Page 3 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

He chuckled, the sound darkly amused. “He is even more overprotective now.”

I sighed and finally stopped pacing. “I don’t blame the man. We lose more of our women to birthing than any war or disease has ever taken. It’s no wonder our numbers dwindle when the pregnancies are so hard. If I were in his shoes, I’d be a wreck on four paws.”

“When.”

“What?”

“Whenyou’re in his shoes. You’re not getting out of this gathering unmated. The sooner you accept that, the better. Your old man is on a mission to see you mated and paternal, stat. You know the ruling line has to be secure, and he is not going to leave you be until it is.”

I growled again, annoyed by his logic. Thinking of myself in Adam’s shoes left me sick to my stomach. Sure, I was Alpha and responsible for the well-being of my pack, and I loved them all. But a pregnant mate was a whole different level of worry. I had control in some situations, but in most, my pack mates were free to live their lives and make their own decisions.

Putting the woman I loved indangerby the sheer fact of being with her, the natural progression from marriage into parenthood, to starting our own little pack… it horrified me. The thought of mating with a woman, impregnating her, and losing her and the baby in one fell swoop… It was a good thing the mate bond would kill me alongside them, because I’d go feral otherwise. The thought left me paralyzed with fear.

No, I wasn’t ready. And no amount of meddling from my father would make me ready a minute sooner. My wolf let out an annoyed huff at my line of thinking and began pacing. He didn’t agree, but he’d have to learn to deal right along with my father.

THREE

Brielle

Twelve days later

The plane ride to Alaska was mostly uneventful. Shay and I read books, while Leigh downed all the tiny bottles of alcohol the flight attendant would give her. Drinking for a wolf was kind of pointless since our fast metabolisms burned off the alcohol so quickly, we rarely felt any effects. Most of us didn’t bother. If my pack mates wanted a buzz, they’d get furry and go racing through the forest. It wasn’t really an option for me, but I was comfortable with my quiet, studious life.

Today, however, was an exception. Leigh was afraid of flying, so she’d shelled out all her pennies to stay slightly buzzed the whole flight. When we landed in Anchorage, we then boarded a rental van and started the ten-hour drive north to the Blackwater pack’s territory. Leigh was so happy to be back on solid ground, she wouldn’t stop singing until she passed outthree hours later.

That left Shay and me with eight of our pack’s males and no buffer. You see, Leigh might have been loud and rambunctious, but she was the perfect bestie for our otherwise quiet trio. She kept everybody looking left, so they never worried about what Shay and I were doing on the right. Perfection.

But now she was snoring softly, blonde head propped against the van’s window and a small drool spot forming against the glass. It was tangible, the feeling of too many eyes on my skin as I pretended to read my paranormal romance. Had I read the same paragraph three times in a row? Yes. Did I know what it said yet? No. Was that going to stop me from going for the fourth read? Not in the slightest.

I still wasn’t eager to engage. The Alpha and his first two wolves rode in the front, and they were all quiet. But the other five males were grumbling among themselves, a fact I was doing my dead-level best to ignore.

“It’s wrong, taking our she-wolves. I know a few of us might find mates, but what if we don’t? We’ll never get a chance if they take all our women. We’re a small enough pack as it is, without the oh-high-and-mighty one deciding hispupneeds first dibs on all the unmated she-wolves.”

That was Dante, one of the older unmated males in our pack. He was at least two hundred, but I didn’t know his exact age. It made sense from his perspective to be annoyed about possibly losing an eligible female to a younger wolf when he still hadn’t found his own mate, but I found it shocking that the men were concerned about losingus.

“Well, we won’t give him first dibs. I’m sure there’ll be opportunities to meet some fine ladies outside scheduled hours. He might be required to behave, but that doesn’t mean the five of us can’t do a little extracurricular meeting and greeting,” Ricky said, his tone dripping with innuendo and his grin devious.

