Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“We’ll be right here if you need us when you get back,” Olivia surprised me by interjecting. Her chin was up, and the glare she was aiming at Gael was hard enough to peel paint.
“Thanks,” I murmured.
We walked in silence out of the room, past the cluster of agitated males, most of whom nodded at us. Dirge was the only one to step forward, holding up a palm to stop us.
“Do you need company?” he asked, ignoring the sudden tension in Gael’s shoulders as he zeroed in on me.
“No, I’m okay. Thank you, though, Dirge,” I said, leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek before stepping past. Gael and I walked in silence as we wound through the castle.
Had it been barely an hour ago that we’d walked these same halls, twined together and talking about forever?
It felt like a year.
We stepped out a small door onto the rear grounds, and I gratefully sucked in a lungful of cool, damp air. My head instantly felt clearer.
“There’s a footpath this way,” Gael said, pointing out not a sidewalk, but a narrow trail cut right through the grass along the back of the castle. I nodded, and he headed that way.
We walked for a while, at least ten or fifteen minutes, before he started to talk.
“My family is from Spain,” he started, and I looked at him in surprise. The simplest detail, and I hadn’t known. I’d assumed he was from Romania, like Kane and the twins. “My father is the Alpha of Pack España, but he’s also the first cousin of the king, second in line to the throne and named grand duke.”
“Of the whole country?” I asked, making no effort to hide my shock.
He nodded with a sad twist of his lips. “Yes, the whole country.”
“So when Celeste called you prince, she meant…”
“Literally. I’m third in line to the throne of Spain.”
“Holy hell,” I muttered, scrubbing the heel of my hand over my eyes. “So you left out a lot more than just the fiancée, then?”
“It never came up?” He cast me a pensive glance, but quickly fixed his eyes back on the castle grounds. “It’s a shitty excuse, but it’s true. I don’t live in that world anymore, and that’s by choice. I chose to leave Pack España, chose to become Kane’s head enforcer. Our life in Alaska was pretty damn close to perfect. I hate all the politics, and I have no desire to be treated differently because of who my family is.”
I blinked at the uncharacteristic word vomit, but didn’t interrupt.
“I never planned to come back, at least not for a few hundred years, when one of my cousins would likely already be on the throne. But Kane’s father dying accelerated that timeline. Significantly.”
There was so much to unpack, I wasn’t sure where to start. “You plan to abdicate your role in the royal family?”
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation.
“Okay,” I said, pausing. “But what does any of that have to do with Celeste showing up here and you keeping her and your engagement a secret?”
“It’s related. Celeste was an arranged match. Her family is from Portugal. Her father is the Alpha of the only pack in the whole country and is very closely allied with my father. But it wasn’t always that way. There has been a treaty in place between the packs for over two hundred years that the eldest son of Pack España would wed the eldest daughter of Pack Belém. Things got tricky when my father was unable to have a son in a timely fashion. He and his fated mate had a daughter eventually, but they needed a son. Celeste had been waiting nearly a hundred fifty years for the promised son to marry.”
My wolf growled, my own chest rumbling with her vehement dislike of even him saying the other female’s name. “So that’s it? If you don’t marry her, you’re going to cause an international incident?”
He snorted. “Not… quite.”
“Wait, too many questions. You said, ‘his fated mate.’ Isn’t that your mom?”
“No, it’s not.”
The admission was quiet.
Pained. And I could see why. His father had cheated
on his fated mate to get a son? Or had he mated after he was born? That timeline didn’t add up if the sister was older than him.
“Just to have a son?” I asked to confirm.
“Just for me,” he said with a dark chuckle. “She was the fifth woman in the pack who volunteered to spend her heat with him in hopes of getting pregnant with a son, and when she gave birth to me, she was awarded land and received a minor title.”
“Holy shit.” I slapped a hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry, that just all seems like some long-ago old-world
insanity. His mate was just…
okay with this plan? How?”
“Not exactly. When her last heat was once again unproductive, he had her taken out of the country and kept under guard in a separate residence in France. After enough time apart, the bond weakened enough that his wolf was tempted by the scent of other females in heat.”
“Goddess, that’s awful.”
“He’s not a nice man.”
“No shit,” I mumbled, feeling a lot more empathetic for him. But not letting him off the hook. There were things you might keep from a mate-birthday surprises, the fact that you did the laundry, hell, that you’d gone and gotten a spontaneous tattoo if you were feeling wild-but being engaged and royal weren’t two of them.
He sighed, raking a palm over the back of his close-cropped hair. It wasn’t fair that he was so damn attractive, even when I was mad at him. Even the scar on his cheek made him look rugged and dangerous in the best possible way.
My wolf snarled, not appreciating that train of thought.
“So, you have an older sister, a stepmother locked away in a tower, and an arranged marriage. Do you also have a magical sword or a talking horse, by chance? Just so we’ve got everything out on the table.”