Tears pooled in her eyes, and Sea and me stepped forward to comfort her.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed before we could, her voice laced with venom. “Yousoldher! You sold my best friend to fund your evil kidnapping scheme. I don't know what kind of plan you had for me with wolf mating off the table, but I will never call you my kings. And I willnevereverforgive you for this.”
Sea, soft soul that he was, flinched.
And I’ll admit her impassioned words grated over my coarsened hide as well. Hadn’t anticipated our banríon being so close to the Tríbéirríthe’s potential. I had some doubts for the firsttime since I was told of the Tríbéirríthe's price for funding the Second Reaping.
Still, I shrugged in the face of her current abject hatred, knowing that it wouldn’t matter in the end.
“Ye Wölfennites’ll forgive us everything we’ve done to ensure the continuation of the Eire Wolves.By the prophecy or by the body."
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her eyes narrowed in a way that let me know she was once again stuck between confusion and outrage. And, theconsiderate future mate that I was, I gladly clarified the situation for her. “Ye’ll either step into the role destiny has already set for ye, or ye’ll go into heat.”
She glared at me. “How many times do I have to tell you we are a pure, wolf-mated-only community?The chances of me or anyone else you're holding captive in this weird dome room going into heat are zero to —”
“Ahh! What is happening to me?”
Our Flower cut off when the yellow-haired Wölfennite cried out on the other side of the room.
Not in pain, though.
Discovered that fact the extremely hard way when a surge of scent crashed through the room stronger than the full moon tide.
It had been a long time, years and years, since I last encountered such a smell. Dark and spicy. Quiet as death. Yet louder in my ears than the ocean underneath a thunderstorm.
The flesh below my waist thickened into a barof lead, letting me know that both me and that irritable Sea Wolf owed Lorcan an apology.
It hadn’t been his failure to jab her properly that had woken the yellow-haired she-wolf up from her forced slumber early but biological necessity.
Heat.
The yellow-haired she-wolf was in heat.
In a room full of males who had been eunuched by the Heat Laws for their entire adult lives.
In a room full of males who weren't allowed to touch a she-wolf unless she was in her time of need — which for the she-wolf stumbling like a newborn doe to her feet wasnow.
"Why do I feel so strange?" she asked Lorcan, her voice husky with confusion. And ache.
"Well, fuck," I said, once again forgetting to watch my mouth as Dublin had warned me.
Then, Sea and I sprang into action to keep all hell from breaking out.
Naomi
"Why do I feel so strange?"Amanda asked.
Then, without warning, the strangest scent filled the room. Sharp and primal, cutting through the air like something untethered. And untamed. Sweet, but somehow filthy at the same time. And even though it was just a smell, every nerve in my body went on alert — like the hunters who used dog whistles near St. Ailbe, oblivious to the shifters living nearby.
"Well, fuck," Wild cursed before he and C, the Pirate King, burst into action.
"Get out! Get out!" he yelled at the male wolves gathered in front of the domed glass window. "Everybody but Lorcan and Ronan, get the hell out of here. Now!"
By some invisible decree, a large door-shaped panel of glass slid open, and Wild began shoving his comrades through the newly revealed entrance with an urgency that reminded me of the forbidden TV shows featuring rescue workers.
Most of the males turned tail and ran out like fearful sheep whenever a fox got into their pen. But the disgruntled Pirate Wolf, who'd accused Lorcan of lying earlier, growled and tried to move forward. Toward Amanda.
