Page 47 of Her Wolf's Demands

Opening my mouth to protest, Malone shushed me, placing his fingers over my lips.

I swallowed down the rising panic that rose up my chest, making it tight. He was right, he was my alpha. I had to trust that he could take care of himself and the pack.

“You’ll be risking your life for Drake.” I took his hand, threading my fingers through his. “You would do that?”

Everything in me wanted to protest, to tell him to stay away from the witches at all cost. If they caught the wolves, there was no telling what they’d do.

Ertha was losing her mind, clearly doing something against the witches’ code of conduct. Similar to wolf laws, witches lived by a set of morals and codes that kept the Earth’s magic in balance. It was obvious Ertha had lost sight of her true purpose, compromising everything we stood for. And the other witches in the coven were being taken along for the ride. Did they even know what Ertha had organised?

“I would do anything for you. Which means I’ll protect you and your brother until there’s no breath left in me.”

Gasping, I bit my lip and ducked my gaze, suddenly shy in front of the others. My neck flushed, going hot as Malone’s hand that gripped mine. My insides were quivering with a mixture of excitement, fear and desire. No one had ever dreamt of being my rescuer, and here Malone was, still being my wolf in shining armour. In fact, his armour couldn’t be shinier if he tried.

“Thank you,” I breathed. “Just… thank you.”

“Right then,” Manual said, getting to his feet. “We’d better prepare the pack. No witch is going to take over our land to perform some messed up ritual. I’ll kill them before they threaten my alpha’s mate or her brother.”

Chapter Thirteen

Malone

The beating of my heart was like a drum, thumping, thumping in my head. The pack followed me out of the camp, towards the field just on the other side of the treeline. The full moon was almost at its apex, enticing us to shift, to change into our wolf form.

Della had spelled us with a scent diffuser spell. She didn’t have quite enough power to make us all invisible, so we’d have to be careful when scoping out the witches.

At least without our smell, no one could track us. It had been the safest option, despite the risk of losing our own people. We hunted in a pack, relying on scent to trace where the others had gone. Tonight, there would be no hunting. We were going in stealthily to spy.

“Now this is something I can get on board with,” Lionel said, trotting up beside me. “I’m going to scare me some witches.”

Scowling, I glared in his direction. “Why are you so angry at Drake and Della still? She saved your life.”

“How did she save my life?” he hissed, “I would’ve healed eventually.”

“With the silver in your neck? Wake up and swallow your pride.” Growling, I shook my head as my footsteps increased, crunching the leaves underground. “I’ve met her brother. The siblings are genuine. Drake is being taken advantage of because of his illness. It’s quite common and needs to stop.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Lionel was frowning, his eyebrows pulled low. I had known the man my whole life, and although we got on well, we had never been best friends. He was a harder man, wanting to be ruled by the likes of my father. And although I was also firm, I wasn’t ruthless.

“I respect what you’re doing to save your mate, I do,” Lionel said, “but as far as me accepting her and her brother?” We came to a stop at the edge of the woods, both looking out at the pack, who had gathered in the field beyond us. “It’s going to take a while.”

I had to respect his stance. The pack were their own people, regardless of where they ranked. Life might have been easier if everyone just liked Della, but I wasn’t naive enough to force it. I’d already forced them to accept her on my behalf. I wouldn’t push them anymore.

Della had been right to postpone the ceremony. It wasn’t the time, and although the pack had been the ones to come up with the idea of rushing the ritual, I wanted them to fully support our union. Not because of obligation, but because they would then see the benefits that our union, and Della, could bring.

“Thank you for your honesty.”

Inclining his head, he hesitated before running off to remind the others of our plan. He was a fantastic scout, his instincts for hunting surpassing most of the wolves in the pack. I trusted him to gather information and train the younger wolves.

Soft footsteps sounded behind me. Sniffing the air, I smiled to myself. Emiliah, Lionel’s mate, came to stand next to me.

“I’m sorry about him. I’ve pleaded with him to be grateful to Della, even going as far as telling him some of her story.” Almost sniffling, Emiliah swallowed. “I don’t understand how he can be so heartless despite knowing that Della and Drake have been through hardships we can’t even imagine.”

“He is his own person,” I replied, clenching my hands into fists. “He’ll make his own judgement the longer he knows Della.”

As hard as it was to admit, I was glad that Lionel wasn’t completely backing down to me. I liked a challenge and it gave me the opportunity to prove myself too. The pack didn’t despise me for turning Della, most alphas had turned a human once or twice during their rule. Neither did they hate me for being mated to Della, that cord was a bitch to break.

However, they needed to know that I could stand in my power when challenged by those who were loyal to the ancient wolf laws.

Della didn’t know that there were country councils. Werewolves were a wild bunch who needed to be tamed in order to live a normal existence amongst humans. The councils were made up of elders who had retired to the city in order to live out their days in comfort. They held an annual meeting with every alpha from every pack, just to check in and make sure we were abiding by the wolf laws.

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