I gritted my teeth and clenched my muscles until my nerves were screaming in pain, using every iota of strength to keep my wolf caged inside.
She could see I was struggling with my control, yet she stood there—frozen. A curious cocktail of terror, arousal and anger bled into the air, thick enough to chew. “I?—”
“Fucking go before my beast breaks free and tears your pussy apart!”
This time, she jerked into action.
Dark fur sprang over her milky skin, her body shrinking and hitting the ground with a thud where her jeans were piled on the ground. A breath later, a black bunny with a purple streak of dyealong its body leaped from underneath her clothes heaped on the ground and bounded away into the dark.
I stared after her for a beat before turning my attention to the knife in my hand, where her panties still dangled from the blade.
SEVEN
RUTH
Ishot forward as my rabbit legs dug into the dirt like a spring with every step. My little heart thrummed as my mind spun out of whack, trying to process what in the flaming hell just happened.
Was that male’s wolf telling him to claim me? That would mean… No. It couldn’t be.
Predator shifters had a voice in their head that told them when to eat, when to sleep, when to do anything that catered to their animalistic nature. Sometimes, they’d choose a mate to bond and claim. The phenomenon was known as “fated mates” since some believed a coupling chosen by the beast was some kind of divine intervention.
That shit didn’t happen between prey and predator shifters, especially not with a wolf and a rabbit. It wasn’t natural. It probably wasn’t even possible. A werewolf had to be shifted to give its mark.
He’d towered over me in human form, so I could only imagine how obscenely huge he would be as a fully shifted werewolf.
The size difference was… Impossible.
He’d break me.
A shiver shot down my tiny spine, making my fur stand straight. I didn’t dare look back to see if his wolf had taken over to do what werewolves did best:chase their prey.
In my rabbit form, I could see in the dark, and we hadn’t come all that far, so finding the road should have been easy. But there was something about these woods that twisted my senses and threw my natural sense of direction out of whack.
This land had been owned by the pack for hundreds of years. The trees were tall and ancient. Even the soil felt different, packed with magic and decades’ worth of bunny blood from past sacrifices. It was as if the very trees were against me, doing everything to prevent my escape.
Maybe I’d run into Hope, and we could find a way out together. Sawyer could go fuck himself. I almost hoped he’d get caught and eaten by the wolves. That asshole deserved to be torn apart.
A terrifying howl split the night. Then another, and another. A dozen or so wolves howled, marking the start of the Hunt.
My adrenaline spiked with every passing second that I raced through the dark with no sign of the road or my cousin. I couldn’t scent the wolves, but knew they weren’t far. There was a strange kind of dark and ominous energy in the air, making it buzz.
Then, a scream echoed through the woods. My heart stopped. This wasn’t the howl of a wolf. It was a woman’s.Hope!
I bolted toward the scream, praying that I reached her before the wolves.
As soon as I saw them, I scrambled back into the safety of the underbrush before I could be seen.
Lying in a fetal position on the ground was a completely naked Hope. She was covered in scrapes and cuts, shivering, but not from the cold.
Five wolves surrounded her, although to call them wolves was a stretch.
This was the first time I’d ever seen a shifted werewolf. They were humanoid, hulking creatures covered in dense fur. Their heads were the most wolf-like feature, with thick human-like arms that ended with savage claws and large tooth-filled maws that snarled and snapped at their victim.
In that half-second, they pounced.
She managed another scream before a black wolf lunged at her, grabbing hold of her throat and ripping it open. Hope tore like she was made of tissue paper.
A spray of blood gushed from the gaping hole in her throat.
