Page 110 of Craved By a Wolf

He bent and tried to reach it, and whimpered when it only made the pain worse and he had to cling to his wolf form to stop the shift. He couldn’t shift with the dagger still inside him. There was a danger it would rip through his organs.

“Kin!” Hella came running to him, her green eyes enormous as she stared at the dagger. She fell to her knees beside him and reached for it, and he snarled at her, snapping fangs. She jerked her hands away from him and cast him a hurt look, and then her expression darkened and her eyes gained silver and gold stars as her lips set in a firm line. “I’m pulling this out, so man the fuck up.”

Manning up was something he really wanted to do in that moment. Holding on to his wolf form was absolute hell, stealing strength he needed for the fight ahead. His fur swept away and then returned as he desperately held on, denying the need to shift as the pain in his side grew more intense.

Hella gripped the dagger in both hands and didn’t give him a chance to brace himself.

She yanked it out.

Kin howled as pain blazed through him, his head spinning as he morphed from wolf to man in an instant, faster than he had ever managed. He breathed hard as he sagged against the pebbles, fighting to remain conscious as his vision tunnelled. Hella wobbled in front of him, her face close to his, and he thought she might look worried about him. Which was sweet of her.

But then he made sense of her garbled words.

“Just lay there and I’ll handle this.”

No. He tried to reach for her, but she was already gone. His hand cut through thin air and he growled again, mustered his strength and rolled onto his side. Blood pumped over his hip and stomach, and he swallowed the bile that rose into his throat. Tiny sparks of lightning skittered through him, all shooting towards his wound, and heat gathered there. He grimaced as he looked at it and went to place his hand over it to stem the bleeding.

He stilled.

Did the wound just get smaller?

He stared at it, sure that it had, and his eyes widened as it shrank a little more. A spell. He looked over his shoulder, seeking Hella. She slammed her palms into the chest of a male twice her size and sent him flying through the air into several of his comrades. She had cast a spell on Kin. One to heal him.

He reached for her, his heart seizing as she ran at Ethyrian, not noticing the two guards coming up behind her.

“Hella!” he yelled and she turned, her eyes widening as she came face to face with the guards.

Ethyrian hit her hard on the back of her head with the pommel of his sword.

Kin’s eyes narrowed, a snarl pealing from his lips as the nymph king caught her as she dropped. He launched to his feet, awareness pounding in his veins. He had only a second to reach her before Ethyrian teleported with her. He sprinted towards her, long strides devouring the distance between them, the pain burning in his side keeping his wolf form in check when he needed it now more than ever. He was faster as a wolf.

Ethyrian turned with her.

Kin dropped his shoulder and slammed into the two guards who had given their king the opportunity to grab her, knocking them out of his way, sure that at any moment Ethyrian was going to disappear with her.

Only he didn’t.

The nymph king turned a black look on Kin.

And then his blue gaze shifted to Kin’s right.

To Oberon.

Kin guessed the unseelie prince held the power to close the borders of his realm as he pleased, unlike the nymph.

“Get your damned filthy hands off my mate!” Kin launched at Ethyrian, aiming for Hella.

Ethyrian spun her away from him, flinging her to the ground a few feet away, and swept his sword up. Kin barely managed to dodge the blow, came dangerously close to being cut from hip to heart by the tip of the blade. He rolled to his left, wishing he had gone to his right the moment he realised he had placed more distance between him and Hella when he should have narrowed it down instead.

He paid for his mistake.

The king twisted and grabbed her, hauled her over his shoulder and started running towards the woods.

“He heads for a portal. Go,” Oberon barked. “I will follow.”

The unseelie didn’t have to tell MacKinnon twice.

He ran after Ethyrian, chasing him through the trees, a growl curling up his throat as the nymph began to gain distance. Unlike his guards, Ethyrian was faster than he was.

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