Page 60 of The Wolf King's Mate

“He makes sure you don’t run out.”

Fletcher probablydidsneak chocolate into my cabinets and replace my stash before it could run out. It was entirely in character for him, and heat was never going to be a comfortable subject for us to discuss.

“Princess,” he said, his voice lowering. “I understand that you want independence, but I can’t give you that if I don’t know the full story here. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know what I’m keeping you safe from. I’ve talked to Fletcher about how to take care of you, and Iwilltalk to him again if you don’t tell me thefull story. And that’s not a threat. It’s a promise. I won’t risk you. My wolf would fucking lose it, and no one in this city needs that.”

It was one of the most reasonable things he’d said to me, even if it was frustrating that he said it at all.

“You can’t ask Fletcher for the story. It haunts him more than anyone else,” I said quietly, running a hand over my greasy hair. I barely noticed the oil. “The three of us were close. Me, Fletch, and Simon. We were raised like siblings. Silas was too, but he was always quiet. Artsy. He kept to himself. He was close with Simon, too, but we weren’t close with him. Silas liked to do his own thing. Our pack was small. Just the four of us, our parents, and an aunt and uncle. I’m not giving you any of their names.”

“For now,” Enzo said.

I scoffed.

He dragged his thumb over the inside of my thigh. “Continue.”

“Don’t order me around.”

“Continue,please.”

My scowl didn’t really fade, but I went on anyway.

The sooner I got the story out, the sooner I could push it back to the far corner of my mind.

“I think I already told you I was fifteen when my first heat started. I was hanging out near the pack house. Our parents were at work. Our uncle was nearby, and my pheromones hit him first. He pinned me to a tree. I’d started feeling hot, but other than that, I had no idea what was going on. My wolf refused to take over,” I said. “I could barely feel her at all. Heatand rut both suppress your ability to shift even though your mind is possessed by them. We learned that, that night.”

I continued. “Fletcher never went far from me, so when I screamed, he came running. We were always a team. We loved our adoptive parents, but we were different from them, and we both knew it. He saw our uncle trapping me, and managed to shift his nails to claws and cut through. Even then, his dominance was insanely powerful. He tried to send our uncle to his knees with it, but he was trapped in the rut. Fletch punched him and clawed him, but blood doesn’t stop someone in that state.”

I tilted my head back against the cabinets behind me and closed my eyes. “Fletcher ripped him away from me. While Fletch killed him, I ran. My body was getting hotter. The terror was fading, and the wild, uncontrollable desperation of heat started to set in. I couldn’t go back, but something inside me pushed me to anyway. Thankfully, I didn’t.”

Enzo’s hands gripped my knees a little tighter.

I didn’t comment on it.

“Simon and Fletch were always together, even when I wasn’t with them. When Fletch ran to find me, Simon chased him. He tried to go find Silas for help when he saw Fletcher attack our uncle, but my heat grew strong enough to pull him in as I was running away. He chased me, but we were both in human form, so he didn’t catch me. Not until my legs shook too badly to keep moving, and I collapsed. He caught me. Fletcher assumed he’d attacked me too, and killed him.”

Enzo let out a slow breath.

I pressed my lips together.

The Alpha waited.

My voice was quieter when I finished the story. “I was too lost to heat to care that my best friend and my uncle were dead. I begged Fletcher to find someone to help me. It was the worst pain of my life. He dragged me halfway back to the house before Silas showed up, and when Silas did, he guarded us.”

“The pheromones were fading when our parents got back and found us. Our adopted dad felt a small amount of it, but it was fading, and weak enough that he didn’t act on it. The horror that followed as we all realized what had happened…”

I cleared my throat. “We all mourned, but they didn’t blame us. We did, and Silas did, but they didn’t. We tracked the dates after that, and the moment I started feeling hot, Fletcher, Silas, and I trekked deep into the forest and waited it out. The hatred in his eyes only minutes before the rut set in is something I’ll never forget. Over the years, he’s stopped blaming us for the most part, but I don’t think he’ll ever truly forgive us. So yeah, you heard relief when I told him he was off the hook. He never wanted me or liked being with me.”

Enzo’s gaze bore into me, but I didn’t meet his eyes.

I was afraid mine would water.

Fletcher and I didn’t talk about that day. Fletch had hated himself for what he did ever since that day. Neither of us blamed each other, but we sure as hell blamed ourselves.

Enzo finally released his hold on my knees. One of his hands slid around my face, and he ran his thumb lightly over my cheekbone. I wanted to lean into his touch so desperately that it hurt, but I didn’t let myself.

He was still the king.

He was still an asshole.

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