Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
As soon as I could breathe again, I hunch-ran the rest of the way down the hall to my door. My hands shook as I tried to unlock it, and fumbled the keys.
Tears flooded my eyes as they clanked to the wood floor, the weight of everything that had happened today crashing in on me all at once. But before I could try to retrieve them, a masculine hand was there, scooping them up, and lifting me up against his chest.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you. You’re safe.” The words were a soothing murmur against my hair. With my next breath, Kane’s scent washed over me in a beautiful blur of cinnamon-orange, and my whole body turned to putty in his arms.
ELEVEN
Brielle
What was it about his scent that drove my wolf wild with need? She was pacing again, pushing hard to come out to play, which was so far beyond unusual.
He effortlessly opened the door with one hand, cradling me against his chest like I weighed nothing with the other.
That is definitely not true, which means he is hella strong.
Before he could swing it shut, though, Leigh’s hand slapped against the wood, stopping it on its hinges.
“Hold on there, buddy. I get that you’re head honcho around here, but that right there is my girl, and if you hurt her, I will rip the hairy balls right off your body with my bare hands, you feel me? We are a trio, and we’re not leaving.” Shay was behind her, shoulders hunched with ill-repressed terror, but she was there.
If I hadn’t already loved them both like blood sisters, that moment would have clinched it. But I did, and they were already my sisters in every way that mattered.
Leigh glared defiantly at his eyebrows, not daring to make eye contact despite her bold statement.
He dropped his nose into my hair and drew in a deep lungful of my scent before asking softly, “Do you want them here?”
I nodded, just once, still unable to speak over the intense pain in my middle. He stepped into the room, leaving the door open for them to follow.
But it wasn’t just them, because Gael and Reed were right on their heels, and didn’t bother to ask before following us inside and locking the door.
“What the hell just happened?” Gael demanded, looking rapidly back and forth between me and Kane, though Kane was ignoring him, adjusting the pillows on my bed in silence, before settling himself against them, still holding me tightly.
Once the motion stopped, it started to sink in that I was clutched against his very hot, very bare chest, and my heart sped for an entirely different reason. It was absolutely the wrong time to be turned on, but tell that to my lady bits, which practically flooded at this proximity to all his hard muscles wrapped in seriously the best scent I’d ever smelled.
I wanted to lick him, trace every deliciously cut muscle with my tongue.
Holy hell, I needed to slow down. I didn’t even like this guy, and I wasn’t going to be licking anyone, whether or not that denial made my wolf whine sadly.
Suck it up, buttercup. We don’t lick dickish alphas who think they’re too good for us, no matter how good they smell.
Or how achingly right it felt to be hugged against his chest, cradled as if I were precious to him.
She huffed and lay down, dropping her head to her paws. It was then I remembered that we were very much not alone, and Gael was waiting on an answer that I didn’t have.
“He touched her. Not a handshake. He pulled her against his body, and I defended her, as is my right as her-” He stopped as if grinding his back teeth, and then continued. “As is my right as Alpha here.”
“Yeah, I clocked that part,” Gael said drily. “I’m asking how the hell a psi was able to halt two alphas in the middle of a fight where first blood had already been drawn. I saw the look in your eyes. You were going to the death.”
Kane nodded once in acknowledgment, but didn’t offer an answer.
I certainly didn’t have one.
“I’ll tell you how. She’s not a psi.”
TWELVE
Kane
Reed’s voice held such awe and disbelief, it pulled me from my intense focus on Brielle. I looked up to find his eyes glowing blue, his wolf pushing to the forefront in a rare loss of control.
It seemed we were all lacking in control since Brielle walked into my life.
It took a moment for his words to sink in, and I stiffened. “What do you mean, she’s not a psi? How can you deny what’s sitting right in front of you?”
A low growl echoed through the room, and it took a moment to realize it was coming from my throat. I cut it off, but the damage was done. He knew I was riled, on edge.
“That’s just it, I’m not denying it. Her. When has a psi been able to do what she’s done?”
I gripped her tighter, not sure where he was going with this line of questioning, but not liking it one bit, regardless.
“Just spit it out, Reed. We’re all tense.” Gael’s tone brooked no objections, and Reed sighed.
“The instant you saw her, she triggered your mate bond. You, Kane. The most powerful alpha on the grounds, save your father, who’s already mated. She then rebuffed you and still managed to call a halt to a blooded fight between two very dominant males.”
I growled again at the reminder of that damn Russo male, who dared to touch what was mine.
But… mating bonds?
I racked my brain, trying to follow his line of thought and coming up empty.
“It’s rare, Reed, but it’s not without precedent that an alpha’s mated a psi before, and perhaps their bond is solidifying more quickly than usual. So what? Doesn’t mean she’s not psi.” Gael ran a hand through his hair, looking annoyed with the entire discussion.
Reed took a step forward, that fervent light still in his eyes. “Tell me, Brielle, how do you feel right now?”