For a moment, they seemed to focus. They stared up at him, but her eyelids struggled to stay open before shutting again. He reached out to touch her cheek and felt a zing across his fingertips at the contact.
Who are you?
His inner wolf howled. The urge to take her away and protect her came over him. A silly notion. She was a stranger. Vulnerable, yes, but he didn’t even know who she was.
He heard shuffling outside and went still. And he realized that it was unusually quiet. The chaos had died down. Perhaps the attackers had been defeated.
I’m a damn fool. He should have run at the first sign of danger. Who cares if all those Lycans had been killed? It would have been a boon to The Family as they would be able to go about their business without interference.
The doorknob creaked as it turned and he quickly dashed into one of the empty stalls, carefully closing the door and bracing himself against it. He closed his eyes, focusing his keen hearing on what was happening outside. Rustling fabric. The click-clack of heels on marble.
“Oh, God. What was I thinking?” There was a barely contained sob and a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have told him—Adrianna?”
Adrianna? Why did that name sound familiar?
“Adrianna. Adrianna. It’s me, Deedee. Wake up!” There was a sniff and a pause. “Oh, no. The mages must have hit you good with whatever potions they had. They’re gone now, but … don’t worry, I’ll get help and come back right away.” He heard more movement and the sound of the door creaking open before it slammed shut.
Darius counted to ten before he carefully made his way out of the stall. The other woman said she would be back soon which meant he didn’t have any time. He glanced back at the woman on the couch.
Adrianna.
As in, Adrianna Anderson. He recognized the name from the invitation. This was the New Jersey clan’s soon-to-be Alpha. His Alpha.
It couldn’t be. But surely there weren’t many Adriannas here tonight. He was torn. His wolf refused to leave her side, but he knew that he couldn’t be discovered here. There was too much at stake.
We must go, he told his wolf. He leashed it tight, ignoring its howling protests. The coast was clear outside, and it was now or never. Of course, there was the fact that he was fully naked, his shift having torn his tux and his car keys away. That only made his escape now more urgent. The trip back to New Jersey would be long, and it would have to be made in wolf form, but he had no choice.
And speaking of going back to The Family headquarters, there was the matter of what he would report back to Anatoli.
Worry about it later. For now, he had to go before anyone saw him.
Chapter One
Adrianna Anderson smiled to herself as she watched the bride and groom dance under the fairy lights, then let out a sigh. It was incredibly romantic, and she was happy that Astrid and Zac were lucky enough to find love in each other.
The wedding venue was a glass conservatory on a Brooklyn rooftop, so while the snow continued to fall outside, it was warm and toasty inside. The whole place looked magnificent, but the wedding couple didn’t seem to notice their surroundings as they had eyes only for each other. The bride was practically glowing as her groom twirled her around and then pulled her back to him.
“Beautiful wedding, isn’t it?”
“It definitely is.” Adrianna turned around. “Nice to see you, sis. Been busy?”
Julianna Anderson smirked at her. “You know I’m always busy.” She crossed her arms over chest. “But I had to see this for myself.”
“I think you’re a cynic.”
“You know I am,” Julianna snorted.
Adrianna chuckled. Her middle sister was always so serious. Even now, dressed in a sleek gray pantsuit, her chin-length bob slicked back, she looked more like she was attending a funeral rather than a wedding. Working for the Lycan Security Force in the Special Investigations department was the perfect fit for her nature and personality. Her eyes—one blue and one green, as she shared the same heterochromia all the Anderson siblings had—showed a hardness that was way beyond her years.
“You don’t believe in love? And True Mates? Even though our own parents were True Mates?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe in True Mates,” Julianna said. “But I’m a realist.”
“I think it’s romantic.” She had, after all, seen the attraction and love blossom between Astrid and Zac, and she liked to think she had somewhat of a hand in their getting together. “It’s hard to believe they’re the first True Mate pairing that’s come out in the past couple of years.”
“If I didn’t see Astrid survive being burned to a crisp when the mages attacked us at the Waldorf, I wouldn’t have believed it.” Women who were pregnant with their mate’s child were invulnerable, one of the few signs of a real True Mate pairing. “Too bad you missed it, since you were passed out in the bathroom.”
Adrianna stiffened at the mention of the failed ascension ceremony. They had nearly lost their lives when their enemies, the mages, had attacked. Her inner she-wolf, the animal she shared her body with, bristled with anger. It had wanted to attack, to protect them from the mages, but they had hit her with a confounding potion that knocked her out before she could even shift. Apparently, she and her twin, Lucas, were their main targets.
They told her she had been found in the ladies’ room at the Waldorf Astoria after the attack. She couldn’t remember how she got
