A smirk spreads across my face as I arch my back. The thrill of the chase hits every nerve in my body. With a loud roar, I launch after her.
I let her run. She needs to tire before I pounce.
As I leap over a fallen log, my hard cock strikes the wood, and I hiss at the sting. The brief pain sharpens my focus, my energy spikes in response, and I push myself to run faster.
There’s no hiding my presence now. My heavy thuds reverberate through the forest, my growls loud and feral.
But she doesn’t look back. Not once.
She doesn’t look at me.
Iwanther to look at me.
She veers in another direction, but I pull up short, cutting a corner and moving straight toward her. I lower myself, lunge. My body hurtles through the air.
With a scream, a laugh, and a pounding heart, my mate falls to her side beneath me. Her chest heaves.
I roll her over to face me, positioning her thighs to straddle my hips. Her skin glows under the moonlight, flushed red.
My cock presses against the fabric over her belly. Lowering my snout to her, I growl, “You ran.”
“I . . . did . . .” she murmurs on heavy exhales.
I trace my tongue along her chest, up to her face, then back again. Her sweat against my tongue is sweet and salty. Delicious.
My cock rises and falls with her every breath.
I must find release.
My mate furrows her brows as I glide my paw along her calf, lifting her leg.
“You look angry,” she says as her hands rest against the forest floor.
Even now, she sees through me. I can’t hide anything from her. Not even like this.
My precum dampens her gown, smearing across her belly. The sight only stokes the need inside me. “Let’s take this off.”
“First,” she says firmly, “you tell me what’s troubling you.”
Her scent clouds my mind. She’s aroused—I can smell it—but she asked, and I must answer.
“Orïon had centuries with his parents.” My voice is strained as a growl rumbles in my chest. “He knew their voices, their scents. And what did I have?” My claws dig into the earth beside her. “Ashes. Ashes and silence.”
She watches me, her eyes soft. “Orïon? The black-coated vólkin?”
Hearing his name on her lips sends rage through me. I snort, my fangs bared. “Yes.”
“And I had a mother who fought until her last breath to make sure I’d survive,” she says. “I lost her too, Theron. But I’m here. I’m here because of her. And you’re here because of them.”
“I know.” I lift the fabric, revealing her strong, beautiful body. Her thighs are firm, her abs defined, her skin like the moonlight itself. My mate is a goddess.
Propping myself on an elbow beside her, I lean down so close I can see the fire in her wide eyes. “Your nose is small,” I tease, a grin pulling at my mouth.
She grabs my jaw, her fingers pressing down on my tongue and against my lower teeth. “Don’t change the subject,” she warns.
I lift her fingers with my tongue, a low chuckle rumbling in my chest. She’s so fiery. “Now I can speak,” I say, then lick my fingers to wet them before lowering them to her. My paw slides from the curls between her thighs down to where I belong.
She whimpers, and the sound drives my need to its limit, precum spilling from my cock as it lies on her abs.
