Bunny shifters had a reputation for being fervent breeders. The females often went into heat to attract a mate, although they didn’t have things like mates—not the way we did. All that mattered was that they found a male to fill their little wombs and keep their burrows full of kits. Strength in numbers, that’s how they survived.
They went into heat, and often.
I didn’t think it would be anything like this. My mouth salivated. My cock was painfully hard, and I couldn’t resist moving my hips to rub against her thigh. Even the barest friction was sweet relief.
The perfume bleeding from her cunt was more than good. It was a goddamn trap, a lure meant to ensnare me likeIwas the prey animal and not her.
The sheer look of horror on her face told me this wasn’t orchestrated. She was more afraid than anything. The scent of fear was unmistakable underneath the heavy musk of a female in heat.
“Maybe there’s a different way to punish her. She’s so small. She’ll probably break when we give her our knot.”
Liquid fire tore through me at the wolf’s suggestion. I shook my head. No, I knew what it was doing. It didn’t give two bunny fucks about my revenge. It was trying to trick me into letting it out so it could mate and claim her.
“Come on,”the beast crooned like a devil in my ear.“Don’t you want to make her scream?”
Gritting my teeth, I tried to tighten my grip around her throat, but my fingers wouldn’t move.
“I’m not going to let you kill her.”
Fucking traitor. If I was going to make this bunny pay, I had to stay one step in front of the wolf.
Distant howls shook the night beyond my bedroom window.
That was it. My wolf might prevent me from ripping her throat open, but my pack mates wouldn’t have that problem. Sending Ruth back into the woods would be her death sentence.
“No! They’ll catch her heat scent before she reaches the road.”
That was the point.
I shoved off the bed with a growl. “Get the fuck out.”
Ruth sat up, rubbing her throat. I averted my eyes. The impression my hands left on her dainty throat did dark things to me.
“Wait. You’re letting me go?”
My gaze drifted back to her. I couldn’t help it.
Nestled there in the center of my huge bed, wearing nothing but my shirt and my brother’s blood with the moon lighting up her hair like a halo, she looked like a dark angel sent straight from Hell.
The moment I laid eyes on her, I was damned.
How could something so small and fragile-looking crawl beneath my skin and hold my entire being captive? I had a heart of ice, and here she was, melting it with that flame in her eyes.
While the other sacrifices flocked to their doom with complacency, she’d smuggled a knife into the woods and tried to cut my heart out.
She’d managed to run away, find my ax, and chop down one of the biggest males in the pack.
Sure, I hated her. But it was damn near impossible not to be impressed at the same time.
Case would’ve been impressed, too. Hell, he probably would’ve thought this whole thing was kind of funny.
“Yeah. I’m letting you go. Leave before I change my mind.” I went to my dresser, where I’d left the bottle of whiskey and knocked back another shot.
Just like that, the atmosphere in the room transformed.
I felt her relax some now that she sensed that I wasn’t going to kill her. But she didn’t run. She remained where she was, nestled in the center of my bed, looking as though she belonged there.
“I can’t leave…”
