Page 11 of Fated to the Wolf Billionaire

I was floored. I had no idea what the hell half of it meant, but the fact that she was willing to put herself in harm’s way for her friend—pack mate, I corrected myself, even though the word sat strangely in my mind—was loyalty to a degree I’d never in my life experienced. Not to mention me, a complete stranger.

“I cannot let an omega put herself in harm’s way any more than I can allow a human to stay inside these walls.”

“I don’t think she’s human,” Shay interjected from across the room, her eyes on me unnervingly sharp. “Are you able to check the barrier’s strength, to confirm?”

“There is a way, but it has great cost to the one who performs the test,” the priestess said stiffly.

“I am sorry about that, but you said yourself there’s no history of human women bearing an omega seal, yet here she is.” Shay turned back to me. “Can you show her your palm, please?”

Reed stiffened at the request, but his grip remained gentle on me.

I bit my bottom lip between my teeth and lifted the marked palm, even as part of me expected it to have vanished, the whole thing a nightmare.

It glowed in the softly lit room, and the priestess shook her head. “I sense no wolf blood in her. Only human.”

“Isn’t it possible she had a long-ago ancestor who was a shifter? There are legends about humans under duress whose latent blood was activated. Maybe that’s what’s happening here,” the naked man offered.

“We would be able to sense it if her ancestor was a shifter. Her scent doesn’t contain it.” Kane, I thought his name was, strode to stand in front of us. After a moment, his eyes began to glow as they stared into my own.

“Shift.” He said the word with a deep, gravelly tone that made me quiver in fear, but as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened.

“She is not wolf,” he said, stepping back. “If she were, my command would have dragged her into wolf form. But that doesn’t mean she is unmagical.”

My head was spinning. And then a thought hit me. “Are there any magical creatures who are… blue?” I felt stupid even asking the question. But a tiny part of me demanded it. When was I ever likely to have the chance to ask again? Any minute now, Reed was going to get himself dressed and drive me back to my rental car. I would get on a plane, fly home to my tiny apartment, and this would all be a strange fever dream, that night I couldn’t talk about because everyone who heard would think I was crazy.

Except… what if it wasn’t? My pulse pounded faster as I waited for an answer.

“Pixies come in a rainbow of colors. Why do you ask?” the priestess asked, her tone still hostile.

“There’s, well… My great-grandmother was institutionalized for claiming she’d met a blue man and that her second child was his. It’s probably nothing. I just wanted to help.”

“That would make you… one-eighth pixie?” Reed asked, looking down at me.

“I have no idea. Everyone back then thought she was crazy, so I never put much stock into it.”

Brielle was nodding, though. “You havesomekind of powers. I think we can all agree with that. You’re omega sealed, and you’re Reed’s mate, which means you can’t be fully human.”

I blinked rapidly at that last piece of information. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“That you have powers? I thought you were picking up on that, given you can see?—”

“No, not that. The bit about being Reed’smate?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew that was why he brought you here.” Brielle cleared her throat and looked up at Reed apologetically. “Reed, you didn’t tell her?”

My fingertips felt cold, almost numb. “Tell me what?” My voice sounded too high, on the verge of hysterical.

“Fiona,” Reed started in a wary tone, “my wolf has claimed you. He says you’re our fated mate.”

FIVE

Reed

I’d faced down enemies in boardrooms, across the table on deals for expensive high-rise properties, and even those in the ODL who were out for our blood, and yet somehow, the moment I spent watching the news that she was my fated mate sink in for Fiona was the most terrifying few seconds of my life.

She’d been through so much, I’d intended to keep things platonic and get to know her a bit before dropping the bomb on her. Not to mention, I hadn’t had the chance to tell her between her falling asleep and getting called into this goddess-forsaken office.

But there was no taking it back, now. She’d been tossed directly into the fire, with no frying pan in sight. Now I just had to pray she didn’t run away screaming. Did she even know wolves were real? She washuman.

---