Page 118 of The Wolf King's Mate

I clenched my fists harder.

“No one else could’ve taken down that rabid before it killed someone,” Clay said, setting a hand on my shoulder. I shook him off. “She made her decision. There was nothing else you could’ve done.”

My entire body shook.

“Eat the sandwich. It’ll help,” my brother added.

I wanted to break his fucking nose.

The pack’s doctor came in and looked at the women’s vitals. Checked the fluid bags hanging. Read something on a screen nearby. “The girl’s vitals are strong. She’s healing much faster than she should be. Faster than a male werewolf.”

“Female werewolves heal faster,” Fletcher said.

I glowered at him.

I’d already known that, but what other information was he keeping from me?

“She’s going to make it,” he told me, though his expression was grim. “She’d be dead by now if she wasn’t. We’re going to have a bigger problem on our hands soon.”

No fucking kidding.

If Aspen could turn women into werewolves, the entire city would be at my gates, demanding that she change their mates. Their cousins. Their sisters. Their kids.

And it obviously wasn’t a trick she could repeat infinitely. Her heartbeat was so weak, Fletcher was the only one who seemed sure she would pull through at all.

“Eat the sandwich,” Clay said, and stepped away again. His phone rang, and I saw Hunter’s name on the screen before he lifted it to his ear. “Did you figure out which Noah needs protecting?”

“No, but I found a name for the girl. Sydney Lawrence. We have another problem, though. There’s a small crowd gathering at the hospital doors. They’ve got cameras. I’m sending more of our men in to keep things from escalating, but they want to know what’s going on too.”

Fletcher caught my gaze again. “She’s not going to be able to stay here.”

“Unless you make a statement,” Clay told me. “With none of your usual personality. They need someone to calm them down, not threaten them.”

“Then you do it.”

He shook his head. “It has to be you.”

I snarled again.

I didn’t want to walk away from her… but if the alternative was to put her more at risk, I’d go.

Striding up to Aspen’s side, I put a hand on her forehead. The blood on my skin was dry, and I ignored it.

Her heartbeat picked up a little with my touch. It was so slow and weak, that was a good thing.

I lowered my face toward her head, setting my free hand on her hip before I said into her ear, “If you die, I’ll have to kill your brother, Princess. Don’t even think about it.”

She didn’t stir, but some part of me felt like she had heard me.

I slid my hand over her forehead and said without looking away, “I’ll be right back.”

It took a few more minutes before I finally convinced myself to leave her side, but I eventually strode out of the room and into the hallway.

Clay fell into pace with me. “They’ll listen better if you wash your hands. And your chest. And your face.”

“I don’t want them to listen. I want them to be too afraid of me to come anywhere near her.”

Clay made a noise of disagreement. “Fear isn’t the best route here. They fear losing the women they love to old age and death more than they fear losing their lives.”

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