scent and his arousal deepened.
Lily spun to the left. Alert to the night, Sebastian scented the jackrabbit before he saw it. Lily took off after their prey, body low and sleek, her ears laid back, all four feet kicking up dust and pebbles as she ran.
The rabbit slipped into a thick tangle of old blackberry vines. Lily skidded to a stop before tumbling into the briars, turned and looked at Sebastian with absolute disgust, and then yipped her challenge.
He had no time to think, to consider the fact he was running as a wolf, thinking like a wolf before they were off again, racing through thick grasses and over rocky trails. Lily Cheval was beautiful. So sensual, so alluring that his body thrummed with need. He ran faster, closing the gap between them.
Something buzzed in his mind. He sensed a presence, a familiar other, but he brushed it aside. Nothing would come between him and the glorious bitch he followed.
She was his. Not prey. No, she was so much more. She was destined to be his mate, and he would have her. His gaze narrowed until all he saw was Lily, all he wanted was Lily. His sensitive nostrils filled with her scent, and he drew closer, crowding her now along the narrow trail.
His wolf was larger than hers. More powerful. More commanding. His focus narrowed further until the world around him disappeared. She ran in moonlight, this female he hunted, but the light couldn’t penetrate his darkness.
The female glanced over her shoulder without breaking step, but there was no fear in her eyes.
She should fear him.
He sensed her confusion. She wondered why he pursued her in deadly earnest. Wondered what he wanted.
It was so simple really. He wanted Lily Cheval.
They ran through the night, and he harried her. Nipped at her flanks, bumped his shoulder against hers, forced her to race toward a narrow canyon that had trapped him once. She thought she’d escape him, but he knew this place.
He knew better.
She was his, and he would have her.
If he’d been human he would have laughed when she raced through the opening to the canyon, heading in exactly the direction he wanted her to go. He knew there were tumbled rocks and a sheer wall at the end.
Knew she wouldn’t be able to escape him now.
He cornered her against a fallen tree, brushed her shoulder with his front paw, and pressed close with jaws open wide, going for the thick skin at the back of her neck.
If he could hold her, restrain her, he could have her. He growled deep in his chest as he closed in, as his strong jaws clamped down on the loose folds of skin around her neck. Blood coursed through his veins, hot and powerful. Arousal grew until the need was a thick, all-consuming shroud covering him, filling him with strength. Images and sensations battered his feral mind—the soft welcome of her body, the slick slide of his wolven cock, the clasp of her warm sheath. Wanting, needing, he tightened his hold.
Growling, she twisted her entire body and snapped at his face. One sharp fang slashed his sensitive nose. Surprised by her strength, he yipped and released his hold on her neck. She twisted away, snarling as she broke free.
She slipped into the shadows, and her dark coat helped her disappear as she scrambled through a narrow crevice between two large boulders. It didn’t matter. Her scent told him exactly where she hid.
He stopped at the entrance to her refuge. Blood dripped from his slashed nose, but it was nothing. A small price to pay to be this close. She was trapped here, surrounded by blocks of stone on both sides, the mountain at her back.
He heard her low growl, edging into a vicious snarl. Felt her thoughts pounding at his mind, but he refused to lower his shields. There was no need to listen. No, the darkness was all about, and he had her now. His cock swelled beyond the tight lupine sheath; his muscles tensed.
He saw her eyes shining amber-bright in the darkness. She faced him without fear and snarled again. Deeper, angrier. This was no longer a game, now that she realized the serious nature of his chase. Good. She should know. Know, acknowledge, and accept his superior strength.
The deep timbre of her growl raised his hackles. He lowered his head, faced her in the shadows, and waited. Her angry voice pounded against his brain, but words meant nothing.
Humanity meant nothing.