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)
I suddenly see Aster, my beautiful starlight. She’s in a filthy prison cell. Aiden is screaming something at her, but she seems unperturbed.
Then, just like the dreams I used to have with her, she looks right at me. Like she sees me, seeing her.
I love you, she signs.
Suddenly the clamoring stops. The pain lifts. My eyes fly open as it all becomes clear.
My mate needs me, and I’ve been acting like a fucking man-child with my head stuck up my ass.
I look up at Brick and do the one thing I’ve resisted my entire life.
“Alpha,” I say. “I need your help.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah
“The only way I would declare war on my enemy would be to aid a member of my own pack.”
My heart thuds against my breastbone.
I can’t decide if he’s telling me no and throwing it in my face that I played this all wrong, or if he’s demanding my fealty.
I hope it’s the latter.
“I am yours.” I show my throat.
He makes me suffer, staring down at me for a long moment before he offers me a hand and tugs me to stand. “Welcome to the pack.” He pulls me in for a grim bro-hug, thumping my back once before releasing me.
Madi stands on tiptoe to pull me in for a hug, too. “I’ll get the team to strategize,” she signs and says when we pull apart, going to the door.
“In the dining room.” Brick ushers me out. “We’ll need food. This is going to take some brainpower.”
A few minutes later, Nickel, Sully, Vance, Billy, Brick, and Madi gather around the giant table in the elegant Blackthroat living room.
“Our newest pack member requires our assistance,” Brick announces, attempting to sign as he speaks. “His mate has been taken by our enemy.”
I expect one of them to say something about how my mate is the enemy, but no one does. Nor does anyone seem to begrudge my late admittance to their pack.
For the second time tonight, a mixture of guilt and gratitude close my throat.
What happened? Billy signs.
He was the first to learn ASL to communicate with me. Madi mastered it in college–no doubt along with several other languages. I got the sense that Billy’s competitive side didn’t like her knowing something he didn’t. The two of them had a rough start, mainly because Billy hated humans. Brick nearly shut him out of the pack for rejecting Madi. Then he had to get over his bias fast when Fate smacked him with a human mate.
I explain our near capture and how Aster turned back. “Aster is their prisoner. The Adalwulfs plan to bind her to their alpha during a Blood Bonding ritual under the lunar eclipse tomorrow,” I explain. “It supposedly creates a psychic connection with Aiden, so she receives visions for the highest good of the pack. Aiden wanted the moonstone tiara I stole from the museum for the ritual.”
The housekeepers bustle in with platters of cold cuts, cheese, olives, and bread.
“Should we invite the Moonborn females to this conversation?” Sully asks Blackthroat. “They’ve been living there. They might have insight.”
Brick nods, and Sully gets up, returning a few moments later with Liora, Oriana, and Sophie.
I get up and pace behind the table, my wolf too wound up to sit. “My accomplice has the moonstone tiara. We were planning to return it to the Mayan people. I could offer to trade it for Aster.”
“That won’t work. They want the tiara for Aster to wear,” Liora points out. “But they might allow you to trade it for Violet, Lupe, and June. The young ones who didn’t get out will be sentenced to death… or sacrificed in the Alpha Rites.”
“Then it’s settled,” Brick says. “Call your accomplice and get the tiara.”
What if Aster meant it when she said she didn’t want to be your mate? Oriana signs.
I give her a tight smile. Aster just shared a vision with me.
Oriana’s eyes widen.
She’s waiting for me to come for her.
Noah
The morning of the lunar eclipse, the sky is streaked red and purple. There’s a heaviness to the air, and in my mind, I sense vibrations like thunder. It’s not the weather, it’s a psychic sense.
I try to reach for Aster and get nothing. I reach for calm and try to send it her way. I doubt it’s working, but it makes me feel better.
After breakfast, Catherine Adalwulf, Brick’s mom, takes my mother and sister out for a walk in the Blackthroat gardens. There are guard wolves everywhere, and that’s the only thing that keeps me from escorting them.
I gather with Brick, Madi, and the pack’s top wolves in the dining room. Everyone looks serious and stressed. The tension turns the air into mud. We’re working on the plan for tonight.
“Noah,” Madi waves to get my attention and signs, “Your friend is here.”
“What’s up, party people?” Esme walks in with her arms spread like she’s ready to hug all of us. She’s wearing a worn Pink Floyd t-shirt with her usual leather jacket and skin tight black jeans.