Page 14 of Craved By a Wolf

Hella swallowed hard at the thought of hitting a shallow river and going splat.

Maybe she could tough it out a little, play along with Ethyrian until she could convince him to remove her cuffs and then she could escape using the potion. One problem with that plan though. Ethyrian would have her naked before she could work her charm on him, placing the potion beyond her reach. Or worse, he would discover the vial.

Her mind raced, thoughts colliding as she looked at him again, as he stalked towards her, all gorgeous glower that heated her blood and made her body remember the good times they had shared. It wouldn’t exactly be a chore to sleep with him until he let her go, but the idea rankled her, had her wanting to strike him and keep him away from her.

“Sweet Hella,” he started.

“There’s nothing sweet about me,” she bit out and waggled the shackles in his face, and it hit her that they were the reason she was mad as hell at him and didn’t want to sleep with him anymore. He had chained her and had her brought here, and that wasn’t the way someone who was apparently in love with you behaved. “There’s nothing sweet about you either, is there? You declare your undying love for me, swear to the moon you will be forever mine, do all in your power to convince me that love is real, and what… when I don’t return the feelings you resort to kidnapping? They make TV programmes about obsessive types like you all the time.”

“My love for youisreal. I will make you see it,” he gritted and lunged for her.

She sidestepped and hurried towards the door, placing more distance between them.

“Just let me go, Ethyrian. We can forget this ever happened.” She clutched her dress, keeping hold of the hidden vial.

Could she reach it and drink it? Was it worth the risk? If the spell in the shackles worked on the potion too, she would have sacrificed her only method of escape. As tempting as it was to risk it, she couldn’t. She had to bide her time until she was free of the cuffs. Maybe she could speed that along.

She lifted her hands and moved them apart, snapping tight the chain between the two thick silver cuffs. “If you remove these, it will go a long way towards convincing me that you’re not a psychopath and you meant those pretty words. If you love me, you’ll do it.”

He glared at her, his lips flattening as his eyebrows drew down and he stalked towards her. “If I remove those restraints, you will teleport. I will not lose you again.”

“I can’t teleport. I’m a witch. We didn’t get that nifty perk.” Not technically true. She could teleport. The potion would make it happen. She resisted the temptation to touch it again. “I’ll stay if you release me.”

She would be gone in a flash.

Hella smiled sweetly, the one she had always used on him whenever he had been in a bad mood. It usually worked like a charm, but this time he remained at a distance, glaring at her. Aware that she was going to have to work a little harder than just smiling at him in order to win him over this time, she sidled towards him, her heart thumping hard. She wouldn’t fall for his charms again. She wouldn’t fall into his bed. She would just make it appear as if she was doing both of those things.

“I do love you,” he husked as she drew closer, his gaze growing unfocused as he skimmed it over her body. It sharpened again as it locked with hers and he rocked her entire world on its axis. “That is why I am going to marry you.”

She spluttered.

“I’m sorry… you’re going to what now? For a moment there, I was sure you said marry me.” She back-pedalled. Hard. Placing more distance between them as her pulse skyrocketed.

“I am going to marry you. You are to be my wife.” He smiled at her, as if she should be thrilled by this turn of events and not terrified.

Convincing him to do anything flew out of the window, because she could see in his eyes that he had made up his mind and he was going to marry her whether she liked it or not. She wasn’t getting a say in things, and that really pissed her off. She had to escape. If she didn’t, she was going to end up wed before she knew it, enslaved by a male she didn’t even like.

No. Thank. You.

He wasn’t in love with her, not like he believed. He was obsessed with her, and she had the feeling it was because she had dumped him. Ethyrian had never been the dumpee. He had always been the dumper. She could see that now. He had never even told her that he loved her until she had been breaking up with him. It was obvious now that this was new to him and he didn’t like it and rather than ridding herself of him, she had made the whole situation worse.

Now he wanted to wed her.

If she had let things between them fizzle out naturally, she wouldn’t be in this mess. Her rejection had caused this turn of events, making Ethyrian obsessed with her.

Making him a danger to her.

“You shall be a queen.” He strode towards her, using her temporary inability to move thanks to shock to his advantage, and was only inches from her before she roused herself. He stroked his hand down her bare arm, his blue gaze adoring as his smile widened. “A fitting position for my beauty. You shall take your rightful place at my side and I shall dote upon you. I will even visit my harem less.”

“How generous of you.” Hella twisted free of his grip and walked away from him, struggling for air. “I never would have dreamed you’d place me first before your concubines.”

Concubines she hadn’t even been aware of when they had been together. How many times had he slept with them before coming to see her? After coming to see her? She vomited a little in her mouth.

“My wife will always come first.” He sounded as if that would be the most magnanimous thing he had ever done and she should be falling at his feet and telling him he was too kind—too generous.

She glared at him over her shoulder instead. “I highly doubt that. I seem to recall you always came first.”

He scowled at her, crossed the distance between them and had her arm in a bruising grip before she could even blink. He loomed over her, darkness in his eyes as he stared at her, and her pulse spiked again as his fingers pressed into her flesh. That show of strength was a warning, and he looked close to showing her in other ways that she would do better not to speak to him like that.

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