Page 14 of Broken Wolf Heart
Some vaguely sane part of me tries to nudge me to shut up. But we’re so far past that now. Besides, walking back a statement like that will only be seen as weakness.
“Would you like me to spell it out for you?” I snarl, anger swirling through my veins as I remember that night. The wayDom tried to attack the moment he saw me alone and vulnerable.
I refuse to ever be seen like that again.
“Dom’s throat is no longer attached to his body. He’s dead. Gone. But at least that’s a promotion for you, right?”
A ripple of agreement spreads through the room.
I hold my ground, but the beast inside me is rising again. Just like at Franco’s, I can feel her scratching at my insides, trying to claw her way free. Sweat coats my face and neck as I struggle to hold her off. To focus on how to respond to this room full of powerful predators who are one majority vote away from ending me where I stand.
“You need to back off,” I manage, my hands fisting at my sides.
Conrad studies me. Through hazy vision, I see him frown. “What’s the matter with you, anyway? You smell like a damned rabid she-wolf.”
Someone touches my elbow. I yank away from the unexpected contact, backing toward the center of the floor in order to gain some space. Everyone is suddenly too close. Too loud. Their scents overwhelming.
I can’t breathe.
“She definitely smells like a wolf now,” someone else comments.
Santiago maybe.
I can barely make out the voice through the roar in my own ears.
“Sheisa wolf, and she’s the rightful heir,” says a female voice full of authority.
Mia.
I squint up at her, but she’s not in her seat.
She’s standing in the aisle less than ten feet away. Dutch and Razor are behind her, looking like they hope this ends in a pummeling.
“She looks like shit,” Conrad says. He sounds smug.
“Hurry up and vote,” someone else calls. “Get her the fuck out of here. She looks ready to hurl.”
“All who recognize Lexi Giovanni as the high alpha of the Mafia Pack,” Santiago begins, and very few hands begin to rise.
My heart pounds.
Conrad grins. “Time’s up, you stupid, entitled bitch.”
At the sight of that smile, a voice inside me whispers,We will bathe in his blood.
And I suddenly know I’m going to lose myself to my wolf. And I can do it here—in front of this asshole. Or I can run and hide first to make sure I don’t hurt anyone else.
But I’m done running. And hiding.
“You want the title, Conrad? Then take it.” I step forward, the challenge thick in my voice even though I know I’m a trembling mess. Seconds, I have only seconds before I’m not human anymore. “Right here. Right now,” I add in nothing more than a whisper.
A wicked grin spreads across his face. “With pleasure.”
He lunges.
I expect my instincts to take over, to let me dodge, to find an opening. But what happens next is not instinct.
It’s something else entirely.
