I love you more than the moon herself.
I burst into tears. Brick-the cutting boss-hole-sending poetic love notes. It nearly killed me.
The second night he texted,
Don’t give up on me. I am going to make this work.
I responded,
I’m sure of it.
Last night’s message was,
I have a plan.
The wings flapping in my chest reminded me of my mom’s favorite Emily Dickinson poem.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
God, now I’m getting poetic. My mom would be so proud. She always wondered why I turned out so analytical after all the poetry and great literature I absorbed through her reading every night before bed.
Answering Aubrey’s question about a job means thinking about the future, which I don’t want to do. I’m in limbo right now. Until things are clear with Brick, I can’t figure out which chess piece to move forward.
“I don’t know. I think…maybe.”
“You sound very certain,” Aubrey jokes. “What’s holding you back? The fact that Eleanor Harrington is a wicked witch who wanted your mother to abort you and kept you from your father all these years?”
Aubrey’s assessment wrings a laugh out of me. “Okay, yes. For sure, that.”
“What else?”
I stop myself from flopping back on the couch, but the heaviness in my limbs makes me want to. Instead, I go all out with the cleaning, shoving the couch back off the rug to sweep beneath it.
“You still want your job back at Moon Co?” Aubrey guesses.
“Yeah, I guess. Except…I want something that I can’t go back to. I’ll never be the sparky assistant to the hot, grumpy billionaire again. We’ve evolved past that. So if I went back to Moon Co, I’d need a different job. I can’t be acting in a servile role to my boyfriend. It wouldn’t work.”
Aubrey pauses in her dusting and turns to give me an arched brow then looks at the rock on my left hand. “So you are still calling him your boyfriend?”
The tightness in my chest gives a throb, but underneath it is a fullness. There’s more love than pain now. Or they’re at least in equal parts.
“Yes.” I do believe Brick and I can figure this out. I’m committed to us. I know he loves me. I also know he needs me. So if this were a negotiation-which it isn’t, it’s a matter of the heart-I’d be in the power position. That gives me a wealth of confidence that I can still call him my boyfriend despite our current separation.
“So would you want to work somewhere else at Moon Co? What would you do?”
My brain sorts through the various options. “Ugh. I don’t know. None of the other departments or jobs appeal to me.” I wouldn’t want to work under anyone but Brick. Maybe his alpha-ness is starting to rub off on me, but I wouldn’t want to signal that kind of weakness.
“Imagine if I reported to someone like
Billy. Ugh. Never.”
“You should ask Brick to make you his boss.”
I let out a humorless chuff. “That’s not going to happen. I suspect he’d orchestrate my murder first.”
Which leads me back to Torrent. If I’m going to be an alpha female, I have a queendom to claim. I might not be able to work with Eleanor, but it seems like I’d be cutting off my own nose to spite my face if I didn’t give it a try.
The buzzer to our apartment sounds.
“Uh oh. I hope your boyfriend isn’t back to sending van loads of flowers every day. That’s so wasteful.” She slides on stocking feet to the door and presses the intercom. “Ye-es?” She drags out the syllable like she’s a butler from
Downton Abbey.
A throat clears. For a moment, my heart skips thinking it’s Brick, but then a familiar and unwelcome voice comes through. “William White to see Madison.”
Aubrey lets out a ringing scoff. “Billy White. Were your ears ringing? We were just saying you can go fuck off.”
* * *
Billy
I grit my teeth at the human’s insult. It’s even more annoying that her whiskey on the rocks voice is so fucking pleasing to my ears.
I suppose I still deserve their anger. It’s probably why my alpha sent me here. He’s making me prove my loyalty to him by guarding the female I tried to force out of his life. I have to repair the damage I’ve done, so he can bring me back to my rightful position by his side.
Ever since I wrongfully accused Madi of the security breach, I’ve been on the outs with Brick. Kept from his side and his counsel. Punished with distance.
But he gave me a chance to prove myself in Sweden when he sent me to save her, and this may be my final test before I can resume my place as his right-hand wolf.
There are two pack guards sitting in a sedan parked in front of Madison’s building. I glance their way to see if they overheard.
One of them nods through the window at me and gives me a salute.
I growl under my breath and press the intercom again. “May I please come up?” I drop my voice on the word please because it hurts to grovel to a human.
Madison is up there now. I know because her temptress of a roommate just said “we.”
“Nope.” Aubrey pops the p at the end of the word, and I wish to hell it didn’t remind me of how she looked sucking a blowpop. How much I wanted those pillowy lips wrapped around my dick when I first spoke to her.
But that’s never going to happen. I don’t do humans-not even for funsies.
And it’s obviously not why I’m here.
