Page 133 of The Werewolf’s Wrong Mate

Damn. He had felt that.

My cheeks heated.

Sava glanced at the monitor and muttered something unkind under her breath.

“Begin,” Ronan said.

I closed my eyes. At first, there were two presences. That was the only word I had. Cormac felt like age, spice, old smoke, and amusement laid over teeth. A wolf, yes, but contained differently from Ian. Looser. Less brutal. Less mine.

Mine.

My eyes opened.

Nope. Absolutely not. I was not using that word.

Ian was behind the left door.

I knew it. The mark leaned toward him, but so did something lower in me. Something that recognized the particular shape of his restraint, the way his anger folded inward instead of outward when I was near.

“Left,” I said.

Ronan watched my face. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, the center door feels like trouble wearing cologne.”

Cormac laughed from behind the door as Ian opened the left door.

Ronan nodded once. “Enough.”

Sava said, “Finally.”

Cormac stepped out, still amused. “Well. That is inconvenient for several people.”

“Explain,” Ronan said.

Cormac’s gaze moved from me to Ian. “The human knows him.”

I stiffened. “I just met him, well kind of, if you can count wolf prison as a meeting place.”

Cormac inclined his head. “Not his biography, Ms. Morgan. His presence. His temper. His pull. That is harder to fake than pain.”

Ronan’s face gave nothing away, Ian stood very still next to him.

Cormac continued, softer now, “A false mark can inflame. It can sicken. It can attach to proximity and fear. It does not teach a human woman to sort one wolf from another by the shape of his restraint.”

My throat tightened and I looked at Ian. He was already looking at me, and for once, I had no sharp line waiting. The mark pulsed once between us.

Warm.

Uncertain.

Ours, maybe.

That was the first time I let the word exist without immediately killing it, if only for a second.

Then Sava ruined the moment by saying, “She is done before she falls out of that chair and proves everyone here stupid.”

Cormac stepped aside. “A wise physician. Rare and unpleasant.”