Then again, if I’ve wrongfully shut out the second most important female in my life… The thought sickens me.
“Tell her-” I stop and clear the rust from my throat. “Tell her to come to my building in Manhattan. She’s under my protection now.”
I see the flash of warning in Billy’s gaze, and he opens his mouth but seems to think better of saying anything because he closes it again.
“Yes, Alpha,” Vance says.
The doorbell rings, and Jake leaves and returns with stacked boxes of pizza. He hands me a box. “For your mate.”
“I know it seems outlandish, but humans have hands, too.” Madi deadpans, winning a smile from him.
“Male wolves like to feed their mates. It’s a provide and protect thing,” he explains.
“Humans used to do that too,” Madi says. She’s using her cool, businesslike voice. “-in medieval times.”
There’s a chorus of oohs and chuckles, like the ones Madi earned that first day when she handed Billy his ass for trying to stump her on the drinks. The mood in the room lightens. Some of the pressure in my chest lifts.
There’s something about my mate being on top of her game that both calms me and turns me on. Thinking of her as this weak link, this fragile human who I can barely protect had me and my wolf going mad again. But here Madi is, reminding me she isn’t to be trifled with. She was just used as a pawn in a war, was kidnapped, had her life threatened and nearly suffered-for a second time-hypothermia, but here she is cool, calm, and collected. Facing off with me and the most powerful wolves in Manhattan without blinking an eye.
I fucking love her for it.
I cradle her face and pull it against my chest, so I can drop a kiss on her forehead then pull out a chair at the table. “Make room for my mate.”
Aster
Oma’s breath rattles in and out of her chest. Odin, her grandnephew and our pack alpha, lies on his deathbed, sending his henchmen out on wild, dangerous missions. His Hail Mary Pass before he dies.
His demise seems to be dragging the life from Oma’s body, too.
I sit beside her bed and hold her gnarled hand.
I will die with him, she tells me telepathically.
I drew lifeforce from the alpha to be the pack seeress. Her explanation makes no sense to me, but there was a mingling of witch blood somewhere in the Adalwulf line. It’s possible some ancient witch wove a spell to forever bind those with the Sight to the alpha of the pack for the protection of both species.
I lift the glass of water to her mouth, fitting the straw between her lips, so she can sip from it.
Odin and I will both end our life cycle without seeing the Blackthroats obliterated. Bitterness laces her words. She’s carried the weight of this feud longer than anyone alive in either pack. To her, winning against the Blackthroats means everything.
She blinks her shriveled lids at me, her blue eyes unfocused as she looks through me into the beyond.
You will use your gifts to guide Aiden when he takes the throne. You will draw your power from him, for him.
“How, Oma?”
You will know. Her lips barely move when she speaks, like it’s too much of an effort.
I draw an uneasy breath.
The future she’s seen for me doesn’t mesh with what I’ve been shown. The glimmers I’ve had of the Blackthroats. Of a mate.
Of my betrayal.
They terrify me-all of them.
And working with Aiden-partnering with him? That feels impossible. He may be a cousin, but I scarcely know him. He treats me like a child.
I often still feel like a child. I’ve been so sheltered here in my prison tower. This Manhattan mansion on Billionaire’s row. I’m barely allowed to leave, and when I do, I’m under guard. My whole life has been spent within these walls. Tending to Oma, learning from her. Training.
I’ve been kept in the dark ages. I have no access to computers or cell phones or all the technology that the rest of the family employs. It’s forbidden for me.
I wasn’t allowed to attend school-not elementary, middle or high school. College has never been in the cards. All I got was a parade of tutors who came to me and taught me a carefully crafted cannon meant to mold me into the vision Oma had for me.
I’m supposed to remain untainted.
Pure. Virginal.
Untouched.
That’s what Oma says. If I mate, I lose my power, and that would be a tragedy for the entire pack. The gift doesn’t belong to me, it’s for the good of all the Adalwulfs. I’m just the vessel.
So I’m sheltered and protected like pack royalty, like the family jewel. But I’m also policed.
It’s wrong-terribly wrong-but as frightened as I am of taking the position of Seeress, part of me aches for the change. Any change! My life has been such a monotony of nothing but old pack lore and a century’s old rivalry.
As much as I will mourn Oma, there’s a tiny seed-a spark-of hope for my future without her.
What will life be like when I’m the one with the power to see? Can I demand more freedom?
Will I be able to leave these walls? Meet the male who appears in my dreams? The one who is silent. Stoic. Strong.
The one who can speak straight into my mind without moving his lips and who hears me without me speaking.
He’s my future, and I’m his.
The rest…the revenge and the rivalry and the hatred between packs?
I could walk away from it all and never look back.
