Page 21 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“Tell me why you don’t feel safe,” I said, trying hard not to demand, to push, even though it was my nature.

She shook her head, biting that delectable lip between her teeth, and I reached up to free it with the pad of my thumb. I gently tugged it free. “These are mine to bite. Talk to me, Brielle. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it. You have my word.”

“You can’t fix this, Kane. Nobody can.”

“Is it the omega issue? I don’t care if it’s illegal. I don’t care if I have to burn the Omega Defense League to the ground with my own two hands, I will do it for you. This is an obstacle we can overcome together.”

Her eyelids sank down, hiding her gorgeous brown eyes from me. And to my horror, fat, slow tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes as she shook her head.

I wrapped myself around her waist from my kneeling position, holding her tightly and hearing the thump of her heart. This was more than just a reaction to the bond. But what was I missing?

“Tell me, Brielle. Please.”

Words began to tumble from her lips, and I leaned back just enough so that I could see her face. She kept her eyes screwed shut, blocking me out at the same time as letting me peek into her past.

“My mother… She was sickly. My whole life, she was never well, always fighting, always struggling. My father did everything he could. Spoke to every healer we could find, but nothing worked. Her best friend was a powerful witch, and she made potions to help her, but the sickness always came back stronger, worse.”

She swallowed, and a horrible feeling started sinking into my gut. A sickly wolf? That wasn’t possible. It was unheard of, because it went against our very nature. The moon Goddess had truly blessed her children with good health, and rapid healing.

“What was wrong with her?”

“She had these awful stomach pains that mimicked stomach cancer in humans.”

The feeling in my stomach turned to stone, and sour bile rose up the back of my throat. No, not my mate. I could deal with her weakness, I could deal with the fact that she would be hunted for her omega gifts, though that was a shock in and of itself. One that my wolf had already decided was true, despite her own denial. But to watch her suffer, day in and day out? It would crush me.

“What happened to her?” I asked the question I most dreaded the answer to, because I couldn’t not. Her voice was small, her eyes finally flickering open to meet mine, loaded with sorrow when she answered.

“She died when I was seventeen, taking my father with her.”

I buried my face in her stomach to muffle my wolf’s howl of pain. To know our mate had suffered so much, so young, gave me all the more respect for her. She was strong, if not in the sense that I knew. Physical strength, or might. She was strong in her soul, and my wolf had seen that from the start. Not her beauty, not her intelligence, though it sparked from her deep brown eyes undeniably. No, it was that inner strength, that fire, that had bonded my wolf to hers.

She had lost so much, and yet here she was, the she-wolf of my dreams.

And I would not lose her. Not if I had to turn over every stone on the planet to find a cure, an answer, I would, and I would do it with a smile. She was mine. My heart. My love.

“And that’s why I can’t bond with you, Kane. I’m so sorry. But it’s a death sentence, and I can’t—” She broke off on a sob and covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know how, but I already feel too much for you. If I have to die, that’s one thing. But I can’t take you with me, Kane, and if we bond, the mate bond will drag you after me, just like it did my father. So we can’t—we can’t deepen the physical bond. We can’t complete the mating. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“No,” I growled, unable to restrain my wolf. He wasn’t going to accept a rejection from her, not now, not ever. The wolf didn’t see shades of gray, only the truth: she was ours. It wasn’t right to live without your mate. We were meant to be hers no matter what, and we had to make her see that.

I climbed onto the bed, urging her back to the comforter. Her face was no less beautiful for being tearstained, and I pried her hands up and over, pinning them to the bed, stretching her beneath me. But this wasn’t about sex or dominance. I had to make hersee.

See that we could tackle this problem, together. That the only way I would accept this was with her at my side.

“Kane, no. Let me up. We can’t do this. We can’t take things any further. You should distance yourself from me now, before it gets harder to—”

“Never, Brielle.Never. Don’t you see? It’s too late. My wolf has claimed yours. Your wolf has claimed mine. Maybe this is exactly what was meant to happen. You may be sick, and your wolf knows you need my strength. Has she ever pushed you like this before? Tried to mark anyone else?”

She shook her head, biting that lower lip again. The urge to free it with my own teeth was strong, but I held back. I wanted her, but she had to say yes. She had to accept me, accept the bond first. I could convince her if that was what she needed, but shewouldsay yes. If it took me a hundred years of wooing, she would say yes.

I dropped my nose down to her neck, at the place it joined with her shoulder, and sucked in a deep drag of her scent. It bloomed beneath me, confirming what I thought. But how did I get her mind to catch up with her body? Get her to say that one little word that I needed to hear?

“Your scent is intoxicating, Brielle. Do you know that? I’ve never smelled anything like your perfume. Your body wants mine, and this is how it tells me.” I dragged my nose slowly up the length of her neck to the delicate shell of her ear, whispering, letting my breath play over her skin. “Why are you saying no, when everything in you wants to say yes? Can you trust your wolf? Can you trust me?”

I let my tongue trace up from her earlobe, rimming the shell of her ear, and she bucked her hips underneath me, grinding against my erection with a little moan that lit my blood on fire.

Yes. Come to me, baby.

“There’s my girl, my dirty little mate. You liked that, didn’t you?” She whimpered, and I knew I was on the right track. “I want to give you more.Somuch more. But you have to want it too. You can’t tell me no and get all this. My wolf needs your yes. Craves your yes, your submission. What does your wolf want? What does Brielle want? Don’t think about me. Don’t think about anything else. Tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”

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