Page 5 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“Isalsonecessary,” I argued.

“Uh-huh. Because we’ll have so much free time for you to work while we’re here courting hot wolves.” She leaned her forearm up onto Gael’s bicep and gave him a wink. “Like this fella here. What’s your story, hot stuff?”

My cheeks burned at her blatant flirtation, and I wasn’t even the one making a show of things.

The man’s eyebrows nearly flew off his face as he gently removed her arm from his shoulder with two long fingers. “No story worth telling, princess. Now, if we’ve got everything together, I’ll show you to your rooms. I’ll find somebody to help bring the extra bags upstairs, you can leave them here.” He gestured to the base of the staircase, which gracefully curved up and up into the giant lodge.

The interior was every bit as beautiful as the exterior when we stepped inside. Furnishings were a little sparse – there were only a few chairs here and there along the front wall, tucked beside the windows out to the porch. But the craftsmanship was impeccable. Exposed beams, burnished floors, and a soft off-white paint on the walls, provided the perfect backdrop for a gorgeous mural of two howling wolves. They were side by side, the smaller wolf tucked against the larger one’s shoulder, as if they were mates.

Gael grabbed Leigh’s shoe suitcase and one of mine from Shay, then jogged up the stairs like it was nothing. I was torn for a moment, but ultimately decided to leave my suitcase full of clothes at the bottom of the stairs. I could get more clothes, but it would be very hard to procure the test vials and lab notes in an area as remote as this. Somehow, I doubted my usual two-day shipping back home would apply here.

As quickly as I could, I hurried after the three of them, pushing thoughts of the beautiful stranger out of my mind. I would never be strong enough to mate a wolf like him, even if I knew I’d dream of those eyes, brilliantly glowing and calling to my wolf, as soon as my head hit the pillow.

FOUR

Kane

My wolf was losing his damn mind, and I had to get out of here or I was going to embarrass myself. When Gael slid to a stop next to Reed and I temporarily lost sight of the mystery woman, I managed to wrest back my usually unshakable control long enough to jog away toward the back of the dormitories. It was dark and quiet, with none of the hustle and bustle of the wolves arriving and greeting old friends at the front. As soon as I rounded the corner, I stopped, leaning my forearms against the rough-hewn exterior and dropping my forehead to my fists.

Deep breaths in and out began to settle my wolf, though he wassorestless. That woman—whoever she was—had set him off. I don’t know how long it took for me to regain my composure, but when I straightened and turned around, Reed and Gael were both standing in front of me, looks of concern etched into their faces.

“What?” I growled, even though I knewexactlywhat. Through the pack bond, they’d felt my wolf demanding control, and me quietly fighting him back into submission ever since.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Reed said, voice deceptively mild. He must have passed off his check-in duties, because his clipboard was nowhere to be seen.

“You nearly lost it right in the middle of the crowd, man. I can’t remember you losing it since we were teenagers. What triggered you?” Gael asked.

My shoulders were tight, heat prickling between my shoulder blades as I stared back at them and considered what to say. Finally, I settled on the truth.

“The woman. One of the ones you were checking in. Our wolves… noticed each other. But mine panicked, for some reason, and started demanding that we go to her,protecther. Which is ridiculous, because there’s not a predator in two hundred miles dumb enough to approach this many wolves.” They didn’t bother asking which of the three women, because they already knew. I growled in frustration and ran my palms back and forth over my shorn hair. I wanted to punch a mountain-high stack of boards, but that wouldn’t fix this. Because my wolf? My wolf wanted to follow her scent trail, track her down, andprotect.

It was utterly ridiculous.

They exchanged a knowing look, and I snarled. “Spit it out! Don’t stand there looking smug!”

“I think you just found your mate, brother. Congratulations.” Gael was the first to speak, his grin so wide, it threatened to split his face in half.

“No, there’sno way. There has to be another explanation.”

Reed tucked both of his hands down into his suit-pants pockets and rocked back on the heels of his too-shiny dress shoes. “She felt it too, Kane. She looked like she’d seen a ghost, and her eyes glowed until Gael snapped her out of it. They’re brown, by the way. Like ice crystals coating a pine branch.”

A growl tore out of my chest, my wolf angry again that our friend, pack mate,blood brother, knew more about her than we did.

“Do you think you’d be reacting this strongly for any other reason? Did you sense that she was in trouble in some way? Maybe pack problems? We could investigate,” Gael offered, holding up a hand in the universal gesture forsettle down, you hotheaded dipstick.

I turned my back on them for a moment, closing my eyes and trying to focus on the question. Could that have been it? I was a very dominant alpha. I protected the females and young of my pack fiercely, and we had a zero-tolerance policy for abuse. My wolf would have reacted that strongly to any she-wolf in danger, except…

When I let the memory flow back through me, it wasn’t anger from my wolf. The memory of her smooth, soft-looking skin and gorgeous, thick brunette braid under the moonlight froze me in place. Desire burned through me, thick and hot, and I felt my pants tighten uncomfortably in physical reaction to the memory. I bit back a groan. My wolf wanted her. And if I stopped lying to myself for more than three seconds, I would have to admit that I wanted her too.

I wanted her under me, to trail kisses over her bare skin, a sheen of sweat making her glow as we moved together under the moonlight, on a soft bed of leaves out in the forest. To make her scream my name in ecstasy as I sank my teeth into her neck, leaving behind a mating—

“No!No.” I spun on my heels, glaring at my two best friends as I tried to force the heated image out of my mind. “She isnotmy mate. It’s not possible. She isn’t nearly dominant enough to be an alpha mate. The she-wolves in our pack aren’t bad, but even they’d run roughshod over a wolf as weak as that. It was something else, and I don’t want to hear another word about it from either of you. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Reed said drily.

The soft sound of grass crunching caught my attention, and my eyes snapped to the corner of the building. Had someone been eavesdropping on that conversation? Gael had the same reaction, and a snarl fell from his curled lips. He took off after whoever it was. When I rounded the front of the dormitory, I nearly ran into the back of him where he’d stopped dead in his tracks.

“Who was it?” I asked, but he didn’t have to answer, as my next breath drew in a heady, impossible-to-miss scent of delicate jasmine and ripe, sweet apple.Mate.

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