Xavier sped down the highway on his way back to the Green Light Club. He had only just touched down after his private redeye flight had ferried him upstate in record time. It was nearly four in the morning, but the urgency twisting his gut wouldn’t settle for waiting for a proper morning flight. His entire trip to New York, Xavier had been plagued with a low-level feeling of anxiety that refused to go away. He was in the middle of important talks, the kind that held the authority to keep the American Northeast a peaceful region or bring about war between his kind and the humans. The Alliance, unscrupulous as it was, was also the only entity actively working to keep the systematic subjugation that had already festered across so much of the United States, as well as the world at large, out of the Alliance territories.As the reigning Alpha of the Red Moon Pack, his presence wasn’t only mandatory at these conferences, it was essential. He was expected to meet with the president
Ava gasped awake as she was pulled from the brink of consciousness yet again. Her chest heaved as oxygen flooded her lungs. She didn’t know if she should feel relieved or disgusted by how much more effectively her body reacclimated to the influx of air.Somewhere around the fifth or sixth time the men had choked her to the point of oblivion, only to bring her spiraling back, it had all just gotten…easier. Not mentally, of course. This was a completely different type of torture; the likes of which Ava could hardly fathom. It was…unbelievable torment, her every cell crying out for relief, only to feel like razorblades in her blood whenever that relief came. Over and over, the cycle continued. And yet, her body persevered and adapted to this hellish reality, just like it had countless times before. In the dungeon, she became weak in order to make herself appear like less of a threat. And when she had been thrust into a world dominated by the male gaze, she’d reshaped herself in
“Filthy fucking humans,” Dylan grated through elongated teeth. Xavier hummed in approval from where the Alpha Prince stood before the bleeding and bruised excuses for men. He was in his completed half-formed state; seven feet tall, with a large wolven head, hundreds of pounds of muscle hulking over the pathetic sacks of human waste on plate-sized paws. Ava’s captors cowered beneath him from where they sat broken on the bathroom floor. Covered as they were now in their own piss and tears, it was almost shocking to think that, only minutes before, they’d been waterboarding a girl, suffocating her to within an inch of her life.Where was all of that gall now? The wherewithal to stand over someone and play God, taking the reins of life and death in your hands?It was in Xavier’s hands now. And Dylan’s. And he’d already made up his mind on the fate of the men on the floor. When he shared a look with his friend, he knew he had, as well.Eight men were in this room, and only four
Ava awoke to find herself in a strange room. The shiny black lacquered ceiling panels assured her that she was still in the club, but the absence of a diaphanous bed canopy told her that she was not, in fact, in her own room. Ava blinked into the morning light streaming in through the bedroom window and made to sit up. She sighed and seized up, a hand going to her throat. *Goddess*, that hurt.Actually, *everything* hurt. Every muscle in Ava’s body seemed to be screaming at her to *give it up already and go back to sleep!* She paused, taking stock of her various – *numerous *– aches and pains. Her shoulder blades were sore from where she’d laid pressed against the tub’s porcelain floor for too long. She grimaced – so was her back. Her wrists were on fire, and she’d bet her breakfast that she was sporting some gnarly bruises around her wrists, and – she moved a foot – *yep!*, around her ankles, too.Her jaw felt tight and stiff from how it had sat ajar for so long around the ga
I fucking hate you, Xavier Michaels. Xavier’s gut clenched at the finality of the words. Ava had said them to him before, but this time was different, and he felt it as sharply as if she’d taken a knife to his chest. Before he’d made a conscious decision to do so, Xavier was out of his chair and standing before Ava’s rigid form. When he reached his hand out to her, this time she didn’t flinch. There was too much fire in her, a fire that he recognized because it matched his own. It was the same inferno that had lit his darker moments for more than a decade. It was also the same inferno that made it impossible to discount the fact that she might be a killer. “Don’t say that to me.” He lifted a hand and brushed a lock of Ava’s auburn hair behind her ear, “Say whatever else you want, but don’t you say those words to me. Not you.” “Who else has earned the right to be over your bullshit then me, Xavier?” She snarled, “What do you care how I feel about you? Or is it
“Are you the one who sent her in there?” Bella’s face went ashen at the dangerous undercurrent in Xavier’s tone. The man they’d kept for questioning hadn’t been as helpful as Xavier had hoped. The terrified human hadn’t bothered to get the name of the girl who’d sent Ava – apparently, she was blonde and liked to play hard-to-get. Which described about a solid third of the club’s employees. With yet another avenue closed to him, Xavier was on a warpath. “Wh– “ It wasn’t often that Xavier found the mistress scrambling for words – the impeccably curated air of aloof control he’d spent his life trying to perfect his entire life seemed to come naturally to the businesswoman.“I had nothing to do with this abhorrent incident, Mr. Michaels. Frankly, I can’t believe that anyone would have the nerve to flagrantly disregard the hard rules of this establishment.” “Then where were your safeguards, Sutton? Your job is to keep the people who work for you safe, is it not?”Xavier
“What do you *mean*, they were anonymous, Jared?” Bella planted her hands on the desk and slowly rose to her feet, whispers of her Wolfe slipping past her barriers enough for even this dunce human to perceive. Jared leaned back in his chair; eyes wide as he saw evidence of the predator lurking underneath Bella’s skin for the first time. She never lost control of her beast – she was much too disciplined for that. But clearly she’d been too lax, given this human too much of her trust. If the people she entrusted to keep her business running kept blatantly disregarding the delicate balance of rules she’d spent so long establishing, Bella could lose everything. “Tell me, Jared. In what world do we let random civilians off the streets have complete anonymity under our roof. We’re no better than a common brothel, if we can’t keep track of who walks in and out of our doors!” Jared looked frightened, and rightfully so. Anonymity was a privilege reserved only for the highes
Bella looked across her desk to where Madison sat rigidly before her. Even now, the girl was determined to force an air of defiance in the wake of the disaster she’d instigated. Bella shook her head in distaste. Not only for the detestable young woman sitting before her, but for the undoubtedly unfortunate circumstances that she was sure had pushed Madison to this point. Bella herself remembered that desolate, desperate climb to the top. Clawing your way up from nothing was never pretty but allowing yourself to become so deadened on the inside was no way to live. Her business wasn’t a pretty one – Bella knew that. But she’d worked herself to the bone to create a place where her workers could do their jobs efficiently, and in relative safety. However, the last few days had made it remarkably clear to her how her mission had begun to crumble right from under her while she’d been none the wiser. Needless to say, there were more than a few holes in her business model that