Page 102 of Fated to the Wolf Billionaire

I stared at her, slack-jawed.

“What? You’re not the first couple to ever lose their heads and bite each other early. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything. I need you this afternoon and then about an hour before sunset tomorrow, to fit the dress. Gold is definitely your color. It’s going to look great with those cobalt-blue marks.” She patted me on the cheek and walked away, leaving me staring after her like a gaping fish.

Shay just laughed at my shocked expression, while Brielle took the opportunity to swoop back in. “It’s so good to all be together again.” She smiled as she hugged me for the second time and rubbed her cheek with mine affectionately. “I’ve been going stir-crazy stuck in here with nothing to do but try not to cause trouble. But there’s something else I need to say to you.”

She held me back at arm’s length, her expression going serious. Those nerves I’d thought I’d left behind at the warm welcome were a sudden swarm of caterpillars trying to climb up my throat. Was she angry after all?

“I wanted to thank you. Kane told me about what happened with the vampire—whatyoudid, for me, for all of us. And I know that I can never repay you for something so personal, but I wanted you to know that it means so much that you would be willing to do that for our pack. I won’t ever forget it. I owe you my life and my mate’s life.”

She crushed me to her chest again, and the last of the worry finally, truly slipped away. This was a family. A real, honest-to-Goddess family.

And they were mine.

* * *

Our pack—andour two assigned maidens, who I’d already decided belonged with our pack too—gathered in Kane and Brielle’s bedroom to see the omega stone. Gael had brought the package untouched from King Cysernaphus in its specially warded box.

It looked old, the carvings in the wood that protected it against detection burnished dark by time, their meanings lost.

We all stared at it as it sat on Kane’s desk, the culmination of so many weeks of struggle.

“Should I open it, or…?” Brielle trailed off, smoothing back a wayward curl with no little trepidation.

“I’ll do it. If it’s warded against omegas, it won’t harm me.”

She nodded, and he reached for the box.

Nothing crazy happened when he opened it. A folded piece of parchment fell out, a second, smaller box inside still closed.

“I’m going to guess we’re not lucky enough for that to be instructions?” Shay asked.

“Looks like a run-of-the-mill note from King Cysernaphus. Probably insulting me on not coming to see him personally.” Kane snorted, setting the unopened letter aside. He reached for the smaller box and opened it with an ominous creak of the ancient hinges.

Light burst forth, filling the room with the gem’s brilliance.

There, nestled in velvet, was a shard of shimmering celestine, smoky blue with lighter and darker veins shot through it. The lights seemed to pulse inside, or flicker, as if it were sentient, and I held my breath as Brielle reached across Kane to delicately lift it from its velvet cushion.

She stroked it with her thumb, excitement warring with reverence on her features as she looked down at it.

“Well, don’t keep us in the dark. Do you feel anything? More control? Power boost?” Leigh asked, rubbing her belly as she watched her friend.

“No? Not really. Maybe there really are instructions in the letter.”

Kane picked it up and slid his thumb under the flap, opening it carefully.

He skimmed it quickly, his scowl growing deeper by the second. But before anyone could ask, he started to read the note aloud.

Kane,

Enclosed is the dwarven shard of the omega stone. Alone, it holds no power. If you need it for the reason I think you do—because in your youthful stupidity, you mated an omega female and now need to protect her—then you’re going to need the other four pieces held by the centaurs, greater fae, phoenix, and goblins. Only when all five are combined will the stone hold any power.

Consider my boon paid in full with the delivery of this information and our shard of the stone.

King Cysernaphus

We all stared in stunned silence, trying to process what we’d just learned.

Galyna swore first from her position in the corner, and I could practically see that her fingers were twitching toward her sword when she stalked over and snatched the note from Kane’s fingertips to scan it herself.

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