I shifted in my seat, uneasy at the idea of our pack planning to break the rules before we’d even arrived. This was the high alpha’s event. I didn’t imagine he was the sort of man you’d want to get on the wrong side of. He wasthemost dominant wolf in the northern hemisphere, possibly the world. I risked a glance over at Shay. She was still flipping pages in her paperback, head tucked down, but her eyebrows had completely disappeared beneath her bangs. I turned back to my e-reader, ignoring the words on the page as the men continued to discuss their plans forextracurricular activities.

Jonesy broke in from the front seat next. “Yeah, and did you hear the rumor that you’re expected to be mated at the next full moon if the mating signs show up? Can you believe that? I’m all down for sniffing some tail, but I have no interest in getting shackled yet. I’ve got a long time before I’m ready to deal with rug rats and a mate bond.” He was the Alpha’s third, but he was unmated and apparently had strong opinions about the purpose of the gathering, as well, if his eye roll was anything to go by.

I hadn’t heard anything about a timeline for the mating to take place, but unease grew in my stomach as the drive continued. It wasn’t possible to get a false match for your fated mate, but that didn’t make the person any less of a stranger. I found myself hoping suddenly that what I’d told Leigh the very first day was true, and that I didn’t get matched. I wanted to go home to Texas, to my little lab and my study of shifter medicine.

I was only allowed to pursue it because our pack was so small. It was frowned upon in general to study the differences between wolf shifters and humans. If the research was discovered, it could put our entire species under the microscope for power-hungry human scientists. I knew the risks, but it was my one rebellion, my refusal to choose a more “appropriate” career. I wanted to know why my parents died, and I wanted to know what flaw in the wolf shifter genes had allowed a sickness to take my mom down so long before her time. I didn’t care what anyone else thought about it.

“With an attitude like that, the ladies will be lucky to have you,” Leigh slurred, half-asleep as she adjusted her position over to Shay’s shoulder instead of the window. “Pipe down, will you? Trying to get my beauty rest, here.”

“Yes, pipe down, all of you,” Alpha Todd said from the driver’s seat. “And anyone bringing the high alpha’s wrath down on this pack will be dealing withme, are we clear? I expect you to be good representatives of the Johnson City pack.”

“Yes, Alpha,” the men all grumbled, but fell blessedly silent after that.

My neck hurt,my calves were cramping, and I smelled like van. Really, it was the perfect first impression for the milling crowd of wolves when we stepped off the van at midnight. At least my hair looked good. When Leigh had woken up, she was bored and decided that we all needed fancy, intricate braids in our hair. She had double French braids—it was all I knew how to do—Shay had gotten a Dutch crown with tendrils of her brunette locks artfully framing her face. Mine was a composition of many smaller braids tapering down and woven into a loose mermaid braid over my shoulder. It had taken two hours, and I was pretty sure I’d have to leave them in permanently, based on how attached Leigh now was to her masterpiece.

The air was fresh and clean with a tinge of cold that burned my delicate nose, even though it was May. It was wonderful to stretch after so many hours stuffed in the twelve-passenger van with only two short bathroom breaks along the way. My wolf was oddly present with me, probably due to the excitement and presence of so many other wolves. I mentally stroked a hand down her silvery back. It was a welcome change from her usual silence, and I hoped she was able to stay with me for a while.

The Alpha’s men unloaded the bags, and in moments, I was juggling two pull suitcases, my duffel full of lab notes, and blood-draw tubes slung over my shoulder. It wasn’t perfect, having to find a local lab or freeze them until I got home, but I was hoping I could get a wider array of willing wolves here to give me samples for my testing. In fact, once I’d realized how much this little trip could advance my research, I’d actually gotten kind of excited.

There was no shot in hell of me getting matched, but this?Thiswas a benefit I could get excited about. More blood samples meant a wider array of data to compare and search for anomalies against my own. It could move me years ahead of schedule on my research, but I had to figure out a way to get the wolves here to volunteer. I knew that would be no easy feat.

---