Page 152 of The Hunt
A sultry laugh escaped me.
“We have to leave, kitten,” Fenris pleaded. “It’s not safe for you here.”
“The world’s destruction is nothing compared to the weight of my hunger for you.” I slowly leaned and ran my tongue along his sternum. “Give yourself to me.”
“I already have. Do you feel this? Us? We belong together, Eliana. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”
The feel of his obvious devotion and proof of his earnest claim pressed against my shorts. Yet, the words penetrated the hunger riding me, and I jerked back from him.
“No!” I leapt from the bed.
Fenris was so lost to lust that he couldn’t react fast enough to catch me. But he still tried.
With a whine, he twisted, his hand outstretched to catch my tank top. His fingers barely brushed my back as I bolted for the door.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight. I only knew that I needed to get away before something truly terrible happened.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I burst from the cabin.Cold pierced my bare feet and exposed limbs, but I didn’t stop. I listened to the overwhelming need to put as much space as possible between me and Fenris. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop a second time if I didn’t.
“Eliana, don’t run!” Fenris bellowed behind me.
The terror at what I’d almost done prevented me from understanding his warning until an ominous tingle danced along the back of my neck.
Skidding to a halt in the snow, I slowly turned. The dim moonlight reflected off the white blanketing the ground, giving just enough light to discern trees. However, the rasp of my ragged breathing prevented me from hearing anything. I didn’t need to hear, though, to know I wasn’t alone.
My breathing calmed, and I straightened.
“I’m not running. I won’t run. Show yourself.”
The snow stung my feet, but I held my ground.
A low growl echoed from the darkness around me. The crunch of snow sounded straight ahead, calling my attention to the dark shape that moved between the trunks. The closer it stalked, the clearer it became. The low profile. The dark fur. The familiar, beautiful brown eyes.
Fenris paused a mere three meters away, and his wolf form began to shimmer until he stood naked and barely in control of himself. The scent of his lustful need rolled off of him.
“Will you run for me?” His words were filled with warning and promise.
Keeping my gaze locked on his face, I thought of the instances where I’d felt like I was being watched over the past week, and the clues I’d been missing clicked into place. All the time we’d been spending together. His constant presence and need to comfort me. The way he’d kept trying to get me to agree to feed on him. I’d attributed everything to the pressure his father had been putting on him to find a mate and Fenris’s desperation to escape that pressure.
How could I have been so blind?
Fenris’s reassurances that he was immune to my pull had been nothing more than artful lies. While he might have had more resistance than Eugene, he was now just as much under my thrall, thanks to Adira’s meddling.
“Unconditional honesty, Eliana,” Fenris said, sounding nothing like himself.
“No. I’m not going to run for you, Fenris. This isn’t you.”
He growled his frustration and heaved a deep breath before stalking a step toward me.
I retreated the same distance.
“Fenris, if you ever want me to talk to you again, I need you to go back to the cabin for my jacket and shoes. Please. I’m cold. You don’t want me to be cold, do you?”
He stopped moving, and his need-filled gaze flicked to my feet. Another growl escaped him, and he ran his hand through his hair.
“No. I don’t.” He glanced over his shoulder. Behind him, there was nothing but darkness and trees.
