The Alpha’s $12 Million Bride

The Awakening

MATE.

I froze.

That wasn't me.

Roman reached for me.

Something inside me surged forward.

ENEMY.

I stumbled backward.

Roman's expression changed.

“What is it?”

“I...”

I forgot about the gun.

Forgot about Roman.

Forgot how to breathe.

Those words hadn't come from the warehouse.

They'd come from inside me.

The pressure at the edge of my mind broke.

I fell to my hands and knees.

Roman’s eyes flashed gold as he reached for me.

His wolf.

I’d seen it happen hundreds of times. My father. My brother. Every wolf I’d ever known.

But there had never been anything on the other side of mine.

Until now.

ENEMY.

My eyes snapped back to Roman, flinching away from his hands.

My vision blackened at the edges; my breathing became raspy.

I felt my muscles strain and my bones started cracking.

Of course.

My father had just told me Roman murdered my brother.

Roman was standing in front of me, covered in blood.

Apparently, whatever had just crawled out of the darkest corner of my skull had opinions.

And excellent timing.

Roman stepped closer.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Stay away from me,” I choked.

His brow furrowed.

“Why?”

My head lolled down to my chest, my breathing coming in small gasps.

His hand stopped.

I felt nine-inch nails stabbing me beneath my nails, into my nail beds.

My vision blurred.

Then, claws where my nails had been.

“Tell me you didn’t kill him,” I panted, my voice low, strained, unearthly.

Roman’s eyes were still gold; I could see his wolf fighting for control.

He looked down at the gun between us.

Then back at me, on my hands and knees, shaking from head to toe, claws growing where my nails should be, my bones cracking in the moonlight.

I struggled forward, surged to grab the gun.

Roman moved faster.

His hand closed around my wrist as the gunshot exploded through the warehouse. The bullet buried itself somewhere behind him.

Then my back hit the wall, the wind knocked out of me, my head snapped back and smacked the concrete.

My vision went black; my body went limp.

Roman grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head.

The gun clattered to the concrete.

A sound tore out of me.

Something feral.

Something fighting for control.

Roman froze.

His heaving chest was pressed against mine, his golden eyes searing into me as my vision blurred between darkness, rain, moonlight, and rage.

Another convulsion ripped through my body.

My head jerked backward.

This time, it never hit the wall.

Roman’s free hand was already there, cradling the back of my skull against his palm.

I hadn’t even noticed him move it.

And for the first time in ninety-three days, there was no carefully maintained distance between us.

His breath hit my cheek.

His fingers circled my wrists.

His palm cupped the back of my head.

Every place our bodies touched burned.

Except it wasn't pain.

Not entirely.

Beneath the cracking bones and tearing muscles, something else unfurled.

Warmth.

Recognition.

Want.

MATE.

Fuck.

ENEMY.

Fantastic.

Even the voices in my head were conflicted.

Whatever was in there seemed to be running blind, crashing around inside my skull with no idea where it was going.

Darkness threatened the edges of my vision.

“Let me go.” I pulled against his grip.

“No.”

“Get your f*****g hands off me.” It came out closer to a plea than a threat.

“Listen to me.”

“I trusted you.”

His grip loosened.

Barely, but I felt it.

“I know.”

“My brother is dead because of you.”

Roman lowered his head until his forehead nearly touched mine.

“Your brother isn’t dead.”

My eyes snapped open.

Everything came sharply back into focus.

Even the bumbling, blind beast went quiet.

“What?”

“He isn’t dead.”

My vision narrowed on him, my breath fighting to stay even around those three words.

“My father saw his body.”

“No.” Roman’s hold loosened again. “Your father saw a body.”

Sometimes, there are sentences that don’t make sense.

Until they do.

And then you wish they didn’t.

We stared at him.

Me.

And whatever the f**k had apparently moved into my head.

Roman reached into his pocket.

I flinched and pulled against him.

“Easy.”

“Considering the evening I’m having, you’re going to have to forgive my lack of chill.”

The words came between ragged breaths.

My eyes lifted to his hand around my wrists.

To the claws where my fingernails should be.

Roman pulled out his phone, the screen cracked and streaked with blood, and held it toward me.

