Page 19

Ebony scowled but walked in and, after petting and beckoning her, it finally followed without too much resistance. Which was fucking odd, considering how protective she’d been an hour ago.

I returned to the bed and looked down at Selene. She was on her back, her arms up, hands on either side of her head, her chestnut hair splayed around her face. She was as beautiful now as she had been then.

No. Somehow, she was even more so. Witchcraft, no doubt. How else could she have remained so youthful?

She whimpered suddenly and writhed against my mattress, and only now did I take in the rest of her properly. Her naked curves were lush, rounder, softer than I remembered, but then I’d only ever seen her clothed. Her skin was deeply tanned instead of the ivory it had once been. My gaze drifted over her chest. Her tits were high and full, topped with pinkish-brown nipples, tight and small.

My mouth went dry, and my wolf started fighting, demanding I get closer.

I growled and fought it, even as my gaze continued to traverse her naked body. There were two red marks on her upper right thigh and a black tattoo curled and twined around her leg above her knee. There was an expanse of smooth, unmarred skin, then the design picked up again, its thorny vines snaking around her upper thigh and the side of her hip.

My hand lifted, about to touch, and I curled my fingers tightly and snatched them back. Carrying her the last hour had been torture of the worst kind. Lust, fierce and demanding, had almost choked me, and as soon as I made her break this spell she had over me, I would execute her for it. For what she did to my pack and me back then, and what she was trying to do to me again now.

I fucking hated her, but I couldn’t keep my gaze off her. Fight it.

She moaned softly, and it was like the sound reached up and took me by the throat, snaking inside me and gripping tight until all I could see was her.

Her beauty was…dazzling, mesmerizing, and even as I internally roared for her to release me, struggling against it, my wolf pushed forward, filling me with a desire to get closer to her. I was unable to resist. Fuck, my head spun. I felt drunk from need, starved of touch.

The animal in me took hold, and I couldn’t stop myself from lowering my head and pressing my nose to the skin at the base of her throat, and breathing deep. I gritted my teeth, struggling in vain against the magic she’d wrapped around me like chains, drawing me closer. I greedily dragged her scent into my lungs a second time and fucking groaned.

Her scent was different—not lemons, like it used to be, but something richer, darker, earthier: orchids or some other exotic flower.

I breathed her in again, and her scent sunk deeper. My mind roared for me to back away, but instinct and that feeling of rightness were so intense, so strong, that I found myself climbing onto the bed with her. I kept telling myself it was false, it was a lie, but I couldn’t bring myself to back away.

I looked at her more closely and felt my mind fracturing all over again as I tried to come up with ways to explain away her treachery. Memories grew hazy, and I had to struggle to remember why I hated her. Why I wanted her to suffer so badly. I should be protecting her, shouldn’t I? The female was delicate, unprotected, and she was mine.

Yes, mine.

We were both naked, and the heat of her skin was fierce, drawing me closer. She writhed restlessly again. Was she sick? Did she have a temperature? I pressed my hand to her forehead. She was burning up.

I slid my hand down the side of her face, over her shoulder, the back of my hand brushing the side of her breast, and down over her small waist. I leaned in again and pressed my nose to the skin beside her belly button, nuzzling the softness.

Another moan escaped her lips, and she squirmed. I looked up at her face, but her eyes were still closed, and when I breathed in again, the scent of her cunt hit me.

Another groan escaped. I wanted to fucking rub against her, cover her in my scent, have hers all over me—

Someone banged on the door. I jolted, snapping out of my haze.

With a growl, I sprang off the bed and backed up several steps. What the fuck was I doing? The twisted enchantress on my bed had crawled into my head, and I was losing more control with every minute that passed.

Fury and hatred roared through me, and I was torn between choking her and climbing back on that bed, shaking her awake, and taking her the way she was tempting me to.

She moved restlessly again. Her face was darker, sweaty. Fevered.

I stalked away, snatched up a pair of jeans, and pulled them on, watching her the whole time. Even unconscious, she was spinning her foul magic around me.

The door opened before I could get to it, and Ebony walked back in with the dog. Her gaze darted between me and the bed.

“Watch the witch while I get Marisol.” Our healer. Selene needed to pay for her crimes, and I wasn’t letting her die of whatever it was that afflicted her now, not until she admitted who she was and what she’d done to us.

I ushered Ebs back out. “You stay out of the room. Watch from the door and if she wakes, lock her in, and come find me,” I said to Ebony.

“You got it, alpha.”

I tried to resist, but I turned back to her before I walked out. My wolf growled and struggled, trying to make me stay. I felt tethered to her, and I fucking hated it.

I’d spent over three hundred years tethered to one small patch of forest and I would kill us both before I allowed myself to suffer that again, especially if it was her I was tied to.