Chapter 13
Brick
I stand in the wings of the concert venue. At the edge of the stage, the velvet curtains sway in the currents of air and noise from the thousands of wolves packed into a tight space.
The last Town Hall meeting was nothing compared to this crowd. There are wolves lining the walls, flooding the place all the way to the exits. Their voices rise in a muted roar. And I haven’t even stepped on stage.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Nickel asks. He and Eagle hover close, concern etching their faces. They”re not convinced of my plan.
Behind them, Ruby waits near the exit, her face serene despite the fear in her scent. She knows I might not survive this Town Hall. None of us might. What I’m about to do endangers me and, therefore, all of us, including her children.
But I have to do this. For Madi. For us.
I meet my older sister’s gaze. She nods slowly.
“I”m sure.”
Eagle blows out a breath. “We’ll stand with you, Alpha.” He can’t see Ruby, but he can hear when the slightest whimper escapes her–her wolf whining for her mate.
“Not you,” I face him and grip his tense shoulders. “I appreciate your loyalty, but you need to go with your mate.”
He heaves a breath as I dismiss him then heads to my sister’s side. As soon as I step on stage, she plans to leave with a handful of our strongest wolves. They’ll go to protect April and Auggie because when the Adalwulfs hear of what I’ve done today, there’ll be a target on the pups’ back.
“Thank you,” Ruby mouths to me.
“Love you,” I murmur back.
“Sod this,” Nickel mutters. He’s stepped to the corner near Billy, where he’s trying to get a signal on his phone. “I’m calling reinforcements.”
“Do it,” I say, even though if anyone comes from his family’s estate in England, it’ll be too late for me. “Send them to the Berkshires. They’ll need more numbers there.” I sent my mother to wait in the manse along with my niece and nephew and some of the youngest and most vulnerable of our pack. The jet stands ready to fly them to a safe, undisclosed location if–when–things get really bad.
Billy’s planted himself in the shadows. His body is so tense it vibrates, as if his wolf is ready to leap out and squash anyone who would challenge me.
As I approach him, he turns, his eyes blazing blue.
“Go. Keep my mate safe.”
His nostrils flare. “No. I should be at your side.”
“You are. You are my right paw, always. But I need you to protect her.”
For a second he holds my gaze. Then his eyes drop, and he angles his head slightly, acquiescing.
I clasp his arm and pull him in for a hug. “Brother.”
He fists my shirt in his hand for a second then pushes me away. He walks to the door and punches it open. Daylight floods in, blinding me, and Billy steps into the blaze. He’s gone by the time the door slams shut.
My wolf relaxes. Billy will stand against an army of Adalwulfs. He’ll beg, borrow, steal, call in favors from other packs, make deals with vampires–do anything to keep his word and keep my mate safe. He nearly caused me to lose her, yes. But only out of his love and loyalty to me. He thought he was protecting me from her. Now that she’s my mate, he’ll do anything to protect her, too.
I trust Madi with him.
“It’s time.” Nickel pockets his phone, his own eyes bright blue. “I’ve done all I can, but I don’t…” he trails off, shaking his head. He’s avoiding my gaze, his face set as if he’s staring down the barrel of a gun.
“That’s all you can do. I thank you for it.” I pat his shoulder as I pass. “You can go fly with Ruby and Eagle to the manse.”
He falls into step behind me. “Might as well stay here and manage things. Someone’s got to.”
I head towards the stage, and Jake and Vance flank my right and left side.
“You’re not sending us away,” Jake mutters.
“Not when the fun’s about to start.” Vance cracks his neck and bares his fangs in a grimace of a smile.
If things get out of control and the pack overwhelms me, any one standing with me will die too. Maybe not the tenth attack, or the hundreth, but the thousandth. But ordering them to safety would be an insult to their honor.
“Let’s do this.”
I stride on to the stage, and the thick heat and scent of shifters hits me. It smells like pack. Like home.
My father was careful doing the dance of leadership. It’s not an easy one. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, following in his footsteps.
“Can you forgive me?” I asked my mother this morning.
“Of course. And I forgive him.” She spoke of my father with a sad smile on her face. I wanted her to come to this Town Hall.
“No, Brick. In the eyes of the pack, I’m still the enemy.”As much as I hate that she still suffers the sins of my father, sins I also committed against her, she’s right.
“I’ll be with you in spirit,”she said, careful to grip my hand and only my hand, so her scent clings to a spot that I can easily scrub clean.
Even now, I feel her touch on my fingers. I clench my fist and step to the center of the stage.
The sea of shifters moves, a living, breathing thing, spilling into the corridors, washing against the walls. Their voices swell until they all notice I’m waiting and fall silent.
I don’t have a microphone. I don’t need it. Other than a few coughs and shuffling feet, the place is quiet. All eyes are on me. “Welcome, everyone. It’s a great honor to stand before you as your Alpha today.
“You’ve heard the rumors of why I’m here. The enemy has spread them in hopes to weaken our pack and fracture us.
“They’ve told you I’ve been moon mad, that I nearly lost control chasing after a female.”
The entire room stays silent as if no one’s breathing. Silent as the dead.
