Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
He snarled, grabbing her around the shoulders and half pushing, half carrying her off the dance floor.
“Gael! Let me take over.” Reed stepped up, arms out and ready to take Leigh. “She’s clearly had a bit too much to drink. I’ll escort her back to her room.”
“I can take her, Reed. We share a room,” I argued, stepping up next to my bestie in the hope of steering her away from Gael. He looked on the murderous side at the moment, and while my wolf was strong, I didn’t know if we’d come out on top if I had to shift and fight him to keep him off her.
“He doesn’t want that. Do you, Gael?” Leigh’s words were surprisingly unslurred, and the challenge was clear.
He snarled, his eyes glowing and no words coming out.
“I can’t hear you. I told you, I’ve got an itch in desperate need of scratching. If you won’t let me scratch it with JP, well, I’ll have to find another volunteer.” She practically purred, reaching out a hand toward Reed’s tie, as if to reel him in closer.
Gael shoved Reed back, stepping up chest to chest with Leigh.
“You will not scratch your itches with my pack mate.”
“No? Who will it be, then, Mr. Caveman? I’m sure I can find a volunteer in this crowd.”
“Leigh,” I protested, worried for my friend. Maybe the fever was getting to her. This was not like her. She was a joker and loved sex, sure. But to advertise it loudly in front of all these wolves like she’d take anybody back to bed? Not so much.
“I volunteer.” The words were low, dangerous, and all predator. I froze on instinct, eyes going wide as I took in Gael, his green eyes sparking with challenge.
“Finally,” Leigh rumbled again, and then they were all over each other. Lips clashed, hands wandered, and I found myself blushing.
“Leigh! Stop!” I tried to get her attention, but she was trying to peel Gael out of his shirt right here at the edge of the dance floor, and people were staring.
Reed placed a hand on Gael’s shoulder, and he snapped. He moved in a blur of speed, dropping Leigh and spinning, putting himself between her and Reed.
“Whoa, hang on. I’m not trying to touch her.” Reed held up both hands placatingly.
Gael’s only response was a snarl, nothing like the composed alpha-hole we regularly saw as our guard.
“Leigh, are you sober enough for this? How much have you had to drink?” I stepped into her personal space, and she snorted.
“This stuff tastes like shit for some reason. I’ve barely had any. I’m just horny, okay? I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I know what I’d like to get into me.” She shot a sultry look at Gael, who was still snarling at Reed. “Tonight. It’ll get him out of my system.”
She sounded levelheaded, if a bit more brazen than usual. She passed me the bottle of whiskey, and she was right. She’d barely touched it. Her eyes were clear, but she’d already lost interest in me, her eyes homed in on Gael’s broad shoulders.
“If you’re sure.”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.” She brushed past me, running her hand temptingly over his shoulders. He turned back to face her, bracketing her arms with his, pulling her close, possessive.
“Take me back to your room,” she demanded.
He growled and picked her up by the backs of her thighs, and her long blonde hair hung down his back like silk. In seconds, they’d gone from fighting to wrapped up like vines, tangled beyond recognition. He carried her across the room, her arms already twined around his neck, lips locked. He kicked the door open, and it banged shut behind them.
“Well, this is royally awkward,” Reed said with a laugh, running his fingers through his hair. “Do I need to get ten guys and go try to pry him off her? Do you think she’s okay?”
I shrugged, holding up the bottle of whiskey. “She seemed weirdly clear, and she didn’t drink much of this.”
“Yeah, her metabolism has probably already burned that off. Well… They’re both consenting adults. They might wake up with regrets tomorrow, but if they’re not drunk…”
I shrugged. I wouldn’t have let her leave with anybody if I weren’t sure she was sober and clear. “Maybe this was the push they needed to stop fighting…”
or to spark something new.
I would be happy for her, if so. She’d taken it so hard when her ex Marcus had left.
He shook his head slowly. “Want me to take that back to the bar?”
“Sure.” He took the bottle and headed across the floor, so I delved into the dancing crowd to take back my position as DJ, where I was safely out of the sea of pheromones that was the dance floor.
I was almost through when somebody screamed.
“Look out!”
“What the hell!”
“He’s feral! Somebody get the enforcers!”
Something twanged in my chest an instant before a massive black wolf with blood-red eyes burst through the crowd, arrowing straight toward me. I tried to dive out of the way, but he mirrored my movements. Dancers bailed away from him in every direction, but he ignored them all, skidding to a stop in front of me, head lowered as if he was about to attack.
Screams and shouts continued to ricochet off the walls as people ran, but I couldn’t move a muscle. Something about this wolf called to me, and my own wolf pressed forward. I could feel her, my eyes shining into his. Goddess, they were red. That could only mean one thing, and it wasn’t good. So why couldn’t I move? Why wasn’t I running?
The trance holding us broke when the music died and the sound of running boots thundered toward us.
He snarled and spun, putting his back toward me and edging me backward toward the nearest wall. I let him herd me, unsure what else to do in this situation. A stream of black-clad enforcers poured into the room past the escaping partygoers, weapons drawn as they ran at us. No, at him.
They formed up in a semicircle, trapping us against an open wall.
“Let the girl go, or we’ll shoot!”
The wolf snarled and leapt toward the speaker, but then jumped back, refusing to get more than a few feet from me.