Page 66 of Hungry Like the Wolf

“Don’t tell anyone I’m a secret softie,” he’d once said.

Several hundred years before, he’d been banished to Earth for a time. He’d taken up with a woman there. Nadja didn’t know much about her other than the fact that Halphas had loved her. But when he’d been recalled back to Hell, he’d left Marjorie and had been a surly prick for centuries after. He once told Nadja that he’d only ever loved two creatures—Marjorie and her.

Nadja had missed him when he’d been banished, and she’d missed him during her own exile. Sixty-five years was a long time on Earth, a full lifetime for some, though it undoubtably had felt like a blink of an eye to him. But he was here, and she was so happy to see him. Except?—

“I don’t want to go back,” she blurted against his neck.

He released his hold on her and she slid down to the floor. Halphas rested his hands on her shoulders and bent his knees to better look into her eyes.

“I’m sorry. My ears must not have fully popped yet after the trip here. Because it sounded to me like you just said you don’t want to go back.”

“I don’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, suddenly cold.

“But you have everything in Hell! Don’t tell me it’s been easy for you here. I know feeding must be hell for you. No dream-walking? Be serious, Nadja.”

It had been hell. For decades, feeding had been a punishment worse than anything. But not anymore. She remembered the night before, when Robbie had come home from shutting down the kitchen, scooped her off the couch, plunked her onto the kitchen table, pulled up a chair, and licked her until she screamed so loud she was certain someone would come check to make sure she wasn’t in danger. She’d been so full, so fed, for the last week that she had almost forgotten what being empty and starving felt like.

“Hellooo,” Halphas said, snapping a finger and bringing her back to the present.

“Sorry,” she said, knowing her blush was bright and obvious. “I don’t want to go back. I like it here. I like helping people.”

“Helping people,” Halphas repeated with a sad smile. “You always were a shitty demon.”

“I know,” she said, smiling through her tears. “I am a shitty demon. I don’t have the stomach for any of it. I never have. And here, I’ve got…” she trailed off, because where could she even begin?

“A boyfriend?” Halphas waggled his eyebrows. “Some delectable little morsel that you don’t mind dining on?”

“It’s not like that,” Nadja protested.

“I smell him on you,” Halphas said. “Don’t get me wrong, he smells damn good on you. But what’s the plan?”

The plan. What was the plan? If anyone else had asked her twenty minutes ago, she would have said that her plan was to let Robbie bite her and then ride him like Secretariat until sunrise. They’d figure the rest out as they went.

But now, with Halphas, she doubted herself. Again.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen here,” she said. “But I don’t want to go back.”

“He’s a wolf.”

Nadja rolled her eyes. “I know that. I’m the one who smelled it on him first and brought him here so he didn’t go feral in a grocery store.”

“Are you his mate?”

“I—” She didn’t know how to answer that. She was his fake mate. But after tonight, she wouldn’t be fake anymore. It wouldn’t be a mating of convenience. It would be a mating. Period.

“What do you know about wolf mates?” Halphas asked, dropping back onto the couch.

Nadja groaned. “I know what they’ve told me,” she said.

“They’re fated.”

“Not always,” she protested.

“So are you his fated mate?”

She didn’t answer. Her stomach roiled.

“I don’t know.”