Chapter 154
AURORA
My heart caught in my chest, but I couldn’t show any weakness. I couldn’t show any fear.
I lifted my chin. “That’s Luna Montague to you.”
I couldn’t believe he was finally here. Dane. Standing in front of me after two and a half years of no contact, only hearing about his rampage across Europe, conquering or slaughtering any wolf and wolf pack who dared to stand against him.
He looked like himself, but…dangerous. Don’t get me wrong, Dane had always been dangerous. But he’d also cultivated a control over his emotions, his actions, that was stronger than
steel.
This version of him was rougher. Harder. Gone was the ultra–polished billionaire. This man, while still a billionaire, had all the sharp edges of a man who spilled rivers of blood.
He was dressed all in black. His hair was a little longer, a little tousled. Dark stubble emphasized the line of his jaw. His dark eyes were half–lidded, which emphasized his long, dark eyelashes. His smile was lazy.
The irises of his eyes, which had always been brown, were now ringed in gold, as if the wolf never completely left him, even
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when he was a man.
2/5
“Montague?” he drawled. I watched his eyes for any kind of reaction, but they only stayed lazily half–lidded. “You had that name once. I recall you were eager to be rid of it.”
What did he know? What did he remember? When I was under the influence of the Nameless for those few, harrowing days, it was like everything good had been taken from me. My children and the way Dane had warmed to me were distant memories.
That left only the cold and the dark, the ambition and the driving need for power and violence. Was that all Dane remembered? All he knew? Or had two and a half years under the power of the Nameless had a different effect?
Maybe he had more time to remember who he was. Who he loved.
Or maybe he’d had more time to forget.
Either way, he wasn’t a mindless killer. That wasn’t what the
Nameless had wanted from him.
No, Dane had become worse. A strategic, ruthless general.
“I chose it,” I said, “To honor the dead.”
Something flashed behind his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was talking about his grandfather…or the man he, Dane, had been.
WIRE
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The answer was: I wanted to honor them both.
3/5
When he didn’t move, I lifted my hand. All the wolves around us were silent, watching with bated breath. Dane had brought several wolves of his own with him–a dozen hulking fighters dressed all in black.
Aside from us, there were representatives from dozens of other packs. Some wanted to negotiate their own safety from Dane and the Nameless now that they had turned their sights to North America.
Others wanted to negotiate alliances with me, because once Dane had started murdering members of the Council, I had begun consolidating the packs of Georgia and the Southeastern. US. All their fighters. Resources. Money.
I’d called on the witch covens as well. For two and a half years, they’d been warding wolf territories. Creating safehouses. Making places that, even in the darkest tide of the war, would be safe from the shadow.
Now, thanks to my pack and my alliance with the covens, I was the strongest line of defense that stood between Dane and the rest of the world.
No, not Dane. The Nameless. That was the enemy. That monster had taken the man I loved as a prisoner, a puppet, a weapon, and I would do anything to get him back.
My hand still hovered in the air. “Are we dancing, Alpha Montague?”
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Dane’s sharp smile grew, and he slid his hand across mine.
4/5
I bit down on a gasp. Suppressed a shudder. After two and a half years, just taking his hand and inhaling his scent was like being taken by the throat and pushed up against the wall.
His skin, when his hand slid across mine, felt like heat and passion and everything I’d lost.
“As the Luna wishes.”
The wolves around us were silent as Dane led me down the stairs to the ballroom. I gestured to the musicians, and they struck up a song for a dance. The song started, all deep, moving string instruments. It was a song that vibrated in my bones, a cello piece that sounded like danger, need, and loss.
Dane pulled me against his body. I knew how dramatic we must look–me in my silver dress, my skin and hair so pale they were both almost white. Him in his black suit, with his golden skin and dark hair.
One of his hands still held mine captive. The other went to my ribcage, slowly trailing heat down my side until it came to rest on my hip.
“Is this why you came here? To dance?”
A look like a thunderstorm crossed his gold–ringed eyes. Then he pulled me roughly, possessively against his body, his hand sliding around my back to hold me there. A slight tremor passed
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5/5
through him, as if being this close affected him the same way it was affecting me.
He dipped his lips to my ear and whispered, “Yes. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
