Page 33 of The Wolf's Captive

I couldn’t quite understand the emotions that swirled inside me. I was used to not being accepted by the witches, even before I’d been scratched by Malone. But that longing for others to see me for who I was had never gone away. Maybe that was why I preferred being around the pack. As hard as it was for them to allow me into their lives, they were slowly beginning to get used to me being around.

“Here we are,” Heather announced as we slipped through a door marked Private. “No one else can access this part of the building.”

Nodding, I kept quiet as Heather approached a plain looking door. Waving her hand in front of it, she recited a spell and pushed it open.

As we entered a hallway, I frowned, a little afraid of what I might find. Were the witches being locked up against their will? Were they unable to leave at all?

Frederick appeared, a smile coming to his face when he saw me. “Thank fuck you’re here,” he said, “I knew you’d come.”

Before I could reply, he pushed past Heather and grabbed me in a hug.

Malone had to let go of my hand to avoid having his arm snapped off. The desperation of Fredrick’s embrace told me more than his words ever could.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears popping into my eyes.

If I had gone to Kieran in the first place, he never would’ve kidnapped the other witches. I had no idea how he’d managed to grab Fredrick, who was the only witch not in the Brighton Coven, but the bastard had to pay.

“Girl, it’s not your fault!” Fredrick stepped back and offered his hand to Malone. “You must be the werewolf who turned her into a hybrid. I’m Freddy.”

Malone’s jaw clenched tight, the low growl in his throat barely audible to the other witches. My hearing picked up on it, though. Apparently, the jealously was still a thing with Fredrick. Shit, I hadn’t even thought that it was possible.

“I’m her mate, yes,” Malone said, not comprehending that the term wouldn’t mean much to Fredrick.

“Della?” someone called from inside the living room.

Three other witches appeared, stopping in the doorway. They stared at me, one a little shy, the others coming forward and standing right in front of me.

“We persuaded Heather to find you,” one of them said, her young pretty eyes misting over. “We knew that you would help us.”

Choking back the tears that threatened, I nodded and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I was gone for so long, I didn’t think you’d want to see me. I’m banished still, and I just thought…”

“Girl, you’re the reason we’re here –”

Fredrick was cut off by Malone’s thick hand reaching out and gripping his shirt. I grabbed hold of the alpha and tugged, failing to get him off the warlock.

“– I was going to say, that we don’t care,” Fredrick squeaked. “We’re all in this together.”

Releasing him as quickly as he’d seized him, Malone grunted an apology. Fredrick shook his head, smiling gently. Looking at the other witches, he chuckled. “Remind me not to piss off the wolf again. I’m glad we’ve got you on our side, friend.”

Malone’s shoulders relaxed and the corner of his lip lifted into his cheek. “Killing Kieran and the wolves who did this is my number one goal.”

“Is it?” I blurted, raising my eyebrows at him.

“And taking care of you,” he said with a growl. “Obviously.”

“I hate feeling that werewolf energy under my skin.” One of the girl’s rubbed her arms roughly. “How do we know we can trust you?”

Her glare was aimed at Malone, her small frame shuddering when he met her gaze. It wasn’t unusual for other women to stare at my man, but it wasn’t usually out of fear.

“Let’s go through,” Heather interrupted, “and sit down.”

Everyone filed back into the living room with Malone and I bringing up the rear. I clutched his hand, hoping that the encouraging squeeze would help soothe his fractured nerves. He was the only werewolf in a room full of witches who had been betrayed in the worse possible way, by his kind. It could get ugly.

As everyone sat, I lowered myself in a chair, indicating that Malone sit in another one nearby. I didn’t want to push him onto the witches, it wouldn’t be fair. He was there to support me, but I hadn’t even considered that he might intimidate the others.

“I’m sorry,” I said, holding my hands out, palms up. “I’ve caused this coven a lot of grief in recent months. I understand if you hate me, I really do. However, we’re in this together now. No witch or warlock has ever gone through this before. We’re the first of a kind, and we need to make sure that no one goes through it again.”

“How do we do that?” the most timid of the group asked quietly.