New Orleans

Sanctuary Bar Christmas

Aimee Peltier paused as she watched the gathering around her. This was the one day a year when Sanctuary officially closed. Even though very few members of their extended family and staff were Christian, they still took time to honor the holiday. To remember their own beliefs and to think back on those they'd loved and lost.

As the bar's name implied, this was the haven for were-animals, shapeshifters who were hunted by each other and by the humans. Her parents had set up the bar over a hundred years ago after Aimee's older brothers had been killed in the senseless war that divided her people from each other.

It had been her mother's solemn vow that no other mother would ever weep over the loss of a child if she could help it. But since then, her mother's view of what was right and what was wrong had shifted a bit. And in order to keep the peace here at the bar, her mother had made decisions that Aimee didn't always agree with.

But then mother-daughter disagreements were even older than the were-animals themselves.

The bar was dim, lit only by candles. Her brother Dev was at the counter, pouring drinks. He'd pulled his long, curly blond hair back into a pony tail while he joked with Colt and Angel, who were in human form, sitting on the stools in front of the bar, drinking beers.

Aimee's mother, Nicolette, was off to the side in human form as she played with Zar's bear cubs. There were several tigers, a jaguar, and bears lounging about or playfully fighting while others were in their human forms as they played cards, pool, or just hung out for the night.

"You feeling okay?"

She turned at the deep voice behind her to find Maxis standing there. Tall and gorgeous, he had dark blond hair and silvery-green eyes that shimmered in the dim light. Stunned, she had to blink twice just to make sure she wasn't imagining his presence. Maxis had come to Sanctuary severely wounded. One of the rare dragon Katagaria, he didn't mix with other groups easily. He preferred to stay isolated in the attic where he could sleep in dragon form and not be disturbed.