“For what we’re doing, I think privacy would be better,” she said, shooting me a look with those beautiful bicolored eyes.
That comment went straight to my nether regions—which were already in a rather hopeful state. I forced myself to slow down, as though that alone would plant us safely here. Unfortunately, that meant I was behind her. And the leggings so thoughtfully provided by the academy outlined her butt—I wanted to pant like a bleedin’ dingo.
“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice emerging as a rather hoarse squeak. “It won’t be that bad...”
She sent a glance over her shoulder, her ponytail waving at me. “I’m sure.” Then she smiled. “I know the perfect place.”
Strewth. Did she know how bloody sexy that was? My beast surged against my control, and I lost the ability to breathe.
I practiced hauling air all the way to the perimeter fence, which had a gate with a combination lock. I experienced a brief surge of hope until she spun the lock and opened it.
Fate was laughing at me. She did that often.
Anna took us along a path into the forest. It passed a gateway that was a thing of beauty, part stone, part tree. As she paused beside it, my eyes merely skimmed the powerful portal and fastened on my true obsession.
“Where are we going?” My voice broke, and I coughed to hide it.
“It’s a surprise,” she said, with another look back that threatened to take me out at the knees. At this rate, all she’d have to do is touch me, and I’d go off like a bleedin’ rocket.
She led the way down a path that narrowed the farther we traveled. A branch thumped me across the face. “Didn’t think this was going to involve bush-bashing.”
“Almost there,” she purred at me. Like a bloody pussycat. My beast growled, and when she hesitated, I strangled the sound.Dammit.I wasn’t an animal.
But there were loads around. As we moved through the forest, the forest moved with us. Above, and to each side, we gathered followers with every step she took. Birds. Small animals. A few larger ones.
As if they were chasing her.Pursuingher. My lips peeled back from my teeth.
Yet I had no more claim to her than they did.
My beast did not agree. It was clawing at me for control. I’d never experienced anything like it. It had never fought me like this before.
I should call this off. Now. Things were sure to get out of hand. But my feet kept going. Following. As though there were no other options.
Panic hit. I made another, more determined effort to turn away. Or even slow down my stride. Nothing happened. My inability had to be my imagination. I grabbed a trunk, sinking finger-claws into the bark. They pulled off hunks as my body kept moving, yanking them free.
What. The. Bloody. Hell.
“This will be perfect,” Anna said.
The narrow path had opened into a small clearing. In terms of total isolation from the academy, itwasperfect. But the bushes rustled with the volume of critters pushing and shoving to be near her.
My hands bunched into fists. That honor was mine.
Mine.
My beast echoed that thought, and my heart hammered as I fought it with everything I had.
Anna turned to me and her eyes widened.
“Your fangs are showing.”
Strewth. If her eyes dropped at all, she’d see that they weren’t all that was thrusting into the world. “This isn’t a good idea.”
Her brows dropped. “If we’re here to make me mad, that’s a good start. I thought you wanted to help me.”
“I do.” Well, help wasn’t exactly the right word.Rootwas more like it. Even thinking the word, and its English equivalent, sent a hopeful throb through me. My breath caught in my throat. Damage control required. Like, now.
“I need to take a piss.”
