Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Sully, Vance, Nickel, and Jake race around the corner.
“Shooter, two o’clock. Aubrey’s the target. Get transport,” Billy barks information with military precision although his movements are slowing, like the blood loss finally caught up.
He wasn’t in the military, was he?
Even more baffling, the guys react as if they are part of an elite navy SEAL team.
“Already on it. Jake, Vance, find the shooter. We’ll cover Aubrey,” Sully replies. Sully and Nickel flank us, providing me with even more body coverage as we run, en masse, toward the street.
Billy collapses, dropping to one knee.
“He’s hurt!” I cry, stating the obvious.
Nickel hauls him up, putting his shoulder under Billy’s arm.
“Cover Aubrey.” Billy’s voice sounds thin.
Oh my God. He’s going to die. I can’t let him die.
This can’t be happening.
“We need to get him to a hospital,” I cry.
Brick, Madi, Scarlett and Ruby, and Eagle run around, and one of the guys barks, “protect the Luna.”
Brick and Scarlett sandwich Madi.
Sirens sound in the distance.
The limo stands out front, doors open. The guys hustle us toward it. Billy’s still hanging onto me like I need protection when he’s the one about to bleed out.
“Wait!” I call, pointing in the direction of the sirens. “That might be the ambulance. Billy should go in an ambulance.”
They ignore me.
“Put Aubrey in the front,” Brick snaps from behind us. He takes my arm to try to separate me from Billy.
“Right,” Madi agrees.
In the front? With the chauffeur’s glass separating us?
Hell, no.
“Why?” I screech.
“Aubrey–” Madi’s also now trying to tug me away.
Billy collapses at the door of the limo, and Nickel and Sully have to pick him up to toss him like a hay bale onto one of the seats.
The reality that Billy may die turns me icy cold.
“No!” I wrench away from Brick and Madi and throw myself in behind him. “I’m riding with him.”
“Fuck,” Brick mutters, but everyone tumbles in, and the limo takes off with tires squealing before the door even closes.
“Billy.” I drop to my knees in front of the seat where he’s curled on his side. His face is colorless, teeth chattering.
Nickel sits toward his feet, and he rolls Billy forward to examine the wound.
I frantically skim his body with my palms as if I can heal him through touch alone.
“What in the fuck just happened?” Brick roars.
Billy’s lips move, but no sound comes out. He starts shaking like he’s having a seizure. His eyes seem to turn an icy silver.
“The bullet didn’t go through,” Nickel reports. “Lucky for Aubrey.”
For me? What in the fuck does he mean? Oh–because it would’ve hit me too? But everyone who watches mafia thrillers knows bullet wounds that go straight through are better. If he has a bullet lodged in an organ somewhere, he’ll need massive surgery.
“It’s my fault,” I choke. “They came for me.”
A strange cracking sound comes from Billy’s back, like it’s breaking apart. God, did the bullet hit his spine?
“Fuck,” Brick mutters again.
“He took a bullet for me.” Tears streak my face. “Now he’s going to die.”
“He won’t die.” Nickel sounds calm. It’s weird how people handle emergencies differently. Billy was calm, too.
And now he’s going to die.
Billy’s face contorts. The snapping bone sound gets louder. There’s a tearing of fabric, and then suddenly, Billy’s gone.
My breath stops.
In his place lies an enormous white and gray wolf. Billy’s clothes lie in shredded tatters around him.
A strange whimpering sound escapes my throat. What…just–
The wolf’s white fur turns red from blood.
“That’s it, Billy.” Nickel’s hand is on the wolf’s flank. “Let your wolf heal you.”
“The…the wolf is Billy.” My voice sounds far away to my ears.
Billy is a wolf.
I twist to look over my shoulder to gaze at the rest of the group. Every face I scan looks unsurprised. Pale and sober but unsurprised. Even Madi’s.
“Billy is a werewolf?” It’s like one part of my brain–the one indoctrinated with fairytales and fantasy–understands perfectly, but the other says this is impossible.
“A wolf shifter,” Madi says.
That’s when it hits me. “You’re all wolves.”
All except for Madi? Or has she been turned?
“He’s going to be okay,” Madi says, and this time I believe her. Because if men can turn into wolves, I certainly can believe other magic and miracles are possible.
I bob my head, tears still streaming down my face. “Okay,” I sniff. “That’s good.” I realize the other people in the limo are looking at each other.
I’m in on their secret.
I lean my face close to the wolf’s. He’s ginormous–way bigger than a normal wolf. My body has a biological fear response to the huge head and giant teeth, but this is Billy. The guy who just took a bullet for me. “Please be okay,” I murmur.
He licks the tears from my cheek.
“Please.”
“The bleeding already stopped,” Nickel says quietly. “His body will expel the bullet in a day or two. He’ll need to rest up to recover, that’s all.”