Page 69 of Craved By a Wolf

“No!” This wasn’t going well. He reached for her and she backed away from him, moving her arm behind her so he couldn’t grab it, and he wanted to growl but tamped it down and exhaled hard instead. He paced away from her, fearing that if he stayed near her that he would do something wrong. Or more wrong. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and stilled with his back to her. “My instincts… I don’t think you’re a whore queen.”

He grimaced as she gasped and he felt her horror trickling through their fragile blooming bond.

He spun to face her, lowering his hands at the same time. “I didn’t mean it like that. Hella… lass… love…”

Words failed him again as she stared at him, mouth agape and hurt shining in her eyes.

He sighed and gave her his back again, because for some bloody reason it was easier to talk to her when he wasn’t looking at her, her beauty addling his mind and rousing his possessiveness.

“The incubus is verra handsome,” he muttered, hating how bleak and defeated he sounded, as if it was already settled and he had lost her.

He waited for her retort, or for her to leave and never come back.

She surprised him by coming to him instead of walking out of the door and he breathed a little easier, his mind growing a little calmer, as she laid her left hand on his back between his shoulders. Her sigh teased his ears, a soft sound that had him casting a glance at her as his brow furrowed.

“I would never sleep with an incubus. They’re a demon. If I take demon seed into my body, I lose my powers… or so the story goes. I heard rumours—”

He cut her off with a growl. “So the only reason you haven’t slept with him is because you fear losing your magic?”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed, the stars emerging in them again as the tinny scent of magic swirled around her, tainting her delicate scent of rain-soaked heather and spice.

“No,” she bit out and glared at him. “Fenix is just a friend.”

Relief swept through him, but she dashed it against the rocks.

“But who I sleep with is none of your business.”

It was his business. She was his now. He knew it deep in his heart. Something fundamental had changed between them and neither of them would ever be the same, and if he had his way, they would never be apart either.

“Because I was apity fuck.” He hurled the words at her, ones she had said to the incubus when she had been talking to him outside her small home after making love to Kin.

Her mouth dropped open, shock rolling across her delicate features, and then all the tension bled from her and her look turned soft and understanding.

“That’s why you’re lashing out at me.” She sighed and reached for him, but this time he moved his arm beyond her reach. She cast him a hurt look and then lowered her hand and gazed at it, her voice dropping. “I shouldn’t have said that. I panicked and… I’m sorry.”

He hadn’t realised how much it had annoyed him until he had thrown it at her, had thought the incubus was the reason he was angry with her, but now that it was out there, he couldn’t deny that it had hurt him. He had thought they had shared something, and she had treated it as if she had only done it to help him.

Which had left him feeling as if she didn’t want him.

When he was mad for her.

“MacKinnon,” she whispered, stepped up to him and placed her hand on his chest. “I… when I had to go speak with Fenix… my plans were very different to what just happened. I intended to deal with him and then come back to you and see if you were up for round two.”

“Round two?” His eyebrows rose and his shaft stiffened. He grimaced as his jeans pinched and tried to subtly adjust himself, but Hella noticed, her luminous eyes dropping to his crotch and her cheeks pinkening. Desire laced her scent and had him reaching for her. “If my lass wants another go—”

“Later,” she interjected.

He growled and his fangs dropped when she moved back a step, making it clear she meant it and was going to make him wait when he was already in agony, aching for her. This time, he wanted to make love to her face to face, wanted to drown in her eyes as they found release together. He wanted to show her that he could be gentle, and sweet, and whatever she needed in order for her to fall for him.

“I really should get changed and go help.” She hurried away from him and he tracked her with his gaze, his mood darkening as he realised something.

She meant to go and help the incubi without him at her side.

Over his dead body.

“I’m coming with you.”

She cast him a look of wide-eyed surprise that rapidly turned into her shaking her head. “No. You need to rest. I have this. Just have a nap and regain your strength.”

---