Page 69 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

Blade sniffs Sören. “You were outside the whole time?”

“Mmhm.”

“What can you tell me about the storm?” Blade asks.

Sören frowns. “Nothing you can’t sense yourself, I’m sure.”

Blade shrugs. “I block the weather. It’s too tempting.”

“I purge inside it.”

Blade shrugs. “Whatever works.”

“What of the tide?” I ask.

Neither of the elementals answers.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Sören nods. “We evacuated the low grounds.”

“There you are,” my mother says as she comes in, followed by my dad. She hasn’t bothered to shower, and she smells like Dad. Which is probably why she hasn’t showered. I’m happy for her.

Dad takes his seat at the head of the table. She touches his hand.

“Maren, I passed by your room, and nobody was there,” Mother says.

Sören’s eyebrows draw down. “Where’s Ash, then? I need to speak with him.”

Maren opens her mouth to lie, but the door from the kitchen opens. The kitchen staff rush inside with trays loaded with breakfast goods. We attack it like starving wolves. Eggs, bacon, sausage, freshly baked bread, pancakes, croissants, breakfast oats. Everything. I’m stuffing my face when Ash walks in.

He’s wearing dark jeans and a short-sleeve black shirt. After a quick nod in greeting, he plops into the chair opposite my father at the other end of the table, sitting near me.

I dislike our seating arrangement, but my family would think it odd if I suddenly moved away from him. I don’t understand why he couldn’t sit between Sören and Blade. There’s also another spot next to his best friend.

Ash pours himself a cup of coffee and sips. His hair is dry, but his clothes are different from last night, so I presume he showered, and his short hair dries fast.

He reaches for the breadbasket, and I get a whiff of a female scent lingering on his skin. It’s a peculiar scent that I don’t immediately recognize. Is that…? I lean in and sniff again.

It is me. It’s my scent. Not just my regular scent. The scent of my private parts, my heat.

Stunned, I gasp.

Across from me, Blade wiggles his nose. I wait for the moment he recognizes my scent, but he wiggles his nose again, then looks at Maren, who appears puzzled. My mother is chatting with Sören and my dad, so they’re not paying attention. Thank the Moon for that.

Ash piles his plate and sits back down, gaze on me. He licks his lips, bites the lower one, and drags it through his teeth. Ash cleaned up but didn’t shower. This wolfhole came to breakfast with my family wearing the evidence of our coupling on his face.

Since I’m in the room, the scent on him isn’t as obvious as it would be if I weren’t here. But if anyone sits near him, they’ll smell my cum on his mouth, and all hell will break loose.

“So, children,” my mother starts. “How was your fire moon?”

Ash looks me dead in the eye and opens his mouth as if to speak.

He’ll blow the lid. I know he will, or he wouldn’t have worn my cum on his face to the breakfast table. But he better not do it right now. I can’t deal with our situation now. My parents aren’t prepared for this level of fucked up. I haven’t told anyone about my secret crush on Ash, not even Maren. Especially not Maren.

Before others find out, I must deal with the shame of wanting a male I shouldn’t want. Then spending an amazing night with him.

My eyes plead with him. Please, Ash, don’t do this.