* * *
Madi
Sleet pelts the jet as we land in New York. It seems like a month has passed since we left for the Greek isles.
Brick’s long body curls around mine, spooning me from behind. We haven’t spoken yet about what happens now.
Brick Blackthroat may be a powerful businessman, the toughest boss on Wall Street and a ruthless leader of his pack, but when it comes to matters of the heart, I’m realizing he might be an emotional avoidant. It explains why he hasn’t fixed his relationship with his mom. Why he went moon mad rather than deal with his need for me. He didn’t even try to figure out how to make it work with a human.
He still hasn’t.
Not that I’m any better. I pushed him away at every turn, so certain he would never actually commit to someone like me. I clung to my pride rather than fighting for us.
Neither of us move when the jet touches down. We had sex when we first boarded, which helped us both sleep, but we still haven’t talked. I mean the kind of talk with a capital T. The one I suspect we’re both avoiding.
“You’ll come back to my building.” His voice is gruff-the bossy boss thing that usually turns me on.
“No.” I stay facing away from him, watching the precipitate pelt the windows of the jet.
The arm draped over my waist tightens, and he pulls me closer, his body stiffening.
“I need to keep you sa-.”
“Don’t,” I cut in. “You hid me away on a private island in Greece with machine-gun carrying guards, and I still wasn’t safe. I’m not going to live my life this way.”
I actually sense the temperature in Brick’s body drop, like my words chill him.
“Madi,” he chokes.
I roll to face him. “Brick, I want to be with you, but so far, it looks like you lying, locking me up, and hiding me away.”
“I need you safe??”
“I’m fine with being protected. I’m not fine with you shutting me out.”
Brick lies perfectly still, almost like he’s frozen.
“I understand your pack is under siege by the Adalwulfs, but I don’t want to be your hidden human. I want to be your mate. At least I think I do-but I don’t even know for certain what that means. I’m still learning your world-without any help from you, I might add.”
“Come back to my place.” He gives his head a quick shake. “To our place. You can make it yours-whatever you want. I haven’t even shown you the building.”
“No, you haven’t.” And that speaks volumes right there. “Brick, you just went to mating games in Sweden.”
“It was for show. There’s no one but you. You know that.”
“You said you would do whatever it takes to make me happy.”
“Yes, and I will.”
“I’m happy in Brooklyn.” The words must drop like a bomb because Brick flinches. “Your apartment was a prison to me. You literally locked me in there. That’s not something I’m going to forget with a little redecorating or whatever you’re suggesting.”
He holds my gaze with the intensity of a vow or swearing. “I’ll move to Brooklyn. I need you, Madi.”
I shake my head. “I need to be with my friends right now. People who aren’t ashamed of who I am. If being your mate means I’m not your equal, I want no part of it.”
He sucks in a breath.
“Brick, I need you to let me go.”
“
Never,” he growls. The passion in his voice is a satisfying interrupt to his woodenness. He’s starting to lose control.
I put my hand on his chest to soothe his wolf. His chest is burning hot now. “I don’t mean forever. I mean right now.”
He catches my wrist and pulls my hand up to his face.
I curve my hand around his cheek, and my heart double-thumps at the tenderness of it. The Big Bad Boss letting me in. Showing me vulnerability. Accepting my caress. “I’m all in with you,” I whisper.
His chest quakes, like a dam of relief just broke.
“But not like this. You need to figure things out with your pack. If you can make it work with a human as a mate, I’m yours. If not…”
“I’ll work it out.” Brick’s voice is a rough croak.
I hold his gaze, showing my trust. Showing that I’m not angry. I’m just done. “Good. Let me know when you have.”
My phone, which is plugged into the charger near my feet, starts buzzing with an incoming call. Neither of us move.
Brick’s jaw works. His breath is rough. Finally, he says, “You should get that.”
“Yeah.” I reach for the phone and look at the screen. I don’t recognize the number.
But it’s time to start my new life-the old one has shattered.
I swipe to accept the call. “This is Madi.”
“Madison Evans?” An unfamiliar male voice asks.
I swear Brick’s chest grows bigger, like he’s prepared to defend me-through the invisible cellular waves-from any threat on the other side.
“Yes?”
“This is Edgar Lewis, personal counsel for Ms. Eleanor Harrington. I believe you two are acquainted?”
I glance at Brick, who can of course hear everything. “Yes.”
“Ms. Harrington suffered a stroke and is being cared for in a private wing of Mount Sinai Hospital. She would very much like to see you.”
Goosebumps run over my arms. “Oh.”
“May I send a car for you?”
Brick frowns.
“Right now?” I ask, then I’m annoyed with myself. Just because they’re rich and powerful doesn’t mean I can’t have boundaries. As I just practiced with Brick.
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