I start to say that I’m here to get Madi to safety, but I know how stubborn that female can be when she’s mad. Besides, she will be sure to point out that there are already two wolves on guard duty.
Fuck. There’s no option but to humble myself. Otherwise, she won’t trust me to keep her safe.
I clear my throat. “I’m here to apologize.”
There’s a pause, then Aubrey’s sultry voice comes back on. “Well, this will be interesting. Come on up, Wall Street.”
The buzzer goes off, and I throw the door open. There’s no elevator, so I take the stairs up to their apartment.
The front door is open, which makes the protective part of me snarl. The Adalwulfs could come after Madi at any point again. Doesn’t she know that?
And what if that hippie roommate of hers got hurt in the crossfire? The idea of any inch of her glorious body being injured makes me gnash my teeth.
“Why is this door open?” I snarl.
Aubrey stands in the doorway. Her braids sweep her slender shoulders, shifting and spilling as she leans against the doorframe. Her lips curve into a cruel smirk as her eyes narrow.
My trousers get tight.
“For you, obviously.” The words bounce inside my head several times over. Like my dick wanted to hear them on repeat, and my brain complied.
I want to push past her, but something stops me.
Almost like I’m afraid if I get too close, if I happen to brush against that dark skin or draw in her honey and nutmeg scent, I’ll lose focus.
I’m here for my alpha.
She eyes me up and down then pushes off the doorframe in a languid, graceful movement and steps back to let me in.
Madi’s at the kitchen sink, washing her hands.
The sofa is askew, as if they pushed it back, which makes sense because a broom and dustpan lean against the wall.
They clean their own apartment.
Well, of course they do. Aubrey works in a cafe. Madi makes enough to afford a housekeeper, though.
I stride into the apartment, pick up the end of the sofa and drop it back where it belongs. I can’t stand crooked lines or things out of place. It’s not until I catch the startled look on Aubrey’s face do I realize that I should’ve made that look at least a little harder.
Madi turns to face me but stays in the kitchen, keeping the breakfast counter between us. She gives me a cool, assessing look.
It occurs to me that she’s never been afraid of me-or of any of us. Perhaps that’s why I disliked her. This young, twenty-two-year-old had enough confidence and emotional resiliency to take on the upper echelon of Wall Street and master her job without ever showing weakness.
Maybe she is more fit to be Brick’s mate than I gave her credit for.
“Brick’s in trouble.” I didn’t mean to lead with that, but it gets her attention.
The composed mask drops away from her face, replaced by alarm.
I pace closer, stopping on the other side of the breakfast counter, keeping the barrier between us, so she feels safe.
“I came to get you, but I…” I look around the apartment as if the right words might be on top of the refrigerator. Or hanging on the wall next to the bold color study painting. Or behind the electric guitar propped against the television. “I recognize that I owe you an apology.”
Aubrey snorts somewhere behind me. I want to teach her some manners. See how she takes correction when she’s naked and over my lap. Find out the texture and taste of her arousal after I punish her.
I force those thoughts away.
“You do.” Madi sounds imperious. Under normal circumstances that tone would irritate me.
Today, her inner strength and certainty give me hope.
My alpha’s life is on the line. Our entire pack may not survive this day. But if we do…I actually think Madi could come out of the shadows and lead as our luna.
The thought shocks me, but I’m glad for it.
I sit on one of the barstools, uninvited. It’s a wooden affair-all three appear to be mis-matched second hand purchases repainted in bold colors. It creaks under my weight.
“I made a mistake. I thought you seemed too good to be true and therefore had to be an Adalwulf spy. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you.”
Madi says nothing.
It hits me that the power has already shifted. Madi is Brick’s mate, whether the pack recognizes her or not.
When I pledge loyalty to Brick, I pledge it to her, as well.
I bow my head. “I will make it right in whatever way you determine.”
I sense her surprise. Hear her swallow. “Thank you,” she says after a moment. “I’ll think about it. Now, what’s going on with Brick?”
“There’s a-” I stop myself from saying pack. Aubrey is still in the room. “-company meeting. He may be-ah-removed as leader if he can’t win over his challengers.”
I have no idea whether Madi will understand what I’m saying or not. I don’t know how much she knows about pack workings. But she seems to. Her back straightens.
“Right now?”
I nod.
“He’s facing challengers right now?”
“Yes. For you.”
“What do you mean for her?” Aubrey pipes in.
Damn. I said too much.
It doesn’t matter because Madi’s presence suddenly seems to expand in the room. “Take me to him,” she commands, more regal than a fucking queen.
“No. No way. I was ordered to get you somewhere safe.”
“What do you mean safe?” Aubrey demands.
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