“The rumors are true.” Murmurs rise, and I raise my voice. “I fought Fate and resisted taking my mate, and I nearly lost my mind. I thought I did this out of caution and love for you, my pack. But now I see it was fear.
“I was afraid that the one Fate chose for me would weaken the pack. But mostly, I was afraid she would weaken me.”
I seek out faces. The grizzled, bearded ones in front of the stage. The fresh faced yearlings by the walls. I meet each glowing gaze, not to overpower or dominate, but to connect with them.
“I was wrong. I put you and her at risk, and for that I am truly sorry.”
There’s shock on the familiar faces. An alpha never apologizes. At least, my father never did.
Maybe it’s time for that to change.
Ripples run through the crowd, murmurs rising in a great wave of sound that crashes against the walls and reverberates back.
“I have claimed a mate. Her name is Madison Evans. She bears my mark. She is under my protection, my true, fated mate.”
“Where is she?” someone shouts, and others agree. “Show her to us.”
“She is not here.” The murmurs grow louder, and I shout over them. “She is human.” I shout the truth, so everyone in my pack can hear. “And she is not a weakness. She is my strength.”
The sound surges to a deafening roar. Wolves shake their heads. Some of them push towards the exits. Others stand frozen, eyes flaring brighter as if they’ve seen a threat.
Jake, Vance, and Nickel step closer to me, tense as if braced for a blow. Everywhere I look, wolves are in chaos. Fights have broken out in the corners–wolves trying to escape the room, panicking and pushing each other. In the front row, the most staunch supporters of my father are stone-faced. Lowell Hunt, a wolf I once thought of as an uncle, has his arms folded across his chest, and his sons stand in a similar pose.
Will the pack accept a human? Will enough of them stay, so we can remain whole? Within a few hours, we’ll know.
“I am still your Alpha,” I shout into the maddening fray. “We are the Blackthroats. We will remain strong, if we stand as one.”
The crowd is a beast, snarling, snapping, shouting, “No.”
“A human will destroy the blood line!”
“You weakened our pack!”
“You’re not fit to lead!”
Many wolves have already left. They’ll defect to the Adalwulfs, who will either accept them as minions or slit their throats right then and there. Or the defectors will try to form an independent pack, and the Adalwulfs will slaughter them anyway.
Of the ones who remain, clusters have formed around the biggest and burliest wolves. One by one, their hands shoot up in the air.
“I challenge you for Alpha,” a huge wolf shouts.
“I challenge you!” one of Lowell Hunt’s sons also shouts. His cousins are behind him. They think they can take me as a group.
The cries come from every corner of the room. “Alpha, I challenge you!” Hundreds of wolves shouting, fighting to get to the front of the room.
I will have to fight them all.
I feel nothing but peace. The scents of my family, my friends and my pack fades until all I sense is her.
No more living in the shadows. I’ve made my choice. Madi is the sun of my life, my light, and I will sacrifice everything for her. Everything I have and everything I am because without her I am nothing.
* * *
Madi
“So, are you going to take the Torrent job?” Aubrey asks. She’s blasting “Candy” by Iggy Pop as she dances through our apartment dusting. I’m on floor duty, sweeping. We make a party out of our every other week deep cleaning of the apartment to make it go by faster.
This week isn’t much of a party, though. Or the vibe hasn’t transferred to me. I’m barely functioning.
My stomach clenches at her question. Every time I think about working again, I long for my job at Moon Co. It’s nothing compared to the cavernous ache of missing Brick, but it makes it hard to think about work in any capacity.
Good thing I’m still on Moon Co’s payroll at my new doubled rate.
It’s been three tortuous days since we landed in New York. Three nights sleeping alone. Three rounds of riding the subway and walking in Central park for hours to keep myself from staying in bed all day.
Brick called the first night, and I answered. I told him that I loved him, but until something had changed, I wasn’t going to take his calls.
Then I went into the bathroom and puked.
Since then, he’s honored my request but has sent a text each night.
The first night’s said,
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.
“I won’t be in danger. Take me to him now.” The air shimmers and pulses with energy. My body reacts to Madi’s words as if she’d used an alpha command.
Perhaps she did.
She’s not a wolf, but she’s been marked by an alpha. Maybe there’s some transference of his alpha power to her. I’ve never heard of it before, but it seems possible.
What other explanation can there be?
I reluctantly rise from the stool. I want to refuse, but my body’s already in motion. My wolf recognizes her as the boss. “As you wish,” I grumble, holding out an arm like I’m going to escort her to a fucking ball.
She blinks in surprise but moves to take my arm.
Believe me, I couldn’t be more surprised myself.
Aubrey stands blocking our way, her hand on her cocked hip. I want to throw her over my shoulder and carry her out, too. Keep her safe in the scuffle.
Except this has nothing to do with her.
She would only be in danger if I brought her to it.
Which I wouldn’t.
“I really don’t understand what’s going on right now,” Aubrey says.
Madi leans over and gives her a quick cheek kiss. “Sorry to leave the cleaning party. I’ll help when I get back.”
I yank a couple hundreds from my pocket and thrust them at Aubrey. “Call in a cleaning service.”
She looks at my money with scorn. “Bite me.”
I toss it on the coffee table. “With pleasure, buttercup.”