A small, dark-haired, curvy female. She’s standing in the doorway of a room, hands raised, palms out. Her eyes are wide and wet but she’s not running.
Mine.
The word rises up from somewhere deep, somewhere the chemicals can’t touch. This female is mine. I know her. I... “Anna,” I growl. The name feels strange on my tongue, like I’m speaking through water.
“Yes.” She takes a slow step toward me. “It’s me. It’s Anna. You know me.”
I do know her. But the rage won’t let go. The hormones scream in my blood. My body is caught in a loop it can’t escape.
Danger here. Must leave. Must take mate somewhere safe.
“We have to go,” I rasp. “I must keep you safe.”
“Okay.” Another step closer. “Okay, Keric. We can go. But you need to?—”
I don’t let her finish.
I close the distance between us and grab her—not gentle, not controlled, pure instinct. She gasps as I lift her, throwing her over my shoulder like she weighs nothing.
“Keric, wait?—”
But I can’t wait. The only thought left in my broken brain issafeand ‘safe’ is not here. Safe is away on high ground, in the cave I found years ago while hunting, hidden in the mountains where no one will find us.
I run.
The forest blurs past me.
Anna screams at first, struggling against my grip, but I barely register the movement. My legs pump beneath me, carrying us higher into the mountains, away from the commune, away from the blood and death I left behind.
At some point she stops fighting.
“Okay,” she says, her voice shaky but calm. “Okay, Keric. I’m not going to fight you. Just... just don’t drop me.”
I would never drop her. Instead, I do my best to keep her comfortable during my race through the forest. The rational part of my brain tries to surface, tries to tell me this is wrong, I’m scaring her, I need to stop and explain. But the feral part shoves it back down. The feral part knows only one thing.
Protect the mate. Get her to safety. Kill anything that follows.
I run for miles. The terrain grows steeper, rockier. Anna’s weight is nothing. I could carry her forever.
Finally, I smell what I’m looking for, the damp mineral scent of stone, the musty emptiness of enclosed space.
The cave.
I duck inside, adjusting Anna’s position so I don’t scrape her against the low ceiling. The darkness swallows us whole. I keep going, deeper through the rocky walls, until we reach the back chamber where the ceiling opens and a shaft of light filters down from a crack far above.
Only then do I set her down.
Anna stumbles when her feet touch stone, catching herself against the cave wall. She’s breathing hard, her face flushed, my flannel shirt torn at the shoulder from where I grabbed her.
She stares at me with huge eyes.
I stare back, chest heaving, trying to remember how to form words.
Safe now. Mate is safe.
“Keric?” Her voice is barely a whisper.
I can’t answer. The feral instinct is still too strong, riding me hard. All I can do is pace the entrance to the chamber, blocking any approach with my body. Protecting what’s mine.
