Rule #2 of Wall Street: Never show weakness

An alpha must protect his pack. Weakness isn’t an option. 

Neither is the beautiful human who turned my world upside down.

But she is my obsession, I won't let her go.

I’m feral with the need to possess her. To consume her.

Mating a human would destroy everything I've fought for: 

My business, my pack, my family. 

But I can't resist this forbidden attraction. 

And if I don't claim her soon, I'll succumb to moon madness-- a fate worse than death.

RULE #3 OF WALL STREET:  NEVER BACK DOWN

No one can know I've claimed the human as my mate.

The enemies are at the gates–one wrong move and I’ll lose it all. My world will never be safe for her.

If my pack finds out that I’ve mated a human, they’ll revolt. The fractures will grow deeper than ever and we'll be picked apart one by one. 

The lives of everyone I love hang in the balance. 

Madison may bear my mark, but she isn’t content to remain my dirty little secret. 

Now I must choose–love or my pack. 

• Either way, one will die.

Chapter One

Brick 

The view from the Moon Co.’s executive suite would make a lesser man, a human, dizzy. The building is so tall, it sways in the wind. But that’s the price of tasting rare air, and having all of Lower Manhattan at your feet. 

Up here, it’s easy to forget you’re mortal. Up here, it’s easy to feel like a god. 

A shadow falls across the glass as Billy, my second in command, comes to stand beside me. 

“We’re almost there,” he says quietly. I know he’s referring to the vow we made years ago, in our dorm at Yale, on the worst day of my life. The day my father was murdered and our enemies destroyed everything he’d built. 

“Almost,” I growl. We both stare at the building across from us. The building our enemies erected to taunt us. 

“We’re close.” He claps his hand on my shoulder. “The Aduwulfs won’t know what hit them.” 

I pivot and take a seat at the head of the conference room table. Billy heads to open the door, to signal that the meeting is about to start. The rest of the executive team starts to file in. 

That's when it hits me. A sweet scent, both bright and citrus-y but complex like nutmeg. Mouthwatering. 

It’s on the tip of my tongue to cuss and ream someone out. Perfumes and colognes of any type are banned from the premises. It’s stated clearly in the employee handbook, practically on the first page. Billy takes great joy in firing the new hires that forget. 

But it’s not perfume. It’s someone’s natural scent. But whose?

There, by the elevator. 

New Girl.

I fired my assistant Friday, which means her assistant, Indira, moved up the ladder, and there’s a new starry-eyed college grad in Indira’s place. 

A young woman coolly surveys the top floor. She’s no different than any other administrative assistant. Young, professional. She has a short dark brown bob and bold red lipstick. 

But her scent…. I pull it through my nostrils, savoring the flavor. 

Nutmeg and oranges. Maybe a hint of something exotic, like Frankincense. 

“Who’s that?” Billy flops down in his chair and leans back, making it balance on the last two legs, a display of strength no human could pull off. At my glare, he lets the chair fall to all four legs with a thump. “Your new secretary’s secretary?” 

He was there when I fired my former assistant Friday. I go through assistants like Billy goes through hookups. 

“Must be.”

“You want me to call her in?” he asks. 

“Yes.” Normally, I would say no. Normally, I wouldn’t give her the time of day until I wanted something. But I need to examine that scent up close. 

Billy looks at Indira and points at New Girl. He makes a beckoning motion, like he’s irritated that Indira didn’t already come in to introduce her. He’s almost as skilled as I am at making employees jump and tremble with fear.

New Girl doesn’t look afraid, though. I watch as she follows Indira in. As soon as I get a nose-full of her scent, I want to lick her from toe to clit. 

Odd reaction to a human.

She’s not even pleasing to the eye. I mean, she’s pretty, but there’s nothing soft and yielding about her. Something in the carriage of her neck, the lift of her chin, in the way she doesn’t flinch when I glare in her direction, makes her look like she has a chip on her shoulder. With ten years added to her, she’d look like one of those power executive types. A female powerhouse, born to dominate every office. I employ a handful of women like her. You have to be strong to make it around here.

She assesses me right back, somehow managing to appear respectful and receptive, yet completely unafraid, even though it’s her first day here. 

Part of me wants to rip her a new one right from the start. Especially because I heard her murmur to Indira, “So that’s the Big Bad Boss” before they walked in. Of course, she couldn't know that there’s no conversation out of my hearing range on this floor.

The closer she gets, the more her scent infiltrates my senses. It’s too pleasing to make me want to attack. Fates, is my dick getting hard? 

I stand. “You are?”

“Mr. Blackthroat, this is–” Indira begins.

“Madison Evans.” New Girl sticks her hand out for me to shake, saying her name at the same time as Indira. She meets my gaze steadily. There’s no challenge to it, just attentiveness. She’s reading me. I want to find something to criticize, but I can’t. She’s the right mixture of confidence and humility. Not overly bold, not cowering. There’s something annoyingly appealing about her manner. 

I already hate her. I accept her handshake. Her skin is soft. For some reason, my thoughts flick to the fact that her scent will now be on my palm. Not that I’m going to review it later.

“I go by Madi.” 

“I will call you Madison, if I remember your name. I’ll expect you to answer to Assistant, Secretary, New Girl or whatever else I hurl at you at the moment.” I release her hand.

Far from being taken aback, I see a trace of amusement in her expression. “I will answer to all of those,” she assures me with a bow of her head. 

“Good. Now take our coffee orders.” I flick a brow like she should have already known to do this even though it’s her first day. To Indira, I say, “Where are the financial reports?”