Page 56 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“Why the hell not?” His voice grew gravelly with his wolf’s urging.

“Because if a challenge for mating rights is accepted and then one of the challengers attempts to circumvent it by completing the bond, it’s an instant forfeiture of their life. You’d be signing her death warrant. For better or worse, she accepted the challenge in front of hundreds of witnesses, and she has to go through with it. All we can do now is help her win.”

You could have heard a pin drop in that office, and I’m pretty sure no one breathed for at least a minute as the weight of what he’d said sank in. I was in it, and there was no way out but through the fight. Fangs and claws and blood. It was the wolf way.

“No. I’m the high alpha. I’ll not let my defenseless mate be torn apart by some alpha she-wolf with something to prove just because some dusty old law says so.No.”

Defenseless.

Was that how he saw me? His poor, defenseless not-alpha mate. Couldn’t do anything for herself, let alone earn her place at his strong, capable side.

My heart was like a paper crane, crushed under his harsh words. It wanted to crumple up and die, hide away from the unflattering truth.

But that wouldn’t solve anything, and I wasn’t a quitter. You didn’t make it through life as a wolf who couldn’t shift by being a quitter. You didn’t make it through med school—with no family or pack support—as a quitter.

I had been dealt plenty of shitty hands in my life, and every single one, I’d overcome. I could do it again. He thought I was some weakling? I’d just have to prove him wrong.Provethat there was more to strength than simply being an alpha.

Drawing myself up a little straighter, I leveled a no-nonsense look on Gael and then on my hurtful mate. “As I said, I accepted the challenge, and I will be competing in it. I’m definitely not going to waste any more time talking about how weak and defenseless I am, just because I wasn’tblessedto be born alpha. Leigh, Shay—take me back to our room, please.”

My besties surged forward, bracketing me and lending their support.

“Let’s do it to it, bestie,” Leigh said, looking down her nose at Kane.

Shay didn’t speak, but she shook her head sadly at him.

And then we walked out, three slack-jawed alpha males staring after us.

“I’m just saying,if you’re not one-hundred-percent sure he’s the one, I’ll happily murder him for you for being a douche canoe, and then we can pretend that none of this ugliness ever happened,” Leigh offered again.

I couldn’t hide my groan as I slathered on my nighttime lotion in the bathroom mirror.

“Leigh, give it a rest. You’re just mad she named me her second,” Shay grumbled.

“No, I’m not. I knowwhy. I mean, I’ve never spent an entire year of my life furry, so, yeah. I get it. You’ve got the wolf mode on lock, and you’re the obvious choice. Doesn’t mean I can’t mess thatasshole’spretty face up just a little for talking down to my girl.”

“Yes, it does. She wants him to stay pretty so he’s worth the trouble.”

Leigh cackled. “Okay, touché. Can I beat his ass? That’s not pretty, right?”

“Wrong,” I called again. “Please don’t beat any part of him. I intend to do all the beating myself.”

Leigh appeared in the bathroom doorway, rubbing her hands together like a black-and-white cartoon villain ready to strap a helpless alpha male to the train tracks. Rather than run off and harass Kane, though, she threw both arms around me and squeezed. “I knew you had it in you. I’ll hold him down, you teach him a lesson.”

I rolled my eyes and hugged her back. Dang, she was burning up. “You okay? You feel feverish. Hang on, let me get my thermometer out of my bag, and I’ll check—”

“Uh-uh, no way, Bri-se! You’re not changing the subject. I feel fine, and you’re not playing theI went to med school, you have to listen to me card tonight. We’ve got bigger fish to fry, capiche?”

“I have never said that.”

She squinted her eyes suspiciously at me.

“Okay, once. I said thatonce, and you were bleeding all over my favorite rug. I was right then too.”

She snorted, and then guided me out of the bathroom by my shoulders and deposited me on the end of the bed. “I drop one barbell on my bare foot, and you’ll never let me live it down. But that’s old news. Right now, we need to know how you plan to execute operation TABAL.”

“Operation what?” Shay asked, slipping her laptop into its sleeve and tucking away the headphones for the night.

“Duh, Operation: Teach Alpha Barbie A Lesson.”

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