Her eyes lit with determination, and she donned a deadly grin. With that, she leaned in and pressed the cigarette’s burning tip to my chest. “Thenbiteme.”
THIRTEEN
RUTH
Iwas drunk on a dangerous cocktail of this male’s spicy scent, heat pheromones, and the instinctual urge to survive.
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t the guy who’d ripped Hope apart. He still tried to kill me.
He could pretend it was all to avenge his brother, but there was still an instinctual part of him that wanted me dead. Wolves ate bunny rabbits, simple as that.
Evenifhis wolf chose me as his true mate, you couldn’t ignore the natural order of things. He told me I was free to go, but the second I fled, I didn’t trust him not to chase after me.
Then, there was the rest of his pack to worry about.
My heat pheromones put a target on my back.
If I could survive his claim, the urge to protect his mate would be stronger than his need to kill me. Then my heat would end, and his scent would cover my own.
Being the bonded mate to a murderous werewolf didn’t sound like the world’s smartest idea, but hey, it probably beat being dead.Let’s hope, anyway.
I kept my expression sultry and my eyes full of challenge, daring his wolf to come out and play.
The scent of burnt flesh rose through the air, tangling with the smoke.
I’d expected his wolf to come exploding out when I’d burned his chest with his cigarette. But no, the male calmly plucked the cigarette butt from my fingertips and placed it in the ashtray on his dresser. Then he turned back, reaching for me.
I braced for him to hit me—to punish me for burning him. Instead, his palm brushed my cheek. He was hot, like a furnace. His thumb gently teased my septum piercing before sliding his hand back, his fingers tangling in my hair.
Jerking me toward him, the heat of his bare chest bled into my shirt, which was the only barrier between us. He angled my head back, forcing our eyes to meet.
“Foolish bunny. So eager to force my wolf out.” His low chuckle scraped over my skin like sandpaper. “So eager for the beast to break you from the inside.”
Fire ignited in my belly. “Your wolf won’t hurt me. Not if it thinks I’m his mate.”
The male arched his silver brows. “You so sure of that?”
No, I wasn’t. But I couldn’t let him know I was terrified out of my ever-loving mind. This was the best plan I had. It had to work. “Female bunny shifters are meant to be fucked hard and often.”
“Sure. But they aren’t built to take a cock half their size.”
By his smirk, my eyes were probably fit to pop out of my head. “It can’t be that big.”
“Too big for your little cunt. You need to be trained to take me.”
“I can take whatever you give me.”
“I look forward to watching you try.” He arched to kiss me, his lips searing against mine like a brand. I gasped against theshock of warmth, and in that same instant, my lips parted, allowing his tongue to thrust inside.
The acrid taste of tobacco was the first flavor to hit my tongue, followed by sweet whiskey and something else that was uniquely him. Smokey. Masculine. Angry. Like lust and damnation.
All in one electrifying kiss.
I didn’t have a voice in my head like he did, but that animalistic urge was there, telling me to get closer.
My pussy was so soaked. I yelped in surprise when his free hand wedged between my thighs, his finger skimming up my inner leg to collect the arousal dripping down my flesh. He pulled back, popping the finger in his mouth to taste me.
His eyes darkened, and the tendons in his neck pulled tight as if his wolf was clawing at him from the inside, desperate to get out.
