Page 23 of The Forbidden Alpha

I took his hand. I didn’t shake it; I let him feel the weight of the power he was dealing with. My aura didn’t just surround him; it crushed. It was the weight of every man I’d killed to keep this throne. There was a dull, constant roar in the back of my skull—a thousand overlapping pleas for mercy I hadn’t granted. This was Erebus bleeding through the boundary between us, the madness bringing us closer than the Goddess deigned. An unmated Alpha with a wolf this old, this powerful, needed his mate. The voices were a countdown. My inner circle knew it. I knew it. The longer we went without her, the less of me remained inside the noise. I blinked and they receded, but they never fully left. I watched with satisfaction as his knees buckled and his body swayed under the pressure.

“Welcome to Desert Moon, Jaxon. Try not to break anything.”

He laughed, a thin, nervous sound as sweat beaded on his brow.

“Luna,” we rumbled, my voice vibrating through the mechanical seal of my mask. I didn’t wait for her permission; I took her hand. It was a soft, trembling thing. I brought her knuckles to the edge of my mask, my gaze never leaving Jaxon’s. I watched the fury ignite in his eyes as I lingered, the heat of my breath ghosting over her skin. Her cheeks burned with the shame of a woman who knew her husband was too terrified to pull her back.

Behind him, a young woman stepped forward. She was all wide eyes and soft scents—harmless. Jaxon didn’t bother introducing her, but heirs weren’t punished for their parent’s crimes. “Welcome.”

She dipped her chin, her eyes finding safety on the floor.

But then, there was another. A man who stood behind Jaxon with an arrogance that made Erebus snarl. Animosity came off him in waves and his eyes were black coals wishing for our ruin. His aura rained down, a thousand knives, dripping with a venom I’d love to see in the ring.

Kill him. Paint the stone with a fresh coat, the voices demanded.

His hate tasted like rot and my beast clawed at the underside of my skin, begging to cut him down.

This one must be watched, Erebus snarled.

“My son, Shane.” Jaxon jerked his head to the bastard, oblivious to the standoff happening between me and his heir.

I gave him a look that promised a very short life if he crossed me. Before the tension could crack the pavement, Olivia appeared from the shadows of the pillars. Her movements were so silent that even Odis twitched—the only sign he hadn’t tracked her.

“This way,” she said, her voice deliberate and sweet, effortlessly hiding the danger under it. “I’ll show you to the guest wing.”

“Witch,” Odis mouthed to me as they followed her inside.

I didn’t laugh. My eyes remained on the heir as he walked past, but then my gaze drifted past him, toward the long stretch of the North Road.

The desert air was shifting.

It was faint. Fragile, yet it violated the desert air.

Erebus went still. The fever in our blood spiked, a sudden, violent surge that nearly brought me to my knees.

Someone else was coming.

Chapter 13

Adea

The excitement in the air was a static buzzing in my ear that zapped through my body. As we drove into the city, the suffocating weight of thousands of predators pressed against the windows of the Challenger. It was a bustling kingdom of glass, humming with a power that made ours pale in comparison.

“You’ve got a little something… right there,” Gabe said, pointing at the corner of my mouth.

“Shut up,” I laughed, frantically wiping my face just in case I’d actually been drooling over the skyline.

In the distance, treeless hills shimmered under the merciful dipping sun. It was a road leading off into a mirage. After an hour, we swung a right, leaving the city lights and following the concrete that bled into red-tiled stone, flanked by buildings that made mansions look like dollhouses.

“We’ve made it,” Gabe whispered, his voice uncharacteristically small. “And holy shit, I think we’re out of our league, Ady.”

We pulled up behind an Audi. The door opened, and a man stepped out, built more like a mountain than a wolf, poured into a suit that didn’t hide an ounce of it. He was massive—muscular in a way that suggested he spent his mornings lifting small cars. He had slicked back blond hair and a suit that cost more than my life, probably twice over.

Even though I knew the Beta was Gabe’s type—my best friend had never been picky when it came to a beautiful face, regardless of gender—he ripped his eyes from the man and scrambled out to open my door.

“Thanks,” I murmured. He was a notorious man-whore, but he had a heart of gold. His mate was going to be a very lucky, very exhausted woman. It was a shame, really—if male pairings weren’t outlawed, he’d likely be looking for a man instead.

The man didn’t head inside; he stood ramrod straight as we tried to figure out if we would carry our stuff in or figure out where we were sleeping first.