Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
I sighed. “You don’t need a sample, but I’ll give it if he wants it. I haven’t been with anyone else since Marcus.”
Brielle nodded, squeezing my shoulder supportively. “Okay, well, would you like to talk to him first, or just run the blood test?”
I thought long and hard. “I’ll talk to him. But if he still wants the test after, I’ll do it. He should know, especially after what I said. It’s going to be pretty hard to walk that back, even if the truth is I haven’t been with anyone but him in a year and a half, and there’s zero chance anyone else is the father.”
“What did you just say?”
I froze in the chair, my pulse pounding double time at the masculine voice.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I said. Shay swore under her breath and stepped forward, angling herself between me and Gael. She might have been pissed at my immaturity, but she still had my back, and something about that tiny movement had tears stinging my eyes. They did that a lot more than I was used to these days.
“Repeat what you just said,” Gael barked, the alpha dominance in his tone making me bristle.
When I stood from the chair, I ignored the fact that my knees were shaking, keeping my chin up. Though I faltered when I saw the giant bouquet of red roses clutched in his fist.
“I said, you’re the father. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
FOURTEEN
Gael
Iclutched the roses so hard, I was pretty sure my palm was bleeding from a thorn or three. But at the moment, it felt like all the breath had gone out of my lungs, and that was more important than a little stabbing.
I’m the father was the headline, but
I haven’t been with anyone else for more than a year and a half was a pretty damn great follow-up. My wolf preened, proud of the fact that we’d wooed her when no one else had been able to.
Asinine, maybe, but he was all alpha. And I couldn’t lie and say there wasn’t a sort of male satisfaction at that fact for me too.
I didn’t want anyone else touching what was mine.
And she was mine. Even if she was mad. I would do what it took to make it up to her if it took me nine months.
Hell, if it took me nine years.
I wasn’t going to let the mother of my child hate my guts forever if it killed me. But I was putting the cart way ahead of the damn horse here.
“Can we talk? In private,” I added, eyeing the trio of women clustered around her like I was about to tear her head off.
Maybe just her clothes.
I shot that thought down. We needed to actually talk. We were having a child together.
“Uh, sure.” I hated the nervous look in her eyes, the stiffness in her shoulders that told me she was far from comfortable with me. But everyone started somewhere, and if our start was rocky, it didn’t mean we wouldn’t end up exactly where we were meant to be.
I realized as we left the patio that I was still holding her flowers in a death grip.
“Here,” I said as I awkwardly passed them over, noticing with chagrin that I’d mangled the stems pretty badly, and there was, in fact, blood dripping off my palm.
“Actually, no, let me get you some new ones. I messed those up.” I tried to take them back, but she twisted, scowling at me.
“I don’t want another set. I want these.” She lovingly caressed one of the petals, a small smile on her lips that made me want to kiss her.
Score one for the red cape.
“Okay.” I swiped my palm over my black pants, knowing the small punctures would heal in no more than a minute.
“Where are we going?” she asked a moment later when she looked up.
I had forgotten that she didn’t already know the castle like the back of her hand from endless childhood state visits. “There’s a quiet spot on the third floor, perfect for uninterrupted conversations. I used to hide up there as a kid when we visited and the events got to be too much.”
She blinked at me as if I’d just spoken gibberish.
“I’m sorry, I’m just imagining, like, a super-ritzy werewolf ball with lords and ladies in evening wear, but shifted in their wolf forms.”
I threw my head back and laughed at the image. “You’re not far off, frankly, and if the people had been shifted, it would have been more honest about their true intentions. Packs in this part of the world are cutthroat. There’s too much baggage, too much bad blood between the different rival packs.”
She nodded, biting her lip between her teeth in a way that sent an instant shot of heat to my groin. But I couldn’t afford to think with my dick on this one.
We took the stairs in silence, both of us thinking too much, until we arrived on the third-floor landing.
“So, this is the same side as the family wing?” She asked, looking wide-eyed at the opulence even in the wide hallway.
“This is the east wing.” I took her by the shoulders and gently turned her. “That side is the family wing.”
She nodded, getting her bearings.
“Lead the way, Magellan.” Leigh smiled at me, a real, full smile for the first time, and it stopped me in my tracks. The sun from the windows made her hair look like spun gold, picking up her beautiful tan and giving her an ethereal glow. She took my breath away and made me want to do very, very dirty things with her. “You okay there, slugger?” She lightly punched me on the arm, and I quickly jolted into action to cover up my staring.
“Of course, we’re almost there.” I hurried ahead, cursing my distraction as I pushed open the door and held it for her.
“Oh, it’s a library! Like a real, honest-to-Goddess, Beauty and the Beast library!” She stopped in the middle of the room and spun around, taking it all in with an excited bounce to her step. “The girls are going to flip when I show them this. Assuming there’s not an angry beast who pounces on unsuspecting women who wander in here?” She playfully arched an eyebrow at me, and I shook my head.