The Beasts At The Border

Kade Fang roared.

It wasn't a human sound. It shook the glass in Blackwood Tower's penthouse. Sixty floors of glass rattled. The sound went down Park Avenue like thunder.

I was still in a white towel, damp brown hair dripping on the black marble floor, Kael's black titanium moonstone ring cold on my finger. Kael Wolfe Blackwood had one burning hot arm around me, his 6'3 body in black sweatpants and no shirt, silver chain glinting, black hair pushed back, amber eyes now solid gold, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window at the black SUV parked on Park Avenue below.

"Malrik," he growled. His voice wasn't human anymore. It was Alpha. The word made my knees weak.

Luna Skye Ashford appeared from the hallway. He had changed too. White silk shirt open, silver hair to his waist flowing like water, crescent moon tattoo on his forehead glowing faint blue, blue ice eyes sharp. He smelled like snow and jasmine and cold power.

"Beasts," Luna whispered, looking down. "Three in the SUV. One is Malrik. Two are his Betas. They are sniffing the tower."

Kade's voice came through the penthouse intercom, deep like rocks grinding, his seven-foot half wolf half man body still at the lobby. "My Luna, my Alpha, Beasts at the border. They crossed 5th. They are on pack land. Do I kill?"

Kael's hand tightened on my waist. Burning hot. Possessive.

"No," Kael said into the intercom, his gold eyes never leaving the SUV below. "Not yet. If you kill them on Park Avenue, NYPD will come. Let them look. Let them see he is crowned."

Luna stepped closer to me. His blue ice eyes looked at my neck, where Kael's forehead kiss from Chapter 2 still glowed faint red-gold.

"He marked you," Luna said softly. "Not fully. Forehead mark. Claiming mark. But not mating mark. Kael is being... controlled."

Kael's jaw clenched. "I am not an animal, Luna. I don't mate a human on day one who is still shaking from his ex-wife cheating."

"I am not shaking," I said, but my voice shook. I pulled the white towel tighter around me. I was Jace Cole, twenty-eight, human accountant from Ohio, wearing a billionaire Alpha's ring and a Luna's circlet that melted into my skin, and a seven-foot werewolf just called me My Luna.

Luna smiled, beautiful and sad. "You are Ghost. Ghosts shake before they howl. Come. Look."

He led me to the window. Sixty floors up, Manhattan glittered. The black SUV was tiny, but I could see Malrik Dread get out. Six foot five, tattoos up his neck, yellow eyes even from here, Beast smell I remembered - wet dog and blood and smoke. He looked up at the tower, directly at our window, like he knew we were watching. He smiled with too sharp canines and put a phone to his ear.

My new husband's phone buzzed on the black marble counter. Luna's text still there: BEASTS AT THE BORDER. MALRIK IS HERE. And a new text from an unknown number: NICE RING, HUMAN. HOW LONG WILL ALPHA KEEP YOU BEFORE HE GETS BORED? - M.

Malrik had my number.

Kael saw the text. His gold eyes flared. He grabbed my phone and crushed it in one burning hot hand. The phone cracked. Glass and metal bent.

"He texted you," Kael said, his voice low, dangerous, possessive. "He dared text my Luna."

"It's okay, it's just a-"

"It is not okay." He turned me to face him, both hands on my shoulders now, huge, hot. His Tom Ford scent - cedar and rain - wrapped around me. His black hair fell forward, his silver chain swung, his amber gold eyes searched my face. "Jace Cole Blackwood, listen to me. You are mine. My husband. My Luna. You wear my ring, my jacket, my mark. Malrik Dread is a Beast who takes what he wants and breaks it. He took Sarah because Sarah wanted to be broken. He wants you now because I want you. That is how Beasts think."

His hands slid down to my wrists, holding them. His thumbs rubbed my pulse. My pulse was fast.

"I will not let him have you," he whispered. "Luna, tell him what he is."

Luna Skye Ashford stepped behind me, his silver hair brushing my shoulder, his snow jasmine scent cold and clean.

"You are Ghost Wolf," Luna whispered in my ear, his blue ice eyes reflecting in the window glass. "Last Ghost died a hundred years ago. Your fur is gray like storm clouds, your eyes are golden like Kael's when he is possessive. You are not weak, Jace. Humans think you are weak because your wolf slept. He slept because no Alpha loved you enough to wake him. Kael loved you from across a room two years ago. That love woke him."

