Page 41 of The Forbidden Wolf

I’d never seen any of the Manhattan shifters’ wolves before so I couldn’t tell who was fighting who, but my father’s giant tawny gray had pinned a smaller brown male to the carpet, and Blaze’s burly frosted black was locked in a wrestling match with a stunning dark gray wolf, both of them reared up on their hind legs like a couple of wild stallions.

“Please don’t kill him!” I cried out to Sebastian’s mind. “He has five pups!”

The dark gray wolf’s ears flicked, but he gave no verbal response, and I could only hope he’d heard me. It was bad enough that Blaze believed I’d been trying to trick him so I could carry on an affair; I couldn’t live myself with if my actions inadvertently orphaned his pups. But they weren’t my actions, were they? This was all Kiana.

“Call them off,” I snarled at my sister. “And I will tell Sebastian to call off ours. This is between you and me. No one else can settle this.”

Kiana’s pink tongue swiped across her bloody jaw. “Yours? My, you’ve made yourself right at home in no time at all.”

I bounded forward and slapped Kiana’s muzzle with my paw. “Because you left me! You left me all alone in a place I’d never been with a male I’d never met—”

“Don’t lie to me!” Kiana lunged, raking my cheek with her fangs. Searing pain shot through my skull as she screamed inside it. “I could smell him on your dirty clothes! You stole that phone to call him and make sure your plan was still in place!”

“I stole the phone to call a cab to run away before you made me mate with Blaze!” The lie rolled right off my tongue, but I stammered all over the next part, which was true. “I… I couldn’t do it though. I couldn’t leave you. Not when you needed me.”

“I didn’t need you!” Kiana snapped at my face again. “I’ve never needed you! Nothing could have made my mating day more perfect than waking up and finding out I’d never have to see you again!”

“Then why are you here?” I pulled my vulnerable neck between my shoulders and shrank back from her frenzied attack. “You’re biting yourself in the foot, Kiana! You could have had the Bronx all to yourself while still gaining a powerful ally. Why are you doing this?”

“I was meant for Sebastian!” Kiana ducked her head and charged, ramming my shoulder and bowling me over. She threw her tremendous weight down on my ribs, knocking the wind from me. “I’ve always been meant for Sebastian!”

Kiana’s teeth plunged into the ruff around my neck for a second time. I tried to push her back with my front paws, but she had my elbows pinned to my sides with her wide chest, and I’d landed with my back legs outstretched to where I couldn’t get them under her belly again. She had won. She always won. And this time she would end me.

A thunderous jolt rocked my body. Kiana’s weight vanished with a high-pitched yelp, and the floor shook as she landed nearby. A glossy black wolf the size of a bull stood between us suddenly, wagging his tail.

“Sebastian ain’t shit,” Kenzo said, ducking into a play bow. “Call this thing off, and I’ll let you claim me right now. Talk about a power move, gorgeous.”

Kiana shook her head as if waking from a dream and blinked at the cocky male. I could practically see her strategic wheels turning—leaving Manhattan with a male of her own choosing would be the ultimate power move. Even if he’d technically offered himself up first. Kenzo’s actual rank was unclear to me, but he dined with the Alpha family and called Max ‘Pops’ so he had some serious pull, no matter what. It could be an auspicious match, if he were truly that willing to take one for the team.

“Don’t insult her,” Damian’s oily voice oozed into the conversation moments before his slate gray wolf landed lightly in front of Kiana. “She’s our Alpha Heir and deserves nothing less than your Alpha Heir.” Damian narrowed his green eyes. “Furthermore, it is an honor for a female to be claimed by a male. Your suggestion suggests undesirability. Kiana will remain unmated before she takes a male who didn’t claim her.”

Kenzo’s tail froze in mid-air. “Unmated? Are you crazy? Alphas gotta have heirs.”

“Alphas must have worthy heirs.” Damian’s cool gaze slid to me, accusing.

“Fine then.” Kenzo stood up straight, towering over the Beta. “I, Kenzo of Manhattan, claim Kiana of the Bronx. All problems solved. Now call your wolves off before someone gets killed.”

“Denied.” Damian’s whiskers twitched. “As I said, our Alpha Heir deserves nothing less than your Alpha Heir. We will call off our wolves when Sebastian agrees to proceed with their mateship ceremony.”

Shaking with outrage, I rolled over and pushed to my paws. “That is not your call.”

“I speak for her father,” Damian said. “I know his mind.”

“Then why didn’t you speak for him last night?” I stalked over to Kenzo’s side. “Why didn’t you deny Sebastian’s claim outright?”

Damian’s ears flicked as if a fly were bothering him. “You should know the answer. After all, you planned it just right. We were taken by far too much surprise. But having gone home and mulled it over, we realized this was an unforgivable offense. And yet we are offering forgiveness if Sebastian will only do what is right.”

“My Alpha Heir will not be swayed,” Kenzo said. “But I am his brother in practice if not by blood. Our match would achieve the same goals.”

“Oh, I think not,” Damian chuckled. “Your claim is denied. As our future Alpha, Kiana mates with Sebastian or not at all.”

A shiver rolled down my spine all the way to the tip of my tail. I looked at my twin, but it was like looking in the television’s black mirror if my reflection refused to look back. Kiana stared straight ahead, expressionless. All the adrenaline had increased the potency of her pheromones though, and I could smell something quite odd—alarming. This was the first she’d heard of remaining unmated forever. And it made no sense at all. She had to have pups with someone or else my pup with Sebastian would inherit both thrones.

I whirled and made a mad dash toward the center of the room where Father was shaking the smaller brown wolf like a bloody rag doll in spite of the large silver wolf chomping down on his own neck.

“Release my Beta this instant!” I heard Max’s voice inside my head as I came into range. “This is an egregious breach of the rules of engagement! We have not touched yours!”

Fresh hot anger blazed in my chest. Of all the wolves in the room, my father had gone after Mateo? I’d barely been trained in politics, but even I knew that was a war crime. Betas served their packs in a priest-like role and took vows of abstinence from physical violence. Therefore, they were left alone in battle as forcing a Beta to break his vow to Halo and Leto and act in self-defense was… super not cool.

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