Page 60 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

Shay was lying on the ground on her back, playing an invisible piano. She’d already demolished two plates, clearly not suffering from the same indecision as me. I was going to blame the baby, because that was my right as a pregnant lady.

Though, if they kept feeding me like this, I would definitely double in size before I had this baby. There were worse ways to gain a few pounds than pregnancy cravings, so I was a-okay with it.

I finally picked up a melty chocolate chip cookie—how did they stay so warm? Seriously, the chef might be a wizard, not a wolf—and turned around to face Olivia and her question. I was curious what—or rather,who—had her thinking about suddenly having a mate fall in your lap, but I didn’t want to pry.

“I think the weirdest part for me is that it’s actuallynotinstant. I mean, we’ve been around each other for months now and still don’t have marks.”

“You don’t?” she asked, mouth falling open in surprise.

“Nope.” I popped the p, not at all wanting to examine our lack of mate marks. Or my lingering worry that my half-human bloodline meant I might never get them.

“I had no idea it worked like that. I guess I assumed… it was supposed to happen on its own, and it would be seamless.”

“Ha,” Shay said with a snort. “I don’t think any of us have had seamless. My mate bond got messed up by like three different types of magic, and my bond marks came in one painful stroke at a time.”

I chewed my bottom lip, considering. She was right, and while I’dknownthat her marks hadn’t come in easily or right away, I kind of assumed that it was only because of the fact Dirge had been feral at the time.

“So how did you get them to come in?” I asked, thinking back. She hadn’t mentioned anything specific at the time, otherthan the fact they were slowly coming in throughout our stay in Texas.

Shay blushed red as a tomato and didn’t answer right off.

Ah.

“Physical contact,” she finally said, sounding embarrassed. My sweet, quiet bestie wasn’t open with her sexuality, and I respected her desire for privacy and didn’t pry. But my brain wasmorethan willing to supply an endless reel of Gael and me and provide snapshots of the sex-a-thon that had created our little Petal.

“So, you didn’t know right away, then?” Olivia asked, ice cream forgotten.

I snorted. “Definitely not. We kind of hated each other for most of the time. But I was sodrawnto him, it was even more irritating. Like in my head, I kept thinking, ‘I need to stay away from this guy, he’s so annoying,’ but deeper down, it was like a bee to honey. I couldn’t escape the pull, and one night… it all blew up.” I bit my lip at the memory and how much had changed in the few short weeks since.

“I knew right away,” Shay offered. “My wolf claimed him on sight, even though he was feral at the time.”

“Goddess’s hem,” Olivia said, wide-eyed. “You weren’t scared of him?”

“No, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I was surprised, but he was mine. From the start.”

“That is so sweet,” she said with a wistful sigh.

Bri smiled coyly. “Someone caught your eye?”

“Oh, well?—”

Dirge burst through the door. “Cristian just radioed. Everybody into the tunnels.”

“Tunnels? What fucking tunnels?” I dropped my cookie, panic surging through my veins as Shay sprang up from the floor, eyes aglow.

“Behind the nightstand,” Dirge was all business, cuttingthrough our girly clutter with precision and efficiently setting aside the solid mahogany piece of furniture. He leaned down and depressed a small stone on the wall, and the floor shook as a heavy door swung inward.

“Holy shit, this is like Batman’s castle,” Bri said, clutching my arm.

“You didn’t know that was there?”

“Hell no. I wouldn’t have slept in here if I did.”

“No time to discuss. In, now. We’re under attack.”

“Attack! From who?”

Dirge unceremoniously took me by the shoulders and pushed me through the opening. Shay and Bri followed, but Olivia was ghostly pale and shaking her head. “No, no. I don’t do small spaces, please. I can’t, I can’t?—”

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