Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
Kane was silent for a long time. “I should say no.”
Pain lanced through me, and not from my slow-healing bullet wound. If Kane really wanted to keep me from Dirge, he was strong enough to do it. I’d be no better off than Dirge, flinging himself against an immovable wall.
Unless I wanted to use my relationship with Brielle against him, but that felt wrong.
I steeled myself for the argument, but he saw it a mile away and lifted a hand in warning.
“I should say no. But I think this is a special circumstance. You may see him, but you need a second, in case he doesn’t respond in a way we expect. Dirge is an incredibly dominant, powerful wolf, and that was before he went feral and spent three years living in the wild. He was head enforcer for our pack before the change-top five in my father’s pack before he left to come with us to Alaska-and he’s more dominant than Reed.”
“So…”
“So, I will be coming along. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” The word was out before it processed in my brain, a pure reflex. I craved my mate on a cellular level, and anything that got me a step closer to him, I’d say yes.
“Okay, then. He likely will respond badly to me being close to you. I will precede you into the room, step to the side, and allow you entry. I’d recommend waiting until I’m in the corner before you step inside. Freshly mated but unbonded males are easily set off at the best of times, and this is not the best of times.” He shot me a wry smile before striding out of the room.
I followed hot on his heels, despite knowing I was going to have to wait to go in after him. Something inside me urged me to hurry, to close the distance between us.
“Remember what I said,” Kane warned before punching a pin code into the digital lock on the thick steel door. I shifted my body subtly to the side to try to catch it, but only saw the last three digits. It unlocked with a heavy clunk of metal bars sliding back into place inside the door, and then he let himself inside.
The door closed behind him but didn’t relock. My hand was trembling on the handle within a second, but I forced myself to wait. No snarls or sounds of fighting came from inside as I counted to ten as slowly as I could manage. As soon as my count was up, I pushed the door open.
The scent of filthy, unwashed wolf hit me like a brick wall, but I didn’t care. Because for the first time ever without being surrounded by gun-wielding enforcers, I was standing face-to-face with my mate.
SIX
Dirge
Waiting was torture and against every demand raging inside me. But after a few minutes of calm, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Two sets, maybe three. The urge to fling myself back at the door-or better, position myself just inside it, so I could force my way out when it opened-was overwhelming, but I leaned on my humanity to keep my muscles locked in place. This room was monitored, and if I moved, they wouldn’t come in.
That certainty was the only thing that saved me when the door opened, and a dominant alpha strode through, the scent of her wafting in with him.
I wanted to rip his throat out.
But this was probably a test, a fact I remembered well from my years as an enforcer. Unstable wolves were dangerous, and if I couldn’t control myself, they wouldn’t let me out. So, I clamped my jaws shut and kept staring at the door, ignoring him as he walked to the far corner of my cell. I recognized the scent of the alpha; the name Kane floated up through my memories like a leaf on a still pond.
He was a friend of my brother’s, from back when he was still a young sapling I could overpower with one hand tied behind my back. But now… a dominance like no other rode him. He’d matured, and his power had multiplied a hundredfold since I’d last seen him.
But what did he have to do with my mate?
I didn’t have a way to ask, but the thought left me quickly enough when the door swung inward a second time. This time, her scent was fresh and strong, a soothing balm to my overwrought senses as she pushed through the door.
Her emotions were running high-nearly as high as mine-when she crossed the distance between us and sank to her haunches in front of me. A tiny part of me was pleased that even with me, she didn’t settle to her knees. My mate was too smart and careful to limit her escape options like that. She stayed alert.
I drank in the sight of her the way a dying man swilled whiskey, as I hung on to my control for dear life. She was beautiful, of course. There was no universe in which she could be unbeautiful to me. I believed in the old ways, which said she held the other half of my soul and I hers. But I could see the ragged edges of her, the telltale signs of a woman pushed to the brink. There were dark smudges beneath her gray eyes; her riot of dark curls was uneven, pulled back into a haphazard knot at the nape of her neck. And she still favored her right side, where she’d been shot.
If it had been a normal bullet, she would have healed within hours, so long as nothing vital was hit. A day, if a major organ needed repairs. But several days later… That was the wolfsbane. And being in this silver-laden death trap wouldn’t help her any.
When she finally spoke, even her voice was worn thin around the edges, and for the first time in a long time, the man and wolf agreed, she needed our protection, our care.
“Dirge? Is that your name?” she asked, and paused for an answer.
I ducked my nose down, then back up, the closest I could get to communication at the moment.
She sucked in a breath, her gaze darting across the room to Kane. A low growl rumbled out of my chest against my will. I did not want to share her attention with another male. Not ever, but especially not now, when our bond was so new, and I was a prisoner.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she murmured, her hand rising toward me tentatively before she seemed to catch herself and stopped. “Can I touch you, Dirge?”
“No, Shay. Don’t push the boundaries. We don’t know how far gone he is, and he could hurt you accidentally. Explain to him what needs to happen, but keep your distance.”
There it was, that growl again. It was louder this time because I was angry at the other alpha’s interference. There was nothing I wanted more than for her to touch me, brush her hands over my fur.
“Right, sorry.” She met my gaze again, a soft smile lifting one side of her mouth. “No touching yet.”
I liked the sound of yet.
“Dirge, we need you to shift back. Pack law states that you can’t come out of this cell until there’s no chance that you’ll hurt any member of the pack, and until the man is back in control, we can’t guarantee that. I know it’s hard, but I’m here, and I’ll do anything I can to help you. Do you understand?”
I ducked my muzzle again, even as frustration grew within me like a poison tide.
Shifting back was not an option.
I can’t. I sent the mental words with every bit of oomph I possessed, but she just continued staring at me, her hopeful expression unchanged.
At some point, we’d develop a mental bond. But my memories of when and how the mate bond progressed were hazy, clouded by so many years of distance. Maybe I needed to keep trying.
I cannot shift back. Ever.
Nothing.
“Are you trying to shift?” she asked hopefully, quickly looking across at Kane again.