Free Insatiable by Jenika Snow Page B

and I willed myself to calm down, not wanting to sweat like a pig and ruin my hair and makeup—well, ruin my lip gloss anyway.
    I straightened and refused to look back again, taking the stone steps quickly and walking into the main foyer of Wolf Lodge. Bodies swarmed around, each one of them dressed in an extravagant costume , with flutes of bubbling yellow liquid in their hands.
    I looked at the massive grandfather clock, the top portion of it carved into a giant wolf head with its mouth open. It was almost nine o’clock and I searched around, trying to see if I was able to see Lukas and Isaac. Most of the time it was easy to spot them, their towering height making them stand out like a sore thumb, but tonight proved a little more difficult.
    “Can I take your basket , Miss?”
    I turned to look and an older balding man stood close , his smile sweet and genuine as he gestured towards my picnic basket. I shook my head . “ I t ’ s all part of my allure.” His smile grew bigger and he bowed at the waist, making his way towards another new guest. I looked at the sea of bodies, half of them so tall and heavily muscled , I knew I would never find my two guys.
    The whole lower level was open for the party, many of the rooms having different games, dancing, even a haunted house for the guests. I walked into one of the rooms—the game room by the looks of it. There was bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the zombie— who was drunk—and a whole slew of other things to keep the intoxicated patrons happy.
    I left and made my way towards another room, this one being the haunted house. Female shrieks and gasps came from behind the wooden walls that had been erected, along with spooky music playing overhead and equally frightening decorations hanging from the ceiling.
      I spotted a bar and made my way towards it, trying to move through the thick mass of people and the fog that covered the groundthanks to the dry ice. I squeezed between Frankenstein and a mummy, both of them impossibly tall and pack ed with muscle that was evident even through their costumes.
    I ordered a shot of whisky, not even liking that kind of liquor but figuring since it was free I might as well get the strong stuff. I turned around and scanned the crowd, getting bored with the screaming females and deciding to check out another room.
    I grabbed my basket, coming to the conclusion that I was only going to give Lukas and Isaac another ten minutes to show up before I called them. I walked out of the room and through the foyer, heading straight ahead and entering the main ballroom. Tables were set up against the walls so that the dance floor was left open, everything from an apple to a z ebra dancing haphazardly to the M onster M ash .
    I zeroed in on the bar where ‘free drinks’ flashed in front of me, and made my way over. I stood behind a woman who was dressed like Dorothy, her blue gingham dress and twin F rench braids topping off the ensemble. Two men flanked her, both dressed as lions and dwarfing her small frame. She turned to the side to speak with one of them and that’s when I recognised her. “Alice?” She turned around, a smile going across her face as she recognised me too.
    “Scarlett! Hi, how are you?”
    The two lions both turned around and I raised an eyebrow as I eyed their costumes. Here stood two of the most powerful men I knew, Killian and Kale St. James—the owners of Wolf Lodge—aka, my bosses. I wasn’t surprised they were both with her at the party—it was public knowledge that the three of them were in a romantic relationship. I raised an eyebrow because these two men screamed strength and authority, yet they were both dressed as the cowardly lion.
    “Don’t even say it , Scarlett.”
    I laughed at Killian’s comment and Kale’s scowl. It didn’t matter that they were my employers. Everyone who worked at Wolf Lodge was incredibly easygoing and fun. I held my hands up in surrender, not about to even go there.
    “When