Oh, my sweet little bunny.
I hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut. That works with monsters, right? If I can’t see them... they can’t see me?
Two.
Where is he? I don’t hear anything but the sound of my own blood rushing in my ears.
One and a half.
“Fuck!” I whisper under my breath.
One.
Every sound in the forest stops. The wind dies. The birds go silent. I cover my mouth with both hands, trying to stifle the sound of my panting.
Seconds tick by, but nothing happens. A small, hysterical spark of hope spreads through my chest—maybe I actually outran him. Maybe he wasn’t as close as I thought?—
Something huge wraps around my ankle. Before I can even scream, I’m yanked backward from the hollow, my body sliding over the slick, frozen ground. Snow fills my mouth before I’m flipped like a rag doll.
I gasp, blinking the slush from my lashes.
Rhûven looms over me, a mountain of black fur and rippling muscle. His eyes are blazing, locked onto mine with terrifying focus. His fangs are bared in a feral grin, and his paws are planted deep in the snow on either side of my head, boxing me in.
That’s when I notice the new streak of pure white fur running down the center of his chest. It’s the perfect inverse of the black mating mark on his other form, stark and beautiful, like frost painted over midnight.
Kaelor’nes... his voice rumbles through my mind. (Caught you.)
I’m still breathless, my heart racing in my chest, the cold snow melting against my flushed skin. A slow, wicked smirk spreads across my face.
Took you long enough.
His eyes narrow.Long enough? I gave you thirty seconds, thal’morin.
And I still almost got away.
A low growl shakes his chest, vibrating through my own.Almost?
I wasn’t even really trying very hard,I lie.
Weren’t you?One of his paws lifts from the snow and settles impossibly lightly over my heart.
Your pulse says otherwise,he purrs in my mind.
Fine. You caught me. I reach up, sinking my fingers into the coarse fur at his neck.But you had to go full beast mode to do it... What’s the matter, Andrik? Feeling insecure.
The laugh that fills my head is one of absolute, dark delight. It would terrify me if it didn’t turn me on so much.
Oh, bunny. His weight settles over me fully, pinning me to the soft drift of snow. The white fur inches from my face, smelling of cinnamon and winter.
You really want to keep pushing me right now?
I look up into those burning blue eyes, my fingers tightening in his fur. I tug him closer until his muzzle is flush against the tip of my nose.Maybe I do.
His tail winds around my throat.
Careful, vira’sûn,he warns, his teeth grazing my jaw.If you keep calling to the beast, eventually he’s going to stop listening to the man.
What are you going to do about it?
