I walked to her house slowly, letting the sounds and smells of the thick forest soothe me. The fresh dew, the bark chips crunching under my shoes, the varying shades of green. God, I loved this mountain. I would never leave it. I felt that Alexa was right to warn Kai, but I also knew he had done the right thing in coming out to the humans. Our fragile numbers were now strengthened with the human militias willing to fight the vampires with us but still. Humans outnumbered us all. When they realized that and if they wanted to … I shook my head, refusing to think about that.

When I came upon Diya’s house, I saw that she was on the porch drinking tea with Trent. Her belly was getting big and she had one hand resting on it. I smiled, approaching them.

“Hey, Mama.”

She smiled in return. “What’s up?”

I gestured to the black streak in my hair. “Can you dye this for me? I have a witches’ ball tonight and–”

She scrunched her upturned nose as if she smelled something bad. She didn’t like witches. “Witches’ ball. Does Kai know?”

I rolled my eyes and glared at her.

She lowered her gaze. “Yeah, I can dye it, come in.”

Trent stood. “No way. You’re pregnant!” He put his hands up in the air and looked at us like we were crazy.

Diya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to wear gloves and a mask. Besides, I’m a werewolf. Some bleach fumes aren’t going to harm our baby.”

Trent looked at me. “Sorry, Aurora, but no.”

Diya’s mouth opened in shock.

Well, shit. “I understand,” I told him.

Diya grinned like she was up to no good. “Well, if I can’t do it, then you have to, Trent.”

Trent looked mortally offended. “I’m not doing my Alpha’s mate’s hair!”

I grinned, too.

*

Thirty minutes later, Trent stood in the bathroom wearing pink plastic gloves and a mask, holding a brush with cream bleach.

I was trying to contain my laughter. “We have to get a picture of this,” I stated.

“Shut up,” Trent grumbled as Diya barked orders from the doorway.

“Now, carefully paint it on the chunk of black hair. Don’t get it on her skin.”

He rolled his eyes at his mate and started painting it on. I closed my eyes against the hard fumes and tried not to breathe it in. With my werewolf nose, these fumes were ten times as strong, it was probably a good idea Diya hadn’t done this. Yuck. After finishing and wrapping my hair in foil, I sat around and chatted with Diya about how Emma was doing.

“Okay, it’s been twenty minutes … that should be enough time,” Diya instructed.

Leaning my head over the sink, I pulled off the foil and washed my hair in the sink with shampoo. The second I rinsed the soap out, my stomach turned at what I saw. Jet black. It hadn’t lightened even one shade. Shit.

I dried it off and noticed Diya was staring at me in fear, chewing her lip. Why was everyone looking at me like I was dying? It was just a freak witch thing, right?

“It should have at least been orange. Not black. What does it mean?” she asked.

I didn’t know, but I assumed it wasn’t good. “Don’t tell Kai we tried to dye it,” was all I could say.

She looked reluctant but nodded. I said my goodbyes and headed back to my house to change for the ball. I had to meet Sylvia and the coven in a few hours. A witches’ ball! I grinned. A year ago if you told me I would be a half-werewolf, half-witch and on my way to a witches’ ball, I would have thought you were bat shit crazy. I wasn’t going to let the current drama in my life ruin this awesome night. The second I walked into the house, I saw that Kai and Max were sitting there waiting for me.

I groaned. They better not be here to try to lock me in the basement with Jeremy. Kai stood and came closer to me but stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. “Why do you smell like chemicals?”

I sighed. “Long story. Don’t ask. Are you guys here to tell me not to go to the witches’ ball … because I’m going.” I crossed my arms and prepared for a fight. Max grinned like a lunatic in the background. He loved a good argument between Kai and me. I shot him a glare and his smile fell.

Kai sniffed me one more time and then took my hand. “No, I just wanted to tell you that Max and I decided to go out for a beer tonight. We will be at McMenamins right across the street from the venue the ball is being held at.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Stalkers.”

Kai smiled. “If I have to stalk you to keep you safe, then so be it.”

“For the record, I’m only going to keep him from barging into some witch party and getting hexed,” Max offered.

I laughed. “We don’t hex. We spell.”

He put his hands up, palms out. “Oh, right, excuse me.”

But I gave Kai a serious look. “You really shouldn’t. Someone might recognize you from the news.” Not everyone was a fan of our kind. Going to a crowded human bar in Portland, not a great idea.

Kai gave me a sexy lopsided grin. “I have that covered.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion and decided to drop it. Trailing my finger along Kai’s chest, I purred. “I need to shower before the ball, you coming?” I raised one eyebrow.

Kai’s eyes went yellow and Max started for the door, shaking his head. “Newly mated. I remember that stage.”

Max’s words made my heart hurt for him but he had Tara now. They were taking it slow, she had officially joined our pack and they were dating. He wasn’t ready to do a mating ceremony yet. Kai dropped his pants, snapping me out of my thought. I laughed as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a caveman.