Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I braided my hair into a wreath around my head, and teardrop moonstones dangle from my earlobes. They were a gift from Catherine Adalwulf when I turned sixteen. She’s the only person who ever remembered my birthday. I regret not being able to help her in the terrible position she was in. Her mate was a Blackthroat. She gave birth to Blackthroat pups and was hardly allowed to see them. And then Oma and Odin made her the instrument of her mate’s death. Her own pups’ father.
I can’t imagine anything worse than that fate.
I haven’t seen her since she defended her son’s mate from Odin’s assassins. She’s exiled now–a fate I’m sure she would’ve chosen for herself from the beginning.
Now that I’m Seeress, I hoped to steer the pack away from their feud with the Blackthroats. Away from the poison and hate and focus on tearing the Blackthroat pack down instead of building our pack up. Both sides have lost enough.
Of course, I haven’t voiced that opinion. I wouldn’t dare. But I plan to give them only the guidance that leads in that direction.
I plan to withhold any prophecies that support this war. It’s all I can do to steer this pack towards a better path.
But I failed to earn their satisfaction with my visions, and now I’ll be bound to the alpha.
I wonder if it will change me.
Did Oma become the hate-filled instrument of destruction through Odin’s dark power, or did her black heart infect him?
I wrinkle my nose. The air in the limo is tainted, probably from Vera’s aura. She accompanied me to the city, too, and was dropped off at her Manhattan apartment. We rode the whole way here with her staring at me, like she was watching me for the Warden. I ignored her. It was rude, but when I thought about being polite, my intuition whispered Rat, and I kept my mouth shut.
She’s gone now, but the oily taste of her aura still lingers.
Blech.
I wait for the driver to open my door and offer me a hand before I step out onto the sidewalk. I wobble a bit in the heels–I’m usually in bare feet at the keep. My trips to Manhattan are infrequent. From the time they moved me from the Moonborn lair to the Adalwulf’s Adirondack mansion to study with Oma, I’ve been to the city only a half-dozen times.
Today, I will get to go without Aiden or Oma breathing down my neck. Oh, I will certainly still be heavily guarded, but I’ll be my own woman. I’m the pack Seeress. The men will have to respect me and my wishes.
I resist the urge to look around and gawk at all the noise and activity around us. Instead, I hold up my head, making my neck long and regal as I click up the marble steps to the glass doors, following Otto, my handler, in.
“Ms. Adalwulf is here for the private viewing of the Tiara of Ix-Chel,” Otto tells the museum attendant.
“Ah, yes. I’ll let the director know. If you could just pass through security here.” She waves us toward the metal detectors.
Aiden’s security team looks like any human security team, except they don’t need to carry weapons. They are weapons. He chooses the largest and most ferocious young males the pack produces, and they all stand over six feet tall. They will shift and kill in an instant if Otto gives them the signal.
I send my purse through on the conveyor belt and walk through the metal detector, sandwiched between three of my six bodyguards. The remaining three follow me.
“Have a seat on the bench, right there,” the young woman behind the counter tells us. “Director Houserman will be right with you.”
I take a seat and look around. Several groups of young elementary school children move through the exhibits in twittering clumps. A bunch of high school students jostle and tease each other. Adult museum-goers meander through the exhibits, stopping to peer into the glass cases containing specimens of crystals and gemstones.
The energy of all the crystals and minerals in the building emits a frequency that makes my head feel like it’s about to explode.
Pressure grows behind my eyes. I hope the energy doesn’t bring on a vision.
A short, stout man wearing eyeglasses and dressed in a sweater vest and tie emerges from an office behind the desk. “Ms. Adalwulf?”
Otto steps forward like he’s going to take charge of the conversation, but I ignore him, standing to offer my hand. “Yes.” I am the Adalwulf Seeress, advisor to the alpha. I’m no longer just the acolyte they keep locked in a tower.
I sense Otto’s surprise. For years, I’ve played ghost, trying to remain invisible. Now I’m pulling out alpha she-wolf energy. Somehow, the growing pain around my eye sockets cuts out the noise of second-guessing myself.