Page 19 of Fated to the Wolf Prince
Brielle
Good Goddess, these males wereinsane. First, they insisted I’m an omega—impossible,hello—and then they wanted to just hand me over to the ODL to bekilled?!
I heard Shay gasp and Leigh shout, “No!” as Kane moved beneath me. One moment, I was perched on his lap, curled into his chest like he was my personal damn pillow, and the next, I was landing gracelessly on the bed, as he blurred across the room to tackle Gael into my roomie’s bedframe. The furniture didn’t stand a chance, splintered wood flying as they crashed into it, scuffling. Whether it was seconds or years, I couldn’t tell you, but my heart lodged itself so firmly in my throat I was going to be tasting aorta for a month as they fought and thrashed, impervious to the rubble beneath them.
When they stilled, Kane was on top of Gael, who had blood trailing from his lips and a split eyebrow. Kane’s left eye was beginning to swell, but it didn’t stop me from seeing the feral light glowing from them as he pinned his second-in-command by the throat.
“She is mine.” The words came out slightly mangled, and I realized his fangs had descended in a partial shift.
Dominance swelled through the room with suffocating force, and I found myself perched on the edge of the bed. I was teetering between running to Kane, flinging myself onto his back and begging him to stop or bolting for the door, though that hadn’t worked so well last time.
“Fealty to me is fealty to her. If you move one finger against her, I’ll kill you. If you cause harm to befall her in any way, I’ll rip your throat out and bathe in your blood. Choose now. Honor your blood oath or drown in it.” The words dissolved into a menacing growl, his human lips peeling back to reveal his wolf’s canines.
Gael’s resistance melted, the anger in his eyes turning to confusion. “I would never betray you, Alpha.” He clenched his jaw and pointedly bared his neck, the act of submission costing him dearly. “I only want to see you safe. The threat of an omega is too great. You know the histories.”
Kane didn’t relent though, his claw-tipped fingers still holding Gael’s throat in a punishing grip as he growled over his friend.
“Brielle,” Leigh hissed. “You have to go to him. He’s too far gone to come back himself.”
I looked quickly back and forth between her and Kane, his back hunched as he held his friend on the brink of death. Was she right? Was this powerful alpha going to bow to me and come away, or was I going to get torn to shreds instead of Gael?
Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. No matter how far gone he was, I was safe with his wolf. I rose on shaky legs, crossed the few steps between us, and laid a hand gently on the broad expanse of his back.
“Kane, it’s okay.”
His muscles flexed under my palm, and I dug my fingers in slightly, gripping him as I dropped my other hand down to caress him as well. We were like magnets, and even in this awful situation, I couldn’t hold back from touching him. His back was a work of art, finely honed through years of hard work and shifter metabolism, but I didn’t want to appreciate it like this, with him threatening his friend.
His head rose and his eyes bored into mine, but he still didn’t let go of his friend. What would make him come back to me?
“Please? There’s no threat here, because I’m not omega. I’m psi, have been my whole life. My stomach stopped hurting while you were holding me, and I need—”
I was swept off my feet, clutched back to his chest, my head pressed against his bare shoulder, before I could blink.
A sense of calm broke over me, and I sighed, unable to hold it in. He felt right, though my mind was still grappling with the idea of me—a complete weakling who could barely shift—being mated to the second-most powerful shifter in theworld. And power pulling? I couldn’t go there, not yet. That was more than I was ready to handle without copious amounts of Oreos and both of my besties in our ugliest pajamas.
Kane didn’t settle back onto my bed. He simply held me, breathing into the top of my hair, and slowly, so slowly, I felt him come back from the brink. When he lifted his head, I looked up, finding his eyes back to their normal human green with gold flecks, fringed by dark lashes any woman would be jealous of.
His mouth was pressed into a hard line as he looked back and forth between Gael—now on his feet next to the rubble, strips missing from his black T-shirt and revealing tanned skin underneath—and Reed, who still studied me with hope that made my heart hurt. Why did he want to believe I was omega? It was impossible, no matter what they thought.
“We need a plan.”
I couldn’t concentrate on Reed’s words, only on the fire in Kane’s eyes. It was all-consuming, and his hands felt like brands where they connected with my arms. All heat, all flames. Licking, stirring up something deep inside me. Something primal, some part of my wolf.
He sucked in a breath as I looked up at him, deep into his glowing green eyes. He took one hand off my forearm and brushed it across my cheekbone so gently, it felt like the shadow of a real touch.
“Your eyes. They’re stunning,” he said, his voice still gravelly with his wolf’s influence.
His face was sharper, more vividly colored, and I realized my wolf must be shining through as well, pushing forward to match his,her mate.
Holy hell.
I had a mate. And not just any mate, butKane, son of Kosta, heir to the high alpha-dom of the world.
“What is it? Is it your stomach again?” He shifted his grip to my upper arms, holding me up as my body tried to go limp and gently easing me to the edge of the bed. “Reed!” he snapped, not taking his eyes from mine.
“Yes, Alpha?”
“Is this normal for omegas? Why is she in pain?”