Page 32 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

That was the rub, wasn’t it? Why Kane thought we weren’t compatible.

My weakness would paint a big, fat target on his back.

I swallowed hard, trying to clear the sudden lump blocking my throat, blocking the words I needed to tell Kane.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Did I push you too far? I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure you knew where I stood, and that’s the best way I know to—”

I pressed up on my toes and kissed him, my nipples dragging tantalizingly across his chest, racking me with a shudder.

“Not too far,” I answered, hoping he could see the heat in my eyes like I had in his. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

TWENTY-TWO

Kane

Ididn’t like that tone in her voice, the one that said she was about to tell me something awful. Like she was acatperson.

“What is it, baby?” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, clearly not excited to spill it. “You can tell me anything, my beautiful mate.”

She drew in a deep breath, pressing the perfect mounds of her breasts tighter against me, and then finally blurted it out.

“I can’t really shift. Well, Ican. A little. A few times a year, for a few minutes. I don’t know why, but if I try to stay in fur for long, I pass out. Most full moons, I can’t run with the pack at all, so I just stay in my lab and work.” She stopped herself, and I could practically see the wheels turning as she forced herself to stop, grinding her teeth together to wait for my reaction.

And I was shocked. My mate couldn’t shift? I’d never heard of such a thing. The wolf was as much a part of who we were as the man. To have one but not be able to access the other? My skin crawled at the idea.

It was a miracle she wasn’t mad. Feral wolves couldn’t come back to skin, but I didn’t know of anything that could cause a shifter not to be able to go to fur, save an injury too grave to survive.

Yet here she stood, whole and flawless, and telling me she couldn’t shift.

“Has your Alpha tried to help you with it?”

She shrugged one shoulder, looking away and down as if embarrassed. “Once or twice, but it’s easier to just not. I don’t know, he wasn’t able to figure anything out the few times he tried to force my shift, and I never followed up with any neighboring Alphas. It’s… not common. Nobody knew what to do.”

Her cheeks bloomed red, her sweet, mouthwatering scent took on a sour note of shame, and my heart nearly broke for her.

“Well, luckily for you, I’m the second-most powerful alpha in the world, and my father isthemost powerful. If I can’t help you, he can for sure. But first, I think I need to see you shift. Are you ready? I promise not to let anything happen to you, even if you do faint.” I kept my voice even, though the idea of her unconscious made my wolf pace anxiously.

She nodded once, still not meeting my eyes as she stepped out of the panties I’d be dreaming of for the next decade. They cupped her round ass cheeks in see-through purple lace, and I wanted to tear them off her with my teeth. Or steal them and keep them in my pocket.

Brielle drew in one last, deep breath and then took two big steps back from me, squaring her shoulders—Goddess, her decadent breasts were going to give me a permanent boner—and then closing her eyes.

Between one breath and the next, soft, smooth skin gave way to a delicate white undercoat. She sank gracefully onto all fours, shaking out dark-tipped fur and looking up at me with her glowing brown eyes. She was decidedly small for a wolf, but absolutely perfect in every way. My own shift was reflexive, as if my wolf was so overcome by the sight of his fated mate, that he couldn’t help but spring forth from my skin, tearing right through the boxers I was still wearing.

The shift didn’t even register. In one moment, I was an awed man. The next, a gloriously happy wolf, running in giddy circles around his mate and letting out happy barks.

She dropped to her forelegs, tail up and wagging high in the universal sign forplay, and I raced around her, my claws cutting a circle in the earth with my speed. Turf flew up behind me as I showed off, letting the wolf do anything that felt natural. She began to trot after me, dodging and diving as I picked up the pace, keeping her guessing. When she began to slow, I skidded to a stop, ending nose to nose with the most beautiful, delicate she-wolf I’d ever seen.

We stared, frozen, with our wolves finally able to connect one to one. I was so blissfully happy, giddy sensations from my usually stoic wolf making me forget everything else.

That’s when I felt it.

Thewrongnessabout her. I sat back on my wolf’s haunches, shocked by the deep, sicklydrainI felt pouring out of her, that I’d never sensed before.

My wolf shook his head, as if clearing his vision might make it go away, but there it was, a fetid green ooze trailing from both her sides, seeping down into the ground beneath her.

Goddess, her stomach pain. This was like something foul flowing out of her. I paced forward, sniffing the air to see if I could discern anything about the taint.

She began to whine, sensing the sudden change in my mood. But I couldn’t help it. All thoughts of play had flown out the window when I’d sensed it. Now that I was at her side, I tentatively sniffed the oozing magic.

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