Chapter 1

  Lights flashed in a blinding strobe of color, every shade of the rainbow gleaming in an ever changing pattern that mixed with the throbbing beat of the music. Giselle took a deep breath of the air, humid with the taste of healthy bodies, sex, and sweat. The DJ smiled down to the crowd as he strung the base line out, building the tension, the need to explode into movement and dance.

  All around her shifters and humans mingled together on the packed floor of Virginia Beach’s biggest dance club. They’d all come to see a rising star on the techno scene, DJ Minx, spin her magic. She had come to lose herself and soothe her grief before she met the men her werepuma beta, Noah, had fallen in love with. Even now she could sense her beta, somewhere off to the north like a distant light pulsing in her soul. He was happy, content, but her tenuous connection to him added another layer of pain to her heart already wounded by the loss of her younger sister to a drunk driver a year ago. Noah seemed to unconsciously shield his mind from hers and when he completely closed their psychic link off it felt like a piece of her soul was missing.

  Unfortunately, because he was born as a human he didn’t have the werepuma drive to reproduce that all born shifters had. He was gay and there would never be anything carnal between them. She had bonded him as much as she could, but without the final step of sexual contact to connect both their bodies and souls her connection to him was tenuous at best. Without a full bond Noah had begun to slowly lose the fight against his animal side and was in danger of going feral. Their only choice had been to find an Alpha male that Noah could fully bond with.

  A man with his head shaved into a mohawk caught her eye as he swung a laughing woman around in his arms, both of them giving off joy in a steady rush of energy. Other than his hair being dyed green instead of purple, he reminded her of Noah and she regretted that they would never be joined fully as Alpha and beta. Unfortunately Noah had been born human and given the gift of her little sister’s shifter magic right before she died. Even more unfortunately Noah would never be interested in a female sexually and that left her in a bind. Either help him find a male Alpha who could help him tame his animal nature, or watch Noah slowly go insane as the animal within took over and he became a mindless killing machine.

  Their plan had worked out better than she expected when Noah had fully bonded and fallen in love with an Alpha and beta pair that he had met through the 1 Night Stand Dating service. While she was happy for him, and relieved that she wouldn’t have to kill him if he’d gone feral, she also had to deal with having feelings of love for two men that she’d never met. Because Noah loved them, she experienced a warm glow in her chest whenever she thought of Marcus and Vashan even though she’d only seen pictures of them. Soon enough she would meet them and if she didn’t like them, or they didn’t like her, she would free Noah of his obligations to her as her beta.

   A pretty human woman in a golden dress smiled at her as she danced, an open invitation for something more in both her eyes and the light musk in her scent. She shook her head but gave a small grin to soften the blow. As an Alpha humans and shifters alike were drawn to her, but tonight her time was spoken for with a blind date that she sorely needed. She moved deeper into the crowd, craving the press of bodies against her, wanting to sink into the warmth generated by so many people in motion.

  As she slid her hands down her hips the deep bass throbbed through the floor and she wondered what it would feel like to form a soul bond, to finally share the responsibility and joy of leading a Pride with another Alpha. According to what every mated Alpha and beta pair had told her if she did bond with Marcus and Vashan she would never want another unless her mates wanted them as well. That thought at once delighted and terrified her because she couldn’t imagine being so close to someone that their lust became your lust, their desires your desires.

   Legs and arms brushed against hers, some human and some with the energizing tingle of other, drawing her back into the dance. All magical creatures loved music and she was no exception, losing herself in the shifting beats and melodies as her torso undulated in time with the heavy bass, drawing appreciative glances from those around her. There were more fey in the crowd than she normally saw, but they didn’t seem to be causing any mischief.

   As she caught her reflection in one of the mirrors surrounding the dance floor she arched her arms overhead and spun, the short, pleated skirt around her hips flaring to almost reveal her black satin thong. She’d dressed to impress tonight and gold chains rode low about her hips, sparkling as she swayed. At almost six feet tall she didn’t have the thin body of a supermodel, but the curves and muscles of an Amazon. Her cobalt blue blouse had a scooped neck that displayed her breasts almost to the nipples. The color of the shirt went perfectly with her blonde hair and the deep crimson lipstick she wore gave her a carnal air.

   Usually a jeans and a t-shirt type of girl, she’d gotten in touch with her inner diva for tonight’s blind date. After of year of self-imposed celibacy she was more than ready to lose herself in a night of uninhibited passion. She’d been very specific in her request to Madame Eve of the 1 Night Stand Dating Service, she wanted a mated or married couple so she wouldn’t have to worry about jealousy or forming a bond with them. She also wanted the couple to be supernatural so she wouldn’t have to worry about injuring them with her strength. Madame Eve had promised her that she found the right couple, someone that needed her as much as she needed them.

   A dark haired man with big brown eyes slid up next to her, attempting to turn her attention to him. The hair on her arms stood at attention as a wave of foreign magic swept over her body like a tickling caress. Annoyed she lifted her lip in a silent snarl and he laughed and blew her a kiss before spinning away into the crowd.

