Page 47 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

She sighed. “Okay.”

Why did that make her seem so deflated when it was exactly what she’d all but demanded of me before the challenge? She-wolves were confusing.

But when she slipped her fingers between mine, lacing our hands together, and pressed her palm tightly to mine, I forgot about the confusion. She was mine, and we fit. The rest would work itself out, even if I would rather get a root canal by a demented pixie with an expired medical license than tellher the truth about why I’d had to challenge those two assholes.

She still deserved the truth.

Sergei clapped me on the shoulder as we passed him, giving Leigh a polite nod. “I’ll see to the rest of their discipline.”

“Thanks.” I liked Sergei fine, but I didn’t like how close he was standing to Leigh. It was absurd, because he was happily mated and had his own pups older than I was. Yet somehow… any male but me was a threat.

I’d appreciated that Kane, Reed, and Dirge had kept their distance, letting the women cluster together in the center.

I wasn’t sure if Reed had had the time to tell them what we’d discovered… but it didn’t matter. My pack mates knew something was brewing.

Probably needed to make it a priority to fill Kane in, though. A task for later.

We dodged the main entrance at the back of the castle, instead taking a hard left and slipping in through a smaller—though still obscenely grand—door that let us cut through the knights’ hall.

Leigh sucked in a surprised breath and gaped up at the vaulted ceilings, or perhaps the gleaming suits of armor. They looked like they’d been polished and waxed this morning, and knowing Cristian, they probably had.

“You haven’t seen much of the castle yet, huh?” I paused, giving her a moment to absorb the grandeur.

“No, mostly just our rooms, the library, the gym, and… what is this place called?

“The knights’ hall. This place is so old, they used to have honest-to-Goddess knights and hold contests. This was their feasting hall, after they’d defeated their foes and wooed the fair maidens.” I whispered the last part close to her ear and delighted in her little shiver at the closeness.

She wasn’t immune to this thing between us, and I was hanging on to every little crumb she gave me to prove it. The distance between us these last few weeks had eaten away at me like a corrosive slowly drilling its way through my chest. But now… now all bets were off.

There was no reason to stay apart. Everything was pushing us together, as if Fate was serving her up on a silver platter.

So why didn’t she look happier?

Awe at the castle, yes. But happy… not at all.

I tugged on her hand, and she kept walking, following me as she kept her eyes trained on the painted ceilings. So much so, she didn’t notice at first that I didn’t take her back to either of our rooms. One side hallway, and she finally paid attention as we left the jaw-dropping hall behind.

“Where are we going?”

“I thought you might like to see a few more parts of the castle. You know, since you’ve been holed up in the rooms since we got here.”

“Denned up, more like,” she muttered.

“You don’t like it? My wolf finds it soothing, but if yours doesn’t?—”

“She does,” Leigh admitted a little begrudgingly. “It makes us feel safe.” Her free hand dropped to her stomach absently, the subtle reminder of who else was with us making me want to put my hand over hers. Would she let me? Or would I be pushed away?

I was scared to make a wrong move, scared to send her running for the hills again.

So I didn’t, even though it killed me.

“Good.”

I led her through a few more twists and turns before stopping at the door.

“What is it?” she asked.

“This is my favorite room in the castle.” I smiled at her warmly, simultaneously excited to share it with her and also nervous that her first experience of it would be ruined by the ugliness that I had to tell her. I would do my best to say it gently.

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