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Hand pressed to the ache in my side, I kept moving, putting one foot in front of the other. I knew he was behind me.Chasingme. Toying with me, because I’d seen how fast he moved when fighting the bear.
“I told you not to run,omega.”
His voice sent another shiver down my spine, ending with a cramp that made slick splatter the ground beneath me in an embarrassing display. The clearing around the cabin was so close, yet my steps slowed. Heart in my throat, I heaved in air that was filled with his scent.
The monster approached me from behind until the heat of him burned my back, stopping my feet in their tracks.
“Never run from a predator, little rabbit. It makes youprey.”
He breathed the last word against my neck. Eyes clenching shut, I trembled, waiting, but not sure what for.
Something soft brushed against my arm, but I stood frozen, incapable of even flinching away from the touch. The monster’s steps were silent, but I knew he circled me. His chestnut gaze had been alive with more intelligence than any story had given monsters credit for, and I imagined them raking along my body as his flared nostrils scent me.
Something hard and smooth touched my cheek, and images of deadly claws flashed through my mind. The monster’s had been just as wicked as the bear’s, but my traitorous body remained where it was, perfuming the air with pheromones he couldn’t miss, as if this was the greatest form of seduction.
The back of his claws stroked along my jaw before the tips trailed down my neck, my pulse beating against them until they reached where it joined with my shoulder.
Where the scar from Nearden’s bite still dimpled my flesh.
“You carry a mark, yet you wander alone, and your scent is wrong. Where is your mate?”
His words held none of the warmth they’d had before, turning hard enough to make my insides quiver. I swallowed, throat working before I could force myself to speak.
“Dead.”
A pang stabbed my fluttering heart, but it was the truth. Nearden was dead and gone, and I had yet to mate with Edar. I was an unclaimed, foolish, omega, roaming alone.
The monster hummed, knuckles brushing up the front of my throat to tip my head back. Were my eyes open, I’d be staring up into his, but I kept them clenched shut.
“Were you looking for death then, little omega? To follow your mate?”
His voice had lost its chilly edge, sounding almost… sad for me.
I parted my lips to answer, but hesitated, the question replaying in my head. I knew wandering the forest alone was dangerous, and I’d never felt the urge to take a walk on my own before. Yet today, on the cusp of my heat and a day away from being bonded by another alpha, I’d felt the undeniable need to stroll through the trees.
But I wasn’t ready to die, so what had called me to the dim, overgrown path I’d followed?
“No,” I breathed. “I was trying… to escape.”
A weight lifted from my chest.
I’d fooled myself into thinking I would be okay with Edar. That despite the aversion I’d felt in his presence, I could grow to be content. That there was no way my brother would trade me to an abusive alpha, despite the whispers I’d heard in the village. I knew taking on my care had cost him, but notthatmuch.
My eyelids lifted of their own accord, and the monster’s visage filled my view.
Greying muzzle, blunter than the bear’s, but filled with teeth just as sharp.
Horns brushing back from his forehead to curl over pointed ears, their tips aimed forward.
Intelligent, beautiful eyes, filled with a hunger I’d never seen, even from my lost mate.
“You saved me.”
His cheek twitched at my whisper, his hot breath gusting over my face.
“Only to take you for myself.”
His words brought another cramp that had slick running down my legs. Despite his appearance, my body responded to an alpha the way it was meant to, preparing for invasion.
