Page 13 of The Wolf Prince

“Bullshit.” She’d given the ear one too many pulls, and I had to call her out on it. “For fuck’s sake, Mother.” No one could say her name quite as angrily as I could. “You didn’t come from a wealthy family. Your argument doesn’t hold water because Dad chose you in spite of that.” She had a lot of nerve acting like she was the high and mighty lady of the manor, and all others were beneath her.

I squinted in her direction and watched as she moved around the desk to stand by my father. I’d seen this move before. This was their moment of being a united front. Her face reddened because her united front was really nothing more than a sign that I had her backed into a corner. She was out of moves and needed Dad’s support to battle.

I didn’t have any choice but to move in for the kill while she was busy wiggling and twitching under my thumb. I stared hard at my mother as I spoke again. “Why can’t you just be honest with me? Don’t you think you owe me that much after the spectacle you made of me tonight?” Once the humiliation set in, and it would, pissed off would twist into enraged, and there wasn’t anything that would protect them—mostly Mom–from my wrath.

My father stood, then started pacing from wall to wall behind his desk. My mother sank into his chair. They were beaten. They only needed to accept it and tell the fucking truth. My father’s expression grew more distraught with every step, and my mother’s cheeks flushed with color. A bead of sweat rolled from my father’s temple to his jaw.

I’d never seen my parents so cagey.

“I don’t understand what has you both wound up so tightly about this woman.” The tone of my voice reached a pitch and volume not really suitable for a family discussion, but that was where we were. “Who the fuck is she?”

“Her name is Liza Mims.” Mother stood and walked over to me. “She’s a caterer. That’s the only reason she was at the ceremony tonight.”

There were worse things than being mated to someone who could cook. “And?”

Mother nodded. “Her parents are Scott and Rory Mims. Scott’s a family lawyer, and Rory is a seamstress in town.”

Things were becoming clearer. I knew those names. Mason and Michael Mims were Liza’s older twin brothers. We’d attended several sports camps together, although they were several years younger than me. I still remembered them pulling pranks on the head coaches. They were a riot. “She doesn’t look anything like her older brothers.”

“Well, she wouldn’t. She’s adopted,” Dad answered as he held the lighter to the end of his pipe before moving to the chair in the seating section in front of the fireplace. He was as anxious as I was, and if I smoked, I’d be lighting one now.

Instead, all I could do was sort through all the information, the scant bit I had. Liza—her name—was adopted. But it didn’t explain why my parents were so adamant that I not mate with Liza. “How does that play into the fact that you’re forbidding me to be with the woman fate decided I should be with?” They couldn’t possibly believe they knew better than fate.

Mother turned her back to me and walked across the room. “Some things are just meant to stay buried, Ty.”

Not when it affected my fucking future. “What the hell aren’t you telling me?” It would have to be a fucking good reason for me to deny the pull I’d felt to that woman.

My mother stared at me for several long seconds. “Ty, I’m begging you. Please, forget about Liza. Reject her and find another mate.”

My father took a long puff from his pipe. “There are swarms of girls ready to give you everything they have. You can choose a nice, respectable girl that’s better suited for you. You have your pick of the litter, so to speak.” He hadn’t aimed for the obvious dad joke, it just happened naturally.

“You said yourself that having a fated mate is a blessing—an opportunity to live your life with the one person you were designed to be with.” I stared at my mother, again using her own words to emphasize the ridiculousness of whatever point she was busy trying not to make. “You’ve been planting that into my head since I was a little kid. Now, fate gives me a mate, hands her to me at a time when we shouldn’t have been together.” Wouldn’t have been if I’d listened to my gut and told my mother I didn’t want to attend her soiree. “And you want me to completely reject this woman and the very idea of a fated mate that you’ve always told me reigned supreme?”

I leveled a glare at my mother. “And you’re keeping secrets from me. If you can’t tell me exactly why I shouldn’t be with my mate”—and I wanted all the dirty details—“then I’ll ignore your counsel and continue with my plans to pursue her.”

“We don’t want you to be with her.” My father narrowed his eyes at me, and a low growl emanated from him. This was getting worse by the minute.

“That’s not good enough. It doesn’t matter, anyway.” He wasn’t the only wolf in the room. My growl was louder than his. “I’m not asking your permission.”

The air in the room grew stale and heavy as my parents stared at me in shock. I wasn’t a rebel. We’d never been a family of rebels, so this situation was unusual for all of us.

Mom looked at my father. She was nervous and needed consolation. In the absence of my father doing it, I wanted to console her. She was my mother, but I couldn’t stop her wringing her hands as she paced between the door and the desk.

My father said nothing, only stared straight ahead with the resolve of a war general. He wouldn’t budge. He was the alpha. He bent for no man.

When I was a boy, I’d seen him like this a few times when I’d screwed up. Once when I ruined one of Mother’s houseplants with spray paint I’d found in the garage, then another time when I’d had a fistfight with one of my cousins. He’d simply stared at me until I admitted what I’d done and swore, on my honor—and he’d made a big deal of honor back then—that I would never do it again. I’d been weak, afraid of what he would do if I didn’t tell the truth.

Finally, after what seemed another eternity, Mother spoke. “Ty, your father and I don’t condone this, nor will we support your pursuit of that woman.” She cleared her throat and looked away from me. She felt strongly enough to put off having grandchildren. That said something. “But if you feel strongly that this is the mate for you, and you choose to pursue her then... we can’t stop you.”

I nodded. That was all I needed to hear. But now, they needed to hear me. “I will expect you both to treat Liza with respect, regardless of whatever dumbass thing you have against her.” I sliced my hands through the air. I owed it to all of us to give it one more try. “This imaginary issue needs to become a nonissue. Immediately.” Neither of them moved or spoke, just averted their eyes.

I didn’t want to stay in the study another second. Not waiting for a response, I turned and left, making my way to the wing of the house where I had a private residence.

My body was taut with tension with no way for it to escape. Even though this had been one of the longest days of my life, one of so many ups and downs that I’d lost count, I needed a run. Sleep would wait for me to shift and let the wolf out. As soon as I stripped out of my suit, my wolf took over. I raced out of the house and into the woods that surrounded our estate.

My wolf powered through the trees, joy and elation filling all the muscles and joints and sinew of my being. The cool, crisp air and the night sky beckoned me deeper into the woods.

I kept running, all the thoughts in my head silenced as the cool air rushed through my fur. The ground beneath the pads of my paws was cold, and it passed in a blur of color subdued by the darkness. Animals rustled in the brush around me, their scents mixing with the woodsy and pungent aroma of pine needles.

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