Page 54 of The Wolf Prince's Mate

My wolf lowered her head now that he was further away.

She didn’t like Kody, apparently.

That was just dandy.

Then again, she didn’t really like anyone other than Aspen and Sydney on occasion. She wasn’t afraid of Clay, but I didn’t know if she genuinely liked him.

I heard a phone ring, and Aspen answered it.

“Hey, Clay.” There was a pause. “She was talking to you?”

My wolf watched multiple heads swivel in her direction.

“He wants to know why her wolf is angry.” Aspen explained, glancing at Hunter warily.

“Tell him not to worry about it.”

Aspen repeated the message, then winced. “No, I’m not going to put you on speaker. That sounds like a bad idea right now.”

Another moment passed.

Hunter turned back toward Kody, who was still standing in front of me with his hands up.

“Everything is going to be alright,” Kody said calmly to my wolf. “The man who tried to hurt you is dead. We’re working on figuring out his identity right now. There’s no way he can?—”

“You don’t know who he is yet?”I demanded, speaking to Clay because he was the only one I could talk to at the moment.

“No. Hunter’s trying to get into his phone, but it’s encrypted. We found him on a few security cameras, and we have an ID for him, but we don’t know anything else.”

“And you didn’t think you should start with that?”

“You’re hiding inside a terrified wolf who’s hiding inside a bush, Gorgeous. No, I didn’t think I should start with that.”

“Fuck you.”I pushed him out of my mind and withdrew.

Quickly.

My wolf let me.

She kept up the growling, whining, and snapping any time someone came close, and didn’t try to force me to the surface again. She was submissive, but she was still a wolf. And she wouldn’t come out of that bush until someone forced her.

The rest of the day passed and the sun set, but no one dragged her out, so she stayed where she was.

ten

CLAY

I slammedmy car’s door and strode toward the back of the Lodge. Hunter fell into step with me as I passed the front edge of the main building, just like I knew he would.

It had been two days since Nova’s wolf went into that bush. She barely ate. Barely slept. And growled at anyone who came close.

“You can’t force her to come out,” he said.

“Watch me.”

“She’s been through enough without you making it worse.”

“Do you know her, Hunter?” I bit out.

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