   Damn pixies. They always wanted what they couldn’t have and never seemed to be able to resist the temptation of flirting with danger. 

   Rays of amber and emerald light traced through the fog beginning to fill the dance floor and she rode the crowds wave of delight, the pheromones of sex and joy teasing her sensitive pallet. Weres could actually get buzzed on large doses of human pheromones and she was no exception. It  wasn’t unusual to find shifters hanging out at amusement parks, people watching from the benches as they drank in the literally happy air coming off of the humans as they raced from ride to ride, all hopped up on sugary treats and joy. Dance clubs had a similar effect, but she didn’t have to worry about some foolish human taking advantage of her drunken state.

   Madam Eve of the 1 Night Stand dating service picked this club out and Giselle met the two shifter bouncers as she showed her ID to get into the club earlier. Every once in a while a blast of fresh air would come from the massive vents above the dance floor, clearing away some of the chemical soaked atmosphere and helping the were population keep their instincts under control. Goosebumps erupted down her back as another blast of air came from overhead and she lifted her arms, savoring the chill breeze cooling the sweat on her skin.

   The DJ at the booth on the left side of the dance floor finished up his set and the crowd had begun to turn away from him towards the second DJ booth on the opposite side of the big room. Currently a shimmering silver curtain kept those on the dance floor from seeing what was happening on the other side, but slowly lights began to glow behind the fabric and a lone figure moved along to the beat of the music from behind a platform holding what she assumed was DJ equipment.
   She scanned the dance floor, looking around for her date. Madame Eve said that Inara and her husband Theron, her blind dates, would be there at 11 pm and that the other woman would be wearing diamond dust. Giselle grinned as she imagined what an outfit of diamond dust would look like, each image dirtier than the last. She didn’t know much about Inara and Theron, just that they traveled a lot and that they originally came from South Africa.

   Even in her heels she had to stand on her tiptoes to peer over most of the crowds heads and shoulders. A few sequenced outfits bobbed among the dancers, but none of them wore anything that she could think of as being diamond dust. Frustrated, she blew out a deep breath and tried to shake some of the tension from her body. Maybe her date was late, or maybe they weren’t coming. Maybe she should start looking for another willing couple to take back to her hotel room. Disappointment left a bitter taste in her mouth and she turned her head slightly to the side, taking a quick gulp of the pheromone rich scent coming from a male and female human dancing next to her, obviously deeply happy and in love by the taste of their musk.

   Ridding the brief burst of euphoria as the chemicals hit her mind she started to pay more attention to the figure behind the curtain. She had a couple of DJ Minx’s CDs at home and really liked the woman’s style. As the lights behind the curtain brightened further she caught a glimpse of a very curvy female figure that to her sensitive eyes almost appeared naked. The form flitted from one end of the stage to the other, touching things on the platform, swaying with the music, and driving her crazy with her lithe movements.

   She found herself matching the rhythm of the woman behind the curtain, being caught up in the hint of breast and the nip of her waist as she swayed. The music from the male DJ began to fade and the crowd broke into cheers and whistles as a new, darker tempo began to pound from the speakers, a primal drumming that hummed through her blood like a second heart beat. The female figure on the stage held her arms up in a V and the room plunged into darkness. Her inner cat stirred, pacing and showing a flash of fang and claw.

   She found herself tensing, riding the wave of fear that zipped through the human members of the crowd. Thankfully it wasn’t the kind of fear that screamed ‘prey’, rather it was the apprehension of being at the top of a roller coaster, about to take that first plunge. The cadence mirrored that sensation as it built and built before splintering into a groove that made her laugh and join the rest of the crowd as they threw their arms in the air and danced. A moment later bright white light flooded the dance floor in a strobe as the silver curtain dropped and iridescent glitter fell from the ceiling in a rainbow of sparkles.

   The twinkles gave the air an ethereal feel, as if she’d stepped into a circle of mushrooms and joined a group of fairies. Her spirit animal yowled with joy and she heard a few yips and snarls from the crowd mixing with some nervous laughter from the humans. She felt so damn good, so alive, and she wished Noah could be here to share this with her. Even worse, her throat closed up as she thought of her sister, Adeline, and how much fun she would have had at a club like this.
   No, she wasn’t going to go there, wasn’t going to let her mind return to the never ending ache. Taking a deep breath of the hormone rich air she let it work its magic on her, speeding her heart and returning her awareness to her much neglected body. The last year of celibacy had sucked, but she couldn’t subject Noah to her feelings of desire. He had a hard enough time dealing with his transition from human to shifter without adding having to experience her passion invading his head.

   She spun in a quick circle, enjoying the lash of her long hair against her skin and then froze as the lights behind DJ Minx swung to pinpoint on her, plunging the rest of the club into darkness.

   Minx, or was it Inara, sparkled and glittered like a diamond. Giselle fell into an instant, overwhelming lust.