TEASER

"What do you want, Rabbit?" His green eyes levelled on me in that way that felt like they were cutting through me. "Do you want my mark?"

He made it sound horrifyingly intimate.

I couldn’t think of a single time that Vanquish had ever asked me for anything. He was always the terrifying presence commanding me. Dictating my movements. Forcing me to leave my hut, to eat, to socialize. The one insistent on knowing my every thought.

"Wh-what d-does that m-mean?" I stuttered out. Thinking I knew what it meant, but even more desperate to know for certain.

I barely remember who I am.

Do I even fully understand any more, what it really means to be mated? I’d heard all the terrifying things the she-wolves spoke of.

Being killed during mating or marking. And some of the brutality of their mates under the Mating Moon.

But I also knew it meant other things. It means never being hungry. Never wondering where I might get my next meal.

I knew how they’d been taking care of me as the pack stray. How would Vanquish take care of me as his mate?

It also meant having someone there to defend me against others that’d harm me. Or mark me.

Would having this powerful terrifying male as my mate be so bad? I understood the gentleness he’d just tried to exhibit. I had some concept of how hard he was trying to control himself to make sure I wasn’t hurt.

Despite that my whole body ached anyway, I had an idea of what it took for a male wolf to contain himself under the Moon.

He won’t be so kind later. I reminded myself.

***

"It means you're mine. To possess, to mount, to protect, to breed, to care for. And that you'll willingly allow no other male to have you."

I chewed my lip.

He growled low in his throat before snapping. "Stop that!"

His brow was knitted with irritation and his mouth had tightened so much there was white around it.

"Why do you get so angry with me?" I stared at him worriedly.

His face relaxed and he straightened. "I'm not angry with you, Rabbit. I'm aroused and want you again. So, if you don't want me throwing you to the floor, I'd suggest you stop tempting me."

He warned me so calmly it was hard to believe he'd seemed so aggressive mere moments ago.

"Now," He asserted. "Decide quickly if you want my mark. My Brothers are coming for you."