A man sat tied to a chair.

Bruised.

Bloody.

Furious.

Alive.

My brother.

“Where is he?”

“Safe.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting until we get out of here alive.”

“Why would my father tell me you killed him?”

Roman’s expression changed.

He looked toward the warehouse doors, then regarded me carefully, as if he thought I’d rip his head off.

“That’s a question you should ask your father.”

“I’m asking my husband.”

“I know.”

“And?”

His eyes returned to mine.

My body remembered his before my mind did.

His chest against mine. His breath against my cheek. His hand cradling the back of my skull.

Heat pooled low in my stomach.

And suddenly, my senses exploded.

Freshly milled cedar.

Summer rain hitting hot pavement.

That strange warmth beneath it.

My lungs filled.

Then filled again.

A soft moan breathed through my lips as my eyes rolled shut again.

Wait.

I knew that smell.

I KNOW that smell.

I was smelling Roman.

MATE.

The blind beast purred the word behind my eyes.

Then its hackles rose.

ENEMY.

Pick a f*****g lane.

“You won’t like my answer,” Roman said softly, as if he were losing control.

My eyes flashed open, rising to meet his, the gold burning so intensely I could feel the flames on my face.

Tires hissed across wet pavement outside.

Paws tore through the forest beyond.

Another vehicle followed.

Then another.

Whatever softness had existed in Roman seconds earlier vanished.

Our eyes flashed to the warehouse doors.

He regarded me for another second before letting me go.

Something inside me bristled.

Roman’s gaze sharpened.

“And tell her to stop arguing with me.”

I stared at him.

“Tell who?”

His eyes flashed gold.

“We’ll discuss that later.”

A smirk tugged at his mouth.

My stomach lurched.

Oh, f**k me.

Terrible timing.

Headlights swept beneath the warehouse doors.

Once.

Twice.

Then stopped.

Whatever woke inside me surged.

Hard.

I doubled over.

Roman caught my arm.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

For the first time that night, the words came out completely honest.

Something scraped beneath my skin.

My claws dug into my palms.

RUN.

I flinched.

Roman’s grip tightened.

“What did she say?”

I looked up at him.

“Run.”

His expression hardened.

A fist slammed against the warehouse door.

Once.

Twice.

The metal rattled in its tracks.

Roman moved in front of me.

“Stay behind me.”

“You just told me to stay close.”

“This is close.”

His eyes burned gold as they held mine.

The door began to rise.

Cold rain snaked beneath it in silver ribbons.

Shoes appeared first.

Then paws.

Men.

Wolves.

Lots of them.

The thing inside me recoiled.

Then lunged forward so violently my teeth snapped together.

ENEMY.

My grip tightened around Roman’s arm, my claws digging down to bone.

But this time, I wasn’t looking at Roman.

ENEMY.

The word came harder.

Sharper.

I looked at Roman’s back.

The thing inside me softened.

MATE.

Oh.

The door climbed higher.

Oh, f**k.

Maybe the thing in my head hadn’t been confused.

Maybe it had been trying to warn me..

Roman’s body went rigid in front of mine.

My father stood on the other side.

Rain ran from his silver hair, down the collar of a black coat I’d seen him wear to a hundred dinners, meetings, funerals.

He looked exactly like my father.

Except for the set of his face.

Something had hardened there. Twisted. The familiar lines of his mouth and eyes arranged themselves into an expression I had never seen before.

For one disorienting second, I didn't recognize him.

Then he smiled.

And somehow, that was worse.

Roman reached for the claws digging into his arm, found my wrist, and gently but firmly pulled my claws out of his bone.

Not to restrain me.

To pull me closer.

My father’s eyes dropped to Roman’s hand around my wrist.

Then to my claws.

His smile disappeared.

Just for a second.

But I saw it.

Fear.

My father looked at me.

And smiled.

Something inside me recognized him.

ENEMY.

My spine snapped backward.

Fur ripped through my skin.

Every bone in my body seemed to break at once.

And suddenly, there was no more thing inside me.

No blind beast.

No voice in my head.

Just her.

My wolf.

And she lost her f*****g mind.