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)
He points to one of the green lights on the screen. O he signs. For Oriana.
L, I sign and point to the other green light. He nods.
I sigh, settling closer. This is why he’s awake so early. He’s watching his mother and half-sister, trying to figure out how to free them. The mark on my shoulder throbs, and my heart swells with tenderness for my caring, courageous mate.
The green light that represents Liora is on the move.
“Gardens,” I mouth to him. Looks like she’s up early to do her chores. “I wish we could see her.”
“I have audio.” He switches over to a text file and hands it over to me. “The tracker listens, but it’s one way. I can’t communicate with her, and I need a computer to access my drones, so I can get visuals. But even then, we won’t be able to talk to her.”
“Maybe Brick will loan you one,” I joke. I’m not sure if the stern Alpha is going to help us yet.
I hope so.
I scroll through the file. It’s a long transcript of all the audio the tracker picked up. A lot of it is garbled, but some of it is tagged as either “Liora” or Unidentified Speaker.”
It’s several pages long. I skim the first few paragraphs and get the gist. I use his phone to type,
Liora’s been ordered by the Warden to help prepare the females for purification.
What’s purification? Noah fingerspells purification.
I love that we’re using ASL for covert communication. I can’t wait to learn enough to be fluent.
For now, I use his phone to type the message.
The Warden sends the females to a sacred spring near the Tower to bathe and prepare for the rites. The Seeress usually oversees it.
That’s probably when Oma started drugging the acolytes to make them docile.
A phantom pain shoots through me, faint but pulsing through my limbs. Is it regret? Or a warning?
No, I don’t have premonitions anymore. This is just my psyche reaching for my gift–and finding nothing.
Maybe I do feel regret.
I bite my lip.
The lunar eclipse is in two days,
Noah types.
We’re running out of time.
Plan?
I type.
He shakes his head. He doesn’t have a plan.
Do you think Brick will help us?
I don’t know.
He takes his phone and swipes back to the screen that shows the black map and green glowing lights of the trackers.
I lay my head on his shoulder. I can’t do much to help him, but at least I can give him comfort as we watch over his mother and sister, together.
Breakfast is on another tray, delivered to our room. This time, there are four stone-faced guards posted right outside our door. There’s more outside our window, patrolling the lawn.
Our reprieve is over.
By mid-morning, Noah is pacing. He’s run his fingers through his hair so many times it’s standing up. If we were at the cabin, I bet he’d be accessing the drones he left hidden in the treetops on Adalwulf land and flying them all over to see if there’s any weakness we can exploit. But he only has his phone.
I’m no help. Instead of visions and headaches, I feel strangely empty. Adrift. It doesn’t help that the room smells like sex and anxiety.
We need to get a message to Liora. But how?
Noah’s head turns to the door a moment before there’s a knock. Madi, he signs to me, and I open it.
The human stands outside the door, with even more guards crowded in the hall behind her.
“Good morning,” she says while signing. Her fingers move elegantly through the air, like she’s casting a spell. “How’d you sleep?”
“Well,” Noah says and signs. My cheeks heat a little, remembering that all the wolves present can smell evidence of my claiming.
But then I straighten. I’m proud to bear Noah’s mark.
“I thought you might need some clothes, Aster.”
I laugh, looking down at Noah’s shirt that I’ve been living in. At least it’s better than the tourist trap sweatshirt we bought on the way to the Berkshires. Even with the tense meeting yesterday, the howling moon on it got some funny looks. “That would be nice.”
“Noah, you come too,” Madi says, and even though she’s human, I catch a whiff of dominant alpha in her orange blossom scent.
With a ridiculous number of guards trailing us, Madi takes us to her rooms and gives us a tour of the house along the way.
We pass a stuffy-smelling room with a large portrait of an unsmiling man who looks like Brick.
“That was Bruce Blackthroat. The former Alpha. Brick’s father.” Madi’s voice softens.
I shudder, recalling some of the visions I’ve had of the man. Like Odin, he was a vicious leader. If he were in charge, I’d definitely be in the dungeon, probably being tortured.
“Let’s find you some clothes,” Madi offers, beckoning me into a large chamber. Noah lingers in the hallway, letting us have some privacy.