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)
Billy delivers a powerful kick to the older man’s gut, driving him back with so much force he flies eight feet through the air and crashes against a wall. Good thing we’re out in a hallway where the guests can’t see us.
He thrusts his champagne glass into my hand and stalks after his father, who seems to be struggling to breathe. Billy must’ve kicked his diaphragm.
Madi comes out of the dressing room. “Oh shit,” she mutters. “I’ll get Brick or one of the guys.”
I just stand in place, frozen. I live in Brooklyn, but I haven’t seen violence like that. Never like that.
Billy’s father struggles to his feet but not before Billy grasps him by the throat and picks him up with superhuman strength. The older man is tall, but Billy lifts him above the ground and bashes his head against the wall. “You don’t touch her. You don’t look at her. If you speak of her again, I will fucking end you.”
Billy
Rage pours from me in waves. He reached for Aubrey’s throat.
He wants her dead.
The cold steel of a blade seems to rip across my chest. I never should have let on what she means to me.
Flashes of my father murdering the human hunter years ago throw me off balance. Bring back the stench of blood to my nostrils. Screams in my ears.
I’m that five-year-old in the woods–horrified and afraid. Forced to watch him torture a man for wandering across the line onto pack land.
Fear grips me. I can’t let him torture her.
But I’m not small anymore. I can fight back.
I punch my dad in the gut, even though he hasn’t recovered from having his head smashed yet. I should kill him right now. My wolf wants to. He attacked our mate.
I’m sure now–Aubrey is my mate. I knew it all along, but I was in denial.
I think this is why.
I’d locked up the memory of that hunter’s murder until now–but the five-year-old in me still fears for Aubrey’s life if I claim her.
In my mind, the hunter is replaced by Aubrey. I see my father circling her with a knife. Her legs broken. Flesh torn from her by wolf jaws. Her screams cutting through the forest.
Look how weak she is. Don’t look away while I end her, Billy.
No! I almost shift to wolf form to save her.
“Not here.” I hear Sully’s calm, efficient voice through the screaming in my head.
I blink. I’m not in the woods.
Not five years old watching Aubrey die.
“You’re scaring Aubrey.”
I suck in a sharp breath and look over my shoulder. She’s frozen where I left her, in a blood red dress, holding our two glasses of champagne. Her eyes are wide with horror.
He's going to kill her.
I deliver four more punches in rapid succession, reveling in the sound of his ribs cracking.
“Not. Here.” Sully growls between clenched teeth.
Right.
Not here.
He, Vance, and Jake stand behind me. They have my back–not that I need it. I’m bigger now. The days of my father’s torment are over. I could snap his neck right here.
But Aubrey’s watching. I didn’t want my father anywhere near her. I definitely didn’t want her to see this.
And Sully’s right. It’s my alpha’s wedding. Our luna would be horrified.
Vance and Sully each grasp one of my dad’s arms.
Jake tilts his head toward another hallway. “Back door.”
“You can deal with him later. Go to your mate–she’s scared,” Sully says.
Your mate.
They know already.
I haven’t marked her, but everyone knows. I’m the only fool still denying it.
I turn slowly to face my beautiful female. Pearls are scattered across the floor. I can’t quite remember how they got there.
Aubrey swallows. “Billy?” She sounds unsure. Like she’s scared of me.
Like my mom was when my father raged.
Fuck. Shame floods me. I’m just like him.
It’s my deepest fear. Far worse than the instinctual terror he’ll kill Aubrey because my logical brain knows I won’t let that happen.
But I just reenacted the violence I saw as a pup on the man who delivered it in front of the female I love. The female who I’ve been denying was mine.
Somehow I make my feet move. I make them arrive in front of her. My lips move, and a rusty sound comes out. “Fuck, Aubrey. I’m sorry.”
Her chest heaves, full breasts spilling from the strapless bodice.
“Are you okay?”
Very lightly, I brush my thumb across her neck. There’s a scrape there. What happened? I’d thought he was going to choke her, but he’d had restraint. He’d yanked off her necklace.
She nods. “Are you?” she whispers. Her hands find my face.
One part of me wants to pull away. It’s not safe to be touched. But I catch her scent, and it soothes my wolf. I lean my cheek into her hand.
“Billy…am I your mate?”
My body goes rigid, ice stiffening my spine. I glance at the direction they took my father.