Page 113 of The Wolf King's Mate

“No one else cares as much about making sure you’re safe. After we seal the bond, my scent will protect you and his hours will be reduced.”

“No one needed to guard me while I was in our room at the Lodge before,” I countered.

“I’m taking your safety more seriously now.”

I scowled. “Is it about my safety, or about your possessiveness?”

He didn’t answer.

I didn’t think he really knew.

“Your friend. Who is she?”

“Nova Jacobs. She’s one of the females from Silas’s pack. Born in, not a groupie. I met her a few months back while I was waiting for him, and we talked about tattoos for hours. I like her. You’re going to treat her politely.”

“Fine.”

We reached his truck, and he lifted me into the passenger seat. He reached past me to buckle my seatbelt for me before he shut the door and walked around to his side.

His door closed too, and we were officially alone.

I let out a puff of air. “If you join me in a public place like that, you can’t put your hands all over me the way you did. It makes people uncomfortable.”

“You belong to me. I can touch you however I want, whenever I want.”

“I belong tome. If I say no, that’s the answer.”

He growled, but didn’t disagree. He knew I was right.

He pulled away from the curb. “Nova smells like coffee and ink. Like Hunter’s mystery woman.”

Shit.

He was smarter than I wanted him to be.

She was going to be pissed if he abducted her too.

“I didn’t smell a wolf on her, and I would know if she was a shifter,” I stated. It was a risk. Enzo could call my bluff.

But both statements were true.

The coffee and ink hid her scent from me entirely, and I would know if she was a shifter. I did know.

He made a noise of reluctant agreement, and I knew I’d won for the moment. He’d bring it up again, but I had time. He wouldn’t pay her any more attention until he was done with the escaped rogue wolf.

There were a bunch of ways I could try to warn her over text that he was asking about her, but we had plans to meet up for lunch again the next day. It would be safest just to tell her then, so Hunter wouldn’t read the texts and think there was anything fishy going on.

“How did you end up at a bar with her?” Enzo asked.

“Nova? Oh, she’s my tattoo artist. We had a good time talking, so we made plans afterward.”

He nodded. “And there were no men who…”

“Tried to flirt with us? No. None of the women even tried to talk to us. I don’t have to have your scent on my skin to tell people I belong to you. The three gigantic alpha males did that for me, and scared everyone away from me in the process.”

Enzo looked satisfied by that.

He turned onto the highway, headed back toward the Lodge. After a minute of silence, he swore and lifted his hand to his temple.

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