Mated to the Alpha and His Beta novel

Stella

Once my mom left the room, I locked the door. I uncorked the wine and poured myself a little glass. My first sip made me wrinkle my nose. It wasn't the first time I'd ever tried some, but it was supposed to be the first time I really tried some.

The next sip wasn't much better, but I turned on the clock radio that had been in this room when my parents told me it would be mine. That meant the radio was mine, right? The desk, the bed, the chair, all of it? Mine, mine, mine.

Hey. Maybe those sips of wine had been bigger than I thought they were. Standing in front of the mirror, I watched my features ripple and change. For a moment, I looked exactly like my mom. Then my fathers one after the other. Just the faces, though. No way would my fathers' huge bodies fit inside these clothes.

By the third "sip," I'd drained the glass. I was feeling pretty good as I danced to the tunes coming out of that radio. Music I'd never heard before, something catchy, with a great beat. I tried snapping my fingers along with it, which was easier than getting my feet coordinated.

Outside, night had finally fallen, which meant I felt okay sneaking out. I took a few minutes to shift and make sure everything was where it was meant to be. Then I stuffed some pillows under my covers and shut my door behind me.

Nobody stopped me as I left the mansion. My navy ballet flats crunched on the gravel of the driveway as I hurried as fast as I could without looking suspicious toward the road. I didn't need a map to guide me. could rely on the tracking and guiding skills of several different supernatural types. All I had to do was point myself in the right direction.

Okay, so maybe drinking half of that bottle of wine on a mostly empty stomach hadn't been the best or brightest idea I'd ever had. I felt good for now, though. Light, almost like I could fly.

Well, I could fly, couldn't I?

I could sprout wings, like a griffin shifter. I could make myself lighter than gravity, or I could give myself the ability to control the air currents under my feet. Instead, I kept one foot moving in front of the other along the road, reminding myself that the entire point of all of this was to blend in. Look natural. I couldn't do that by flying to a downtown bar!

Downtown looked different at night than by day. There was still a bustle of people moving along the sidewalks, but most of the shops that I'd visited before were closed. So was the ice cream shop. The three bars, however, were all open with bright lights spilling from the windows.

I paused to listen to the music. With my regular hearing it was a bit of a jumble, but when I tuned in with some more specialized skills, I could differentiate between the songs. An upbeat tune that felt good for dancing competed with a slower song with more instrumentals, and the final bar was playing songs with voices that sounded a little bit like whooping and hollering.

I picked the bar with the dance music. My heartbeat pumped a little bit quicker as I moved closer. I mingled with the people on the sidewalk, holding my breath when any of them looked at me. Nobody gave me more than a passing glance, though.

My disguise was working!

The bar I picked was called The Silver Crescent. The man at the door gave me a long, up and down look that at first made me nervous. I thought he was going to stop me from going in, or question me, but as i turned out, he just gave me a slow smile.

Oh, my.

He was totally checking me out.

I was a little giddy, and no longer from that wine I'd had. I gave him a small smile and a nod like I did this every day...or even like I'd done it at least once. I pushed through a small crowd near the door and smiled and nodded at everyone I passed. My heart was still beating harder than normal. My palms felt a little sweaty, and the music beat throbbed in all the places my heart was pounding.

I didn't think I wanted to drink too much more tonight, but I also felt weird without a glass in my hand. Everyone else had one. So, I went up to the bar and confidently tried to place my order. "One beer, please."

The woman behind the bar looked at me with a funny expression. "Bottle? Draft? Can? Any brand in particular? We have a pretty big selection."

Shoot. I didn't know anything about beer. All I could do was smile at her and hope she didn't think I was a complete idiot.

"What do you recommend?"

The bartender rolled her eyes but filled a glass and slid it toward me. The first sip was horrible, so I allowed myself to use one of my Celestial skills to turn the sourness into sweet on my tongue.

I turned to watch the crowd. The dance floor was hopping. In the center of it was a girl who looked like she was having the time of her life.

To my surprise, I know exactly who she was.