Page 64 of A Wolf's Treasure
Eventually, he released a sigh of relief. “Good. That’s good. I’m glad you still have a smidgeon of sense.” He smiled at Duana. “She must get that from me.”
Rolling her eyes, Ryanne spotted a large rock and took a step to her left to sit on it.
Deep growls and snapping teeth forced her to a stop. “I just want to sit down,” she snapped back.
“Let her,” the prince told them, and the wolves took a step back in synchronicity. Almost like they were on strings, and the prince was their master.
This did not surprise Ryanne in the least. He’d had Thomas and his pack on leashes for years. First, leading up to the war. And now leading up to the release of the Faeries he, himself, had banished. Glaring at the gray wolf closest to her, she walked over and sat down with a grateful sigh.
“Tell me exactly all that has transpired between you and Duncan,” her father ordered.
“I really don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”
He tilted his head, and a dangerous smile played around his mouth. “It is my concern if you’ve put myself or our people in any danger. So, you see, I must insist on prying, daughter, for the good of all involved.” He waved a hand in the air like he was waving away a bad smell. “You don’t need to tell me all of the gory details. You’ve always had a soft heart for those who are troubled.”
“Troubled?” she repeated. Ryanne very nearly laughed out loud. “Is that what you call it when you probe so deep into a male’s psyche, when you produce so much fear at the mere thought of being sexually aroused, that he completely believes he is only half the male he once was? And why? Just to prove that you can?”
“Sort of,” the prince said pleasantly. “It was an experiment, you see. The wolves have higher than normal levels of testosterone. We wanted to see if unmanning one would change his loyalty to his pack or lesson his need to shift. Lesson his urge to fight. To protect. All of those caveman-like qualities they’re known for.”
“Why mess with his head? Why not just castrate him?” she asked. And she thought she did a pretty good job of keeping her tone casual. The very thought horrified her, but she had to ask.
“Oh, no, dear. We wouldn’t want to actually hurt one of our allies like that. As it was, Cedric found him before we could temper the trauma. He wouldn’t have been nearly as affected as he was—mentally, I mean—if we had been allowed to finish what we’d started.”
“You can remove the memories, but you weren’t going to fix what you did.”
He appeared to really think about that for the first time. “Perhaps, eventually. After we monitored his behavior for a few years.”
She studied her nails. They were dirty again. As much time as she spent in the wilderness, Ryanne was a stickler for clean nails. “Well, father, I’m not sorry to say I completely messed up your experiment. The results will now be skewed, to say the least.”
He sighed heavily and tapped the tip of his cane on the rock beneath his feet. “You always were selfish that way. Trying to save the world, one pathetic individual at a time, instead of worrying about what you should have been concerned with.”
“Which is?”
“Our people, Ryanne,” Duana nearly shouted. “Our people! Not thena maithetribe, not the shifters, not the vampires or witches or even the humans.”
The prince put his hand on her sister’s arm. “Duana please. There’s no need for such theatrics. As long as Ryanne hasn’t told anyone what she actually is, nothing has changed.”
Duana looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Has she met the other Faeries who are living in that building, sleeping with those dogs? Because if she has, then they not only know who she is, but what she is. And by extension, what you are.”
With an obliging expression, the prince turned back to Ryanne. “Have you met any of the other Faeries who are mated to some of the wolves in Cedric’s pack, dear?”
“No,” she told him.
“And we’re supposed to believe you fucked that wolf and he didn’t see the colors in your eyes?” her sister asked. “Was he that bad?”
Anger rose up in Ryanne, so swift and sudden the rush made her lightheaded.
“Och, dinna knock it until ye try it, lass.”
All heads turned as Duncan strolled into the cave, wearing only a pair of faded jeans.
Seeing him there, in this place, and knowing what it had to cost him to be there…panic rose within her.
He had returned to his nightmare for her.
Ryanne swiftly lowered her gaze to her lap, knowing her emotions would show in her eyes. She kept them there until she was certain she had them under control. If her father saw her reaction to Duncan, he would manipulate her emotions against both of them.
Pulling a blanket of impassiveness around her, she raised her eyes.
