Page 59 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

No, shifting was going to be a day-of, last-ditch effort not to die.

“Shay, get over here.”

Leigh stood at the center of the mulched circle, her personal-trainer face on.

I hated her personal-trainer face. Usually, it meant she was going to try to get me to put less creamer in my coffee and run before dawn.No, thank you, ma’am.I was very comfortable with my extra ten pounds. I’d named them, they were part of the family, and coffee without creamer tasted disgusting, anyway.

“Do you know who this is?” She snapped me out of my delusional rabbit hole with a finger pointed at Shay.

“Umm, yes. I didn’t hit my headthathard.” I was doing self-concussion checks every hour, just to be safe.

“Who is she?”

“Shay.”

“No, this isn’t Shay. This? This is the hussy who wants tosteal your man.”

I froze, anger shooting up my spine like a lick of flame.

“Ahh, I see we struck a nerve. You want to just hand her Kane on a silver platter? She’s coming for you. This bitch wants to knock you on your ass in front of half the wolves in the damn world andhumiliate youand thentake your mate. Is that what you want?”

“No,” I snarled, surprised at the heat in my words.

“She thinks you’re a weakling. Aneasywin. Can you believe that? She’s never even met you, but she thinks designation rules all. What do you think, Shay? Does designation mean our Bri-Bri is going to get her pelt shaved in front of everybody that the werecat dragged in?”

Shay shook her head, but didn’t answer. She was intensely focused on me, weight balanced on the balls of her feet and her brows drawn down in concentration.

“See, I disagree. You know what I heard? I heard she wants a public claiming. Can you believe that? It’s not enough she wants to steal him, she wants everybody under the moon to watch him bite her, then, while his fangs arestill in her neck, he’ll take her. Right there, with all those witnesses. Because—”

I didn’t hear the reason. Somewhere between the image of Kane’s fangs in someone else’s neck and the idea of her fucking him under the moonlight before my body was even cold, a haze of red descended over my vision.

I charged Shay, running faster than I ever had before. She moved as if to sidestep my frontal assault, but my wolf was riding me hard, her predator’s instincts spotting the evasive maneuver a mile off, and I adjusted just before dropping my shoulder and ramming it straight into Shay’s gut.

She fell like she’d been hit by a Mack truck, not by a slightly chubby she-wolf with chipped nail polish. But I didn’t stop there. I jumped on top of her, grappling with her until I got control of her arms, pinning them overhead. My fangs were bared, the haze urging me to bite,rip, when two arms like steel bands connected around my rib cage, lifting me off her as if I were no bigger than a pup.

“Let me go!” The words weren’t recognizable as mine, there was so much gravel in my tone. “Nobody takes what’s mine! I’ll tear her to shreds!”

“Nobody is going to touch me, mate. Just you. If you’ll ever forgive me for being pigheaded and deign to touch me again, that is. A man can dream.”

My heart hammered in my temples, my throat. My pulse was erratic, violence urging me to ignore him, ignore that honeyed tongue, and finish what I’d started. Nobody threatened my mate, my bond, and lived to try again.

Until he rumbled. The sound was like flipping a light switch, the soothing calm of cool water dousing me, sucking away the red, hazy heat, and leaving me limp. He turned me in his arms, cradling me to his chest. “There she is, my sweet mate. Are you all right? Did Leigh push you too far?”

I shook my head, too busy sucking in deep lungfuls of his scent—Goddess, how I’d missed his particular bouquet of oranges, cinnamon, and male musk. I wanted to bathe in it.

No, I wanted to roll around in the sheets with him until that scent was so far embedded in my skin, it was oozing from my pores. Somewhere around the fourth lungful, realization that I was rubbing up against him like a wolf in heat clicked into place, and I froze. I was still mad at him.

More than mad.Hurt.

“What are you doing here, Kane? You made it very clear how you feel about all this. And I was very clear in askingyouto trust me, which you clearly don’t.”

“I sensed through the pack bond that things were getting… interesting.”

I curled my lip at the vague answer and pinned Gael with an accusatory glare.

“Don’t blame Gael. He can’t keep his thoughts from me when his emotions are high, and his distress at the idea of you killing your friend instead of the true opponent burst through the bond.”

I turned back toward Kane, awareness of our less-than-PG embrace sinking in alongside his words. There was a thick, hot erection pulsing against my inner thigh, my breasts were smashed into his chest, and I was practically high on his scent. If I didn’t put some space between us immediately, I was going to do something I regretted in the morning.

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