Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“It’s not like that, okay? I’m protecting you.” I ran a hand over my hair, pent-up frustration making me want to punch something.
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not some damsel in distress who needs protecting. I’m just fine on my own. I don’t want a relationship where you feel you have to keep things from me for my own good. I want a partnership. But if that’s not what you want, well, maybe it’s good we got interrupted.”
Her eyes were cold as she climbed out of my bed, and I hated every second of it. Her sweet, rich scent was now tinged with unbridled anger.
“Don’t say that.”
“Tell me, then. Tell me what’s going on. Let me in!” She gestured with both hands.
“I-“
Reed bellowed and pounded the door again. “Gael! If you don’t come now, it’s a forfeit, and I’m letting them go!”
I growled low in my chest as I held up a finger to Leigh. “I’ll tell you everything. Just let me deal with this first, okay? I promise. The whole story.”
She pursed her lips angrily, but nodded.
I strode to the door and ripped it open.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not the one who challenged them.” Reed turned and stalked off, muttering under his breath and pointedly not waiting for me to follow.
When I cast a look back at Leigh, she was already at my side, arms crossed. “Well, if you’re going to do this, don’t expect me to sit around and wait for you to come back. Let’s go.”
I’m in deep shit.
The challenge ring of the pack castle was outside, behind the main building, tucked into a corner of the lawn. It was a little overgrown-meaning the pack security team wasn’t keeping up with their training, another thing for me to fix-but the center was still hard-packed dirt, perfect for a pair of wolves to go over defensive moves.
Or in this case, for one man to teach two shitheads that we took respect for our females seriously in this pack.
There was a small crowd gathered, beyond just our small contingent from Pack Blackwater. I was only slightly surprised to see Cristian in full butler regalia at Kane’s side, a sneer of distaste twisting his upper lip.
The man stepped forward, intercepting Leigh and me before I could get into the ring. “Alpha Starling, I apologize for the disrespect you’ve had to deal with today.”
I tensed at the use of my surname-Alpha Starling was my father, and the fewer people who associated me with him, the better. But Cristian continued, unaware of my distaste.
“May I suggest that our head of security, Sergei, handles this disciplinary challenge? You should not be forced to clean up a mess within Pack Caelestis’s ranks.” He gestured to the ringside, where a shirtless and oiled-up Sergei stood, looking pissed off as he glared at Karl and Sven.
The two of them should have looked thoroughly chastised-and Sven did-but Karl’s chin was lifted defiantly, and that was all I needed to see.
“I’ll be handling the challenge myself, Cristian, but I’ll happily accept Sergei as my second.” I clapped the elderly butler on the shoulder, nodded to Sergei, and turned to Leigh.
Her anger seemed to have fizzled some, her posture more nervous now that we were standing beside a training ring as she chewed on her bottom lip.
“Can I kiss you?” I leaned in and murmured the question as I traced the back of her hand with my thumb. I asked it lightly, but her answer felt more life-and-death than this challenge I was about to execute. This thing between us was so fragile, and it felt like the whole shebang hung on the answer falling from her lips.
“I should say no,” she said, squinting at me briefly before her posture softened. “But I’m going to say yes and hope that you’ve got a damn good reason for this.”
I grinned at that and took my time skating my hands up her arms to cup her jaw. “I do, and I’ll tell you everything after. Just remember… from time to time, it’s necessary to teach a lesson so that people respect the pack order.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” She rolled her eyes-always ready with some small defiance, my mate-but didn’t pull back as I lowered my lips to hers, right in front of our friends and the waiting crowd. I kept it firm, but PG. It was a claim being staked, if ever there was one. But also, I wasn’t ready to put on a show. It wasn’t only fragile-our bond was precious.
It wasn’t for their eyes-just me and Leigh.
When I pulled back, there was a hungry heat burning in her that I couldn’t wait to explore. It was a crime to get interrupted before I’d gotten to taste her again.
But duty called, so I released her reluctantly after pressing another soft kiss to her forehead. Rolling my shoulders a few times to loosen up, I stepped into the ring.
TWENTY-THREE
Leigh
My heart pounded and my palms were a little sweaty as I watched Gael kick off his shoes and step into the ring. I’d seen him coach Shay, yes, so in theory
I knew that he was skilled. But I’d never seen him fight before. When we were running from Ushagat Island, he and Dirge had double-teamed a vamp, yes… but that felt like a distant blur.
This was right now, and there was no darkness, no running or terror to skew my perception of the fight.
Okay, so there was still terror. Mine.
The two guys standing across the ring from him didn’t exactly look like slouches-they were heavily muscled, wore buzz cuts, and still sported their black pack security uniforms.
If I were standing in the ring against two of them, I’d be shaking in my boots. But Gael? He was confident, like he owned the space. He briefly rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder and stretched his arms as the other two men stripped down to just their uniform pants, much like he wore nothing but sweats.
I watched it all with bated breath and flinched in surprise when two familiar touches came almost at the same time. My girls were bracketing me, silent support as we stood on the sidelines.
Olivia hovered just on the other side of Brielle, wearing a worried frown. “He’s going to fight both of them at once? Shouldn’t he at least go against one, then the other? Either way, he’s at a disadvantage.”
Kane laughed lightly. “Technically, sure. But Gael is a master, in skin or in fur. Those two would have to be top of their packs for the two of them to pose a threat. And from what Cristian told me before you two arrived”-Kane shot a look at me-“they’re nowhere near the top of the pecking order for Caelestis. Frankly, we should probably tie one of Gael’s arms behind his back or something.”
That was all well and good to hear, but until the father of my baby-and my fated mate, I realized with a little thrill-stepped back out of that ring in one piece, I didn’t want to hear it. Or believe it.
I wanted to dig my nails into my palms with the anxiety, but then I’d have to let go of Bri and Shay, and they were the only ones holding me up right now.