Page 77 of Prey

“I don’t—I can’t?—”

“Yes, you can.” His hand slides under me, fingers working my clit while he fucks me into the mattress. “Let go, Jenna. Give me everything.”

The pressure builds to breaking point. When it snaps, liquid heat gushes from me, soaking the sheets and his cock as I screaminto the pillow. My whole body shudders, every nerve firing at once while he continues thrusting through my release.

He comes with a harsh groan, buried so deep I can feel him pulse against my cervix. We collapse together, both shaking, both struggling to breathe.

After a long moment, he pulls out enough to turn me in his arms so I’m facing him before pushing back in. I’m boneless, wrung out, barely coherent. He studies my face with those predatory blue eyes.

“Next time I think I’ll put it in your ass,” he says conversationally. “Maybe then you’ll sleep better.”

The words are like ice water. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” That vicious smile curves his lips. “You’d fight it at first, but we both know how that would end, don’t we?”

My core clenches involuntarily at the thought—the invasion, the claiming, the complete helplessness of being taken somewhere I’ve never been fucked. I’m mortified by my reaction, by the fresh wave of arousal his threat generates.

He sees it. “I think you’d like it,” he murmurs, pressing a surprisingly gentle kiss to my forehead. “Another piece of you that I can claim, one more layer to unravel, one more depraved layer that reaffirms just how completely I own you.”

He settles me against his chest, his cock softening but still inside me. Still ensuring I can’t forget who I belong to, even in sleep.

“Rest now,” he says, like he’s giving me permission. “Tomorrow’s hunt starts at dawn. Four-hour head start this time, and I’ll give you weapons.”

“Four hours.” I arch a brow. “Like the two you promised last time? You came for me in ninety minutes.”

Something flickers across his face—caught, and not sorry about it. “I got impatient.”

“So how do I know you’ll give me four tomorrow?”

“Because a short hunt bores me.” His thumb traces my jaw, the gesture at odds with the predator underneath. “Last time I couldn’t wait. This time I want you to make me work for it. Cutting your head start just ruins my own game—and I don’t ruin my own games.”

“That’s not exactly a promise.”

“It’s better than one. It’s the truth.” His eyes hold mine. “Four hours, Jenna. Run hard. Make me earn it.”

Despite everything, my pulse quickens. The promise of a real challenge, of making him work to catch me. Of earning the claiming that will follow.

I’m not surviving captivity anymore. I’m participating in my own conditioning, and the realization should terrify me.

But as exhaustion finally pulls me under, all I can think about is how I’m going to make tomorrow’s hunt count.

28

NIKOLAI

Iwake at five-thirty to Jenna’s steady breathing against my chest, her body pliant in sleep. The morning air carries the scent of pine through the compound’s windows—crisp, clean, nothing like the stale, recycled air of Chicago.

Moving carefully, I extract myself from beneath her, noting how her body is instinctively drawn to the warmth mine left behind, curling up there with an almost imperceptible whimper. Even unconscious, her body seeks mine.

The bedroom door locks automatically behind me as I head to the surveillance room. My cock is already stirring as I pull up yesterday’s footage from the hunting blind, fast-forwarding to the moment I caught her against the oak tree. The camera angle captures everything—her face when I pinned her, the exact second her defiance cracked, the way she arched into me when I tore away her clothes.

I free myself from my boxers, stroking slowly as I watch. The way she begged for my cum. How her body shook when she came on my cock while I promised to breed her.

My phone buzzes. The caller ID shows Ezra, but when I answer, multiple voices spill through the speaker.

“Morning, sunshine,” Darius chirps. “How’s life in the wilderness with your pet?”

“She’s responding perfectly.” I don’t bother pausing the video or tucking myself away. They can hear what they hear. “Ran for ninety minutes before I caught her. Fought me the whole way down, came four times while I fucked her against a tree.”