Page 12 of Wolf Hunter

While every coven member’s face reflects fear, hers shows anger. But why?

I clear my throat because I realize I’ve been staring at her for far too long, and my pack, along with the witches, are awaiting an explanation.

“I don’t accept this sacrificeyet,” I clarify. “Because I must gauge to see if she”—I rack my brain for the right words— “can satisfy my particular… tastes.”

I regret saying them the moment they leave my mouth. Just thinking about this little vixen doing anything tosatisfy my tastessends shocks straight to my groin.

And it shouldn’t. Not at all.

Instantly, her pretty face shifts into a scowl, and her fingers flex at her sides. She’s in fight mode—although she’s trying her damndest to hide it. But I know a potential threat when I see one, and she’s not one of the witch’s normal meek or weeping sacrifices.

She wants to kill me.

Standing before her now, so close, I can see the desire written in the angles of her body. There’s confidence in her stance too, telling me that she’s convinced she can do it. Will she try to use her magic on me, or is there a weapon that she’s hiding somewhere? Maybe under that flowy white dress?

More questions. More intrigue.

The Buson Coven is up to something, and I’m going to find out what.

I should reject her—actuallyreject her for the safety of my pack—but for some reason, just the thought has my wolf baring his teeth. There’s no way he’s going to let me leave this clearing without her, even with the possibility of her being a plant and plotting my death.

Am I worried? No. I didn’t become alpha over my older brother, Julius, because of my looks. I’m the strongest, fastest, and fittest leader out of all the men in the pack, so I can handle a witch with an attitude problem.

My wolf’s fascination with her will make things complicated, but he’ll have to get over it. Especially if I have to take her back to my home and force answers out of her. Or kill her. Or both.

A throat clears, tearing me out of my thoughts. I glance over at my second-in-command, who jerks his chin in the direction of the coven behind her. Waiting.

“Is something wrong?” she asks me in a fake innocent tone, but her tense jaw betrays her.

Yes, something’s very wrong. I should be calling out what this really is, a charade, but that will lead to bloodshed and too many innocent lives lost for a so-called treaty that shouldn’t even be in use anymore.

The contract has been warped over time, morphed into something the wolves take for granted and the witches fear. Under my father’s rule, the pack got greedy. They wanted more than the treaty set out for us: more power, more strength. More than the boundaries of our agreement with the locals allows, and although I’m not fully aware of the extent, a few loose ends have not been adding up for me.

Tonight, however, the pack wants tradition. They want the sacrifice and more magic. What they don’t know is that, unlike my father, I intend to change the treaty the moment I’ve become stable enough as alpha. I might have won the position upon Father’s death, but that doesn’t mean I have the respect and autonomy that comes with the title.

Not yet, anyway.

Which is also why I can’t appear weak by turning the witch away or allowing my inner animal to get involved. Not now. There’s too much at stake.

As I peer down at her and say, “No,” heat curls around me at the lie.

The eye contact—

No one looks at me the way she is now.

Leaning forward on the tips of my toes, I bring my mouth to her ear so only she can hear me. Her entire body tenses.

“Are you going to try to kill me now? Or wait until we’re alone?” I whisper.

She snaps back, mouth open. “What did you say?”

But the truth is written all over her face. She wants me dead.

Bingo.

I don’t know why, but the thought of playing with her a bit, pushing against her challenge, is sounding better by the second. Maybe it’s the predator in me, but I grin ruthlessly at her. “I know why you’re here. What you plan to do.”

“I don’t know—”

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