Page 33 of Her Wolf's Demands

The click of the door gave me a zing of happiness. I wasn’t going to jinx it, but jeez, I was bloody good. Okay, just a little bit of gloating.

“Stay behind me,” I whispered to Rochelle, who tucked her red hair behind her ear.

I had to be extra cautious, just in case Ertha had pulled out all the stops. She would’ve either predicted that I would come for Bohdi – in which case, she’d be right – or she could’ve believed that I didn’t have the guts. Wrong.

The door handle was cold, icy on my palm when I grabbed it and twisted it open. A small puff of air escaped from the crack, revealing silence as I listened for any movement inside.

“No one’s there.” Rochelle’s words flew to me on the slight breeze, tickling my ear.

Nodding my thanks, despite the fact that my own wolf hearing had already given me that clue, I stepped inside.

The beeping of the alarm made my heartbeat thunder, pushing me to race to the keypad by the warden’s office door.

Holding my breath, I typed in the code Frederick had given me, almost waiting for the loud siren to blast. Thankfully, it beeped three times before shutting down.

Right, we had to move fast. Some alarms alerted the owner of the building, telling them that someone had entered. Frederick had clearly had time to get a coffee and a spell before leaving, which made me doubt that Ertha would bother, especially since they shared the building with the humans from the university campus.

Rochelle slunk past me, sniffing the air like a dog. Ha, my dog jokes would now apply to me, which made them a little less funny.

I followed her as she approached the door that led to the main library. Yanking it open, she thrust inside, not bothering to wait for me. I just about caught the door before it slammed shut. Jeez, if there was anyone hiding in the shadows, they would’ve heard us a mile away. I thought wolves were good at stealth.

Almost tripping, I grabbed the she-wolf back and went in front, leading the way through the aisles of books. My hand stretched towards them, tempted to stroke the spines.

On the rare occasions my father had brought us to the library, Drake and I had run down the aisles, dragging our fingers over the spines and leaving our magical imprint on the books. We’d found it hilarious.

Ertha had been moderately irritated by us. Thinking back on it, our father had allowed us to get away with everything, too busy hooking up with women. I would’ve hated me too. Bratty kids who had no respect. And yet, that had changed since we’d been adults and made our own way. Not that it had mattered, Ertha still hated us.

Our footsteps were light on the carpet as we approached the Staff Only door. This would be where it got interesting. There was bound to be a barrier spell or two.

I wanted to get in, grab Bohdi, and teleport us out of there. I had no nostalgia when it came to the Brighton Coven’s headquarters.

Closing my eyes, I extended my hands, palm out, and felt for the barrier. There, it was just in front of the door, pulsing with a heavy magic. It burnt my fingers as I pushed against it. Shit, it would’ve taken at least three elder witches to create the spell. They clearly believed that I might try and get Bohdi, and instead of taking a chance, they had bound him inside, locking it like Fort Knox.

Tuning into the magic, I clamped my tongue in my teeth, almost balking when a great shimmering wall appeared in my mind’s eye. The colours were a shimmering rainbow, shadowy in their array over the door. My wolf senses were heightened, my honed vision finding a gap in the wall.

Yes! There is was, the tiny fault in the magic. I pressed my fingers onto the door, right where the weakness floated. A sharp pain zapped my hand, jolting me. Air inhaled into my lungs as I pushed harder, inciting a disabling spell.

The ethereal wall wobbled violently before dropping completely. A grin spread on my lips, expanding when I opened my eyes to see Rochelle staring at me, confusion furrowing her brow.

“I just took down the barrier spell,” I whispered. “Let’s go.”

Swinging the door open, I gingerly stepped into the main hall, keeping in the shadows of the small entranceway. Rochelle was on my heels, ready to fight. I was grateful to have her as backup, even if it was a little strange, considering we’d been enemies’ only hours before.

Treading forward, I searched the shadows. A long beam of moonlight, shimmering down through a pretty domed skylight, lit the dim hall. There was no movement or sound, not near the coffee bar or the books. Good. It looked like it would be a clean run over to Ertha’s office.

Except…

A growl sounded in front of us as we emerged into the main hall. I searched the area, freezing when an ugly creature on four legs plodded into the centre of the moonbeam, its viscous sharp teeth snapping, once, twice. Fucking hell.

“What the fuck is that?” Rochelle breathed, her hands clenched by her sides.

Swallowing, I put my arm out to stop her moving forward as the beast stared at us, a long drop of drool slopping from the corner of its lips. Its red eyes studied us, the rumble in its chest growing louder.

“It’s a hellhound,” I whispered, keeping eye contact with the beast. “A guard dog impervious to magic. Which means we’re fucked.”

“Fuck.”

Some situations in life called for an F bomb or two. This one deserved ten. At least.

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