Page 47 of The Wolf's Mate

“Fuck.” Her breaths come out in labored pants. “Give me a minute, and then I want to please you.”

There is nothing I want to see more than her lips wrapped around my cock, but tonight isn’t about me. It’s about her, and the way her eyelids droop, I know she’s tired from today’s events and her orgasm.

“Not tonight, Dove.”

“But—”

I kiss away her protest, letting Hettie taste her cream on my lips. She moans softly, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Not tonight,” I repeat against her lips. “You’ll take my cock soon, but right now I’m taking you to bed.”

Hettie looks ready to protest further, but then thinks better of it because she acquiesces. She rests her head against my chest, and I ignore the mess we’ve made of dinner. I will apologize to the staff later, but I don’t regret a single second of tonight.

“You’re a good alpha.” Hettie’s words are hardly audible, but I hear them. Pride swells in my chest along with something else I can’t fully describe. Adoration? Hope?

By the time I carry my mate upstairs and to our bed, she’s fast asleep.

Chapter 21

Rip

“They’re getting closer, my King. Just yesterday we had a spotting of another Nephilim. That’s four, maybe five so far. And if they are truly working with the rogues, it won’t be long until another attack on our town,” an alpha by the name of Remy says.

“It might be time to call in the dragons, sir,” a female alpha suggests.

I know they’re right, but I fucking hate that it’s come to this. I trust Malix and his dragons, but I’m uneasy with strangers in our village. I don’t believe Malix would ever betray me, but there is that small inkling of doubt I can’t simply ignore.

“Stay on alert. Summoning the dragons is our last choice. For now, we keep patrolling and taking down rogues as we see them.” My decision isn’t popular. I can see the barely concealed anger in all of my guards' faces. But I fear calling the dragons will only worsen our situation before they get here, and I can’t spare many more—or any—wolves.

“King Alpha, if I may—” Remy starts but doesn’t get to finish. The door to my study slams open, and Tallie stands there, eyes wide and hair a mess.

Instantly, I’m out of my chair. My stomach drops as I think the worst has happened. Where’s Hettie? Is she okay? Did Michael attack? As soon as the fear comes, it leaves the moment I see Hettie come up behind Tallie with Thorne at her heels.

“Alpha, you’re going to want to hear this,” Thorne says. Tallie isn’t one to interrupt, and if Thorne didn’t stop her, I know whatever it is must be important.

“Leave us,” I tell the room of mostly alphas. Immediately, the guards stand and file out. A few linger in hopes to hear what news the Luna, my cousin, and my second have brought, but Thorne growls. It effectively gets the stragglers to leave.

“What is going on?” The words are barely out of my mouth before Thorne tosses something on the table.

It takes my brain a moment to register what I’m seeing.

Flowers.

Purple flowers.

“Wolfsbane?” Incredulity laces my words. It should have been impossible to find wolfsbane. My men have scoured the entire forest, hoping to find the plant. Tallie has made maps hoping to discover something we’ve missed, but each search has proven fruitless.

Michael has blocked our access to their main growing ground of wolfsbane. The only way the wolfsbane in Thorne’s hand could have been procured is if someone went into Michael’s territory, risking their own life. The blooming excitement I felt only moments ago extinguishes, replaced with anger.

“Where was this found? Who journeyed past our protective borders into Michael’s rogue lands?”

“No one,” Tallie says, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She’s like a mouse who finally found her cheese. She flashes me a toothy smile. “Hettie found it and?—”

“You let my mate put herself in danger?” I growl, my attention flickering to Hettie, standing behind Tallie with Grass at her feet. I catch the eye roll Hettie gives me, completely diminishing the danger she was in.

“Rip, listen,” Thorne urges. “You know we would never do anything to put Hettie in danger. You need to listen to what happened.”

My instinct is to snap at him. Berate Thorne for going along with whatever plan they concocted, but when it comes to Hettie, I can’t trust my rational thinking because it doesn’t exist.

So, I take a deep breath, trying to calm the raging fire within me, and nod once at Tallie to continue.

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