Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“This vision. What did you see?”
I describe the lunch-time scene. Madi with an older woman, with Vera hovering nearby.
When I describe Vera’s narrow face and beady eyes, Madi sits up straight. Brick automatically turns and puts all his focus on his mate.
“Could she mean…” Madi taps on her phone and shows Brick something. Sully crowds close to see it and then leaves the room, signaling several other wolves to come with him.
“Is this who you saw?” Brick shows me Madi’s screen. There’s a picture of Madi and an older lady–the one from my vision. Beside the older lady is Vera.
“Yes. That’s Vera. And that’s the older woman I saw.”
“Eleanor,” Madi murmurs. “My grandmother. This is her new assistant.”
“Vera’s an Adalwulf. Her orders must have been to get close to you by any means possible. That’s how she was going to poison you.”
Madi sits back in her seat, looking pale.
“Until you conveniently showed up.” Brick’s eyes glitter amber, a sign that his wolf wants out. He’s not shaken like Madi, and he’s definitely not convinced. And he’s an Alpha, so when he’s under threat, his instincts make him attack. “What else did you think you’d gain by warning us?”
“Nothing else,” I say. I fight the urge to crumble under that Alpha stare. I feel so tired, drained. “Noah cares for Madi–as a friend,” I add quickly. “I…couldn’t let an innocent child die.”
“You think I should believe you, an Adalwulf?”
“Your mother is an Adalwulf,” I say without thinking. I’m channeling–I completely forgot about Catherine, but the Grandmothers prompted me to bring her up. Brick blinks, and his gaze flickers away.
Noah puts his arm around me, and I lean into him, grateful for his strength. It’s the only thing keeping me from slumping over in my seat. I draw energy from him and use it to sit up straight again.
“I intend no harm to you or any member of your pack, Alpha,” I say as formally as I can. “I swear it on the Grandmothers.”
Thunder booms in the distance, making Madi startle in her seat. All around us, the wolves growl, their eyes lighting.
The glowing lamps flicker and go out. It’s daytime, so it’s not so dark, but no one says anything. After a second the lights come back on as if nothing happened.
Even Brick looks stunned. He’s half out of his chair, blocking Madi with his body as if protecting her from a threat. What does he think–I’m going to leap across the table and savage her? She tugs him back down.
“Well,” says a wolf with a polished British accent, “that’s good enough for me.”
The wolves around him shake themselves. One of them checks the window and returns, muttering, “Doesn’t look like rain.”
I send a silent thank you to the Grandmothers for giving the Blackthroats such a clear sign. Brick seems to buy it although, now, he and everyone in the room are unsettled.
Noah rubs my back. I close my eyes for a moment and accept his kiss on my forehead. There’s cold sweat all over my body, but I feel less exhausted.
“What is your endgame, Aster?” Brick asks.
I hesitate. For some reason, the question makes tears spring to my eyes.
This is the moment.
I knew it would come, and I’ve been delaying its arrival. We both have.
But I have to decide which side I’m on. I have to declare an allegiance. Choose between the two packs. Actually, for me, the actual choice is between keeping my powers–my gift of Sight–or submitting to my mate’s claim on me.
Noah wraps both arms around me, as if to shield me from the pain of this moment. This decision.
“She’s helping me free my family,” he says.
“That’s not what I asked.”
A buzzing grows in my head. The Grandmothers are talking–all of them at once. I rub my forehead. The room starts to spin. My teeth chatter. Pain stabs at both my temples at once.
Noah pulls my face into his chest. Forget them, starshine. It’s just you and me here. You’re safe. His words lay across my mind.
“She hasn’t made her choice yet,” Noah’s spoken words cut through the noise.
I scrabble against the nausea and the distortion in my vision, trying to find my way back. “Yes, I have,” I hear myself say. My voice sounds clear and confident, even though my body’s overwhelmed with convulsions. “I’m leaving with Noah.”
Chapter Seventeen
Noah
I gather Aster up against my body, crushing her with the force of my emotion.
Fuck, I’ve kept my desire on lock from the moment I first touched her. I kept my wolf on a leash. I wanted to ravish her.
To stake my claim.
Mark her skin.
Make her every promise in the world to win her submission to our fate.
But I couldn’t push her. I didn’t want to scare her off.
I knew she could be as brainwashed as my mother about her pack and their cultish ways, and I needed to give her time to arrive at a decision on her own. Without me influencing it.