Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I use the whistle to point to the fighter.
“Yes,” he shudders and bows his head.
I search for the older wolf and point the whistle at him. Unbelievably, he’s smiling. “Yes, luna.” He drops his gaze.
A shiver runs down my spine, followed by a rush of heat. I sway on my feet, light-headed.
Brick leaps onto the stage. He approaches me, his eyes fiery. His gaze charges me up, energy flowing through me from the base of my spine and shooting out the top of my head. I’ve never felt anything like it. The power rolls from my toes to burst from my lips. “Alpha.”
Brick seizes my arms, drawing me close. “Mate.”
The whole room shudders.
Brick turns me to face the room. “This is my mate. She is strong and worthy. She stands ready to defeat all challengers.”
The wave of energy rushes over the room. Men in human form straighten, heaving deep sighs. Wolves drop to their haunches. Some are wagging their tails.
The power washes back over me, filling me until it feels like bright light is bursting out of my eyes. For a moment, I see the pack as one, unified whole, a beautiful circle blossoming with power and joy. Love and connection. The vision intensifies until I want to weep.
The light fades. The heat in my head dissipates.
I’m glad Brick is holding me up. Billy and Nickel close on either side of us, Jake and Vance behind. We form a united front, with Brick and I at the center.
“She stands with us. And we stand with her. She is pack.”
I hold very still, focusing on breathing and staying upright.
“And if we can’t accept a human?” someone yells from the middle of the throng.
“Then get out,” Billy snarls. “Don’t let the door hit you on the tail.”
There’s a tense silence, then the older wolf in front of the stage barks a laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day a human would defeat a shifter with nothing but a whistle.” He raises his arms high, and starts a slow golf clap. He’s joined by the younger fighter, and more and more wolves, until applause breaks out all over the room, and the last of the hopeless desperation disappears.
Chapter Fifteen
Brick
“I honor the dead who fought for pack and glory.” I know I’m speaking through numb lips, but I can’t hear my own words. My head is splitting from Madi’s whistle. It was like a machete hacking between my ears. I’d take a thousand cuts from a knife rather than endure it again. “Pay your respects. Leave the bodies. We will burn the place at nightfall.”
Explaining away this much death to the Newark police and coroners would be an impossibility. We’ll have to be sure all the bodies are incinerated.
I turn from the stage and lock gazes with Madi.
Quiet rings between my ears. A muffled silence despite all the noise around me.
It’s not from Madi’s dog whistle.
I’m in the eye of the hurricane. The stillness of the conjuncture of me and my destined mate. If I’d thought she was magnificent before, that was a superficial admiration. What I feel for her now goes beyond bone and blood. Straight into the cosmos where Madison Evans has belonged in my arms since the beginning of all time and will continue to hold my heart for the billions of years after my death.
“Madi,” I croak through dry lips. She’s glowing, serene, still holding her tiny weapon of mass eardrum rupture.
“Could’ve warned me,” Billy mutters, glaring at the dog whistle.
“And ruin the surprise?” She pretends to raise it to her lips, and someone whimpers like a little puppy. She pockets it, and every wolf in the building relaxes.
Wolves move all around us. My team barks orders to the pack. Someone sets off the fire sprinklers without the alarm, sending the blood spilling over the stage in streams.
Her hands flutter as she brings them to my bare chest. Her gaze is shocked. Worried. I’m covered in blood. It’s running in rivulets down my skin now because of the sprinklers.
I advance, backing her into the wings of the stage until she hits a wall. “My beautiful mate.” I crowd against her.
My fingers hover near her cheek. I’m almost afraid to touch her–she’s too precious, and I’m covered in blood. Water soaks her hair, making her dark locks stick to her temples. I nudge them back with the barest of a touch.
“Madi. Madison.” Now I cradle her face. “My mate.”
She smiles perhaps the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen on her. Open, trusting, guileless.
I lean forward and stroke my lips across hers, my tongue delving deep into her mouth upon arrival.
Her arms twine around my neck, and she returns the kiss, her own tongue tangling with mine. There’s something different about her. Something more whole, more integrated, more beautiful.
There’s none of the guardedness she sometimes carries. Nothing tentative about the way she pulls my head down to kiss her more deeply.