Page 16 of The Forbidden Wolf

Tell him so. Ask him not to make the claim.

I snorted out loud, drawing a sharp look from the older woman at the register. My fraught nerves wanted me to bite back with some snarky remark about not knowing this was a library, but Kiana already believed I’d been hitting the books again, so I forced an apologetic smile and murmured, “Allergies.”

“Should I close the door?” the cashier asked, taking a step in that direction.

“No!” I bounded forward, holding up one hand. “I was just—They’re indoor allergies. To, um, lace, actually. So, I’m just going to—” I pointed both index fingers awkwardly at the door. “Be right back.”

My wolf dug her claws into the ether of my soul as I took one long sideways step toward freedom. This wasn’t exactly the silent escape I’d been planning since we got here, but I might not get another chance. There was a subway station at the end of this block. All I had to do was catch the next train, not think about being trapped in a metal tube under the Harlem River for however long it lasted, and then remember which stop was closest to my friends’ apartment. I would tell them the truth, or something close to it, and they would help me get out of the city.

And then what?

Well, first, I would head to Pennsylvania to hide out with the Amish like John Book in Witness, perhaps even falling in love with a gentle farmer for a while before ultimately breaking his heart and moving on when enough time had passed for my pack to stop looking for me. Then, I would head out west, all the way to Santa Monica where I would ride a horse on the beach and have my photo taken to show my—

“Elyse!” Kiana’s voice stopped me in my tracks, two steps out onto the sidewalk. “Where do you think you’re going? Get back in here! I need your opinion!”

Slowly, I turned around, one finger pointed skeptically at my own chest. Kiana glowered at me from the boutique’s back room, one finger pointed adamantly at the floor in front of her. Her current dress featured delicate little shoulder straps and a sheath-style skirt that gave her the triangular silhouette of an Oscar statue.

“Looks great,” I said, flashing a big cheesy grin and two thumbs up.

“Get over here,” she snarled. “And tell me the truth.”

My wolf breathed a sigh of relief as I trudged back into the boutique. The cashier gave my own outfit—a casual gray cardigan over a plain black tee with plain black slacks—yet another disapproving look. As if I should’ve come to my sister’s dress fitting in full-on mating regalia myself. The tailor didn’t look any happier to see me, but that might have just been all the pins jutting from her thin lips.

“Leave us,” Kiana ordered with a dismissive wave.

The tailor hesitated, only for a moment, but long enough for my twin’s face to flame red. She growled low in her throat and pointed into the other room. The tailor lifted her hands in surrender and swept past me, dragging her yellow measuring tape like a very long tail.

“Close the door,” Kiana demanded. “We need to speak freely.”

I grasped the edge of the wooden sliding door tucked into the wall and pulled it shut. The sounds of freedom ringing from the street faded to a distant muffle. When I turned to face my twin, she had turned to face her reflection in the mirror, which was always surreal for me to witness, knowing she was seeing how my face would look with that much makeup.

Movie star hot, to be totally honest, but I didn’t have the attention span for being that beautiful. If I couldn’t make it happen in less than seven minutes, it didn’t get done. More than once I’d shown up for movie night with one eye untouched, having thought of something else I ought to be doing halfway through the process. I often thought of something else I ought to be doing, but I’d yet to figure out what that was.

“I look like a male,” Kiana whined, plucking at the flimsy straps stretched over her muscular shoulders. The subtle movement revealed the light brown birthmark situated at the far end of her right clavicle, identical to the marking I bore on my left.

“You look powerful,” I said. “Isn’t that what you want?”

“I want to look like a powerful female.” Kiana’s hands dropped to her slender hips. “Like I can accomplish all of my duties as the Bronx’s first female Alpha. Any sign of weakness might be used as an excuse for Sebastian to preemptively usurp me.”

Kiana’s gaze caught mine in the mirror, and perhaps it was just me projecting my own emotions onto her image, but I could have sworn I caught a flicker of real fear in those ice-cold eyes. Shame pricked my heart. I was not the person who should be accompanying Kiana on this mission, but I had taken that person from her, and so I had no right to remove myself from her life when she had for so long resisted her right to take mine.

I crossed the room to stand at her side. “There isn’t a weak bone in your body, Kiana. This dress was simply made to flatter a different figure. We just need to find a more balanced design to highlight… all you have to offer. Something with a fuller skirt—”

“Oh, what does it matter?” Kiana slumped, pressing one hand to her forehead. “The night will end with the dress on the floor and… and… Sebastian will see only someone who could snap his neck in a split second.”

I shook my head and grasped my sister’s elbow, just below her admittedly very intense bicep. She had been put through the exact same training a male Alpha Heir would have received and fed the exact same highly restrictive diet. The dividends of this regimen were clear in the sparring room, but completely at odds with the messages we’d received as females about what males were looking for in a mate.

“First of all,” I said gently, channeling as best I could the way Charlie spoke to me when I was blue about something, “the dress is for the benefit of the entire Manhattan pack. It will be their first glimpse of you, so yes, it does matter. But as for what happens when the dress comes off…”

“I barely even know what that is,” Kiana whispered hoarsely.

“Wait, what?” I stared at the side of her real face, but she kept her gaze straight ahead.

She sighed. “I understand the mechanics. I just don’t have the slightest idea how to be enticing. Or if he will even be someone I want to entice. And if he’s not, then how will I ever figure out how not to be—”

“Horrified?” I withdrew my hand from her arm. “Disgusted?”

Kiana turned, blue eyes flashing. “You know Blaze. You know he was a loyal mate to Sylvia. You know he is a good father to his pups. You know that however awkward it might be at first, he would never dare nor even wish to harm you.” She gripped my upper arms, which were quite fit by human standards, but soft limp noodles compared to hers. “Of course I understand your preference for a younger male, Elyse, but you do not know them as I do. I have trained alongside them for seven years, and I can assure you there is not a one of them worthy of our bloodline.” Kiana swallowed. “Or of my best friend.”

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