13. Leigh

THIRTEEN

LEIGH

I n her apartment one week after she and Claude started hooking up regularly, Leigh readied for the press conference regarding the reopening. She and the vampire continued to work in a professional environment when it came to getting Embraced up and ready for its grand opening, but behind closed doors, they were all over each other.

To Leigh, it felt natural. Her hands went to his chest and neck, her mouth to his, like a magnet. The pleasure he gave her was ethereal and transcendent, boosting her confidence not only in the success of the club, but in herself. She felt sexy again. His touch was magic.

Leigh wore a tight, gleaming red sweater and taut dress pants with bright white running shoes. She wanted to look corporate and proper, but casual at the same time. The weather wasn't quite gloomy, but not quite luminous either. A lingering chill in the air gave her a foreboding feeling, but the wolf ignored it.

She needed to be focused with a sunny disposition for the cameras and the subsequent reports on social media. The pressure on women to straddle the line of politeness and assertiveness was undignified, but she knew it was all a part of what she signed up for.

Leigh left the apartment at eleven for the press conference at noon. She and Claude had been texting about what was going to be said, and who would say it. It took a lot for her to let go of some control, as Aria was adamant about Claude being involved. After all, the club was meant to be open to both wolves and vampires.

There was confidence in her stride; an upright posture, a shining and excited smile as she greeted Claude at the entryway. All of the decorating had been finished, the bar polished and twinkling under the soft neon glow.

The name of the bar was placed overhead, the sign built in custom cherry oak and painted dazzling cobalt blue. A crafted mouth hung open with dripping red blood, to signify the inclusion of the species.

Despite it being daytime, it hummed with reverent incandescence. Claude and Leigh stood inside, waiting as cameras were set up and reporters assumed their positions.

Leigh found herself to be remarkably tranquil.

"You ready to go?" she asked, giving Claude a playful elbow.

Her vampire boyfriend, on the other hand, was astonishingly apprehensive, wound up like a wire. When she elbowed him, he jumped.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm fine. Just not used to all of the attention. I'm usually one to stick to the shadows."

He grinned, and his incisors appeared slightly elongated. They sparkled in the dim light of the club.

But his statement was irksome. It was the second time he'd used nearly the exact same phrase.

"I know you are, but Aria wants us both in this equally," Leigh said evenly, stroking his forearm. "It's important that we show that wolves and vampires can co-exist. You know, for optics ."

She said the final word with sarcastic disdain, but Claude didn't seem to pick up on it. He'd returned to his fixation on the door, a frown creasing his generally smooth forehead.

That ominous feeling washed over the wolf again.

"All right, we're good to go," a reporter said and ushered them outside.

The sunlight was filmy through the gray skies, but Leigh still felt the need to squint. She scanned the crowd to find there were six different news stations that specialized in shifter and supernatural relations, along with reporters.

A nervousness tugged at her gut, and Leigh banished it. She had been the face of many organizations before the Wolfe family had approached her about Embraced . She wasn't intimidated by attention, not even in the slightest.

She took a step forward to the podium, her back as straight as an arrow. She cleared her throat as the light on the cameras flicked from red to green. Then she let go and allowed her effervescence to shine.

"Thank you all for coming today. My name is Shirley Rosario. You will all know me as friends of the generous Wolfe family. Today, I am much more than that. I am here as a part of a union that will send ripples through time, an extension of an olive branch that goes beyond that of opening a club."

The gathered crowd mumbled with curiosity. Leigh looked over her shoulder at Claude and beckoned him with her arm outstretched.

She raised her eyebrows at him as he went to the microphone, pictures snapping.

"My name is Claude. I have worked with Leigh to get this club up and running. That is because Embraced is now not only going to be open to vampires, but to wolves as well."

The crowd gasped, mouths agape. There was no nuance to how he spoke. Leigh felt her heart hammering in her chest as the camera clicked madly. She stepped next to Claude and laid her hand on his back, stroking it up and down.

She made sure that the cameras saw the intimate gesture. Then she stepped in front of him, and he drifted aside.

"We are a shining example of how vampires and wolves cannot only work together in a professional environment, but within a personal relationship too. Please mark your calendars for the opening of Embraced!"

Leigh began to clap and smile, and eventually a few of the reporters did as well. They all were cheering by the end of the conference, and when the lights switched from green to red, they congratulated her.

By that point, Claude had snuck back inside.

When Leigh was finished shaking hands with every reporter, who all expressed intrigue and interest about the shocking revelation, she went back into the club. She found Claude sitting at the main bar, beneath the smoldering scarlet light.

"What was that?" she snapped at him.

He turned to her, downtrodden. She swallowed and reeled herself back in before speaking.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you didn't have much to say and slipped inside too quickly. You have to show your face at these kinds of things and talk to people. I know it's not your thing, but..."

Both of their phones began to chime with incessant notifications. They picked them up at the same time and began to scroll.

What Leigh saw there was mortifying.

"What does this wolf woman think she's doing? Blending wolves and vampires is a terrible idea. I'm kinda interested in watching this blow up in her face though," a user said.

"A vampire and a wolf fucking? What kind of abomination is this?" Someone on social media wrote.

"Just because you two are in bed together doesn't mean we want to start blending again LOL."

The more comments on social media Leigh read, the more her stomach twisted. There was not a single positive remark made about the club attempting to mend fences between vampires and wolves.

It made her sick enough to shove the phone away. Claude stared at his, distant.

Leigh had enough. Her confidence was shot.

"You have to step up on this more," she said, folding her arms over the other. "I'm always going to get more criticism than you because I'm a woman. That's the reality. But you hanging there in the background isn't going to help. I feel like a used-up piece of meat."

Claude didn't like that one bit. He slid off the stool he was sitting on and rubbed his forehead hard. It was nice to see an emotion on his face for once.

"I'm sorry, Leigh. Like I said, I am used to Aria being in the limelight. I know she wants me on this, too, because she won't be able to do it when she has a baby to care for. I'm sorry. Come here."

Claude pulled her into his arms by her wrists, and she instinctively swathed them around his waist. His mouth went to her neck, and just before the rapture of lust could take over, she pressed her fingers into his chest and pushed him away. The words from observers on social media were harsh and cruel, but she thought maybe they had a point.

His expression was pallid, even for a vampire.

"Claude. Maybe these people are right. Maybe we are forcing this to work. Maybe it's not a great way to keep this going."

Claude took a step back, and he let her go. Leigh felt her heart turn to stone.

"Maybe you're right," he replied. "I'll head home. We can talk about the club later if you want."

Leigh stood there as he disappeared into the burning light.