“You can’t do that,” Turner spat. “How am I going to live?”
“I guess you’ll have to budget.” This time, he couldn’t hide his smile. He knew Turner was up to his eyeballs in credit card debt, not to mention, a mortgage on his Manhattan loft and a beach house in the Hamptons. The money he had in his back accounts would only cover him for a few months. “Denise sends her regards.”
The man’s eyes went wide then blazed with anger. “Why that little bi—” But he didn’t get to finish his words as the two guards grabbed him by the arms and hauled him away. The sound of his curses and screams were like music to Lucas’s ears.
In truth, Lucas had never met Denise Alderman or had known that she even worked as an intern at Fenrir had her father, Fred Alderman, not sought an official audience with Grant Anderson as his Alpha. Fred and his family were one of the three hundred Lycans living under the New York clan’s protection after all, and even Grant didn’t know all of them personally.
Fred had come to him, telling him that James Turner had been harassing Denise for months, sending her lewd messages and trying to get her alone in the office. Turner had finally succeeded a few weeks ago and cornered Denise while she was working late. He held her down and threatened to get her fired if she didn’t let him have his way with her. If it wasn’t for one of the late-night guards patrolling the office, she wouldn’t have been able to get away.
Lucas’s blood still boiled now, as it did the first time he heard the story. He would have been inclined to just let the man go, but Turner made one big mistake: he went after someone weaker than him and a Lycan to boot. He probably thought that the poor little intern whose father worked as a truck driver was easy pickings. Humans were scum, and Turner only cemented his belief.
With anger clouding his mind, his wolf snuck up on him again. “Fuck!” He grunted as he realized his hands were gripping the armrests of his chair so hard, the metal crumpled under his fingers. The wolf scratched from beneath him, claws raking under his skin. So close.
Ground yourself, the voice in his mind from long ago echoed. Use the good to keep your animal in control. But his fury at Turner was at a critical level, and none of his usual memories helped to keep his wolf at bay. So he reached deep into himself, taking a deep breath, grasping at anything.
Orange blossoms and olives. And eyes the color of slate.
And his wolf went still.
“Everything all right, Mr. Anderson?” came David’s voice through the intercom.
“Everything is great.” He straightened his tie and combed his fingers through his hair. A glance at the clock on his desk made him curse inwardly. He was going to be late. “Have the car meet me downstairs. I need to get to Brooklyn.”
“And, with the power vested in me by the State of New York, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss—oh, my.”
The words hadn’t even left the judge’s mouth when the bride reached up and grabbed the groom’s shoulders, pulling him down for a kiss. Wolf whistles and cheers rang around them as the couple continued their long, celebratory kiss. When they finally pulled away, the groom had a sheepish look on his face while his bride beamed.
Lucas smiled to himself as he watched Zac and Astrid walk down the aisle. Their wedding and reception were being held at a rooftop event space in Brooklyn, attended by close family and friends. Even though he wasn’t supposed to be there, he didn’t want to miss his friend’s wedding.
It’s not that he wasn’t invited. Zac even wanted him to be best man, but understood that things were different now. Their mortal enemies, the mages, had attacked the New York clan twice now, and both times they had tried to kidnap Lucas and his twin sister, Adrianna.
They didn’t know why the mages wanted them specifically, but his father and mother decided that the two of them couldn’t be in the same place anymore, lest the mages struck again. He even had to move out of The Enclave, the compound where most of the New York clan lived. It was difficult not seeing his sister, since they’d hardly been apart since they were born, but he knew it was necessary for their safety.
“Sir?” His Lycan bodyguard–driver, Alfie Reyes, stood behind him, his face a mask of seriousness. “The ceremony’s over, we should go now.”
He knew Reyes was not comfortable defying the Alpha’s order that Adrianna and Lucas not be together, but he had promised the bodyguard that he would only stay until the end of the ceremony. “All right, let’s go.”
Reyes walked ahead of him, his massive body blocking the narrow hallway where Lucas hid to watch the ceremony. He followed him down the emergency staircase, taking two at a time to keep up with the other Lycan. Finally, after climbing down ten stories, they reached the exit. Reyes went out first, glanced around, and then signaled for Lucas to follow him. His town car was already by the door. He ducked and entered the car, settling into the plush leather seats.
Reyes slid into the front passenger seat, next to the driver. “Shall we head home, sir?”
“Yes,” he said with nod.
As the car headed back to Manhattan, Lucas stared outside, watching as the snow continued to fall. He tried to distract himself, thinking of the work he had to do, meetings to attend, and of course, the fact that he would soon be Alpha of the most powerful clan in the world. Most men would have caved under the enormous responsibilities and pressure, but not him. No, he had always known that he would be Alpha,
