Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“Whiplash,” she muttered, taking a bite of the oversized sandwich as she pointedly ignored the salad.
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just… nothing. Thanks for the food, and I feel pretty good, so yes, I’d like to come. Sorry I slept through the earlier meeting, though.”
She blushed, staring down at her plate instead of at me.
“You’re growing a whole pup. You deserve to nap whenever you want. The meeting was fine, but we don’t all have to be present for every single thing, especially not if you need rest.”
Leigh smiled at me then, a full, real smile, and my lungs seized up. Shit, opening up to her was going to be a problem. At this rate, I was going to have a stroke before I turned forty.
When she took a big bite of her sandwich, I looked away, clearing my throat. “I’ll set up the stuff for Nugget. He can’t come with us.”
“Aww, but he’s so cute with his widdle tiny paws.” She switched to baby talk, and I might or might not have grinned while my back was turned as I worked on setting up the bowls and the little makeshift litter box in the bathroom.
I might not have been completely sure whether or not she was my mate yet. But I was a hundred percent certain that she was going to be an excellent mother to our child.
NINETEEN
Leigh
The council building was overwhelmingly ornate. I’d thought the pack castle was intimidating-and it was, don’t get me wrong-but the council building towered overhead, ornate carvings on top of swirling columns, and gold gilt as far as the eye could see. It was a blatant display of wealth and power everywhere you looked. Larger-than-life marble statues lined the long entryway, and many different magical cultures were represented in the oil paintings on the ceiling as well as in the statues. Vampires, shifted cats, goblins, pixies, fae… Pretty much every magical species but wolves loomed over us as we walked over the thickly woven runner toward the council chamber. There was even a dragon, and those hadn’t been seen in centuries.
Shay held one of my hands, and Olivia’s shoulder brushed mine on the other side as we trailed Kane and Brielle, who led the pack down the hallway. We’d been greeted by a very anxious-looking secretary in a navy skirt suit-Karina, as Lucien had introduced her with a salacious grin.
She nodded hello but kept her distance as she led us down to the heavy double doors. She stopped and spun toward us at the last second, and I got a whiff of her.
Lesser Fae.
I cocked an eyebrow at Shay, but she didn’t react to the other fae’s presence. I wondered idly if the other fae would be able to tell Shay how to handle the shock thing she had going on, but we didn’t have time to ask.
“If anyone asks, you lot just showed up,” Karina said with a grimace and then tugged on the massive, carven door. It flung open with surprising ease, betraying her outsized strength.
“Councilman Fortier, I’ve got some supplicants who wish to speak with the council,” she announced as the room fell silent. She bowed respectfully toward each side of the long table on the platform at the front of the grandiose room.
Fortier sat at the center of them all, looking sternly down his nose at us. Similarly disgruntled looks adorned every face as I glanced around, a few of them outright hostile. There were placards in front of each member, stating their names, but not which species’ seat they held.
Councilwoman Rubix stank like death, so I could tell what she was right away, if the curled upper lip and ghostly pale skin wouldn’t have told me immediately.
Vampire,
I noted with disgust.
Fortier had to be a centaur, because traditionally, they held the lead council position given their notorious wisdom. From this position I couldn’t see his lower half to confirm, only the broad line of his human shoulders underneath his suit jacket.
One of them had to be fae, and Shay was in the middle of a staring contest with one named Aliz, so I made an educated guess that that was him.
Councilman Lug had a strong greenish tint to his skin, and close-cropped black hair with long, pointed ears sticking out, so it was safe to say he had the goblin seat. The rest looked human on the surface, though, so it was hard to say at this distance what their alternate forms were.
“To what do we owe this interruption, Alpha?” Fortier stared down at Kane, and even I bristled at the insult. Gael stood at his left shoulder, looking positively murderous.
Damn, it shouldn’t be so hot to watch him glower, but I could feel the power rolling off him from here and had to resist the urge to whimper as my panties got soaked. He was all alpha, and I was a ridiculous hussy for getting turned on in this situation.
Granted, I was still half reeling from that moment, back in his room. Our eyes had locked, and I’d felt something indescribable surge in the air between us. Ever since, I’d been off-kilter, feeling drawn toward him like a magnet.
It was rather inconvenient when I was trying to keep him at arm’s length so we could focus on parenting.
“An urgent matter has come to my attention, and I need the council’s help in resolving it,” Kane said, smoothly pulling them onto the same team, even though there was no way in hell they were going to like the ultimate ask.
Bri had filled me in on the way over that they’d all agreed the best plan was to start small, building rapport before going for the throat-no more Omega Defense League.
I was glad they were able to keep cool heads about it, because I felt like the human version of a ticking time bomb, knowing that I was carrying an omega baby. It was the reaper’s axe that loomed over every wolf family, but it was different for me.
Most mothers didn’t know in advance. They just hoped and prayed to the Goddess that it wouldn’t be them who fell afoul of the ODL. But I knew.
I had nearly eight months until the fuse ran out.
Five,
I amended. I’d given Gael five months to work this out with Kane before I spoke to Kari about other solutions.
“We’re always willing to hear from supplicants,” Councilwoman Rubix interjected, her ruby-red lips parting over sharp, pointy fangs in a vicious rictus of a smile. “But you can make an appointment and wait like every other supplicant.”
Kane held her stare, and I sucked in a sharp breath when I felt his dominance start to billow out. I swayed on my feet as I tried to hold it together, but it was so satisfying to watch it hit each member of the council one after the other, some of them swaying, others bracing against the table, and at least half beginning to sweat under the force of his alpha power. All except Fortier, the centaur.
I could hear his hooved feet shuffle behind the table, but otherwise, there was no outward sign that he felt the power roiling off our alpha like steam off a pot about to boil over.
“Normally, I would do exactly that. But I cannot, in good conscience, as high alpha, stand aside while my people are harassed. And it has come to my attention that the infraction at our great pack gathering-which was perpetrated by the ODL based on a completely bogus report-was only the tip of the iceberg, and a full-out assault was recently committed against the Kodiak clan who are our neighbors.”
“Ah.” Fortier cleared his throat. “We understand the strain that the ODL puts on your kind, Alpha?-“
“High