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seventeen
ENZO
We lost one of the rogue wolves.
My gut told me he would go rabid, and I knew I needed to stay out there to find him, but my wolf couldn’t handle being that far from his mate any longer. He wouldn’t eat or sleep without her.
I was too hungry and exhausted to fight him when he ran back to the Lodge.
After the shitshow that was meeting her parents, followed by the fight with her that could’ve obviously been avoided, I planned to let my wolf chase hers down. He was ready.
…as soon as we had enough food in us to think straight.
But when I sat down to eat a bowl of old, leftover pasta I found at the back of the fridge, exhaustion slowly set in.
I crashed on the table before I could finish.
I vaguely heard the door as it clicked shut. I didn’t hear footsteps on the floor, and couldn’t convince myself to lift my head off the table.
Maybe no one was there.
A warm, smooth hand landed on my shoulder a moment later, proving me wrong. “Enzo?”
Aspen’s fingers slipped into my hair, and I tried to say something. It didn’t come out sounding like an actual word.
My cock throbbed anyway. That fucker was hard as a rock thanks to my female’s scent alone.
She brushed the hair off my face. “How long have you been sleeping here?”
I managed a sound of protest.
“Don’t try to tell me you weren’t asleep. There’s drool on your arm.”
I was too wiped out to care.
“Come on.” She lifted my arm over her shoulder.
“Your ankle,” I argued, as she tried to take some of my weight.
“It’s fine. My wolf ran for hours, and we didn’t feel any pain.”
The words smelled true.
I was tired enough that I could’ve been imagining that, though.
“There’s no way I’m going to be able to lift you, so you’re going to have to help me here, Enzo.” She tugged on my arm for a minute, trying to adjust it, until she finally poked me in the side in an effort to wake me up.
I swatted her hand away, trying not to squirm.
Humor filled her voice “Tell me you’re not ticklish. There’s no way a man as big, powerful and gorgeous as you is—” Her fingers tickled my side, and I wrenched away, snorting and swatting. “Ticklish. You’re legitimately ticklish. How?”
“Everyone is ticklish,” I grumbled.
“Everyone is not ticklish. Certainly not strong, deadly men like the wolf king. You can’t be—” I grabbed her wrist when she tried to tickle me again and finally lifted my head off the table.
“I’m getting up.”
“Finally.” She pulled my arm the rest of the way over her shoulder. “You still have blood under your nails. Have you been asleep on the table all afternoon?”
“No.” I held my own weight as I stood, but let my arm droop so she felt like she was actually helping drag my ass across the room.
She looked over her shoulder at my pasta bowl. “Was that your lunch? It’s barely dinner time, and I’ve never seen you not finish a meal.”
My stomach growled to answer her question.
“You fell asleep during lunch?”
I grunted.
“I’ll grab some food from the dining hall for you.”
“I’ll cook. I need to feed you too.”
“My wolf took down a poor little bunny while she was running.” She patted her abdomen with one of her hands. “I’m definitely not hungry. And you’re obviously not in any shape to cook.”
“I don’t eat the dining hall’s food.”
“Why not?”
I made a noncommittal noise.
That story wasn’t one she needed to hear. Ever.
She sighed. “You’re ridiculous.”
Aspen tried to lower me to the bed, but I just collapsed on the mattress. My stomach could wait until morning.
I reached out to my brothers mentally. “Did they find the rogue?”
“Not yet. I’m sure he’ll turn up, though,” Clay said.
“I should’ve stayed.”
“You were dead on your feet. Even you have to sleep sometimes,” he countered.
“I should’ve slept in the forest.”
“Your wolf needed his mate, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He deserved the break. He took down two rabids and a bunch of rogues on his own. If the other guy goes rabid, we know where to find him,” Hunter put in.
“I can’t let that happen.”
“I don’t think you can stop it right now,” Hunter said bluntly.
I growled, but he wasn’t wrong.
“Get some sleep. When you wake up, you can track him again,” Clay said.
I agreed reluctantly, and sniffed the air. Something smelled off. My forehead creased when I realized Aspen wasn’t right next to me anymore.
“Princess?”
“I’m making dinner for your high-maintenance ass. Go back to sleep,” she called out from the kitchen.
Her words surprised me.
My wolf rumbled so fiercely, he almost purred.
If I could’ve heard him speak, I swear he would’ve sounded like a caveman, with a good old, “ I choose good mate.”
I tried to stay awake, but couldn’t stop myself from dozing.
It felt like only a moment had passed when Aspen’s hand was on my bicep again, shaking me lightly. “Come on, big guy. You’re starving.”
My stomach rumbled again at the scent of something delicious. “Is that… grilled cheese?”
“A whole stack of it.”
“I want to fuck you so badly right now,” I mumbled, grabbing the sandwich off the top of the pile.
“Maybe tomorrow.” She ruffled my hair lightly. “There’s blood in this too.”
“I was in a hurry. Someone surprised me with their parents. I don’t know how to talk to parents.”
“It went as well as it could’ve in the situation. Don’t stress about it. It’s not like they can take me from you.”
I made a sound of agreement, already working on a second sandwich.
She played with my hair until my plate was empty and I was falling back asleep, too exhausted to even pull her into my arms.
My wolf was right.
He had picked a good mate.