Page 13 of Craved By a Wolf

Chances were the magic imbued into her restraints would negate the potion even if she could reach it, uncork it and swallow it before her nymph shadow could stop her.

She pivoted at the closed wooden door, not daring to get too close to it. The one time she had moved within six feet of it, the guard had grabbed her and tossed her into the centre of the room, and she had fallen, almost landing on the vial.

Hella strode towards the open door, one that led onto a balcony and revealed a slice of green mountains and too-blue sky that weren’t the product of a spell.

She wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

Her nymph guard had teleported her elsewhere, to a place few non-fae got to see, and even fewer survived to tell tales about.

Lucia.

Realm of the light fae.

The door behind her opened before she could step out onto the balcony and she spun on her heel to face that direction.

Ethyrian swept into the room, looking as good as always in his tight green leather trousers that hugged his long lean legs and a loose white shirt that somehow revealed his honed torso even as it concealed it. Something was different about him though. His long blond hair was held back by a delicate knotted gold band that sat across his forehead and held an oval sapphire above his nose.

His crown.

If she had known the nymph was a king when she had met him all those months ago, she might have rejected his advances and spared herself all this trouble. She had figured him for a noble though, someone with only a little power, not enough to make him dangerous. Throughout history, kings had proven themselves to be a terrible lot, corrupted by their position, expecting everyone to fawn over them and do as they pleased.

To serve them.

To obey them.

Hella wasn’t exactly obedient material. She hadn’t even been able to obey the rules of her coven. She certainly couldn’t be expected to obey one man.

His blue eyes met hers, as bewitching as ever, like a tropical ocean that glittered and tempted, sparkling with flecks of gold. Even now they made her want to dive into them. She had fallen for those eyes more than his impressive physique and his good looks. Those eyes had beckoned her, had been the first thing she had noticed about him.

There wasn’t a male in this universe who had eyes as interesting and entrancing as his.

Hella shut that line of thought down, refusing to let him cast a spell on her again, and reminded herself that he was holding her captive.

His firm, broad mouth curled into an easy smile, one meant to charm and disarm her. He had used that smile on her too many times to count, and each time she had fallen for it, forgetting her anger or her desire to be rid of him and ending up in bed with him.

She glanced at the bed off to her right. One she would not be falling into with him. No backsliding.

“Hella,” he murmured, saying her name in a sexy way that had heat flushing over her skin. “Come, my love.”

He held his hand out to her.

Hella sneered at it. “I’ll do no such thing.”

His fair eyebrows pinched and then relaxed, and he slid a look at the guard. The male dipped his head and left, taking all the air in the room with him as the door closed behind him and she found herself alone with Ethyrian.

“Come,” Ethyrian repeated, harder this time, and his irises darkened a shade.

Warning her that she was treading on thin ice.

He was close to losing his temper. That was the reason he had sent the guard away. Heaven forbid one of his subordinates witnessed her rejecting their king and disobeying him, or what he would do to her as punishment.

She kept her distance from him when he moved a step towards her, her pulse picking up pace as she glanced over her shoulder at the balcony again. A balcony that was high up. She could hear water though. Distant. Muted. If she had to guess, she was in a tower and there was a river somewhere below her.

Could she jump?

She strained hard, listening to the rushing sound, her stomach twisting and knotting as she considered it. The river was probably a long way down. She might not survive the drop, especially if the water wasn’t deep. But then, she didn’t have to hit the water. If she was fast enough, she could reach the vial and drink it before she hit the river.

And what if the potion didn’t work because of her restraints?

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