Page 52 of Her Wolf's Demands

The man now wore joggers and a Tee, both plain, both a normal size. His light eyes looked up at me from under his hair, which half covered his face. His breathing was shallow, laboured. There wasn’t an obvious difference from him to the other wolves, and yet, there was a hint of anger, pulsing from him.

Malone stepped forward as I was about to speak, taking my hand and pulling me gently. Of course, the questioning was his job, not mine. Regardless of how much I wanted to hate the hairball leaning against the wall, I had to play by the rules.

“Did you come willingly last night?” Malone asked the man.

Standing with his hands in front of him, the alpha watched him closely. The others stayed silent, watching the man also. Not one of them had greeted us when we’d entered. Maybe they were weary of Drake’s presence.

Lionel was the only one who lifted his gaze from the man and looked straight at me. His snarl was unmistakeable as he glanced at Drake, his lips lifting silently. If he dared to harm my brother, I would take him down. They might now be my kind – well, sort of, just a bit smellier – but Drake was blood. He would always come first.

Shifting his feet under him, the wolf nodded. “My name is Neil.”

“What happened to you?”

The straight forward question made Neil’s face screw up. His hand jerked towards his head and tucked his hair behind his ear before he glanced at Drake. “They used us, that’s what.”

“The witches?”

My skin itched, desperate to be scratched as I waited for his answer. I had to be quiet and let Malone do his thing. His sexy voice echoed around the cave every time he spoke, sending pulses through me. Was it totally inappropriate for me to keep sneaking a look at my man’s butt in the too tight jeans?

“Yeah, the bitches. Kieran killed our alpha two days ago, claiming the position,” he spat. “Next thing I knew, we’re being offered as some sort of experiment to the witches. Promised powers beyond our abilities, we were.”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Malone narrowed his gaze on the man. “Hence the weird ritual thing. Did no one challenge Kieran once he took power?”

A quick shake of the head was followed by a growl. “Kieran has the witches on his side. One of them trails around with him all the time, spelling wolves who won’t do as he says. Otherwise, we would’ve killed the bastard by now.”

“He is a bastard!” Rochelle blurted, her cheeks as red as her hair.

“Apparently, we’re going to be part of the witch coven, helping them stabilise their magic or some fucked up witchery,” Neil said, anger colouring his tone.

I knew the wolves disliked us, it had been that way for centuries. However, hearing someone from another pack speak so vehemently about my kind gave me a chill. Ertha really had pissed off a lot of people.

Wait, what had he said? My mind kicked into gear.

“Did they ever use the word familiar?” I asked, stepping up beside Malone, who raised his eyebrows at me.

Smiling apologetically, I looked through the bars, waiting anxiously for the wolf’s answer. My heart vibrated in my chest as sweat broke out on my forehead.

“That was the word, yes.” He frowned, shaking his head violently. “We don’t really understand what one of those is, but we went along with him so we weren’t killed or spelled to stay in wolf form forever.”

A growl rose from every wolf’s throat in the room, including my own. I had never heard of a witch using a wolf for a familiar. It was kinda evil genius, although totally unethical.

“She’s determined to keep you apart.” Neil nodded at Malone and I. “That’s the main reason she’s doing all this, to break your bond and kill Della. She’s afraid of the power you have as a pack now. And quite frankly, so are we.”

Closing my eyes briefly, I inhaled the mixed scents in the cave, almost choking as they overwhelmed me. Hearing that everyone was afraid of me should have made me glad. Instead, it made it harder for me to get on with my life.

“Fuck the lot of them,” Malone pushed through his teeth, “the bond has been sealed and nothing will break it, not even Ertha and her guard dogs.”

Snarling, Neil reared up from the ground and came to the bars, staring threateningly into Malone’s eyes. His challenge was met with a flick of the eyebrows. The wolf wasn’t exactly in a positon to harm the alpha.

“I will not allow my pack to be petting dogs to a witch. I will kill Kieran and end this, now.”

“While you’re at it, Neil,” Lionel called, “call your mutts off our pack. We’ll stop Della from shrivelling your dicks if you stay away.”

The energy in the room pulsed with tension. If Malone wanted to get Neil on our side, it wasn’t working. Not that I believed that the Brighton Pack would want anything to do with the Crawley Pack, but Kieran’s betrayal might work to our advantage.

My insides quaked at the idea of Ertha being successful. I couldn’t be away from Malone. We had an ethereal thread connecting us, forging a bond stronger than anything I’d experienced before. I wouldn’t let the witch take away the only man who had wanted me.

Malone stood taller, not intimidated by Neil’s glare. “We’re prepared to make a deal to help you,” he said, glancing at me and waiting for me to nod my agreement, which I did. “If you are certain that your pack doesn’t want to be led by Kieran, we’ll help you get rid of him. We won’t get involved with the politics once he’s gone, but whoever takes over as alpha has to swear to a truce with the Brighton Pack.”

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