Page 126 of The Wolf King's Mate

“You have to mate with him,” Fletch said. “The full moon is in a few days. If you don’t seal the bond, people are going to think he’s weak. They’re going to attack. A lot of them will die, but if enough people work together, theywillbeat him. Our pack is big, but not that big.”

“Relax. I know. I’m going to mate with him. I get it.”

Despite the shitshow that was apparently going on outside, I was relieved.

The truth was out.

There were no more secrets.

I had nothing left to hide.

And that felt incredibly freeing.

My fingers brushed the birds on my collarbone. Enzo hadn’t let anyone take me. He had threatened them. Fletcher was even on his side, and considered the Crimson Pack ours.

Everything was okay, at least for the moment.

Fletcher growled again anyway. “Is your wolf on board with the bond?”

I laughed softly. “My wolf has been in love with him since the moment she met him.”

I heard Enzo drop something in the kitchen.

That was weird.

He never dropped things.

He probably hadn’t gotten enough sleep, or eaten enough food. He seemed to do that often.

“You’re way too calm right now,” Fletcher finally said. “People want to force you to turn more humans, at your own detriment. There are more than sixty thousand wolves here. At least twenty-thousand humans. Maybe more. At three days of recovery a pop, do you know how many years it would take you to turn all of them, without taking any breaks?”

“No. Something tells me you do, though.”

“One-hundred-sixty-four. And a third. Assuming you don’t keel over before that.”

“That’s a lot of years,” I said.

“Of course it’s a lot of fucking years. And if the other forty-thousand wolves suddenly decide they want human mates, which they will, we’ll have to triple that. That would be almostfive hundredyears, Aspen. Do you think Enzo is going to stay sane while watching you suffer repeatedly forfive hundredyears? Do you think I will, either?”

“No. But technically, there are three of us who can turn women.”

“Assuming Nova and Sydney have the same ability and can survive using it.”

“Why wouldn’t they? It’s not that much different from creating life by giving birth. Although it takes a lot less time. And energy, probably.”

“Aspen. Listen.” Fletcher’s voice lowered. “We didn’t know if you were going to recover. Things were looking bad before Enzo climbed into bed with you. Whatever is between you guys, your wolf recognized it, or your body recognized it. He’s the only reason you’re as healthy as you are right now.”

Oh.

I looked at the kitchen, but couldn’t see Enzo from where I was.

“You’re calling him by his name now,” I said.

“I’ve reluctantly decided I like him.”

My lips curved, slightly. “That makes one of us.”

“Don’t lie to yourself. He’s a fucking bastard, but he’s your fucking bastard.”

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