“W–what?”
“You heard me.” My lips curled into a cruel smirk. “Strip.”
A delicious blush seared her cheeks, and a sweet feminine aroma bled from her thighs.
The wolf inside me growled, the sound coming out strangled and not my own.
Her scent intensified, making my hunger spike. My cock thickened in my jeans as I watched her squirm.
The venom in her look could kill a man. “I don’t know what twisted game you’re trying to play, but you can go fuck yourself.”
“I’m not going to touch you,” I assured her, though I wasn’t sure I could keep my promise. Unlike the rest of my pack, my wolf was barely present, so I didn’t need bunny blood to control it. But now it was hungry, ready to burst to the surface any moment. It never ripped control from my hands before. Maybe that was because it never had a reason to... Until now.
This girl had me second-guessing everything I thought I knew about the monster inside me.
“Why do you want my clothes?”
“Protocol for the sacrifices,” I lied.
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll freeze in your naked human form, and it will force you to shift. You’re faster in your wild shape, giving us wolves more of a challenge. Plus, we won’t have to cut you out of your clothes to eat you.”
An involuntary gasp left her lips. “That’s evil.”
I gave a dark chuckle. “No, Little Bunny. That’s nature. Wolves have eaten bunnies for as long as they’ve been around.”
I held up a finger, enjoying how her eyes shot wide as my nail extended into a vicious claw. I hooked it into the zipper of her jacket and slowly tugged it open.
She moved so fast I could barely track her hand as it shoved into her pocket and brandished a knife. The blade flashed as she slammed it toward my heart. I caught her wrist just as the tip punctured my flesh.
There was a prick of pain—but the pleasure that followed drowned out the discomfort. My wolf liked watching this bold female try to go toe-to-toe with me. Everything about her seemed to lure my wolf closer to the surface. This discovery encouraged me to double down on my plan to tease and torment her.
The girl winced as my fingers tightened around her wrist, and I jerked on her arm to pluck the blade from my chest, grinning at the sight of my blood streaking down the blade.
“Looks like our little bunny has claws.”
Lars wouldn’t like it if he knew I was toying with one of the sacrifices before the Hunt. But I didn’t give a shit. She was the best shot at getting my wolf to speak to me.
“What’s your name, Stabby Little Rabbit?”
She swallowed hard. “Ruth… It’s Ruth.”
I grinned. “Is that short for ruthless?”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “Do wolves always play with their food?”
“Not always. But my meals are never as interesting as you.” I released my hold on her wrist while wrenching the knife from her fingers. I pointed the blade at her, the knife’s point scraping the hollow of her throat.
My cock ached at the way some of my blood smeared her flesh. She looked so pretty covered in me.
“Let’s make this interesting,” I hummed. “You’re going to run… And I’m going to catch you. Neither of us will shift. We’llsave that for the Hunt. If I catch you, I’ll cut you out of your clothes myself. Deal?”
Ruth said nothing. Instead, she took off running.
I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face as I watched her bolt into the dark, hanging back a moment to give her a head start.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
