The better to eat you, my dear.
He could kill her in a heartbeat. Could rip her throat out in one bite.
Emily licked her lips. Pushed her trembling fingers against the beast’s fur.
She wasn’t Little Red Riding Hood.
Time to stop being afraid of the big, bad wolf.
Chapter 15
Blood was on his tongue. The warm, wet blood of his enemy. Colin threw back his head, howling in victory. He wanted to chase after the panther, to finish the kill, but—
But Emily knelt in front of him. Her glasses gone. Her eyes wide and her face too pale. He could smell her fear in the air, and as always, that heady smell roused the beast.
He crept closer to her, wondering if he’d be able to taste her fear on her skin, in her blood.
Her hands were on him, trembling as they stroked his fur. She was f**king terrified, but she didn’t run.
And that fact made him angry. He’d wanted her to run, then he could have hunted her, claimed her.
The man fought to leash the beast once again. Grappled to harness the strength for the shift.
Claim her. Have to claim her. The words were burning in his mind. His blood. There was no choice any longer.
Claim. Mate. Take.
The animal’s instincts blended with the man’s, became one.
Mate. Take.
Mine.
He’d fought for her, drawn blood for her, earned her.
Mine.
His muscles burned as the fiery pain of the shift swept through him. Bones stretched, snapped, reshaped. Fur melted from his body.
Hands, legs reappeared. He shuddered as his body transformed. Anger filled him, furious rage. Emily was watching him, seeing what he was.
The monster.
Not a man, never a man.
He opened his mouth, howling, screaming into the night…and as the shift ended, the howl changed into a man’s bellow of fury.
He was crouched in front of her. Emily’s hands had fallen away from him. She stared into his eyes, her breath too fast, her pulse thundering at the base of her neck.
“Colin, are you all—”
He grabbed her, surging to his feet. He was naked, but he didn’t feel the bite of the cold night air on his flesh. He only felt…her.
Claim. Mate. Take.
Was it the beast or the man? He didn’t know. Didn’t care.
He jerked open her shirt, sending buttons flying. Shoved aside her bra. His mouth locked on her nipple, sucking hard, pulling her ripe flesh deep into his mouth.
“Colin!” Her hips twisted against his. “Not here, we can’t—”
“Here.” Guttural. “Now.” His c**k was fully erect, thick with lust. He wanted inside her. Needed to feel the tight clamp of her sex around him.
Mate.
He took her other breast into his mouth. Sucking. Licking. Biting.
She shuddered and moaned, a hungry, desperate sound.
Emily wanted him. Euphoria ripped through him. She knew what he was and she still wanted him.
She wasn’t turning away. Her fingers were gripping his shoulders, her hips thrusting against his.
Fuck, yes.
She was wearing a skirt. A loose, black skirt that fell to her ankles.
He grabbed the material, jerking it up to her waist. His left hand found her through her panties, stroked the plump folds through the cotton. The rich scent of her arousal flooded his nostrils.
Take.
He spun her around. Her hands flew up, steadied against the wall.
Colin was shaking with the pulsing hunger thundering through him. He knew he was being too rough, but he couldn’t stop.
He had to claim her. Take.
Her panties tore beneath his fingers. The lush curves of her ass beckoned him. So tempting.
He grabbed his cock, stroked the length. A drop of moisture was already on the tip.
Inside her.
Colin parted her delicate folds, lodged the tip of his c**k against her opening.
“Not…gonna…be…gentle.” He couldn’t be. Not with the lust riding him so hard. Sweat coated his body. His muscles quivered with the effort of holding back.
“I…ah…don’t care!” She squirmed against him, her creamy core sliding around his flesh. “T-take me!”
His control snapped. The man, the beast, growled in pleasure. Colin thrust into Emily’s sex, shoving as deep and as hard as he could.
“Colin! ” She rammed back against him. Her hands were flat against the wall as she braced her body.
He grabbed her hair, pulled it back, baring her neck. His c**k slammed into her, again, and again…
She was moaning, panting, squirming against him. Every move, every sound she made just built the furious hunger within him.
His mouth pressed against her neck, tasted her skin. His canines were long and sharp in his mouth and he raked them across her flesh.
Bite. Mark. Claim.
“Ah…God…Colin.” Her hips slammed back against him and her neck arched even more. “I’m coming!”
Her sex squeezed him, tightly clenching his cock. Fuck, yes! His teeth clamped down on her, pierced the delicate skin and drove into her vein.
As her hot, rich blood flowed over his tongue, he exploded inside of her, shoving deep one final time and burying his c**k to the hilt inside of her.
His heart was drumming frantically. Sweat coated his body. And his teeth were still embedded in her throat.
Emily moaned softly. The sound not one of pain, but pleasure. Her sex shivered around him in a little aftershock caress.
He’d been right, Colin realized. He could taste her fear. And it was heady. But so was her passion.
A vampire drank from his victims to survive. To grow stronger.
A wolf shifter drank to kill or to claim.
To kill, well, you just ripped out the throat, let the hot blood pour into your mouth or you pierced the jugular and sucked the victim slowly dry.
Emily’s body sagged lightly against him.
But to claim…a wolf shifter claimed a mate only once in his life. He marked her, bit her, tasted her blood so that he took her essence inside himself.
Take. Mate.
Until death.
And sometimes beyond.
Emily’s heart was slowing. Her breath becoming shallow. Colin forced his head to lift.
Emily wasn’t prey.
She was something far, far more valuable.
He lifted her into his arms. Her head rolled back against him.
Now how in the hell was he going to tell her that he’d just performed the equivalent of a wolf shifter marriage with her?
A wolf shifter. The detective was a wolf. Too f**king perfect.
How long had it been since he’d been able to pit his strength against another of his kind?
Too long.
Too many years of killing weaker species. But now, now there was finally someone worthy of his attack.