Page 112 of The Wolf Prince's Mate

“Move a few feet back,” I gritted out.

Hunter scooted his chair until my wolf stopped threatening him.

Then he leaned over and set a book down on Nova’s bed, next to my elbow.

“I went into dad’s archive,” Hunter said.

My head jerked toward him. He didn’t flinch at the sight of me, though I was confident my stubble was overgrown and my eyes were bloodshot. I probably reeked, too.

We’d sealed off the archive shortly after Enzo killed our father. It was just a big, concrete room full of old books. We assumed they were full of either journals describing torture or something else equally horrible. Enzo and I had wanted to burn them, but Hunter said no, and locked it.

“Why the fuck would you?—”

Hunter interrupted me. “The books are old pack records. Dad didn’t have journals. I checked a few decades back.”

I stared at him for a long moment.

Hunter tipped his chin toward the book. “This one has everything they knew about mate bonds in it. I only flipped through, but it mentions born female wolves. It should prove whether or not a wolf can hurt his mate.”

“I’m not going to risk her life because an ancient book claims it’s safe,” I finally said, looking back at Nova’s sleeping form. She was so small, and so fragile.

“Then you’re going to have to let her mate with someone else at some point,” Hunter said bluntly.

My wolf roared so loudly that Nova opened her bleary eyes for a moment. Her hand landed on my face, and the wolf cut himself off immediately.

She was back asleep a heartbeat later, thankfully.

“I’ll do what I have to do.” I forced the words out.

They were far from what I really wanted to say, but admitting the truth wasn’t going to benefit anyone.

Hunter shook his head and stood up, stalking out of the room. He growled over his shoulder, “Just read the damn book.”

I wasn’t going to do that.

Hope just might kill me if I did.

Closing my eyes, I steeled myself against the coming pain.

I would survive losing her, the same way I’d survived everything else.

A few hours later,she woke up long enough to have a few bites of food.

A few hours after that, she was up long enough for a few short conversations and a small meal.

The next time she started stirring, I looked at Sydney and Olive, who were both sitting behind me. “I have to leave. Feed her when she’s up again.”

The women both nodded.

I vaguely noticed that Olive looked much healthier.

My gaze went back to Nova. My wolf was snarling, roaring, and raging against his cage—but when I slipped out of the room, he didn’t break free.

I’d locked him down too tightly.

When I got to Stray, I would let him go. He could run as much as he wanted inside the safety of our cage.

As I took in one last look at her, one thought hit hard.

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