Page 10 of The Wolf Prince

As soon as the door swung closed behind me and I walked into the room, something shifted in the air. There was an electric charge I hadn’t noticed before. It was a wave, or like a cable that reached from one side of the room to the other that I couldn’t see. I stumbled forward, almost tripping, and I barely caught my tray before it crashed to the floor.

There was a gasp. It might’ve been mine or that of the room from the tables around me. When I looked up, a few guests were staring at me with wide eyes. I was either going to recover gracefully or make a fool of myself. At this point, it could go either way. I wasn’t sure what to do.

So, I took a deep breath, shuffled my feet forward, and was struck again by that invisible wire. Then the wire shifted, and there was a pull in my chest so fierce it was impossible to ignore. My breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat, and I stood, frozen in place, as my head spun, and I struggled to stand upright.

Sabrina appeared at my side—I had no idea where she’d come from—and wrapped her arm around my waist. Oh God. This was a scene. The kind that ended careers. The kind that had every eye in the room pointed at me. Murmurs of worry, whispers of confusion passed from table to table, and I could see it like it was in slow motion.

Then a few more gasps filled the air, and Sabrina covered her mouth with her free hand. “No fucking way.”

I had no clue what was happening, but the pull became stronger, leaving me no choice but to turn around and face the source of the energy. A man stood a few feet away. The man. I couldn’t explain how I knew who he was, but there was no doubt in my mind that this was none other than Ty Keller, the future alpha.

Holy fuck.

He was everything Brina had said. Everything she had described. He stood there staring at me with wide eyes. His chest visibly heaved as his gaze raked over every inch of my body.

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was the kind of man who drew the eye. Well, mine, anyway. Because everything I’d ever heard about Ty was a hundred percent true. He was tall, dark, and so fucking gorgeous I could hardly breathe. And the pants definitely had a nice fit—nice was the most intensely grave understatement in the history of words.

The pull between us was almost visible, like an actual cord tugging me toward him. I tried to make sense of it and even looked down to make sure we weren’t somehow tethered. When nothing was revealed, I was aware of what was happening between us. I just couldn’t fucking believe it. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as we stared at each other. The room faded away, and it was just us.

Suddenly, the spell was broken. Persephone appeared beside her son, her eyes wide with what seemed like horror as she glanced between the two of us. “No.” I could’ve done without the abject horror in her tone. The disbelief. It was disheartening. Moderately insulting. More so when she wrapped her arm around Ty’s shoulders. “Come. Now.” My mind went full bawdy, and I shared the sentiment, if not the meaning behind it.

She tugged his shoulders, and when he didn’t move, she pulled at his arm. It would’ve been comical if I could’ve seen past him. She had both hands around his arm, and she was pulling, feet apart, ass sticking out. There was a desperation to this woman’s moves.

To his credit, Ty didn’t budge. His gaze remained locked with mine as if he were trying to send me a silent message I just couldn’t get because I was mesmerized.

Persephone muttered something at Ty, but my mind was too clogged to make out her words. I could hear his every breath. I could hear my heartbeat. And his. Whatever she was saying to her son, he couldn’t hear it, either.

Before anyone moved or said anything else, Dominic Keller, Ty’s father, arrived. His face was a ghostly shade of white, and he looked at me as if I had two heads.

He leaned in to whisper to Ty, and after a few seconds, Ty nodded his head as if he understood, but his eyes continued to burn a hole into my soul.

I had no idea what was happening, but I couldn’t move, and I certainly couldn’t process the murmurs around me. But I didn’t care about that. All I cared about was staying suspended in this moment.

Sabrina was still at my side, and someone must’ve taken my tray because I wasn’t holding it any longer. My body gave an involuntary sway, and fainting in front of the entire dining hall became a very real possibility.

The gaze broke as Ty and his parents walked away slowly, his father still whispering in his ear. He’d only taken a few steps when he turned to watch me over his shoulder. I wanted to go to him.

Whispers spread like wildfire from table to table, but I ignored them even as I looked around. People were staring and pointing at me. I had just done the one thing, the only thing I’d set out not to do at the beginning of this event. I’d ruined my chances of being hired as a caterer by these rich sons of bitches.

Before I could fathom exactly what was happening, Sabrina pulled me into the kitchen. She gently pushed me into a chair and began pacing back and forth between our portable steam table and the refrigerator.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.”She muttered the words over and over again. This was, indeed, a holy shit situation, and apparently, Sabrina had nothing else to say. I certainly couldn’t form any words, so I didn’t fault her for her repetition.

I sat there in a daze, trying to regain control over my breathing. My heart was throbbing, as if it was trying to beat a path out of my chest. The massive rush of adrenaline had left me shaky and weak. I needed food.

As I pushed my hands against the seat because I needed to stand, Sabrina blocked my way. “Oh, no. You’re not going anywhere.”

“What do you need, boss?” Adam asked. He was still plating food. With Sabrina and me both in the kitchen, we were falling behind. Although I supposed it didn’t matter so much now since this was the last job I would ever cater, anyway.

“I don’t know.” I wasn’t sure I needed anything. I’d just been a part of this spectacle, so the only thing I really needed was a time machine to go back and fix this mess before it ever started. I squeezed the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes, wishing the room to stop spinning.

“Here.” Adam shoved a plate of food into my hands.

I looked up at him and smiled. This was a guy who was always good to me. A friend. Why, oh why, couldn’t he have been my soulmate? My bond buddy. My whatever-this-was-called. And if that sounded dramatic, I was only getting started. Plus, I had Sabrina nearby to keep me centered in my misery.

“Do you realize what just happened?” Sabrina knelt in front of me and gripped my knees. “Do you have a fucking clue?”

I had a clue. A pull, a tug. These were things I’d heard spoken about in the abstract. So, I was aware that some mating thing kind of happened. I shoved a bread roll into my mouth and sighed. My brain was fuzzy, and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

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