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We pick up the boxes of food from where Aubrey had set them on the floor and crawl onto the couch to watch the rest of the movie. I can’t choke down more than a few bites of rice, but eventually this gnawing anxiety will leave my belly.
I hope.
It’s not until the middle of the night that I remember what Brick had said about vampires and wiping my mind.
* * *
Brick
I stand in the boardroom, my hands planted on the glass, and stare at my own reflection. My eyes are bright as lasers and I’m glowering hard enough to carve through this window and the Adalwulf building beyond.
If I look down, I can see Moon Co and everything I’ve worked for, laid out at my feet.
I’d raze it all to the ground if it meant I could get Madi back.
She rejected me. I don’t blame her–and I can’t have her even if she was willing to be with me. An alpha can’t mate a human.
There are voices outside the conference room. Nickel, Jake, and Vance, murmuring.
“Is he–”
“Yes. Still no change. He ordered us to leave him.”
“Should we bring him home?” Vance asks. “It’s Christmas.”
I snarl. I’m not leaving the office. I’ve gathered every personal item and scrap of furniture that still bears her scent, and my wolf won’t allow me to leave it.
Nickel quickly shoots him down. “We can’t risk someone seeing him in this state. No one can know.”
If the Adalwulfs found out I’m this out of control, they’d go for the jugular. It’d be all out war, and they’d use the news of my weakness to rally their feral pack and kill as many of my pack as possible. They’ve wiped out packs before–killed the leaders, absorbed the rest into their ranks. My pack is strong, but without me as a figurehead? The largest families would leave, and the pack would splinter into weaker factions the Adalwulfs will see as easier prey.
I have to hang on to my sanity. Too many lives hang in the balance.
I have to fight this.
I clench my fists. My nails have sharpened to claws and cut my palms. The blood drips, staining the carpet. Staining my suit.
And what does it matter? Without my mate, there’s nothing for me.
My wolf rises and fur ripples along my forearms. I’m so tired of fighting him. I have so much to fight for–my pack and family–but my wolf doesn’t care. He knows what I’m beginning to believe.
Without Madi, I have nothing.
* * *
Billy
“We have a problem.” Vance calls me the day after Christmas.
With most of my pack mates in the Berkshires for Christmas, I spent the day yesterday with my parents at our family retreat in Vermont. Now I’m on my way to work after the first good night’s rest I’ve had since the security breach.
It’s hard to imagine we could have another problem. The security breach has been the biggest shit show since our previous alpha got murdered by his own mate back when we were at Yale.
“What is it?”
“Madison won’t talk to Brick.”
“Why is this our problem?” I snap. Solving lovers’ quarrels really isn’t my area of expertise. Especially not when a human’s involved.
