Page 107 of The Wolf King's Mate

“I don’t want a mate.” She slumped back in her chair. “Have you seen how possessive those furry bastards get?”

I shot her a look.

She gave me a grudging grin. “Alright, you’ve seen it.”

“I obviously won’t tell you what to do,” I said, sitting up and easing my legs over the side of the chair. “But I have a pretty good idea about what it’s like to be paired with a Savage. I wouldn’t recommend it, honestly. But if I had to choose between your stalker and my king, I’d walk myself back to the Savages without batting an eye.”

She nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Think about it before he has a chance to act on the things he’s saying, okay?”

She nodded again.

“We could have fun in the pack together. It would be nice not to be the only girl. And life is different when you don’t have to hide.” I stood up.

“Don’t tempt me, Wolf Queen.”

“Seriously, you can’t call me that.”

“Sure I can. In two weeks, you’re going to be mated to the king.” She stood up, and I followed her out of the room and to the register. “You’re going to want a crown tattoo next time, aren’t you?” she teased, as I paid with an app on my phone.

Enzo hadn’t brought back my wallet or the small crossbody bag I used to carry my cash and candy, but I hoped I’d find it at some point.

“He’s the one talking about getting a crown tattoo.”

“So it’ll bematchingcrowns.” She grinned. “Does he have any other ink?”

“Nope. Just ridiculously beautiful skin.”

“We’ll have to corrupt him, then.” She handed me the receipt, and I dropped it in the trash. “Just don’t tell him I said that. I’d rather not end up with broken bones.”

“He wouldn’t hurt you for insulting him.”

“But if you insult Aspen, it’ll be a different story,” Jake said easily, stepping up beside me. “Are we leaving?”

“Yep, we’re done.”

“You should really think about getting a more comfortable couch in that hallway,” Arthur said, rubbing his ass. “Ouch.”

“We try to dissuade loitering, actually,” Nova tossed back.

“It failed today,” Jake teased. The way he was eyeing her made it clear he was interested. She looked him up and down, like she was considering it.

I had no idea if she was brave enough to risk someone catching the scent of her wolf through casual sex, but if she was really Hunter’s mystery girl… well, being with Jake would be a bad call for him.

“Text me if you want to meet up at a bar or something this week, Nova. I can’t escape these bastards, but it would be fun to get out.” I gestured to the men around me.

“Your king would let you go to a bar?”

“He’s gone so much that I doubt he’d know I went at all.”

“We would tell him,” Arthur said helpfully.

I rolled my eyes, and Nova grinned. “I’ll text you.”

nineteen

ASPEN

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