Page 63 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“Okay! Okay, stop! I’ll tell you what I know, please! Just don’t give me the wolfsbane!”

I waved my healer back.

“I’m listening.”

“Alpha Varga sent the tip to the Omega Defense League. He was trying to stir up trouble for your father, but I don’t know of any murder plots!”

The green tinge from the pack bond disappeared once again, the angry red settling into a dusky yellow. Fear, but honesty.

Interesting.

Was Russo in bed with the Hungarian, all the way from Virginia?

“Varga was one of my father’s long-term allies. Why would he want to cause trouble?”

“I don’t know, I swear to the Goddess. Please. I don’t know anything else!”

There was no change to the bonds, and I knew he’d told me all he knew. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Julius met my eyes, and I nodded that he could let go of the Russo Alpha.

“John, see his bones are set. Julius, load him onto the pack jet as soon as he’s done, and take your enforcers to drop him with his pack in Vancouver. Reed, walk with me.” With that, I turned on my heel and left, his screams echoing against the airy rafters of the barn as John Henry rebroke his bones to set them.

“That was something else,” Reed said, nonplussed as we walked side by side away from the carnage.

“He’s despicable, but not a murderer.”

“This time,” Reed amended.

“This time,” I agreed. “What do you have for me?”

“Inuksuk is ready to meet you and Brielle. I mentioned that we would be having a bonding ceremony come the full moon, and he wishes to extend hospitality the week after. I assume you’re amenable to that, and I can confirm?”

Relief washed through me. The shaman was our best bet of finding out what was going on with Brielle’s magic, and I’d move heaven and earth to get her there. Find out the truth about her omega status.

“Yes, do it.”

“Consider it done.” He clapped me on the shoulder and headed off toward the lodge. My mind had already moved on, though, as I paced toward the woods for a run to think.

Alpha Varga of the Hungarian pack.

I had some digging to do.

THIRTY-EIGHT

Brielle

Ilay in my shared bed, Leigh’s even breaths beside me lulling me toward sleep myself. My muscles were sore, my body exhausted, but I still couldn’t sleep. It was evasive, slipping repeatedly through my fingers. Tomorrow was the challenge, and I kept replaying the dozens of strategies I’d practiced in the past six days. I was by no means an alpha, in strength or dominance, but I still felt like I had a shot.

When my wolf pressed forward, she helped me hit like a freight train, and I knew Jasline wouldn’t be expecting that.

Which was why Gael’s suggestion was that I strike fast and strike first. And when I had her pinned, to shift and go for her throat. The idea of ripping out another wolf’s throat left me numb, but I didn’t have another choice. She would be going for mine.

If I made the mistake of shifting before the crucial moment, I’d be the one dead. Or worse, alive, and when I woke up, my mate would be gone, and I’d be left alone to watch him live out his life at another’s side.

A lump rose in my throat at the awful thought of never feeling his arms around me again, and for the hundredth time, I second-guessed my decision not to spend the night in his bed. But I shook the thought away. I wantedallthe nights with him, damn it, not one last one before he was torn away.

I would win the challenge in the morning, or I’d die trying. There was no third option.

Pounding on my door had me jackknifing upright and off the bed in surprise, Leigh and Shay right behind me.

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