Page 21 of The Wolf Prince's Fated Heart

"Again, I'm so sorry," I say, not acknowledging his suggestion. "But I'm glad I did. We need to talk. Did you hear what I told you? What you saw tonight needs to stay between us. I'm a wolf shifter. A prince, actually."

She remains silent.

"If you don't keep quiet," I force the words out. "About the whole wolf thing. I'll have to..."

"You'll have to what?" Cassidy shoots back.

Damn her strong personality, my wolf mutters. Just tell her she's as good as dead. Make her believe it.

It's not a tactic I'd normally use, I retort, but find myself giving it a try, still.

"Tell me!" Cassidy yells, reminding me of our conversation.

"I'll have to...end you," I reply.

"Kill me?" Cassidy asks, raising her brow. "I thought you said no harm would come to me."

"Well, it won't, but only if you don't tell anyone about shifters."

"You're a prince?" Cassidy asks abruptly, tilting her head to the side as her brows furrow.

Either she wants more information or we're growing on her, my wolf says.

Narrowing my eyes, I nod. That wasn't a stupid question after all.

"No wonder you're an entitled, bossy asshole," she mutters under her breath.

If looks could kill, she'd be a dead woman, my wolf growls, his head appearing in my mind's eye.

I thought you liked them feisty, I say to my wolf.

Only when they're not disrespecting us so directly, he mutters back.

"In order for you to understand how serious this is, I have to tell you another story," I begin. Maybe that will help. Maybe it will cement the importance of keeping this a secret.

"Go ahead," Cassidy replies.

Let's get this over with, my wolf says and nudges me to talk.

"As I mentioned before, wolf societies are made out of monarchies," I say, my brows furrow as I search for a way to explain this without complicating my life too much. "I come from a royal line. My eldest brother Garren is the king now, and my younger brother Gavin married a queen, so he's a king now, too."

You're making it confusing, my wolf comments.

Cassidy's blank stare confirms his words.

"Okay, okay, let's forget about the lineage lesson," I say quickly, hoping that I haven't lost her interest yet. "The point is that the witches and wolves have been at war since the Paleolithic period. We've been sworn enemies, killing each other on sight. But that all changed five years ago."

"What happened?" Cassidy prompts me to continue.

Good, she's interested, my wolf says with a hint of approval.

"Five years ago, my older brother Grayden fell in love with a witch," I continue. "Once we realized that they're soulmates, we had no other choice but to help him."

She doesn't need to know about the fated mates, my wolf warns. Don't give all our secrets away.

"There was a battle between the covens and the courts," I say, taking his advice. "Grayden came close to losing his life. Many actually did. Both sides had casualties. But with the leaders who were set on archaic vengeance now dead, we were able to form a peace treaty.

It's been holding up for five years. But now the radicals have emerged, and as the name suggests, they are willing to use the most radical approaches to put the species on different sides again."

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