“Only nature can kill you,” I grumble.
“So can your own family.”
He’s right. Another shiver racks me as I recall the assassins back home and their attempts to end my life. If Valen hadn’t been there…
He comes to a sudden stop by a clump of trees. They are very pale, both trunk and foliage, and unfamiliar to me. There he gazes down at me, his eyes so dark they look black, and relaxes his hold on me.
Slowly, he lets me slide down his body, so packed with muscle it feels as if it’s hewn out of the rock of these hills and outcrops, past his chest and the hard bulge between his legs, until my feet touch the ground.
I’m still pressed to him, looking up at his face, the dark fire in his eyes, and the savage twist of his mouth. I can’t seem to make myself move away.
“I can hear your heart pounding,” he growls. “I can smell you.”
Something in his voice tells me I should be putting physical distance between us. Wasn’t there a story my mother told me about a wolf and a girl in a red cape who wandered off the safe path and was caught and eaten alive?
That’s how this feels. The look in his eyes tells me he very much wants to eat me alive. Sink those sharp teeth into me, those black claws, that pierced, swollen cock…
His hand slides up my shoulder to my neck and wraps around it, pressing. His thumb presses against my airpipe, restricting the flow of air. “Princess…”
The look in his eyes is flat and feral. I should be terrified, struggling, yet I can’t move, heat flooding my belly. I swallow against his hold.
Suddenly, he lets go with a hiss, his hands curling into fists. “Fuck. My control is slipping.”
I stumble step back, my hand rising to my throat. “Valen?—”
“Hit me,” he says.
“What?”
“I’m going into a rut. This is fucking bad.”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
“That I’m about to pounce on you, little mouse,” he snarls, “and do wicked things to you.”
I finally take a step back. “Valen…”
“Which is why you should run. Run and don’t let me catch you.”
“I don’t…” I swallow thickly. “I don’t want to run.”
“So you want me to fuck you?” he growls.
I shake my head. “I shouldn’t.”
“That’s not an answer, Princess.”
“You’re scaring me.”
He steps closer, looming over me. “You should be scared. I’m not human. I’m not safe.”
My body is responding to this threat as if it’s the promise of something good. My belly tightens, and the throb between my legs is maddening. “Please, Valen…”
“Fuck, what you do to me.” One hand reaches for me, and it’s already clawed. “You’re so wet. So ready. I can smell it. But you’re out of bounds, and I don’t know what the fuck to do about you.”
I take another step back. “Don’t hurt me.”
He breathes in and out. His face is distorting, his pointed ears turning into wolf ears. I see movement behind him, and I know his tail is out.
