Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
I could feel the gentle heat of her, and my wolf rumbled his approval in my chest.
“So why did you challenge those two?” she blurted abruptly, looking away, down toward her feet instead of anywhere near me.
“They said some very inappropriate and disrespectful things about you. I walked out of the locker room and almost ran into them. They’d stopped to gawk.”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip. “BD, I need to tell you something. I have an idea of what they might have said, and I just want you to know-” She took a fortifying breath, but not being able to see her eyes was driving me insane.
I tucked my fingertips under her chin, turning her to face me.
She faltered when our eyes met, biting that lip again. I used my thumb to gently pop it free. “You can tell me anything. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not going to be angry.”
“You might be, Gael.”
Alarm bells started going off in my head, both at her use of my actual name-suddenly, I wanted that damn awful nickname back-and the tears welling up in her eyes. Shit.
“I won’t, I promise you. There’s nothing that you could say that would change how I feel. You’re mine.” I growled at the end. I couldn’t help it. My wolf was getting riled, knowing she was upset, but not why. He wanted to destroy anyone who’d ever caused her pain, but we couldn’t go off and fight an invisible enemy. She had to talk first.
“Why don’t you tell me what they said first?” she whispered, swiping at the corner of her eye where a tear had escaped.
I didn’t want to do it, but I’d promised. Time to man up. “They said some inappropriate sexual things. Do you want me to tell you verbatim?”
She shook her head slowly at that, brows furrowing.
Thank the Goddess.
“And then they brought up that there’s a rumor you’re already pregnant, and that… you’re a mutt.” I said the word reluctantly and with distaste. “Even if you weren’t pregnant with my baby, it was highly disrespectful, and I want you to know that we don’t tolerate that behavior against any female in our pack. They’re all under our protection, and that’s not how an honorable male behaves.”
She nodded slowly, but the tears were escaping faster now, and she wasn’t bothering to wipe them away.
“Talk to me, princess. I’m so sorry. I know it’s all false. I hope you know that. I do not care what a couple of assholes think. You and this baby, you’re mine. And I?-“
“Stop, just stop,” she said on a broken sob.
I froze, scared to make it worse, because clearly, everything I said was wrong. Her shoulders were shaking with tears at this point, and I did the only thing I could think of. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.
It was stupid to bring her here. I should have gone back to my room, where we could den up.
She’s pregnant, you idiot. Of course she would want to feel safe for this conversation.
Leigh said something, but it was muffled against my chest, and I couldn’t make it out. I eased my grip, and she tried again.
“It’s all true. Gael, I’m so sorry, but it’s all true. I am a mutt.”
I froze, shock pulsing through me like a heartbeat.
What the fuck.
What the actual fuck.
TWENTY-FIVE
Leigh
“Don’t you ever say those words again,” he snapped, and I cringed away from the fury in his voice.
This was it. I knew he’d be mad, and he was. The fury was thick in the air with his alpha dominance, buffeting me like a hurricane, even though the air was still and green and far too cheerful for this train wreck of a moment.
Goddess, I was never going to not be a screwup, was I? It was destiny. They were going to put it on my fucking tombstone.
Here lies Leigh Barnes, eternally screwed up. She lived to put her foot in her mouth.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and held me back away from him. He wore a grave expression, and I braced myself for the spitting rage.
I knew it well, with Marcus.
“You are my mate-the mother of my child-and I’m not going to hear anybody say slurs about you, not even you. Do you hear me?”
“I’m sorry.” I flinched back, and his face paled as if I’d slapped him. The lack of color made his scar stand out in sharp relief, and the wicked curve at the end of it on his neck made me want to kiss away the pain that had left it behind. And the pain I kept carelessly inflicting on him.
“You’re sorry? Why… What could you possibly be sorry for?”
“For being a…” I quickly glanced up, then away. I wasn’t going to say it again. “I’m half-human, and you didn’t know. You should have, and I’m sorry.”
His jaw dropped. Like actually, physically gaped open in shock.
“Leigh,” he said, but I stubbornly studied my lap. “Leigh, for Goddess’s sake, look at me.”
I finally did, and I knew he could see the fear, plain as day, in the depths of my eyes. And just as clearly, I could see the pain in his. His touch remained gentle, which was a good thing.
Fated mate or no, if he was physically abusive, I’d leave. I wasn’t going to put my daughter in an unsafe situation.
“I knew you were half-human. I’ve known since Kane told us that he thought Brielle was his fated mate. I looked up every member of the Johnson City pack, and it was in your file.”