Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I’m alone.
Dark shapes topped with snow rise in the distance. I brush away the snowflakes clumping on my eyelashes and can make out massive evergreen pines. I must be on a frozen lake, and the trees are lining the shore. Beyond the forest, giant peaks disappear into the clouds.
I force myself to eat a handful of snow. The frigid sting wakes me up further. My fingers throb with pain that fades to numbness. I shove them in the coat pockets.
My last memories are of the scar-faced man dragging me through the kitchen, leaving Catherine’s broken body lying on the pantry floor.
I hope she and Ariadne are okay. I hope someone figured out how to get a signal and radio for help. Because I need someone to figure out what happened and find me before I freeze to death.
The Adalwulfs must have drugged me and dropped me in Alaska. Or somewhere with frozen lakes, mountains, and pine trees.
Not Alaska… Sweden. Because that’s where Brick is, right? The only reason the Adalwulfs would be after me is because of him.
First things first. I have to find shelter. I can’t survive out in the open like this. The only reason I haven’t died of exposure is the winter coat and boots my kidnappers gifted me with.
Thanks for nothing, asshats. They must want me to survive long enough to... what? Die tonight when it gets much colder?
This line of thought is not helping. I force myself to trudge towards the nearest shoreline, a mile away.
I’m not going to die here. I can figure this out.
An eerie sound bursts from the treeline. I stumble to a halt, my muscles freezing as the melancholy cry goes on and on. Am I headed towards it? Or away?
The howl stops and starts again. Then another and another, echoing off the mountains until the howling comes from all sides.
It might be Brick or his pack.
But it might not. And I can’t risk it.
I grit my teeth and start to run towards the shore.
Brick
I crash through the forest, branches whipping my face. I’m running, still in human form. I haven’t taken the time to shift. My speed turns the falling snow into sharp sleet slicing at my face.
Wolf howls echo all around.
She’s out there. Alone. My mate. I knew something was wrong.
And now she’s in danger. My wolf was telling me to return to her, and I let my top wolves convince me to go ahead with this charade, to put my pack first.
Did they know something was wrong? Did Sully know how bad it was and hide it from me?
Is there a traitor in my pack? Can I trust any of them to fight for a human?
But I can’t stop to think about that now. I have to find her.
I put on speed, dodging boulders and pushing through the tightly-thatched pine boughs. Branches crackle and snap, dumping snow in my wake. When I break free from the woods, Billy is running flat out beside me.
“Scarlett,” I grit out. Madi is my first focus, but I can't forget my little sister. With the Adalwulfs making trouble, she might be in danger.
“Headed back to the hotel under guard. Sully will keep her safe.”
If Sully can be trusted. Dammit!
Behind us, a long, low bugling sound rings out. A hunting horn.
“What’s that?” Billy asks.
“The start of the games,” I answer grimly. Now more wolf packs will be out to find Madi.
“Nickel stayed behind to explain. The packs wouldn’t–”
“Some of them would.” Some of them would find hunting a human distasteful. Some of them would relish it.
Howls break out. Among the rest, I recognize Jake and Vance’s distinctive song. Billy says, “I told them to spread out and watch our backs. The Adalwulfs are up to something.”
The wind shifts, blowing bonfire smoke our way, and I lose the faint floral scent. I halt, floundering in the snow.
“This way,” Billy says, and I follow him to higher ground. We come up on a rocky hilltop, overlooking a thick pine forest. Beyond the frosted tree tops lies a large frozen expanse. “There, on the lake.” He points. There’s nothing but white, but then swirling snow settles, revealing a tiny red dot. A figure struggling across the snow-covered ice.
Madi. My mate.
I’m off like a shot, speeding down the hill.
“Alpha,” Billy shouts. “Wait!” He’s running too, but a few feet behind me. So when I plow into the waiting Adalwulfs, he’s able to avoid their attack.
Giant black and brown wolves surround me on both sides, leaping to bring me down. They’re half feral, with huge fangs and bright red eyes. Odin’s enforcers take a potion to enhance their strength–the side effect is red eyes.
The leader, Scar Face, strides forward, still in human form. “Odin sends his regards. He will relish news of your death as he did that of your father’s.”