The Millennium Wolves Book 2
Autorzy
Sapir Englard
Lektury
đ„216M
RozdziaĆy
34
Under Pressure
Book 2
SIENNA
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.
No!
I felt him looming over me as my heart raced and my throat squeezed.
âDo it, Sienna!â he growled. âShift.â
âNo! PleaseâŠâ
I felt the haze rising, and the crowd, excited by my humiliation and fear, was taken by a violent, sexual madness.
âDo it.â
âDo it.â
âDo it.â
Everywhere I turned, naked flesh entwined, mouths gaped and moaned in an orgiastic frenzy. But the eyesâŠ
The thousands of greedy eyesâŠ
They kept staring at me as the writhing bodies surged closer.
Closing in on meâŠ
***
âEarth to Sienna!â
Michelle snapped her fingers in my face.
âWhereâd you go, babe?â
Startled back to reality, I took in our surroundings from behind my tinted lenses.
We were sitting outside at a cafĂ© in Mahiganoteâs historic Moon Hill districtâenjoying brunch and celebrating our freedom.
Not that I felt much like celebrating at the moment.
âNowhere good.â
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 shouldnât 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 weekendâŠ
Michelle topped off my mimosa. âSpill it, babe.â
I sighed. âI was thinking about the fertility ritual, and how the whole idea of it is absurdânot to mention humiliating. Thatâs actually why I said I needed to talk to you todayâŠâ
I took a few swallows then set down my glass.
âI donât think I can go through with it.â
Honestly, when Aiden first told me about it, Iâd 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I guess when youâre brought up as an alpha, you donât question the status quo or outdated ceremonies.
But I didnât 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.
âAre you kidding?â Michelle said, eyes wide. âIf I were in your shoes, Iâd let Josh mount the shit out of me. The more people watching, the betterâI get off on that kind of stuff. But to each wolf her ownâŠthatâs the point, right?â
I couldnât help but laugh. Unlike me, Michelle had always craved the spotlight.
âOne of them, yes.â
Michelle was mated to Aidenâs beta, Josh, so weâd 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 streakâand 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, Iâd resisted the temptation, even though at first Iâd agreed with her that having security was overkill.
After all, I was a dominant she-wolf who could handle herself.
But lately, Iâd been under so much scrutiny that I really didnât mind having them around. Most of the time.
TWO HOURS EARLIER
âWhere to, ladies?â my bodyguard asked after we picked up Michelle.
I really wish they didnât rotate around so often so I could remember their names.
Michelle flicked her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder as she leaned forward. âUptown, please, weâre going to try on some dresses.â
âDress shopping?â I whispered to her. âYou couldnât get more creative?â
âYou didnât give me much notice, Si. I can only do so much.â
The dress shop Michelle had picked out couldnât have been more feminine, and my bodyguard was clearly uncomfortable standing among the flowery displays and brightly dressed mannequins.
âWeâre going to try these on,â 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.
âJas, pretend youâre pulling dresses for us, and if you see the bodyguard starting to look anxious, you can tell him we just disappeared so you wonât get in trouble.â
The girl grinned. âNot a problem.â
Normally, Iâd expect to get a rush in a situation like this, but for some reason, I was getting a bad feeling instead.
âMichelle, maybe we should stick with my bodyguard after all. Itâs not that big of a deal if he hears us talk.â
âSi, please,â Michelle replied, pulling a beanie, scarf, and large pair of sunglasses from her bag. âDid you not think I would take your safety into consideration? Weâll only be on the lam for an hour to two. Donât be such a scaredy cat, Madame Alpha.â
A voice inside my head was telling me not to go, butâŠmaybe I was being too cautious?
âYouâre right, letâs go.â
I put on the disguise, and Jas led us down the hall and unlocked the emergency exit.
âOkay, Iâm impressed,â I said as we ran out the door and into the back of an idling cab.
âSee? I got you, girl.â
I laughed. âHow do I look?â
âLike hot garbage,â Michelle said with a grin.
But as we pulled out of the alley, I couldnât shake the feeling that we were being followed.
I glanced out the back window, but I didnât see anything out of the ordinary.
Youâre being paranoid.
It had been ages since Eveâs warning that I was in danger, and absolutely nothing had happened in all that time.
Relax.
âSo, Michelle, where are we going?â
âWhere do you think weâre going before eleven on a weekday? Fucking mi-mo-saaaaas!â
MICHELLE
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.
Seriously, it wasnât like she and Aiden would actually be having sex in front of the packâthere probably wouldnât even be any dry humping. Bo-ring.
And at the end of the day, she was still mated to the alpha of the second most powerful pack in the United States. Like, hello, how bad can things really be?
Of course, I couldnât 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.
âWhat are you doing?â I asked, catching Sienna looking over her shoulder.
âNothing, itâs justâŠâ
âWhat? Spit it out, girl.â
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.
âEver since we left the shop, Iâve had this weird feelingâŠlike weâre being watched.â
âWait, hold the phone, you mean someone is spying on us?â I asked. âLike this second?â
âI donât know for sure, but I canât shake the ominous feeling.â
I scanned the area behind Sienna and couldnât see anything unusual other than a woman wearing pastels out of season.
âSi, I think youâre being paranoid. Besides, itâs impossible to recognize you in that ensemble.â
Before Sienna could reply, my phone blew up with notifications.
Fuck, itâs Josh.
âGive me a sec. I think weâve been made.â
âWellâŠâ Sienna swirled her champagne flute. âOur luck had to run out sometime.â
SIENNA
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 couldnât go out in public without bodyguards, and I was constantly under the microscope.
No more spontaneous meetups with the girls at Winstonâs.
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 alphaâs mate? I didnât care if everyone loved me.
I certainly didnât love everyone. I didnât 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. âMichelle, get up.â
âYeah, one second.â
âNo, get up right now!â I shouted.
