The wolf exploded towards Hella, his golden eyes holding a feral light and his fangs enormous as he snarled at her. She stumbled backwards, hitting the low bookcase again, her heart shooting into her mouth. The chains snapped tight and he grunted as the momentum yanked him backwards, away from her. He turned on them with a savage growl, desperately attacking them, and she fought to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.
The ground beneath her shook with each violent lunge of his body as he battled the chains, his muscles bunching beneath his dark grey Henley, bulging with each fierce tug he made. The edges of the metal cuffs bit into his wrists, spilling his blood down his hands and all over the floor.
Hella stared at it as it splattered across the floorboards, her mind full of his grunts and growls, the desperate sounds tearing at her together with the sight of so much blood.
“Stop!” She jerked towards him, her hands flying up, desperation flooding her now.
He turned on her with a vicious snarl that peeled his lips off his fangs, his expression savage as he lunged for her again. She reared back, fear sweeping through her as he turned his wrath on her for a moment before he returned to fighting his bonds.
“Calm down,” she murmured, hoping the soft tone would soothe him, even when something inside her called her stupid. There was no calming this wolf down. She had set fire to his rage, ignited this wild and dangerous side of him, and he was the one paying for it. Blood rolled down the chains as he heaved backwards, straining to break the chains, and she shook her head and whispered, “Stop. You’re hurting yourself.”
Mother earth, if she had known he would react this way to being chained, she never would have done it. Her stomach churned as she slowly approached him, fearing the moment he noticed her closing the distance between them, aware he would turn his rage on her again and this time she was close enough that he might actually strike her.
“Calm down.” She held her hands up, feeling sick as he didn’t let up, his violent attempts to break free shaking the ground beneath her feet. When he turned his claws on himself, shredding his top and catching his skin beneath it as he ripped it from him, panic and guilt had her lurching a step towards him again. “If you calm down, I’ll—”
She had wanted to say she would release him, but he twisted and launched at her, and she staggered backwards, narrowly avoiding his claws as they slashed through the air in her direction. She fell, landing on her backside, and stared up at him, her breaths coming so rapidly that she felt dizzy.
The wolf breathed faster too, the crazed look in his eyes relaying his panic as it mounted.
“Just calm down. Breathe.” She didn’t dare stand up, not while he was glaring down at her, liable to strike her if she moved. “Like this.”
She fought to breathe calmly and evenly, denying her need to keep on panting for air, battling the panic that closed her throat. For a moment, she thought it was working and his breathing was growing more even, and then he twisted and snarled, wrapped the chains around his hands and pulled on them, every muscle in his body straining with effort.
Calming him down before releasing him wasn’t going to work. She could see that now. Something about being chained had triggered this reaction, and that revelation only made her feel worse. This wolf had done nothing wrong. He had saved her in the river, preventing her from drowning, and she had repaid him by tricking him into lowering his guard so she could chain him.
And why?
Because he had declared she was his one true mate?
She felt like a fool, was sure she should be stronger than this, but something about that scared her. Too many men had suddenly decided she belonged to them, were trying to strip her freedom from her. It had rattled her and she had reacted badly, stealing his freedom instead.
She should have considered the consequences of her actions.
The wolf breathed faster, his panic a palpable thing now, sucking the air from her lungs as guilt rushed through her. He attacked his cuffs, clawing at them and cutting himself in the process, and she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Hold still.” She summoned the counter-spell that would remove the shackles, quickly working through the incantation in her mind.
But not quickly enough.
The wolf cast her a bleak, wounded look and then staggered and dropped hard.
And passed out on her floor.
The shackles disappeared, exposing the damage he had done to his wrists, the deep lacerations that continued to spill blood on the wooden floorboards.
Her eyes widened as he shifted, transforming into a large black wolf, but it wasn’t the sight of him changing that shocked her.
It was the scars that littered his body, cutting through his fur. The long pink streaks arched over his back, all of them heading in different directions, and a few cut over his muzzle too.
Hella had the dreadful feeling he had been whipped.
Held captive and abused.
Cold stole through her, her guilt weighing her down now to have her falling to her knees beside him. She hadn’t known. She reached a trembling hand out to his face, aching inside as she took in all his scars and replayed how he had reacted to being chained. The pain of his memories had to be severe, the things he had suffered during his captivity horrible enough that just the thought of being chained had sent him off the deep end, turning him wild with a need to escape his bonds.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her heart going out to him as he panted, his breaths still too fast for her liking.
She had caused this, but perhaps she could do something that might go some way towards making amends. She reluctantly pushed to her feet and went to her bag, hefted it onto the counter and rifled through it. She pulled out all the ingredients she needed and an empty flask, and set to work, mixing just the right amounts to make the potion.
A tonic to calm his turbulent mind and help him rest and recover.
And it didn’t hurt that it would keep him asleep while she decided what to do.
She swirled the liquid in the flask, watching the powders and fine herbs melting into it as it changed colour, going from green to red to violet. When it turned inky blue and specks like silver stars emerged in it, twinkling at her as the liquid shifted, she decanted a dose into a smaller bottle.
Hella took it to the wolf and sank to her knees again, not hesitating to touch him this time. She carefully lifted his big head, marvelling at how soft his fur was, and angled it onto her bare knees. His rapid breaths shifted the skirt of her dress, pushing it up higher to expose more skin, as if even in sleep he was trying to make a move on her.
She poured the tonic into his mouth, spilling some on her thighs. Apparently, it wasn’t easy pouring liquid into the mouth of a wolf. The gap between his teeth was too large and she couldn’t angle his head any better than she already had. All she could do was continue and hope that he drank enough of the potion for it to be effective.
When the bottle was empty, she set it down beside her and watched him. She brushed her fingers through his thick fur, the feel of it mesmerising her, and stroked his ears. He slowly calmed, his breathing becoming more even, and she wasn’t sure whether it was because her tonic was working or because she was petting him.
Hella bit the pad of her thumb as she gazed down at him.
She wasn’t sure what to do with him.
But a few things kept popping into her head.
That kiss had been toe-curling after all.
Again, she almost hadn’t done as she had planned. This wolf had a bad habit of making her do that, and part of her felt that was dangerous. The rest of her had enjoyed the kiss far too much, had been swept up in the moment and had almost fallen under his spell.
She carefully stroked her palm across his cheek, feeling as if she was on a precipice and no matter what she did, she was in for a painful fall. Her fingers drifted to his muzzle and she traced one of the scars as she murmured.
“What shall I do with you?”