My beast tried to seize control and shift—she could never evade me, then. But as she led me beneath the leafy boughs and soft mosses, I kept my form to two legs.
If she wanted a chase, I would give it to her.
Her laughter drifted to me on the wind of her passage, and my heart lit as though it did, indeed, burn. She moved off the path and among the trees, vaulting downed trunks as though she were back on the obstacle course, and ducking under foliage that I had to crash through. A situation kept dicey by the way the dappled shadows offered tantalizing glimpses of soft, naked skin bouncing with every stride. Her heady scent drifted back to me.
Neither I, nor my beast, would be denied. It lent wings to my feet, and I gained on her. Until I heard her panting breath and sensed the warmth of her skin...
My beast saw the opportunity. Reached out and snagged an arm around her waist. I carried her down to the ground with me, catching myself with my free arm to keep from squishing her.
She giggled and squirmed, her luscious body pushing into mine, and I lost all control. In a haze of lust, I pulled her hips up off the ground. I growled, fighting off my inner animal to slide my fingers through her slick entrance, rubbing lightly, and then circling—
She moaned, arched her back, and pushed her hips into mine. I traced her soft petal-pink entrance as I quivered, poised and aching. She spread herself open, inviting me in. With a groan that was part growl, I spread my hands over her hips and slid into warm wetness—she gripped so tight that lightning shot clear through to the base of my spine, and my brain dissolved into white static.
I lost the ability to breathe, every fibre focused on holding on... Not yet, not yet. She felt so damned incredible, but not yet.
She rocked on me, sliding me in and out, taking me so close to the edge. I balanced on a razor-thin wire.
“Aaannaaa.” I gasped, as she pushed hard, sliding me all the way to her depths. And then she squeezed those secret inner muscles.
I rocked above her. My every instinct was to sink my teeth in and explode. I slid my hand across the front of her hip and belly until it found where we joined, and dipped my fingers until I found what I sought...
She shuddered when I did so, tightening around me and making a small growling sound of pure pleasure that had me curling my body around her and gritting my teeth. As my fingers circled and danced, my other hand moved her hair aside so my lips could trace the graceful curve where her neck flowed into her spine. Then I moved up toward her shoulder and licked the skin, my canines dropping into place.
My beast emitted a continual mating rumble that drove me onward. She was so tight—my growl morphed to a low, visceral groan as she rocked on me. My fingers were slick and dripping, and her heart pounded in perfect sync with my own. I felt the glorious tension building. Her muscles tense around me—my ballocks pulled up so tight and hard they hurt—
I sank my teeth into her shoulder.
Her scream echoed through the forest. Not of pain—a flood of pure pleasure rolled from her, over me, pulling me with her. Her cries were my own, as my body emptied into hers in great, pulsing waves.
We stayed like that as they slowly subsided. And then I pulled my teeth from her. It all seemed so real, but the instant I did so, the wounds that should have been there vanished. And my beast was not happy to see them go.
Anna collapsed beneath me so suddenly that I reached for her, concerned. But she rolled over and smiled up at me.
“Do you think the real thing will ever be that good?”
I stretched out beside her. “It was pretty damned good before.”
Her smile vanished. “Except for the dying part.”
“I don’t remember that,” I confessed. “I only remember how amazing it was.” I reached out to her smooth, unmarked shoulder. “I think the real thing will always beat a dream.”
Her brows dropped. “If you bite me for real, will I become a werewolf?”
Suddenly, I couldn’t look at her. What if she didn’t want this? “Maybe. If I bite you on the full moon. That’s the only time Dires can transmit the virus.”
“So just don’t bite me on the full moon.”
I rolled onto my back. If only it were that easy. “For fated mates to avoid that on the full moon—when the virus and the beast work together to claim their mate—isn’t likely to happen, unless you chain me or cage me.”
She lay so silent, and I glanced at her. “Do you not want to run with me beneath the moons?”
I’d never asked her that. Had never thought I’d ever be asking her that.
She didn’t answer right away, and my heart twisted. When she did, her voice was a mere whisper. “I want to be with you. But as a Dire? That’s a lot to think about.”
My beast growled within me, but the human acknowledged how hard this would be for her. If she was asking me to give up my animal side, could I do that?
My answer was immediate. I would do anything for my mate. But I didn’t have the right to ask the same of her.
