I lay there grinning in the dark like a lunatic.
We needed to get the wolf on our side.
Chapter 29
Blaidd
She was swift.
I tracked her movements through the binoculars, deliberately ignoring Fenrir’s restless excitement.
Every so often, the hair along her spine bristled, lifting her frame and making her appear larger—more dangerous—than her actual size. Her coat was a complex blend of colour: pale ash threaded through deeper charcoal stripes, the pattern breaking and reforming as she moved. Nothing uniform. Nothing soft.
Her face was what caught me off guard.
She had a striking structure—strong cheekbones, a narrow, intelligent muzzle, the planes of her skull clean and defined. The two-toned fur framing her face sharpened her features rather than hiding them, drawing the eye straight to her dark, watchful eyes. There was nothing feral or sloppy about her. She looked… deliberate.
When I’d heard her growling earlier that morning, I’d braced myself for an attack. Instead, she’d sprinted around the house like a lunatic—circling, vanishing, reappearing—before disappearing entirely.
The attic gave me the clearest vantage point across most of the island. The two wooded sections remained blind spots.
She looks like a mangy dog, I muttered, tightening my jaw when Fenrir bristled.
His loyalty should be with me.
A bitch, I added—baiting him.
At least learn your species before you insult her, he snapped, before clamping down again.
I lifted the binoculars once more.
She still looked like a bitch to me.
A disrespectful one who’d forgotten her place.
???
I tapped my fingers on the table. The more I read about hyenas and the folklore surrounding were-hyenas, the more I realised this wasn’t as simple as I’d thought.
First—she wasn’t canine. Not a wolf. Not a dog.
And second—female hyenas ruled their species. Males submitted.
“Good job picking someone like her to bond with,” I sneered at Fenrir.
Why would I want someone weak?he mused.
It was true—but her attitude toward me since her heat had been nothing short of contemptuous. I’d done things for her I’d never done with any female before.
My cheeks burned at the thought.
Fenrir chortled.You did me proud.
“Fuck off,” I snapped, slapping the laptop shut.
I was Blaidd Prothero, and I wasn't anyone's gigolo.
There had to be a way for her to submit to me. I reached for the pack of cigarettes, lighting one and blowing the smoke across my desk.
