Page 9 of The Wolf King's Mate

I ripped the soap out of his hand, and the king finally stepped back, giving me room to breathe again.

With a huff, I set the soap back down on the shelf he’d taken it from.

The king took a step toward me, but stopped when I unzipped my jacket and tossed it to him. He caught it easily, and his fancy brother gagged at the strong scent of perfume on the wet fabric.

I had a pair of spandex volleyball shorts under my leggings. I preferred to take my leggings off and run in nothing but those sometimes. So, my pants went next. When I’d peeled the fabric off my skin, I threw them at my captor, hoping they’daccidentallyhit him in the face.

The Alpha caught them before they could, and his eyes narrowed at me when he did. His dominance thickened the air, but it still felt good.

In just my sports bra and shorts, I grabbed the soap and ran it over my skin quickly. Efficiently.

The soap went back where it belonged before I stepped under the water to rinse off. There weren’t many suds. It seemed like the kind of handmade soap that was way more expensive than it should’ve been, but left your skin feeling amazing.

I could never use that stuff. I had to buy the strongest-smelling shower gel I could find.

Guess that was about to change, though. I could use good, unscented soap—at the price of my freedom and safety.

Fletcher was going to lose his ever-loving shit.

Despair was sinking deep into my abdomen, but I hid it thoroughly.

The big, powerful bastards staring at me didn’t get to know what I was feeling.

When the water had rinsed all of the soap away, I shut it off. The alternative was letting one of them step around to my back and do it themselves. My wolf and I agreed that we might as well enjoy the last few minutes of freedom we would likely ever have.

As soon as it was off, three identical sets of nostrils flared.

One man rumbled.

“Well, fuck,” the fancy guy said.

“I was right,” my captor added.

“You’re a wolf,” the Alpha King said.

It was a solid few seconds before I realized he was talking to me.

“The first we’ve found since our mother passed,” the fancy guy put in.

The Alpha King stepped toward me. He inhaled deeply, and his chest rumbled again.

I had no idea what he was rumbling over. Some of the males did that when they liked the way a woman smelled, but their situation was so different than mine. That couldn’t have been it.

“Your mother?” I asked.

“She’s the reason we’re bigger than everyone else,” the fancy guy agreed. “She was a female wolf. The only one of her generation, as far as we know. Our father held her captive until she died when we were seven.”

My eyes widened, my body stiffening.

They had been so young, they probably hadn’t realized what she could do. He had probably hidden it from them.

But had they just admitted they were going to lock me?—

“That fucker,” my captor growled under his breath.

The curse relaxed me a little.

They probably didn’t want to lock me up if they hated their father for doing the same.

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