Inside my chest, that gray wolf with golden eyes thumped. Thump. Thump.

Kade's voice came again through intercom, growling. "Alpha, Beast is leaving. But he left a box at the lobby. Human box. Smells like... human female. Sarah Whitmore."

Sarah. My ex-wife.

Kael's gold eyes snapped to the intercom. "Bring it up. Do not touch it with bare claws. Use gloves. Kade, you know Beast tricks."

Two minutes later the private elevator dinged. Kade Fang had to duck to get out, seven feet tall, gray-brown fur bristling, leather and steel armor creaking, fangs out, claws gloved in black nitrile, holding a small pink gift box with a card.

He knelt in front of me again, fist over his heart, even holding the box.

"My Luna," he growled, deep rock voice, brown loyal eyes up at me. "Gift from the human female. I sniffed. No poison. No silver. Just... perfume and desperation."

I took the box with shaking hands. Kael's burning hot hand hovered over my shoulder, ready to pull it away.

Inside was my old wedding ring. The cheap one I bought Sarah. And a note in her handwriting: JACE PLEASE, IT WAS A MISTAKE, MALRIK MADE ME, I LOVE YOU, MEET ME TOMORROW AT THE SOHO BOUTIQUE, I NEED YOU.

The same boutique I paid for with two jobs.

I laughed, and this time it didn't come out broken. It came out angry. And inside my chest, the gray wolf snarled.

Luna touched the note. The paper frosted under his blue ice power and turned to snow.

"She wants her Ghost back now that Ghost is crowned," Luna said softly. "Human females always do."

Kael took the ring box and dropped it into the fireplace. The gas fireplace whooshed and melted it. He didn't even look.

"You are not going," he said to me. Not a question. A statement. Possessive.

"I wasn't going to," I said. And I meant it.

Kael stared at me, gold eyes searching, then he did something that made Luna inhale sharply and Kade growl low.

He sank to his knees.

Kael Wolfe Blackwood, 6'3 billionaire Alpha CEO who owns half of Manhattan, in black sweatpants and no shirt, silver chain, black hair, amber gold eyes, sank to his knees in front of me in a white towel, and put his forehead against my stomach.

"I was going to wait," he whispered, his hot breath through the towel, his hands on my hips, burning. "Luna told me to wait, that humans need time, that Ghost needs time. But I can't. I watched you for two years be loyal to a woman who cheated. I watched you today say yes while shaking. I can't wait."

He looked up, gold eyes wet, vulnerable, Alpha on his knees for a human.

"Let me mark you properly, Jace. Not just forehead. Mating mark. Here." He touched my neck, side of my neck where my pulse beat. "One bite. Not deep. Just enough that every Alpha and Beast in New York smells me on you and knows you are Blackwood Luna. Then Malrik will never text you again. Then Sarah will never think she can have you back. Let me."

Luna Skye Ashford turned away, silver hair hiding his face, giving privacy. Kade Fang stood and turned his back to us, seven feet of armor guarding the elevator, pretending not to hear.

I looked down at Kael Wolfe Blackwood on his knees for me, his black hair, his gold eyes, his silver chain, his burning hot hands on my hips, and I felt my gray wolf with golden eyes rise inside me for the first time not with fear, but with want.

"Do it," I whispered.

Kael's gold eyes flared. He stood in one smooth motion, 6'3 towering over me, one hand in my damp brown hair, tilting my head, exposing my neck. His lips were hot, his canines sharp, grazing, not breaking yet, scenting, cedar and rain and Alpha filling my nose.

"Breathe, Ghost," he growled against my neck. "My Luna. My forever."

He bit.

Not hard. Not deep. Just enough to break skin, just enough to leave two small marks that glowed gold, just enough that my back arched and a sound came out of my mouth I had never made before - half gasp, half howl - and inside my chest the gray wolf with golden eyes threw his head back and HOWLED so loud Luna and Kade heard it in their bones.

Down on Park Avenue, Malrik Dread in his black SUV heard the howl sixty floors up. He looked up, yellow eyes wide, and for the first time, he looked scared.

Because Ghost Wolf had finally woken up.

And in the penthouse, Kael licked the two small marks on my neck closed, his gold eyes possessive, his burning hot arms around my white towel, my gray-gold eyes flashing in the window reflection, Luna smiling with blue ice eyes, Kade howling back at his Luna's first howl.

Tomorrow I would meet Sarah at SoHo. Not to go back.

To show her what she lost.