Page 24 of The Wolf King's Mate

Every eye was on me.

The Alpha snarled viciously, and everyone looked away. Quickly.

His wolf leaped off the table and landed on top of me, his paws on the floor but his ginormous, furry body over mine.

He forced me to my back, and plopped down right on top of me, still snarling.

One minute passed.

Then another.

Panic gave way to irritation, then anger.

Who did he think he was? I wasn’t his mate. Sure, he was the king. According to his brother, he was the reason the city functioned at all. That was great. Wonderful.

But it didn’t give him any right to claim me. Even if there wasn’t really anything I could do to fight back.

My wolf’s pride told me she’d done this for a reason. Her head was up, her nose in the air.

She was showing him that he couldn’t control her. She might like him, and she might be okay with him claiming her, but he wasn’t her Alpha and didn’t get to call the shots.

Which I might as well take advantage of.

“I need my clothes,” I said into the Alpha’s furry throat. “That’s why she did this. She’s making a statement. She likes you, but she won’t let you control us.”

The wolf growled, his entire body rumbling against mine as he threw extra dominance into the air. More than usual. The electricity of it slid over my skin and warmed me, but otherwise didn’t do a thing.

Silence still rang through the massive dining room.

“That doesn’t affect me,” I said into the king’s fur. “I can feel the power, but it doesn’t do anything.”

He growled again, and I heard choking in the room behind me as he hit me with more of his power.

“We get it, Enzo. You’re the Alpha. Knock it off,” I lifted a hand and batted the wolf on the side of the head before my hand froze, and I realized he might bite me.

He licked my palm instead, and the power eased up.

Someone brought him a blanket, and the wolf finally lifted his head off my face and licked my cheek. He took the edge of the blanket, and dragged it over my body as he climbed off of me. He didn’t give up until I was entirely covered, from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes.

I pulled it off my face, holding it to my chest as I finally sat up. He stepped around my back, growling at me yet again. “You know nudity is unavoidable for werewolves, right? Your brother carried me while he was naked. I was in a vehicle with him for almost an hour. We?—”

“Let’s not get me killed by the Alpha,” Hunter interrupted, from beside us.

Apparently he was the one who brought the blanket.

Enzo’s wolf snapped his teeth at his brother.

Hunter lifted his hands. “If I’d known she was yours, I would’ve put pants on.”

The wolf snapped his teeth again anyway.

“Aspen, can you lead the Alpha back to your room?” Hunter asked, eyeing the wolf with something that looked like uncertainty. “He seems to like you.”

Enzo’s wolf snarled, stepping toward his brother threateningly.

He hadn’t cared when I smacked his head, so he clearly didn’t mind it when I touched him. I put a hand on his side, rubbinglightly, and the wolf’s anger vanished immediately as he stepped closer to me.

“You don’t need to scare anyone else. They know you’ve claimed me,” I said.

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