The Millennium Wolves Book 2

I was standing on a platform, naked and shivering in the chilly November air.

Completely exposed.

Thousands of eyes on me.

Hungry, mocking, disdainful eyes.

I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder, then Aiden was pushing me down onto all fours.

I felt him looming over me as my heart raced and my throat squeezed.

“Do it, Sienna!” he growled. “Shift.”

“No! Please…”

I felt the haze rising, and the crowd, excited by my humiliation and fear, was taken by a violent, sexual madness.

Everywhere I turned, naked flesh entwined, mouths gaped and moaned in an orgiastic frenzy. But the eyes…

The thousands of greedy eyes…

They kept staring at me as the writhing bodies surged closer.

Closing in on me…

“Earth to Sienna!”

Michelle snapped her fingers in my face.

“Where’d you go, babe?”

Startled back to reality, I took in our surroundings from behind my tinted lenses.

We were sitting outside at a café in Mahiganote’s historic Moon Hill district—enjoying brunch and celebrating our freedom.

Not that I felt much like celebrating at the moment.

“Nowhere good.”

Scanning the faces passing by on the sidewalk, I was reminded of the creepy feeling I had as we left the dress shop and shivered despite the sunshine.

I shouldn’t have let Michelle talk me into ditching my bodyguard.

I had responsibilities now, duties.

Like the one I was expected to perform at the opening ceremony to the Fertility Festival this weekend…

Michelle topped off my mimosa. “Spill it, babe.”

I sighed. “I was thinking about the fertility ritual, and how the whole idea of it is absurd—not to mention humiliating. That’s actually why I said I needed to talk to you today…”

I took a few swallows then set down my glass.

“I don’t think I can go through with it.”

Honestly, when Aiden first told me about it, I’d thought he was joking. Pack tradition required me to shift with him in front of the entire pack, then let him mount me? Really?

Really.

I guess when you’re brought up as an alpha, you don’t question the status quo or outdated ceremonies.

But I didn’t come from pack royalty. Before I was mated to Aiden, I was an adopted nineteen-year-old nobody with one human parent and a severe aversion to the spotlight.

“Are you kidding?” Michelle said, eyes wide. “If I were in your shoes, I’d let Josh mount the shit out of me. The more people watching, the better—I get off on that kind of stuff. But to each wolf her own…that’s the point, right?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Unlike me, Michelle had always craved the spotlight.

“One of them, yes.”

Michelle was mated to Aiden’s beta, Josh, so we’d both had to adapt to new lives. But her transition had been much easier than mine. She loved the attention and the fancy clothes. She even loved the rules of etiquette.

But she also had a rebellious streak—and loved the idea of outsmarting my bodyguards.

So, whenever we were in need of some real girl time, she encouraged me to shed them. But until today, I’d resisted the temptation, even though at first I’d agreed with her that having security was overkill.

After all, I was a dominant she-wolf who could handle herself.

But lately, I’d been under so much scrutiny that I really didn’t mind having them around. Most of the time.

“Where to, ladies?” my bodyguard asked after we picked up Michelle.

I really wish they didn’t rotate around so often so I could remember their names.

Michelle flicked her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder as she leaned forward. “Uptown, please, we’re going to try on some dresses.”

“Dress shopping?” I whispered to her. “You couldn’t get more creative?”

“You didn’t give me much notice, Si. I can only do so much.”

The dress shop Michelle had picked out couldn’t have been more feminine, and my bodyguard was clearly uncomfortable standing among the flowery displays and brightly dressed mannequins.

“We’re going to try these on,” Michelle said, grabbing some random sundresses off the rack.

After we were out of sight, one of the teens who worked there came over and Michelle handed her the dresses and a fifty-dollar bill.

“Jas, pretend you’re pulling dresses for us, and if you see the bodyguard starting to look anxious, you can tell him we just disappeared so you won’t get in trouble.”

The girl grinned. “Not a problem.”

Normally, I’d expect to get a rush in a situation like this, but for some reason, I was getting a bad feeling instead.

“Michelle, maybe we should stick with my bodyguard after all. It’s not that big of a deal if he hears us talk.”

“Si, please,” Michelle replied, pulling a beanie, scarf, and large pair of sunglasses from her bag. “Did you not think I would take your safety into consideration? We’ll only be on the lam for an hour to two. Don’t be such a scaredy cat, Madame Alpha.”

A voice inside my head was telling me not to go, but…maybe I was being too cautious?

“You’re right, let’s go.”

I put on the disguise, and Jas led us down the hall and unlocked the emergency exit.

“Okay, I’m impressed,” I said as we ran out the door and into the back of an idling cab.

“See? I got you, girl.”

I laughed. “How do I look?”

“Like hot garbage,” Michelle said with a grin.

But as we pulled out of the alley, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being followed.

I glanced out the back window, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

It had been ages since Eve’s warning that I was in danger, and absolutely nothing had happened in all that time.

“So, Michelle, where are we going?”

I flagged down the server to order another pitcher.

I loved Sienna, I really did, but sometimes she made her life more complicated than it needed to be.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her that.

Right now, cheering her up was priority number one.

Which was why I made sure to get her away from everything pack-related this morning. Also, orange juice and champagne healed all wounds.

“What are you doing?” I asked, catching Sienna looking over her shoulder.

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“What? Spit it out, girl.”

Sienna leaned in across the table like she was about to tell me a pack secret, and my inner gossip began twiddling her fingers in anticipation.

“Ever since we left the shop, I’ve had this weird feeling…like we’re being watched.”

“Wait, hold the phone, you mean someone is spying on us?” I asked. “Like this second?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I can’t shake the ominous feeling.”

I scanned the area behind Sienna and couldn’t see anything unusual other than a woman wearing pastels out of season.

“Si, I think you’re being paranoid. Besides, it’s impossible to recognize you in that ensemble.”

Before Sienna could reply, my phone blew up with notifications.

“Give me a sec. I think we’ve been made.”

“Well…” Sienna swirled her champagne flute. “Our luck had to run out sometime.”

While we waited for Josh to pick us up, I continued to eye the people walking by, wondering if any of them had an inkling of who I was.

The whole concept of being a public figure still baffled me. I could no longer dress the way I used to, I couldn’t go out in public without bodyguards, and I was constantly under the microscope.

No more spontaneous meetups with the girls at Winston’s.

No more peaceful afternoons in the park, where I could be alone with my sketchbook and my thoughts.

Why did I have to change who I was to conform to this archetype of what it meant to be an alpha’s mate? I didn’t care if everyone loved me.

I certainly didn’t love everyone. I didn’t even think it was natural to.

If people minded their own business and spent as much time focusing on their own lives as they did mine, the territory would be filled with a lot of happier wolves and humans.

A light breeze ruffled the napkins on the table and kissed my exposed nose, reminding me how much I enjoyed the crisp late-Autumn weather in this part of Virginia. It always felt healthier to me for some reason.

Fishing out the strawberry from the bottom of my glass, I popped it into my mouth and rolled it around on my tongue, letting the last drops of orange juice and alcohol seep out before squashing it between my teeth.

At least in the midst of all this drama, I was still remembering to get my vitamin C.

Suddenly, a figure moving faster than the rest of the people on the street caught my eye.

It was a man.

Wearing a trench coat.

And concealing something in its folds.

My heart started to race and adrenaline shot into every corner of my body.

I leaned forward. “Michelle, get up.”

“Yeah, one second.”

“No, get up right now!” I shouted.