Page 36 of Craved By a Wolf

“Leave,” he muttered, unable to bring himself to look at her.

“Did I… did I do something wrong?” She gathered her dress and covered her body with it.

He clawed back his rage as hurt flashed in her eyes and heaved a sigh, his tone softening as he dragged a hand down his face and added, “It isn’t you. I just have too much on my mind. It’s best if you just go… And speak to no one about this, Magda.”

Because the last thing he needed were rumours circulating that he couldn’t bring himself to sleep with a female. It would lead to whispers that would be far too close to the truth—or at least a truth wrought by a spell.

He had found his fated one and she had rejected him.

The door slammed, leaving him alone, and he sank into his armchair and stared at the fire, savouring the quiet that was a contrast to the riot in his mind.

Hours ticked past as he watched the flames slowly dying and a feeling steadily built inside him.

He was like those flames.

He could feel it now as the alcohol wore off and his mind calmed. He could deny things all he wanted, but it didn’t change them. There was a curse on him, just as Hella had revealed, and it was eating away at his strength, slowly devouring him from the inside.

As much as he hated the thought of making another attempt with Hella, wasn’t sure he could handle another rejection, he was aware that he would die if he didn’t succeed in seducing her. The curse wanted it and it was the only way to make himself strong again.

Strong enough to find the redheaded witch and end her.

MacKinnon scoffed. He didn’t need to kill the witch. He didn’t even need to fight her. He just needed to give her what she wanted.

He needed to hand Hella over to her.

He didn’t owe Hella anything, not after the way she had treated him. She wasn’t his true fated one. It was an illusion. A fated female would never act in such a manner towards their male.

But in order to hand her over to the witch, he needed to do the impossible.

He needed to seduce Hella.

But how was he to soften her and make her lower her guard enough that she accepted him, and agreed to come with him to the fae town in Scotland?

He grunted as he thought about it and realised it wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded. His wolf instincts would do their best to influence his actions, and if he was to seduce her, he needed to approach her in a different manner to how he had been with her so far.

He needed to be charming, not brutish. Smooth, not coarse. He needed to win her over, not command her to obey him.

He slowly smiled as an idea formed.

The perfect way to make her fall into his bed.

And under his spell.

He would help her with her nymph problem.

Chapter 12

The rent was sky high and the lodgings had seen better days, but Hella’s new temporary single-storey home—shed—was deep in the shifter district, a place where she doubted Ethyrian’s men would come looking for her. She peered at the stains on the cobbled floor that were old and refused to come up, and curled her lip at the faint lingering scent of animal that clung to everything in the single rectangular room. She tried not to think about what beasts had called it home in the past.

Possibly horses.

When the old panther shifter had shown it to her, he had embellished a lot. According to him, it wasn’t a shed previously used to house animals. The stable door wascottage chic. The peeling white paint on the outside wasauthentic. And the missing terracotta tiles on the roof lent itcharacter, apparently.

It was a shed.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers.

In reality, it was the perfect hiding place.

---