Page 93 of The Wolf King's Mate

“Stop worrying about me,” I said.

“They’re paying me to do it, now.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’d feel exactly the same if there wasn’t money involved.”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely.”

He sighed. “Of course I’m worried. You’re engaged to the violent, dangerous wolf king. You’re telling his pack your secrets, even though you know they’ll take his side if something ever goes down between you two. Some things need to stay quiet.”

“I’m tired of hiding, Fletch. I know things have been shitty for you because of me, and because of what you are. Being a powerful Alpha makes it hard to find a place. I get that. And I’m sorry that it cost you the Creeks. But for the first time in my life, I can actually talk about what I am. I can make friends. Hell, I—” I looked around the room, searching for cameras. “Are there cameras in here?”

“No. The pack’s land is light on cameras. Hunter gave me a two-hundred-page guide about all the different kinds on Crimson land and in the city, so I would know how to spot them and which ones can do what. He wants me to keep you in line of them at all times.”

“So we can talk in here?”

He nodded.

“Enzo said they’re hunting another female wolf. I don’t want them to catch her—not if she doesn’t want to be caught. But what if she does? What if she needs help? What if I don’t have to be alone?”

“You’ve never been alone.”

“I know, and I’m lucky to have you. But what if there were other female wolves? I could have someone to call when heat does weird shit to my body. I could ask them odd sex questions that I obviously can’t ask you or anyone else.”

“I get it. It would be different,” Fletcher grumbled.

“Exactly. I could belong here. I could have a home here. And yeah, Enzo barely wants to be friends, but that could be good, couldn’t it? I’ll get to have a job, an?—”

“Enzo wantswhat?”

Oh.

Maybe I hadn’t told him that yet.

“Enzo doesn’t want to be mates the way our parents are mates. His wolf is the one who claimed me. Not the man. The man is keeping me around for the wolf. Enzo doesn’t have any feelings for me, and he doesn’t want to. We agreed that we’ll just be friends who live in the same apartment and spend heat together.”

Fletcher’s forehead creased, anger blazing in his eyes. “That’s bullshit. The wolf wasn’t the one forcing you to stay on bedrest because of your ankle, or cooking for you around the clock.”

“They have a weird relationship. It’s fine,” I insisted.

He shook his head. “There’s no way.”

“There is a way, and we’re going to find it.”

“You’re lying to yourself, and you know it.” His voice was blunt, but thankfully, he changed the subject. “Mom and Dad keep texting me. They know you blocked their phone numbers to keep them away from the king, and they’re threatening to show up here, guns blazing, if you don’t invite them.”

My eyes widened. “Shit.”

“He hasn’t killed me for hiding you. They should be fine,” Fletcher said. “From what I’ve gathered, he never takes a life without a good reason.”

“He almost killed Silas. Screwing me in the past was enough of a reason for him then.”

“Well, I can understand that. That’s just possessiveness. If Mom and Dad aren’t trying to take you from him, they’ll be fine.”

“Probably.”

“Probably is the best we can do right now, Aspen.”

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