behind the stage where food and drink booths line a walkway. The grass has been trampled down, well worked over already. We got here in the evening on purpose.
At the very end of the food and drink alley, a seating area has sprung up—complete with picnic tables and personal chairs dotting the space. As I watch, someone jumps back while flames from a huge bonfire shoot toward the sky. Several people laugh like it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever seen in their entire lives.
“Looks like we found them,” Kinsey says.
Too true. Why do drunk people like to play with fire? I’ll never get it.
We stop off at the closest booth to the lounging area. It boasts the largest line, so where better to start?
I never pegged Kinsey as the sociable type before, but she becomes a talking head as we wait in line, engaging everyone in conversation. When the first person she talks to says they’re from Eclipse, I almost gasp. Aside from other rejected mates, I haven’t been around shifters from different packs. The last time Daybreak held a solstice party, I was too young to partake.
Eventually, Kinsey and I get to the booth owner, order our decoy beers, and head toward the fire. The evening has grown dark, the licking flames providing the only light in the sky. The music blasting through the speakers sets the stage for the undercover work we’re doing. Every time someone looks at me, I almost spaz out, though. It’s like they can read my thoughts and know I’m only here to pump everyone for information.
“Relax,” Kinsey singsongs in a whisper.
I take a deep breath and let it out, but the crushing pressure in my chest barely subsides. I have a lot riding on this: my life.