Page 1 of Broken Wolf Heart
1
LEXI
Today is supposed to be a beginning. The moment the nightmares of my past give way to something real. A future. A husband. A life I choose for myself. Instead, it’s an ending—for the last living family member I had and undoubtedly for me too.
“He’s dead.”
Santiago’s words hang in the air like a poison cloud. The suit-clad male with a paunchy gut stands halfway up the aisle of the crowded church, which is as far as he got after returning from my upstairs dressing room. As one of Franco’s mafia generals, he hadn’t been willing to accept Dutch’s claims about his high alpha’s sudden demise. Not without seeing for himself.
Now, he looks stunned.
At his pronouncement, the wedding guests—mywedding, which might as well be a wake now—look at me with shock and awe. And more than a little skepticism. I can’t blame them for the latter. Mostly because Dutch just claimedIkilled the mafia pack’s high alpha… which is a total lie.
The question is: Why?
One look at my fiancé—husband? Did we make it that far?—and my stomach sours.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“Trust me,” he whispers back.
Something flashes in his eye. Desperation. And something darker.
I blink and pull back as the realization washes over me. Grey killed him, but he’s giving me the credit.
I don’t know how he did it. Franco was supposed to be the most powerful wolf in this city. But somehow, my grandfather, Franco Giovanni—the man who ruled Indigo Hills with an iron fist, the man who had no qualms about being my enemy, yet failed to denounce me as his heir, is dead.
I also don’t know why Grey isn’t just declaring himself the new alpha. But I won’t betray him. So, I keep my mouth shut and do my best to make my expression devoid of the truth. It’s not hard, considering all my other half-panicked thoughts vying for attention.
Santiago looks from me to his brother, Conrad, who sits in the second row. They’re both generals in Franco’s pack hierarchy, which probably makes them in charge now that the old man is gone. Then, they both look at Toros, the third general. The worst of them, from what I’ve heard. His scars stretch across his face, pulled taut with the tension of the moment. After a shared look, they all nod like they’ve just made some unspoken agreement.
Fear squeezes my chest at that nod. Is it a “yes” to killing me? To shifting into their wolf forms and decimating this entire church full of people? A yes to retribution for what Grey took from them? For what they think I’ve done?
I can’t breathe around my racing thoughts as I try to decipher my next move. Or how I’ll possibly survive the next few moments with murderous wolf shifters hovering over me and my own inner wolf intent on clawing her way out to join them.
The serum Vincenzo gave me to access my wolf has finally started to kick in. I don’t know what’s considered normal for a new wolf, but I’ve never felt quite this unhinged before.
The guests become restless.
Murmurs echo off the walls. They start low but get louder fast. Shoes scrape against the floor as people shove to their feet. Threats and curses are tossed my way, the most vicious of them from Franco’s lieutenants sitting in the second row. The loudest voice, though, belongs to Vincenzo Diavolo. Grey’s father. If there were an award for Most Likely to Kill Me Where I Stand, it would go to this man, no contest.
While Santiago, Toros, and Conrad seem to debate who gets to murder me, Vincenzo shoves to his feet, yelling, “What the fuck have you done?”
But he’s not looking at me.
He’s shooting venomous glares at his son. Like he knows the truth. Or has at least guessed it.
“Lexi,” Grey warns, pulling me back just as a couple of Franco’s pack members surge toward the dais. Toward me.
I tense, bracing myself for their vengeance. Before they can reach me, a couple of bodies slide in front of me and Grey. Razor and Dutch. They shove the two men back and face the crowd with their arms crossed—a veritable wall between us and them. It won’t last long, though. Not with the looks Franco’s generals are giving me.
Inside, my stomach rolls with nausea. Anxiety slams through me. The need to run wars with the urge to fight. I shove both of them away and try to breathe.
“Hey,” Grey says, but I can’t look at him. I can’t do anything except suck in oxygen and try not to lose my shit.
My next inhale is an assault on my senses. Suddenly, I can smell every single person in this room. None of them smells like friends, not toher.
“Whatever happens next, know that I love you.”
