Page 3 of Kai's Hunger

I sighed. “Look, I love you, Mom. I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Damn, it—”

I ended the call. It’d been the first time I’d ever hung up on one of my mother’s tirades. “God, that felt good.”

As I made my way down a lonely stretch of road in the middle of nowhere, I turned up my radio, enjoying a sexy tune by Jason Aldean. My heart beating a million miles an hour, I wondered if I’d made a colossal mistake. A woman alone in the big bad world was easy pickings. After all, it was a far cry from my safe and secure apartment. Oh, sure, Walnut Ridge had crime. The occasional teenage shenanigans, stealing candy from the minimart. Or the time my mother had gotten drunk and plowed her sedan into MaryAnn’s Laundromat. That’d been a fun day. But murder, robbery, arson? Nada.

As I contemplated what to do with my newfound freedom, I didn’t see the giant beast leap out in front of me until it was nearly too late. A wolf? Its fur, as dark as the night itself, absorbed the feeble moonlight, rendering it a shadowy silhouette. Powerful muscles rippled beneath its shiny coat as it moved, each leap devouring the distance between us with a blend of elegance and ferocity. Its eyes burned like twin orbs of molten gold in the darkness. As it crossed the road directly in front of my van, our gazes locked, and I felt an inexplicable connection. It stopped, stared. I screamed, then swerved to keep from hitting it. My van plowed into an enormous pine tree. The front airbag deployed, slamming into my face, sending my head bouncing off the headrest.

“Oh, God,” I groaned as I lifted a hand to my cheek. Pain radiated along my face, and I had to work to catch my breath. The airbag had knocked the air from my lungs. After a minute, I glanced around. My vehicle was totaled. The entire front end was bashed in, and my windshield was shattered from a tree branch driving through it on the passenger side. Glass was scattered all over. My purse and cell phone had hit the floor. The animal. What the hell was it? Had to be a wolf, but those weren’t native to Ohio. I didn’t know what it’d been, but I hoped it was okay. I stared out my side window and scanned the area for any sign of it. “I didn’t hit it,” I mumbled to myself. I was certain of that at least. “My poor van is toast, though.”

I loved animals, but the furry beast had picked a terrible night to go for a run. “Now what?” I unbuckled my seatbelt, then bent to retrieve my phone. The screen was destroyed. “This is a test,” I bit out as I tried to figure out my next move.

A knock on the driver’s side window startled me. I jerked my head around, earning a sharp pain in my neck from the swift movement. A man was standing outside my window, frowning at me. His rugged strength and broad shoulders strained against the fabric of a well-worn red flannel shirt, the vibrant hue contrasting against our earthy surroundings. The shirt’s sleeves were rolled up to reveal powerful forearms, each sinewy muscle well-defined. A pair of old, faded jeans clung to his sturdy legs. Messy chocolate-brown hair framed his face. Dark facial hair covered his jawline, and he had a beard that needed to be tamed.

“Are you okay?”

Where had he come from? I scanned the area for any sign of another car but came up empty. Oh, sure, a stranger standing in the darkness on a lonely stretch of road wasn’t at all suspicious. “Yes, thank you.”

He pointed at me. “You don’t look okay.”

I waved my phone in the air. “I’m going to call for help,” I explained, though it was a lie. My phone was, like my van, toast. “Thank you for your concern.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I can’t leave you out here alone. If you like, I can wait until help arrives...”

I started to turn his offer down when my vision blurred. I shook my head, and the pain in my neck intensified. I lifted a hand to my forehead and closed my eyes, waiting for it to lessen. Instead, a blast of white-hot agony shot through me, then everything went black.

****

Kai

“Shit,” I groaned, yanking on the door handle. The little redhead nearly toppled into my arms. I lifted her from the wreckage and held her against my chest. Her round face showed signs of bruising from the airbag. It was the gash just above her forehead that concerned me the most. Blood dripped down the side of her fair cheek. I sniffed the air, couldn’t help myself, taking in the sweet scent of peaches and vanilla. My cock lengthened beneath the fly of my jeans. Fuck, she smelled delicious. The blood on her face tempted me to taste her, but I couldn’t. It was against family law to exchange with a human. As enforcer, it was my job to uphold that law. Still, the longer I stared at the pretty bow of her mouth, the more easily I could imagine breaking that fucking law.

I dipped my head inside the open door. The contents of her purse were scattered all over the floor, but I didn’t have time to retrieve them now. I needed to get off the road and out of sight. I’d just have to send one of my brothers back later to gather her things.

I shifted her in my arms, then took off running toward the tree line. When I found the trail I’d taken hundreds of times over the years, I ran faster. Shifting into myYucilonform would’ve gotten me home within minutes, but that wasn’t going to happen this time. Not with her in my arms. Two feet instead of four would have to suffice.

My breath quickened as I cradled the small female in my arms, each step deeper into the forest amplifying the wild instincts simmering beneath my skin. The moonlight pierced through the dense canopy, casting a silvery glow on her delicate features. Her scent, a tantalizing blend of peaches and something uniquely her own, overwhelmed my senses, making it hard to think, hard to breathe.

My claws lengthened involuntarily, grazing the fabric of her shirt. I shuddered, a growl rumbling in my chest. The urge to claim her, to mark her as mine, surged through me, drowning out rational thought. I wanted to take her far away, to a place where no one could find us, where I could awaken her properly, without restraint.

She stirred in my arms, her soft moan sending a jolt of electricity through me. My grip tightened, the pads of my fingers trailing against her skin. I fought to control myself, but theYucilonwithin me was relentless, urging me to surrender to my desires.

I paused, leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. “I need you to wake up,” I whispered, desperation spreading through my chest.

She stirred again, her eyes fluttering open, meeting mine with a sleepy confusion. “What?” she murmured, her voice barely audible.

“Shh,” I replied, my voice a low growl. I leaned in, my lips caressing her ear. “You’re safe.”

She blinked, as if trying to process my words. Her scent filled my nostrils again, and I felt my control slipping further. My jeans were too damned constricting. Fuck, I wanted to take her right here, under the moonlight, to claim her as my mate. But I couldn’t, not yet.

“Home,” I said, my voice rough with need.

Without waiting for a response, I resumed my journey, my steps quickening. The forest seemed to close in around us, the shadows deepening as we ventured further from the road. The animal inside me howled in anticipation, urging me to hurry, to find a place where we could be alone.

Finally, we reached a clearing, bathed in the ethereal glow of the moon. I gently lowered Lily to a bed of clovers, my eyes never leaving her face. Unconscious. And my fault.

Claws retracted slightly as I fought to regain control, but the hunger in my blood was unmistakable.

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