Page 89 of The Wolf Prince's Mate

He didn’t respond right away.

I took a few bites of my food.

“Nah?” he finally asked.

“Yes,nah. I’m not having second thoughts about it. It won’t hurt anything to try it for a few weeks.”

It would only solidify Clay’s wolf’s claim.

But I didn’t think a few weeks ofnotscrewing were going to change anything about what the beast had decided. It took a year for Hunter to get his wolf to stand down even partially—it was going to be a hell of a lot worse convincing Clay’s to do the same.

If we should even bother doing that.

Which was debatable.

I just couldn’t debate it with Clay, currently.

He relaxed. “Agreed.”

We both focused on our food, and his free hand landed on my thigh. His shirt covered my skin, and he pulled it up a little so he could touch my bare leg.

What we were doing was already far from casual, based on my past experiences.

But I didn’t think he was ready or willing to hear that.

So, I changed the subject.

“Why don’t you ever eat in the dining hall?” I asked, glancing over to see Clay’s response.

He lifted a shoulder. “It’s complicated.”

“I told you about my sister, and that’s complicated,” I pointed out.

“You did.” He didn’t look happy about the admission.

I took a bite of my food.

If he didn’t want to tell me, that was his prerogative. But if he wasn’t going to open up to me, I sure as hell wasn’t going to keep opening up to him.

A minute of silence passed before he finally said, “Our dad made our chefs poison my brothers and I when we were teenagers. The fucker thought we’d try to overthrow him. Took a damn long time for us to figure it out. Our minds were a mess, and we wereabsolute shit at just about everything. When Enzo realized what was going on, he killed our dad and the rest of his trio, and we took over. Our dining hall is safe, obviously, but it’s just easier to cook for ourselves.”

“Easier than wondering?” I said quietly, my chest aching for him.

My teenage years hadn’t been easy, but they definitely hadn’t been likethat.

Clay nodded, and took the opportunity to change the subject. I couldn’t imagine the past was easy for him to talk about. “I was thinking about your problem with your sister. Olive. We haven’t figured out whether your stalker was working alone or not yet, given the problem with his phone, but I could reach out to her for you. Even Hunter’s people have a hard time watching every person I communicate with. I’m the one who handles all the government shit.”

As the Beta, Clay had the unique ability to make people feel comfortable and heard. I doubted the gift worked over the phone, but considering his brothers’ social skills, it didn’t surprise me that Clay handled their most important connections.

I hadn’t considered him being an option to contact Olive, but he was, wasn’t he?

“That would be amazing. When we get back to the Lodge, maybe I could write to her and you could get her the message?”

“Of course.” He squeezed my thigh, and my body warmed.

“Thank you.”

“You can thank me by letting me take this off of you.” He tugged on the hem of the t-shirt I was wearing.

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