Page 87 of Craved By a Wolf

Or at least he thought she was.

The jury was still out on that one.

The door wasn’t locked. It eased open as she twisted the knob and she stepped inside, refusing to creep or move with stealth. Not because she feared seeing something she didn’t want to see and wanted to disturb them, but because she wasn’t the kind of witch to pussyfoot.

She tipped her chin up and squared her shoulders, but no one was in any of the downstairs rooms she checked and she began to wonder whether her spell was wrong and Kin wasn’t here.

And then someone moved upstairs.

Hella hurried up the twisting wooden staircase to the first floor and spotted an open door at the end of the hall. She gathered her confidence, and her magic, as she strode towards it, sure that Kin was there.

And he wasn’t alone.

“We had a bargain, Grant MacKinnon of clan MacKinnon, and you swore you would fulfil it.”

Hella frowned as that high, feminine voice echoed along the corridor, trying to place it and sure that she knew it.

What kind of deal had Kin struck with this female? He had said the witch had cursed him. That didn’t sound like a deal to her.

“Come, wolf.”

He growled, the sound pure malevolence.

Or hunger.

She rushed into the room, needing to see what was happening.

His broad shoulders tensed beneath his dark Henley as she entered behind him and pain lanced her heart when she spotted the feminine hand on his right shoulder. Polished black nails pressed into his flesh, clutching him as his head bent towards the female before him.

That female leaned to one side, peering past his arm to her.

“Godiva,” Hella breathed as she set eyes on the tall, beautiful redhead.

The witch stepped into view, her hand remaining on Kin’s shoulder, and Hella wanted to rush to him and tear Godiva’s hand away from him. She really wanted to separate them when she noticed the slinky, long black dress Godiva wore, one that had a slit up the right side to flash a lot of leg.

Godiva’s dark eyes brightened as her burgundy lips curled into a smile. Something was different about her. Hella couldn’t quite place it as she stared the witch down, and forgot all about it when she spoke.

“Ah, you did bring her to me as promised!” Godiva cast an adoring look at MacKinnon and then shot Hella a sly smile.

Hella’s ears rang, realisation hitting her like a wrecking ball to shatter her confidence.

And her heart.

It fractured into a thousand pieces, any warmth she had felt and all her feelings for Kin pouring from it to churn in her chest into something raw and hot that had magic racing to her fingertips and set her blood on fire.

The wolf had known how to lift his curse and free himself of it.

And here she was.

Just as he had planned.

She cast a disappointed look at him and knew it came off wounded when Godiva grinned and stroked his shoulder. MacKinnon angled his head towards her, but he didn’t look at her. He kept looking at Godiva.

Hella stepped back from him as anger built inside her, destroying all her softer emotions.

“Was this the plan all along?” she spat and glared at him. “She cursed you so I would see it and would end up trying to help you, and you would get close enough to me to betray me by bringing me here to her? If I had known, I would have slammed the door in your face that day as I damned well should have!”

Instead, she had surrendered to her desire and it had deepened her feelings for him, transforming them from like into something that was now tearing her apart, just as she had feared.

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