Chapter 3: You're ours now

The mate bond, which had been humming quietly in the background since he'd caught her scent, suddenly snapped into place with the force of a lightning strike. It roared through him, white-hot and all-consuming, burning away every thought that wasn't her her her MINE.

Kieran's vision went white.

His wolf threw back its head and howled, the sound ripping through the night like a prayer and a promise and a claim all at once.

Somewhere in the distance, he heard answering howls...his brothers, sensing the bond, knowing what had just happened.

But he couldn't focus on that.

Because the girl had jerked her hand back, her eyes going wide as saucers, and she was scrambling backward in the hammock so fast she nearly fell out of it.

"What...." Her voice cracked. "What was that? Why did you...."

She stopped.

Stared at him.

And Kieran realized, with a jolt of dark satisfaction, that she'd felt it too.

The bond.

She didn't understand it, how could she, when she was human? but she'd felt it. The pull. The recognition. The inexplicable, undeniable sense that something had just shifted in the universe and nothing would ever be the same.

"You're not a dog," she whispered.

Finally, his wolf purred. She's learning.

Kieran took another step forward, his amber eyes locked on hers.

She should run. Should scream. Should do something to protect herself from the massive predator stalking toward her in the moonlight.

But she didn't.

She just sat there, frozen, her chest heaving with quick, shallow breaths, her eyes locked on his like she couldn't look away.

"What are you?" she breathed.

Kieran's lips pulled back from his teeth in what might have been a smile....if wolves could smile.

And then, because he couldn't help himself, because the mate bond was singing in his veins and his wolf was demanding he make her understand, because she'd called him a dog and he was never going to let her forget it.

He shifted.

The transformation was brutally fast, bones cracking and reshaping, fur receding into skin, his massive wolf form condensing into the body of a man. It hurts, it always hurts but he barely noticed.

Because in the space of three heartbeats, he was standing in front of her on two legs instead of four.

Naked.

Towering over her at six and a half feet of solid muscle and predatory intent.

The girl's eyes went impossibly wider.

She opened her mouth.

And screamed.

Kieran lunged forward and clamped a hand over her mouth, his other arm banding around her waist and hauling her up out of the hammock and against his chest.

"Quiet," he growled, his voice rough from disuse and vibrating with barely leashed power. "You'll wake the whole gods-damned territory."

She was shaking like a leaf, her hands pushing uselessly against his chest, her scream muffled against his palm.

Kieran forced himself to gentle his grip....barely. His wolf was howling at having her this close, at finally touching her, skin to skin. The mate bond was a living thing between them, wrapping around his chest and pulling, demanding he get closer, claim her, mark her, make her understand.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, his voice coming out rougher than he intended. "But you need to stop screaming."

She went still.

Her wide, terrified eyes locked on his, and for a moment, Kieran forgot how to breathe.

She was beautiful.

He'd known that already, on some level, his wolf had been chanting it like a mantra since he'd first caught her scent. But up close, with her body pressed against his and the moonlight turning her skin to silver, she was absolutely devastating.

Dark eyes. Full lips. A face that managed to be both delicate and defiant at the same time.

And she smelled even better up close.

"I'm going to move my hand," he said slowly, carefully. "And you're not going to scream. Understand?"

She stared at him for a long moment.

Then, impossibly, she nodded.

Kieran removed his hand.

She sucked in a deep breath, and for a second he thought she was going to scream anyway but instead she just stared at him, her chest heaving, her hands still braced against his bare chest.

"You...." Her voice came out as a whisper. "You were a wolf."

"Yes."

"And now you're... you're..."

"A man."

"That's...." She shook her head, like she could physically dislodge the insanity of what she'd just witnessed. "That's impossible."

Kieran's lips twitched. "And yet."

She was still touching him. Her palms were pressed flat against his chest, probably trying to push him away, but all Kieran could focus on was the heat of her skin against his, the way her fingers trembled slightly, the way the mate bond purred every time she made contact.

"Let me go," she whispered.

"No."

Her eyes flashed with something that might have been anger. Good. He liked her angry better than terrified.

"Let. Me. Go."

"Not until you tell me your name."

"Why would I tell you anything?" Her voice was getting stronger now, the fear fading into indignation. "You're....you're naked and you just....you were a wolf...."

"Still am," Kieran said mildly. "Just wearing a different skin."

"That doesn't make any sense...."

"Your name," he interrupted, his voice dropping into something darker, more commanding. His Alpha voice, the one that made grown wolves drop to their knees. "Tell me."

She glared at him.

And then, to his surprise, she lifted her chin and said, "Elara."

Elara.

The name settled into his chest like it had always belonged there.

"Elara," he repeated, testing it on his tongue. Perfect. Of course it was perfect. Everything about her was perfect, even when she was calling him a dog and glaring at him like she wanted to murder him.

"Now let me go," she hissed.

Kieran considered it.

Then he considered the fact that two more Alpha Kings were currently racing through the forest toward this cottage because they'd heard his claiming howl and knew their mate had just been found.

Then he considered the fact that Elara was human, fragile, and had absolutely no idea what she'd just walked into.

"No," he said again.

And then, because his brothers were thirty seconds out and he wanted to see her reaction, because the mate bond was demanding he mark her in some way and he wasn't quite feral enough to bite her yet, because she'd called him a dog and turnabout was fair play.

He grinned.

Slow and wicked and absolutely feral.

"Welcome to werewolf territory, Elara," he purred. "You're ours now."

Her face went white.

And in the distance, two more howls split the night.

His brothers were coming.