Page 36 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

Nugget was an absolutely absurd name for an animal, but Leigh was so fiercely protective, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.

“Hey, BD.” She smiled up at me.

Granted, she had a thing for absurd names.

“We’re going to have to work on the name,” I muttered as I handed her the plate.

“Thanks,” she said as she took it from my hands, wrinkling her nose at the big green salad the chef had insisted was full ofsuperfood. Smelled like shit to me, but I wasn’t anutrition expert. “Would you rather I called you baby daddy?”

“You can call me anything you want,” I said, holding her gaze. The tension snapped between us in an instant, as for the first time, I didn’t deflect or back down. I let myself look at her, really see her.

She was a vision, even in sleep-rumpled lounge clothes. Her hair was in messy waves, her eyes bright blue, and the hint of a smile on her lips melted into a fantasy-inducing lip bite.

I went rock hard as I watched her nibble that lip and felt it when my eyes began to glow. But I didn’t have time to indulge those fantasies, even if I could have convinced her to let me bend her over my bed. Nor did I have the time to think too hard about whether those were two early mate signs, because I had to keep my head in the game to protect Kane’s back.

Basically, I was fucked on every level.

“Lucien got us in to see the IGC, and we have to leave in half an hour. You don’t have to come if you don’t feel up to it, but I do have to go. Bri and Shay are going. I’m not sure about Olivia.”

“Whiplash,” she muttered, taking a bite of the oversized sandwich as she pointedly ignored the salad.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… nothing. Thanks for the food, and I feel pretty good, so yes, I’d like to come. Sorry I slept through the earlier meeting, though.”

She blushed, staring down at her plate instead of at me.

“You’re growing a whole pup. You deserve to nap whenever you want. The meeting was fine, but we don’t all have to be present for every single thing, especially not if you need rest.”

Leigh smiled at me then, a full, real smile, and my lungs seized up. Shit, opening up to her was going to be a problem. At this rate, I was going to have a stroke before I turned forty.

When she took a big bite of her sandwich, I looked away,clearing my throat. “I’ll set up the stuff for Nugget. He can’t come with us.”

“Aww, but he’s so cute with his widdle tiny paws.” She switched to baby talk, and I might or might not have grinned while my back was turned as I worked on setting up the bowls and the little makeshift litter box in the bathroom.

I might not have been completely sure whether or not she was my mate yet. But I was a hundred percent certain that she was going to be an excellent mother to our child.

NINETEEN

Leigh

The council building was overwhelmingly ornate. I’d thought the pack castle was intimidating—and it was, don’t get me wrong—but the council building towered overhead, ornate carvings on top of swirling columns, and gold gilt as far as the eye could see. It was a blatant display of wealth and power everywhere you looked. Larger-than-life marble statues lined the long entryway, and many different magical cultures were represented in the oil paintings on the ceiling as well as in the statues. Vampires, shifted cats, goblins, pixies, fae… Pretty much every magical species but wolves loomed over us as we walked over the thickly woven runner toward the council chamber. There was even a dragon, and those hadn’t been seen in centuries.

Shay held one of my hands, and Olivia’s shoulder brushed mine on the other side as we trailed Kane and Brielle, who led the pack down the hallway. We’d been greeted by a very anxious-looking secretary in a navy skirt suit—Karina, as Lucien had introduced her with a salacious grin.

She nodded hello but kept her distance as she led us downto the heavy double doors. She stopped and spun toward us at the last second, and I got a whiff of her.

Lesser Fae.

I cocked an eyebrow at Shay, but she didn’t react to the other fae’s presence. I wondered idly if the other fae would be able to tell Shay how to handle the shock thing she had going on, but we didn’t have time to ask.

“If anyone asks, you lot just showed up,” Karina said with a grimace and then tugged on the massive, carven door. It flung open with surprising ease, betraying her outsized strength.

“Councilman Fortier, I’ve got some supplicants who wish to speak with the council,” she announced as the room fell silent. She bowed respectfully toward each side of the long table on the platform at the front of the grandiose room.

Fortier sat at the center of them all, looking sternly down his nose at us. Similarly disgruntled looks adorned every face as I glanced around, a few of them outright hostile. There were placards in front of each member, stating their names, but not which species’ seat they held.

Councilwoman Rubix stank like death, so I could tell what she was right away, if the curled upper lip and ghostly pale skin wouldn’t have told me immediately.Vampire,I noted with disgust.

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