Page 11 of The Wolf Prince

All I could see was in my mind—all I wanted to see—was Ty’s expression, the shock, the disbelief, and then behind that, the passion, the desire. It had been other-worldly, and I wanted to see it again. Closer. When there wasn’t two hundred other people staring at us.

I was in a daze, mystified by what had just happened, but there was no mistaking it.

I’d just met my fated mate.

Chapter 4

Ty

My heart continued to race as I paced the study at the Keller Estate. I wasn’t paying much attention to the upholstered furniture or the marble tables or the mahogany desk. Not more than to notice that this room was exactly the same as it had been years ago. I’d spent many hours in here thinking about what I’d done as a child, then as a teenager. As an adult, this room now brought back the memories. Tonight, though, I wasn’t interested.

I was anxious to speak with my parents, but I detected an even more severe urgency from my wolf. We fed off each other’s stress until it felt like I was about to blow a fucking lung.

He continued to repeat the word Mate! in such a way inside my head that I couldn’t ignore it. I didn’t have to guess what my parents wanted to discuss with me. Obviously, the scene in the dining room had been… unexpected, to say the least. They’d wanted me to mate with someone like Chanel Blaidel or Jessica Mullens. Certainly not someone my mother had hired as a server. This, the study, was the scolding room.

When I’d needed a good talking-to as a child, this was where it had happened. I’d been scolded by my parents in this room more times than I could count, but it had been years since the last time. Certainly, at the age of forty, I’d thought those days were over.

Quite frankly, I didn’t understand their issue. I’d played the game just as Mother had expected me to. I’d talked to all the Jessicas and the Ashleys and the ones named after purses and perfumes and designers.Year after year, I’d done my duty to find a mate. Nothing had happened. I had been prepared to give up on letting Fate decide, prepared to choose a mate based on preference and credentials. But tonight, everything had changed.

I honestly couldn’t help it that everyone had seen the connection between the waitress and me. It had been as visual as it was undeniable. I hadn’t been able to move or think or… breathe. The moment I saw her, all bets were off.

My parents, on the other hand, didn’t seem all too enthralled with her. Of course, they really didn’t have to be. In fact, they’d been fucking rude.

I glanced at my watch. It was nearing midnight. They’d dumped me here, far from the party at the country club, and had yet to return. The ceremony had to have ended by now.

Of course, I could leave and go to my house, but I didn’t, even though there wasn’t much reason to stick around. I was a grown man, but my alpha had told me to stay put, so I was staying put.

Every year I’d attended this thing, people couldn’t leave fast enough once the ceremony ended. Including my parents. This year, since the party was on their turf, they had no choice but to stick around. Although, it wasn’t like they had to supervise cleanup or any of the other things relative to tear down.

Somewhere in this house, they were having an in-depth conversation about the ceremony and my part in the evening’s events. I would’ve bet money on that.

Their reactions had been so… unexpected. My mother’s eyes had gone wild, and she tried to pull me away as soon as she spotted me and the waitress connecting. And oh, yeah… there had been connecting.

My dad, likewise, had gone pale, and then his mouth had pulled into a tight scowl. I couldn’t make sense of it. I’d done the thing they’d been waiting for me to do my entire life. Granted, they hadn’t counted on me mating with a woman my mother would likely forever call the help, but I didn’t have the ultimate say about a fated mate. I was fate’s victim—or benefactor, depending on how this turned out.

Every time I considered it or thought about her, a pulse of electricity shot through me.

In that moment, my heart could’ve exploded right there in the middle of the dining room. When my gaze locked on hers, I wanted to pull her to me, feel her body, and show her what it meant to be my mate. The yearning had been almost too strong to resist.

My parents, on the other hand, had acted like I’d chosen a human, which was worrisome. They’d spent years harping and fixing me up with every female shifter in a hundred-mile radius. All they’d ever wanted was for me to find a fated mate. At least, that was all they ever talked about. Especially Mother.

Again, at the merest thought of her, a full picture of the waitress popped into my head. I’d never met a woman more beautiful, and that wasn’t only the mating bond talking. Had I met her on the street, I would’ve thought the same.

Normally, I wasn’t a big fan of blondes. Some guys had a preference for blondes, especially that shade because it was so seldom natural and meant the woman specifically cared about her appearance. I didn’t subscribe to that theory. I liked a natural woman.

Something about this woman, though, told me she was all natural. And her hair had smelled like strawberries. I’d breathed her in as we stood staring at one another. I’d noted every fleck of blue in her eyes, every strand of hair that had fallen loose from the bun on top of her head, which was adorably messy—adorably messy?—as if she’d been running around busily all day. It was easy to believe she’d been running her legs off since my mom was her boss.

She was shorter than me, but taller than average for a woman. But it was the eyes that did it for me. Ice blue. An unwavering gaze. When it met mine, I couldn’t be certain that my heart wouldn’t shatter into a million pieces.

Sure as fuck, she was different than any of the other girls in the pack. Most females were dark with tan skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. It was a signature trait of the members of the Keller pack. Everything about this girl was different, though. She was like a beacon of light. She was pale, light, smaller… it made her stand out in the crowd.

It astounded me that I’d never seen her before. I certainly would’ve known if we had crossed paths. And if we had, I wouldn’t have been a forty-year-old bachelor, that was a hundred-fucking-percent for sure.

My wolf growled.

“I know. I want her, too.” I stopped pacing and forced myself to sit in a leather armchair against the wall. We both needed a moment of calm.

I stared with a deep yearning at the wooded area behind the house. I’d spent many moonlit nights running through those woods. The longing ached in my gut, warring with the extra power surging through my blood. I needed to shift as soon as possible to get the pent-up energy out of my system.

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