Page 48 of Alliance
Panting in time with his prey, Fásach’s body moved of its own accord. He pressed his fangs into Roz’s pulse, ground his hips into her ass from behind, and when she struggled again, encased her throat in his jaws with just enough pressure to make her submit. Training his ears on the frantic beat of her heart, Fás waited until her muscles relaxed and she lay limp beneath him, vitals as thin as a baby bird.
The submission summoned his war chuckle. The stuttering bass dripped with violence and lust rather than lighthearted excitement. He rolled his hips and his cock jumped, enthralled by the heat of where they touched and the chill of the wind. He forced her head back and dragged his tongue up the length of her esophagus as she swallowed. Hackles high and sensitive, Fásach’s shoulders bulged as he shifted his free hand, holding himself up on one elbow near her face. If they wouldn’t freeze to death, he’d have torn her clothes off and found out if she was as hot and wet between her legs as he thought.
“Don’t make me chase you if you aren’t prepared to get fucking caught,” he menaced in her ear, clutching the frayed threads of his sanity.
Roz nodded, grinding her cheek into the ice. “Yes—” Fás pressed his hand harder into her mane and she gasped, that cute little mouth popping open. “Yes, Fás. Y-yes, sir.”
The quiver in her voice settled his aggressive streak and he chuffed, scraping his claws gently through her twists. The hunter’s fog dissipated slowly, but a headache lingered right above his eyes, sharpening with each clarifying blink.
What had he done?
Fásach slid off her carefully, his claws trembling as she stayed down, her hands red from the biting cold. Fásach’s heart clenched, oily shame jetting through his veins. She didn’t know that running was primal for the yiwren. How could she know?
“Roz…Fuck!Roz, are you okay?”
She turned her face towards him with a beaming smile, and the ice fell right out from under his butt in shock.
“Did I help?” she asked.
Fásach blinked at her, dumbfounded. She sat up on her knees, unaware of the angry scrape on her cheek where he’d tackled her to the ice. He fixated on it, then pressed his fists into his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut.
She ran to help him transition.
“Roz, you can’t do that ever again,” he rasped. She shifted and Fás’s entire body twitched. He nearly pounced on her, holding himself back only by the iron grip of his claws in the ice.
“My database says chasing is the fastest method for bucks to transition though,” she said with confusion. “Did I overstep again? Did it not work?”
Fásach chuffed bitterly, the echoes of his war chuckle bubbling out of his chest. “Oh, it definitely worked. But it wasdangerous.”
Roz scootched a little closer, putting a hand on his knee. He opened his eyes and pressed his palm against his forehead, watching Roz’s mangled twists flag about her face in the wind as his vision throbbed with the hammering in his skull.
“But you’re just Fásach. You wouldn’t hurt me, I know that,” she said with sincere, clueless concern.
Fás leaned in. “Roz, you’re not food. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She beamed. “Exactly! It’s not like you’re going to eat me if you catch me. We could do this every day, if you want. Actually, it was pretty fu—”
Fásach got to his feet with a snap of his teeth.
“A buck doesn’t think about eating when he chases a doe!” If she said it wasfun,he was going to lose his shit and say yes. A month-long journey where he got to rut-hunt Roz every day was more tempting than water on Huajile. Extending his claw, he helped her to her feet and yanked her closer to make his point. “Do I need to go into more detail? Please tell me I don’t, because if I talk about this right now, I might lose my mind.”
Roz searched his eyes, then nodded once. “Okay. I won’t run again. I’m sorry. I should have asked you if it was okay. Like the slapping and biting.”
Fásach hung his head against her shoulder. He felt for the latches of her coveralls and closed them up without looking, gathering his wits. She was trembling from the cold, teeth chattering now that the adrenaline was wearing off. The snow wasn’t melting from her skin anymore, but rather collecting around her eyelashes and brows.
“You really did help, Roz,” he said, taking an agonizing step away, catching her brown, round eyes with his. “I just don’t want to hurt you.” He swallowed hard, the knot of his throat sore and tight. “I promise I’ll tell you if I need another chase. Then we can plan it together.”
Roz’s fractured confidence smoothed over and she smiled at him with timid hope.
“Okay. I’d like that.”
15
Roz’s chase had the desired effect and then some. Not knowing ahead of time what she’d planned had sent Fásach’s instincts spinning, and transitioning to his pred state was nearly complete. Just in the nick of time too, as they entered the whiteout of Trav’s blizzard and left Svargapan Samudr for the solid black rock, ice, and ancient snow along its frozen coast.
Though he was more suited to their journey now, the exponential acceleration of the switch had left him reeling. He hadn’t transitioned often in life, and when he had, it had been a slow progression. The rate of change was more intense than he’d have ever anticipated. His hackles itched like crazy as his fur thickened with a wiry trail down his spine. Every inch of his skin felt too tight, especially his temples, his throat, his collar, and his jaw. And when he pinched the skin of his arms, belly, and neck, there was barely enough to squeeze between two fingers. His dewlap had been reduced to less than a quarter of the fullness too, stretching over his growing trapezius muscles and lats.
Roz had done him a real solid. He was calmer, stronger, more alert…
