It was then that she saw him.
She realized what a terrible choice she’d made in stopping, for the outdoor floodlights faced her, framing her in the spotlight for all the guests still on the veranda, leaving them in shadow for her. The short stranger from the wall had made it back to the front of the group pouring out of the doors, cracking his leather at the sight of her, stiff cock bobbing with his movements. He cackled when he caught sight of her, making for the stairs. To the far left, Vanessa thought she spotted washboard abs stumbling through the doorway, his arm draped over one of the seat-fillers, pausing when he saw her on the lawn, but neither of them held her attention as much as the man already coming down the steps.
The wolf in the center of the stone staircase walked with a confident, unhurried air, the same cocky swagger he had in the courtroom, his soft cock bouncing heavily against his thigh. He was a dark, hulking shadow outlined in the bright floodlights, moving with single-minded precision in a straight line towards her. Were she not the one in pursuit, Vanessa might have appreciated watching his form and the economy of his movements, for the instant his toes curled over the edge of the concrete where the icy grass started, he was lowering in a crouch, his long spine curling, prepared to spring forward in chase. The wolf headdress created a chilling effect as he gathered himself, and her blood thrilled.Run, rabbit. Let’s see how fast you can move.
He was heavy and muscular, but she was light on her feet and nimble, and very, very fast. Vanessa threw herself into a run before his weight could carry him forward with any momentum. There were others on her trail by then, hers and other laughing, shrieking girls as well, leading a stream of pursuing wolves clambering down the steps, the stranger from the wall and washboard abs among them, none holding the advantage of the lone wolf in the lead.
The estate’s expansive lawn streaked by in a black blur as she made for the trees, her feet tapping out a rhythm that ensured she didn’t lose her footing on the wet grass, dodging around the trees and entering the forest as silently as she was able without sacrificing her speed. She heard a crash in the underbrush after only a few yards and hoped it was one of her shadowed pursuers, for if they were that loud and clumsy, she would have no problem outpacing and avoiding them.
The smell of the forest was pungent — black and wet, rising around her, and the wind cut through her stola as she ran. She could hear their loud and clumsy footsteps crashing through the brush, approaching from three different directions, with a growl at her back. Her pulse jumped in her throat, and she leaned into her run, picking up speed to increase the distance.
There were dangers in running this close to the turn. Spontaneous changes had been known to happen, bones shifting and cracking, lengthening beneath a moon this bright and large, snarling wolves all competing for the same thing. The memory of that night, the size of his wolf, the power in which he’d fucked her, his teeth at her throat . . . he was angry with her, but that would pass eventually. They couldn’t turn the clock back on the things they’d done together, and she couldn’t forget, as much as it would have been the easier way to end things.
The forest ringed the estate, and she’d be able to use the tree cover to make her complete circuit. The shallow, slow-running creek on the building’s left side loomed ahead of her, her leap over it as graceful as a ballerina, landing on her toes, never slowing. Her wolf writhed beneath her skin, exultant under the nearly full moon, its bright light cutting through the bare tree branches.
She hadn’t expected the man who came barreling through the trees, growling as if the change were already upon them, tackling her to the ground. She shrieked instinctively, cutting off on a strangled yelp, knowing the damage was done. The wolf was inebriated, and his hands were everywhere — sliding up her legs and groping across her thighs, attempting to push up her skirt. His breath was hot at her neck, the gnash of his teeth scant inches from her skin, and she realized how possible it was that therewouldbe an accidental turn that night.
He had caught her . . . but barely. She had not come out tonight forbarelyand had no intention of being had by a drunkard. It was almost too easy to pull a leg under herself, using his shoulders for leverage as she pulled herself up and away from him, throwing him off easily.Too late.Her scream had been a mistake, and the others knew where she was now.
She could hear her three pursuers still crashing through the woods, one of them slowing already. The one to the right was heedless of the noise he made, too focused on charging after her . . . the short one, she thought. He had more stamina than she’d accounted for, and it would be hard to throw off his attentions for the night. Her heart was pounding, and she realized that Grayson might not be the one to catch her. There were too many at her back, too determined, too close. She could hear their hard breath, their low growls, the sound of their pursuit . . . but she could finish the run.
If she could complete the ancient circle, she could wait for them to come to her and take her pick. The treeline ended just a few yards ahead, the open expanse of lawn ahead, white and shining compared to the impenetrable blackness of the tree cover, and like a moth, she was drawn to its glow. Vanessa was confident she could cut through the clearing without issue, feeling the white light on her skin, her wolf rearing. It was the moonlight that was her undoing.
She broke from the tree cover, head dropping back and her arms opening as if to embrace the white beams of light, never seeing the dark shape of the wolf at her side until she was broadsided, a brick wall slamming into her with a force that made her see stars. The blow of his body left her breathless, wrapped in his heavy arms and rolled, protecting her from the impact of the ground until she was on her back beneath him, sandwiched between his thick thighs, the too-bright lights of the floods blinding her. She’d made it nearly all the way around.
