Page 55 of Her Wolf's Demands

“Shit.” I laughed. “That was mind-blowing.”

Looking down at me, he hugged me closer, staring into my eyes. My insides quivered as much as my body, nervous at the way he looked at me with such hunger. No one had made me feel desired the way he did. And yet, it went deeper than that. He didn’t just want my body.

“I know it’s been hard to get to know one another,” he said, stroking my arm. “But once this is over with the witches, I’m taking you on a date.”

A bark of laughter shot through me. “A date? What sort of date?”

Laying back, he looked up at the ceiling of the cabin and smiled. “I dunno. Maybe bowling. I’m good at bowling, I’d kick your butt.”

“Sorry, did you say kiss my butt?”

Raising his eyebrows, he looked down at me, sobering when our gaze met. “You’re really something, you know? You’ve been through shit, and yet, you’re still terrible at cracking jokes.”

My lips wiggled as I tried not to smile. “What can I say? The tough times…” My mouth suddenly dried. “They made good times seem impossible.”

Shifting, Malone moved me so that my chin was resting on his chest, looking up at him. He licked his lips before swallowing. “This really has been a shit show, but I promise, once it’s over, you’ll never be in danger again.”

An emotion I didn’t recognise blasted through me, forcing me to drop my gaze. He reacted quickly, gripping my chin and pulling it up so I had no choice but to make eye contact with him.

“You don’t believe me, I can see,” he said passionately, “but it’s true. You’ll no longer have to be the glue that sticks your family together. You’re… you’re…”

“Part of your family now?” I finished for him.

His jaw clenched as he nodded stiffly. See? It wasn’t easy for him to let his guard down easily. Maybe once we’d completed the ceremony it would be natural for us to be open with one another, but until then, we had to be patient. Each one of us had demons that we hadn’t faced. And being able to talk about that would only become easier with time.

I was about to tell him that I’d be there for him too when a loud bang on the front door jolted us apart. It couldn’t have been urgent–

Spoke too soon. Several more bangs were followed by the door crashing open. Rearing up from the bed, we both got to our feet. I looked down at my nakedness and cringed, quickly whispering a spell to materialise clothes. They covered me just as Manual burst into the room.

“Sorry,” he said, not bothering to leave when he saw Malone standing there all out and proud. “But Lionel just told me that he saw Drake leave the camp two hours ago.”

My muscles froze as his words sunk into my mind. No, Drake had been in the cabin next door, safe and secure. Why would he leave?

Malone glanced at me before shaking his head. “Did he say anything to Lionel?”

The tension rolled from Manual as he clenched his hands into fists. “Just that he had to make things right for everyone and he didn’t want to put Della in danger.”

“Shit.” Both Malone and I spoke at the same time.

In normal circumstances, I would’ve chimed jinx, but not this time. Drake had taken it upon himself to pay a visit to Ertha. She would kidnap him and take him hostage until she could use him to channel more magic. She would fry him to death, just to get what she wanted.

Tears slipped into my eyes as I moved past Malone and Manual, heading into the kitchen area. Their footsteps followed me as I went to the intricately carved dining table and waved my hand over it.

“What are you doing?” Malone asked, genuinely interested as a map of Brighton appeared in front of us.

Luckily, he’d grabbed a towel and slung it around his hips. Good. I needed to be able to concentrate.

The paper edges rolled slightly, attempting to curl in on themselves. Flattening one side out, I glanced at the main town of Brighton and frowned. Where would my brother go?

“I’m going to do a location spell to follow my brother.”

Manual stood beside me, glancing down at the detailed drawings on the paper. “A what now? Can’t you just follow his scent?”

Huh. That hadn’t even occurred to me. I knew Drake’s scent without my wolf instincts, but now, I’d be able to trace him just by sniffing the air. I was almost tempted to skip the spell in order to try it out. However, time was important. If Ertha managed to get to him before we did, there was a high chance we’d never find him.

“Technically, yes, but this will be faster,” I said, spinning and grabbing a sharp knife.

Malone’s hand flung out, taking the knife from me before I could cut myself. “What’s this?”

---