Page 38 of Craved By a Wolf

Hella sagged against the back of the chair, not caring when it creaked ominously.

She just wanted her old life back.

She huffed. If she had known who Ethyrian was when she had met him at the masquerade ball in Paris, she would have steered well clear of him. Kings, princes and alphas had a terrible habit of thinking they could just take what they wanted.

Case in point, the wolf.

She bet her left tit he was an alpha.

He had that dominant, overbearing attitude she now associated with men drunk on their position of power.

Although, Ethyrian had been nice to her. A little simpering at times, and broody, but he had been nice. Only she had apparently seen just one side of the nymph king, and he had been concealing the one that had reared its ugly head the moment she had dumped him. She sighed. She had been in a bit of a dry spell when she had attended the ball and had figured nymphs for an easy lay, a bit of fun, like an incubus but without the drawback that their semen could affect her connection to nature and therefore ruin her magic.

And her.

It turned out that nymphs were sexually highly charged, but they were also seriously high maintenance. They wanted to be petted and cooed over, desired and adored.

Which really wasn’t her scene.

Any man who took that much effort to please and keep happy was a man she didn’t need.

Hella moved her focus back to her book, drifting through the pages as the fire warmed her back. The world outside was quiet and peaceful, and for a moment, everything felt right in the world.

And then a big bad wolf came barrelling backwards through her door.

Shortly followed by five nymphs.

Chapter 13

Kin’s plan was going well. He had found Hella’s house empty, a lot of her belongings gone, but he had chanced upon a very helpful lass a few doors down who had muttered that he wasn’t a nymph and Hella hadn’t said anything about non-nymphs. She had been more than happy to tell him that Hella had moved to the other side of town, and when he had pressed her for better directions, she had shrugged and told him that was all she knew.

He had spent a day moving around the other side of the fae town, trying to pick up Hella’s scent, and had ended up in the shifter district. There, he had asked around about the blue-haired witch and had struck gold.

An old panther shifter had pointed him to what Kin could only describe as a dilapidated stable.

MacKinnon had checked it out and discovered the reason he hadn’t been able to pick up Hella’s scent was because the place she was staying in reeked to high heaven, the odour of horse so strong that it masked her subtle fragrance of rain-soaked heather and spice.

He had been tempted to knock and check on her, by which he meant he had ended up fighting the urge to bang her door down, sweep in and sweep her off her feet and into his arms for another kiss. His instincts as her mate had gone haywire the moment he had sensed her moving around inside the white building and he’d had a hard time denying them.

A fight had broken out in the alley between him and the building though, and she had appeared in the window.

And gods, he had been bewitched all over again.

Had stood there like a dolt staring at her, aching for her to look at him, his wolf side placated by just the sight of her and the knowledge she was safe.

For now.

It hadn’t taken him long to realise she was scared, or to figure out the reason why.

She wasn’t afraid of the panthers and jaguars who had been brawling in the street.

She had feared the ruckus had been caused by nymphs who had come for her.

Seeing her shaken like that had roused something dark and powerful inside him, had set him on a course that had taken him away from her, back towards the busier and more elegant side of the town.

Hunting for nymphs.

He had been stalking the streets ever since, seeking nymphs who wore the same clothing as those who had abducted her last time. Several of them had borne a silver crest on the leather strap that crossed their bare chests, holding their swords in place on their back. He scanned every nymph he came across for that same seal.

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