The smell of him was as pungent and familiar in her nose as the pine and peat of the forest around them, and as his hand dragged down her throat, tightening at the base, her heart quivered, blood roiling beneath her skin. Helpless and captured. Thiswaswhy she’d come, after all. Despite its softened state when they’d begun running, his cock was hard now, rising like a heavy club over her belly, his appetite for fucking whetted with the thrill of the chase.
Vanessa realized he’d likely been keeping pace with her the entire time, moving silently through the woods, parallel with her own route. It had been others pursuing her clumsily, and she could hear them crashing through the brush even now, now that she’d been caught. Her captor was unmoved by their approach, the blunt edge of his perfectly buffed nails still scraping over her throat slowly, and she was certain she could see his smug smile, even concealed behind the wolf head he wore.
“It looks like you didn’t run fast enough, rabbit,” he crooned, his rough baritone making her toes curl in anticipation of what would come next as his cock jumped against her skin. The stola was dragged over her head, leaving her bare, and one of her legs was pulled open, allowing him to settle with one leg in between her own, space to rub his cockhead against the lips of her sex, coating in her slickness.
She realized then just how close they were to the house, to the circular stone balcony, still filled with those who had not participated in the run, those guests whose staid cocktail attire had remained unmolested. They’d not run, she reminded herself, squinting in the blinding light, but they knew what the celebration was all about and had come to watch.And now it’s time to give them a show.
She’d not yet answered him, and his thumb pressed slowly on her throat. It would take such little effort for him to block her airway completely, she thought, to choke the pissy, pouty look off her face for good, and she wondered if that was perhaps what she deserved. At least as much as he deserved every violent scenario her fevered mind had conjured over the years.
“Is this what you want, rabbit?”
His voice was a low scrape across her skin, and all she was able to do in response was whimper, desperate and writhing, keening when he pushed the head of his cock into her. He’d been absent from her bed for too long, absent from her daily life, and her body was greedy to welcome him home. Everything about him was solid and thick, from his broad chest to his tree trunk thighs, and it didn’t matter how ready she was, howneedyshe was, how many times they’d danced this dance — her eyes rolled back as he pushed his thick cock into her, spreading her wide and stretching her walls, her breath coming out in a wheeze until he was seated within her fully.
His pullback was slow and dragging, and when he thrust forward once more, she cried out. Over and over, a slow drawback and a forward thrust, burying himself balls-deep on every pass, and every time she gasped, whimpering as he dragged against her g-spot. It wasn’t enough, for she needed him to rut her wildly, needed to be filled with his knot . . . but this slow, deep fucking was an excellent prelude.
It was then that she saw them. The spot in the lawn where he’d rolled her was straddling the edge of the illumination provided by the blindingly bright floods before them. The shadows of the black forest were at their backs, leaving them perfectly in the spotlight. He was still kneeling upright and had begun to pump into her steadily with the same hard, deep thrusts, his palm pressing down on her lower abdomen so that she felt the drag of him within her.
The position left her whole body exposed, glowing in the bright lights, and she saw the shape of the onlookers on the rounded stone balcony ringing the balustrade, watching her being fucked in the grass. Beneath the overhang, others had begun pairing off, those who had been caught up in the chase or those who hung back to watch, not wanting to run but still wanting to take part in the more carnal aspects of the evening, and she was able to hear them, panting and grunting, fucking in the dark.
They were not the only ones, she realized.
Grayson’s knot had swelled, and she felt it pressing against her entrance every time his heavy balls slapped into her, his hips picking up speed, but over his shoulder, she was able to see who she thought was washboard abs, holding a moaning young woman over his arms, thrusting upwards into the girl. Another woman shrieked in laughter, spilling out of the treeline, the wolf who pursued her hooking her around the waist. They tumbled to the grass only a few feet away, wasting no time in their pleasure. Vanessa was able to smell the other woman’s cunt as her legs were spread and the heat of the other wolf’s sac as he mounted the girl without preamble.
The entire lawn had turned into a writhing mass of bodies, moans and gasps replacing the sounds of the drums.Thiswas what the holiday was about. Turning her head, she picked out the heavy breathing of another wolf-headed man, slowly stroking himself, watching her.
“He’s the one you talked to,” Grayson murmured, deep and mocking, low enough for her ears only, “back inside. Did you like the way his cock felt, rabbit? Were you doing that just for me, or did you hope he would be the one to catch you tonight?”
She laughed, a short bark of a sound, scraping her nails down his solid chest, dragging through the dark hair there, and catching on his pebbled nipples. It didn’t matter what he said, and it didn’t matter what he’d done to hurt her, she decided, suddenly remembering the smell of another man’s semen, dry and sticky on her breasts, and the look on his face as it caught his nose.
“His cock felt fine. Thick. It would probably be nice going in. But he wants to play alpha wolf, and I don’t have patience for that shit. Did you like fucking that girl you took on my vacation?”
“Not really,” he said bluntly. “She was a pillow princess, and I like someone who gives as good as she gets. And I worked most of the time anyway.”
