Page 71 of Wrestling With Werewolves

“She’s my Luna, Marco,” Richard says. “It surprised us both, but it was inst?—”

“It’s true, Papá” I begin, imbuing my wolf’s strength in my tone. “I wasn’t taken advantage of. Richard is my m?—”

“So help me goddess, if you say mate,” Papá snaps, shocking me with his anger. “Richard can’t be your mate. He’s ten times your age. He knew your mother, for Alaya’s sake! It’s disgusting!” He balls both fists as he continues spewing venom. “I know a place to take you to break that bond. It’ll hurt, Lola,” he says, his eyes flashing with something else, sorrow, maybe, “but you’ll be free. As for you,” he barks at Richard, his royal command rolling through the room like a tidal wave, “you’ll be staying right the fuck here. Far, far away from my child. And you will never, ever see her again.”

At those words, Richard explodes into his wolf, sending my father’s guard flying. Males hit the walls and shift as the treehouse flaps all the windows and doors in anguish.

“Stop, everyone!” I shout. “Hang on for a second!”

I knew my papá would be angry, but I hoped he’d be able to see reason.

“Cease, Richard,” he commands. Every wolf in the room halts and slides to a stop, whimpering. Except for Big Daddy, who stands huge in the center of the room, green eyes narrowed as his long tail lashes from side to side.

“I’m going nowhere without my mate,” I say calmly, focused on defusing a situation that’s getting worse by the second.

“He can’t be your mate,” Papá snaps. “He’s been my best friend for hundreds of years! He carried you around when you were a pup! Don’t you see how wrong this is, Lola? I don’t know why he bit you, but we will undo that. He took advantage, why can’t you see it?”

“Why would he?” I shout, crossing the room to stand beside my Alpha. “Why the hells would he even do that? Our bond surprised us as much as it’s surprising you now, but we have the Luna bond, Papá.” I point to Richard’s enormous wolf. “His wolf can come into my mind, and mine can go into his.”

“Silencio,” Papá thunders. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” When he jerks his head toward Nuñez, I move to shift. But then one of the guards tosses something at Richard, a powder of some sort. It explodes when it hits Big Daddy’s face, and my mate goes down in a heap.

I round on my father. “How dare you deny this, unlikely as you think it to be.”

“Cállate!” Papá shouts. His command, the command of my king, hits me square in the chest like a punch. He’s never told me to be quiet like that. Not a single time.

“No!” I scream, fury barreling through me. “I’ve been dutiful my whole life, served when and where you needed me to. I’ve played the part of the perfect princess ninety-nine percent of the time but I am done! He’s mine, Papá. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to accept it!”

My wolf slinks back into my mind, whining as we stare at Big Daddy’s prone figure in the middle of the floor.

Papá’s face turns red with rage. “We’re going home, now,” he says with a warning growl. He waves a dismissive hand at Big Daddy. “Don’t even think about refusing to come, mija. I’ll run a sword through him and leave him here to die for what he did. He has you fooled, Lola. This male isn’t yours.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” I snap, balling my fists as I call my wolf for a fight. Fuck this. “If you touch a hair on his head, I’ll?—”

“I will use my alpha command on you if I have to,” he says quietly, malice flashing in his eyes.

Shock hits me. Even as a child, he never used it on me, and he’s already done it once tonight. I glance around the room at familiar faces, but I don’t see friends here. No. I see wolves under the king’s command, and I can’t fight them all. My best bet is to go with Papá and come up with a plan B. But for now, I can’t risk anything happening to my Alpha.

“Don’t hurt him,” I say softly. “I’ll go with you. But this conversation isn’t done.”

The need for harmony slaps me. Everything about this situation is wrong. I want to fight, I long for it, to rip into my papá for denying Richard and me. But I can’t win that fight against guards who’ve trained since before I was born. So I’ll be smart and bide my time.

And even though it kills me, and my wolf howls mournfully the entire time, I follow the king, surrounded by guards, back to the portal and through it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER - RICHARD

“He’s coming around.”

“’Ey, Alpha, rouse yerself. We’ve got shit tae do.”

Groaning, I flop onto my back. Dirk’s navy smirk is the first thing I see, followed by Connall appearing out of the corner of my eye with a glass of water.

Memories flood back, and I shoot upright, lurching forward. But my feet don’t work, and I immediately crash into Dirk, knocking us both onto the sofa in a heap.

“Godsdamn,” he grunts, shoving at my back. “Is it jest me, or do yeh weigh a fooking ton?”

“Let’s get him uprightish,” Connall commands.

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