I take a moment to look my brother up and down. His costume matches his mate’s. Ford has on a black jacket with intricately embroidered silver over it. It’s cut to accentuate his waist and fits well over his arms. There’s a matching black embroidered vest beneath it and a black shirt under that. Black pants and shoes match as well. To complete the outfit, he has a top hat and a cane.
Sienna’s dress is a dark shade of teal with short sleeves that come off the shoulders onto the arms. The gold embroidery along the sleeves, corseted waist, and lower on the wide skirt is impressive. It looks authentic, like they traveled back in time and got it from then. But that’s impossible. Time travel doesn’t exist.
“Where did you find those outfits?” Lilah asks. “They’re exquisite.”
“Mother and Father’s storage,” Ford replies. “Would you believe she still hangs on to outfits from different eras. We had to find a seamstress to make alterations. You can’t replicate this kind of detail and, knowing our parents, these are one of a kind.”
I’m a little irritated at myself for not thinking of that. Our parents probably have a ton of vintage clothes. They’re four thousand years old. I really should have thought much further out of the box. Now I have some solid competition in the form of my brother. Meh, what else is new?
3
Ford
As more and more paranormals arrive, we end up moving the party to the massive ballroom turned game room. But the games were removed, and the room is back to what it once was. There’s someone playing music. Nothing somber but also nothing too upbeat. It’s Halloween after all. Got to keep the mood right.
Purple lights cast colorful shadows around the room, while the recessed lights have been dimmed to make the room darker. There are stars on the ceiling. Little twinkling lights which flicker and dance as if they’re real. I have no doubt magic was used there. We may not be able to use it on our costumes, but magical decorations are fair game.
Long, thin spiderwebs span the length of the room with small spiders on them and appear as if they climb the walls. There are tables of refreshments and food. Fae wine is in a different section with a counter much higher than the others so little fingers can’t get their hands on it.
Kids of all ages run about the room in their costumes. It’s something else I love about the Avynwood Pack. There’s a solid sense of family here. One where I can show up, love on the kids, and leave them with their parents while I escape before the meltdowns and sibling fights begin.
Okay, so maybe I start some of the fights, but that’s between the adults, not the kids. It’s almost like every one of the children in the pack are brothers and sisters the way they argue. You can tell by their looks they’re from different bloodlines, but the fighting makes them seem related. And fate, do they go at each other.
The adult costumes are all over the place. Most of the females dress on the sexier side, while I’m sure the males’ costumes had to be custom made. Paranormal males tend to be larger than humans. Broader, more muscular. They wouldn’t fit in costumes bought off the rack.
Aries, the pack’s alpha, is dressed as a zombie football player with blood dripping from his mouth while Cassandra, his mate, is a referee in a short, black skirt and a tight, black-and-white striped top. There is fake blood running the length of her body and it appears like there is a chunk of her head missing. It could be real blood for all I know. We heal fast. Shifters just need to shift a few times. Vampires and fae heal immediately. So they could have used real blood. Though, Aries is judging the costume contest. I’m not sure if he’d go through the trouble to have real blood if he’s not in the running. I’m almost afraid to ask.
Lealla walks to the front of the room and motions for everyone to be quiet. She’s dressed in a deep crimson dress that is a little tighter on top then flows into a skirt that goes to her feet. Per usual, her feet are bare. She doesn’t seem to like shoes. Or socks for that matter.
The female is the one who brought the pack together. Who paid for this home they live in. She’s an author who took their lives and turned them into a best-selling series readers can’t get enough of. With the pack’s permission, of course.
What the humans don’t know is most of Lealla’s books are real. They think she has an amazing imagination and she does, but those stories are true. Sure, there are some aspects which are made up for the sake of the stories. But this female is crazy talented and one of the sweetest beings in existence.
“Thank you all for coming,” she says, once she has the room’s attention. “I’ve got to say, your costumes are nothing like I expected. I figured we’d get some original ideas, but you’ve blown me away. It’s going to be hard for Aries and me to pick the best one. But we will. We’re going to mingle and observe. We have to make sure your costumes are authentic.
“Ford, Solomon, Carter, Cash, don’t think we aren’t watching you. There are too many things that could get ruined tonight. If the four of you start fighting, I’m booting you right out and you forfeit your entry into the contest.”
My brother gasps. I can hear it clear across the room. “That’s not fair. I worked hard on this.”
Lealla gives him a pointed glare. “Then work harder to keep your hands to yourself and be on your best behavior.”
“Have you seen Lilah? There’s no way I can keep my hands off her. We’re lucky I haven’t pulled her into another room and ravaged her by now.”
Lealla rolls her eyes. Thanks to my fantastic vision, I don’t miss a thing, even in the darkened room. “Solomon, you know what I mean. And you won’t be the only couple to sneak off.”
“I thought we were more stealthy than we were,” Desmond says to his mate, Josephine, and leans over to kiss her.
She chuckles. “I wasn’t exactly quiet.”
“No, you weren’t,” Dante cuts in. He’s the pack’s beta. Gruff, angry a lot of the time, however, he has a good heart. I won’t admit that to his face, though. He’s his calmest around his mate and son.
I give the male a once-over and notice he’s dressed like a tree, complete with bark and bushy, fall leaves on the top of his head. He turns slightly and I notice the pack’s cat with its nails dug into the side of his abdomen. Thorn has grown and is a decent size. The calico cat loves living here but is particular to Dante, Mira, and Kaine. Kaine was the one who found him after all.
“Anyway,” Lealla says, getting back on track. “We hope to make this an annual tradition like our Christmas party. With all that goes on in our pack, lives lost, danger around every corner it seems, we want to be sure to celebrate when we can. To take a night off to smile, laugh, and love. To be grateful for what we have.
“Enjoy the evening. Show off those costumes you worked so hard on. And if you see a fight break out, drag them by their scruff out the door and give them a swift kick. There will be none of that tonight.” She turns and looks at me, my brother, Carter, and Cash. Lealla is well aware who starts the fights around here. I’ll have to resist the next time my brother says something to rile me up. It won’t be easy.
Carter and Cash are blood brothers who came to the pack with their other brother, Cace. All wolf shifters. Cace was killed as well as his mate, Lena. The remaining brothers haven’t been the same since. Yes, they’re still fun loving, like always, but I catch them at times with faraway looks, and I know it has everything to do with the brother they lost. I imagine that leaves a hole in someone that can never be repaired.