~ CARA ~My hands kept shaking and I couldn’t make them stop. I was on the edge of tears, and I didn’t really understand why. Except that watching Rig with Natalie—even the furious Rig—had made it so very clear how well those two knew each other.Rig with Natalie was the same Rig who slouched around with his friends when there was no one else with them. He wasn’t trying. He wasn’t pretending. Even if he hated her, he knew her. He spoke with her like someone he could be himself with, and never fear losing. Unguarded.It was the way he’d started to talk to me that afternoon at the fairgrounds, before everything went to shit. That was when I’d realized Rig used arrogance and flirting like a shield. A wall he could hide behind.But earlier that day his wall had been down. I’d spent hours with the Rig who had nothing to prove and he was… fun. Sweet. Thoughtful. And funny as hell. Hot as hell, too. Unfortunately.And then I’d kissed him—shocked him. But when he came alive… the hunger in him
~ RIG ~Exactly five minutes later, I stood over her as she used trembling hands to pull her staff card up to the reader on the study-room door and open it.My entire body hummed. I stood over her, right behind her. The temptation to put my hand over hers on the door handle, to use my bulk to press her forward and into the room was almost irresistible. But I knew I couldn’t force this. Everything hung on this moment.When I’d shown up behind her in the aisle, she’d looked over her shoulder with wide eyes. Scared eyes. I’d backed off, almost certain she was going to change her mind. But she hadn’t.Now she was standing here… vulnerable.Even her scent was a state of uncertainty—lust mingling with fear. It was a state that I hadn’t hesitated to use to my advantage with other women countless times. A small push with the Allure to soothe her fear and fuel that fire…But now… now I found myself oddly reluctant to push her. I was desperate to know what she’d decide for herself.So when the
~ CARA ~I had walked into that room with Rig arguing with myself in my head. But when he’d kissed me, pinned me against the wall, and then—deliciously—picked me up and laid me on the table, I hadn’t been able to form a thought beyond “more.”I was lost in a haze of need, mindless with it. I’d never experienced such a wash of emotion and desire in my life. As Rig kissed his way down my neck, then my chest, I sucked in a ragged breath. Then he opened his mouth over my nipple and sucked and my entire body jolted.My hips bucked and I whimpered, aching. When he pulled back to watch me, the tiniest part of my head whispered that I should be self-conscious, that I should be embarrassed, or scared or… but all I could do was claw my fingers through his hair so those strands would fall over his eyes again, trail my hand down that cord on his neck that stood proud because he was fighting so hard to hold himself back. Stroke his shoulders because they were so broad and strong and I’d never felt
~ CARA ~I blinked. In the back of my mind, something screamed caution. I knew that tone, the defensiveness in it. The hurt.I’d hurt him.Was that even possible? Or was he just so good at manipulating women that this whole thing was an act?I sighed. “I didn’t say you weren’t special, Rig,” I ground out. “I said I want my first time to be with someone special… someone who thinks I’m special.”“And that’s not me.” The calm, controlled tone was a warning. He stood there staring at me, challenging me. The little muscles at the back of his jaw twitched and his hands tightened to fists at his side.I should have felt scared. Usually if a guy looked like that I was immediately reminded of my father when he was about to lose his temper. Usually when a guy looked like that, I would get myself away from him as fast as I was able.It was a mark of how reckless I’d become that I stood there, holding his gaze, my own lips pursed because every response I could think of would just play into his ma
~ RIG ~There she is.If I had been in wolf-form my ears would have perked. Mack had sent the alert through the mindlink, and it was as if all the blood in my body rushed to my extremities.I’d caught Cara’s scent as we entered the building and hoped the others wouldn’t pay attention so I could disappear and hunt her down when we split up.I should have known Mack wasn’t going to give up that easily.A surge of protective rage made my breath come too fast, but I just turned with the others to follow Mack, prowling towards the cafeteria.We could all follow the scent, but a human couldn’t. So, as we entered the cafeteria, we had to make our progress through the large space look casual, greeting other friends and classmates as we went—and pretending not to notice the flirtations from the girls that wanted us to join their table.As we moved slowly closer, I watched Cara from the corner of my eye and my stomach got cold. Things hadn’t ended well the night before, but I’d smelled the desi
~ RIG ~ “Oh!” I jumped up to move feeling stupid. Mack howled with laughter as I slid myself off the bench and offered her a hand for balance—which she didn’t take.“Thanks for everything, Meg,” she said, her voice dead. “I’ll see you later?”“Do you want me to come with you?” Meg asked, getting to her feet.“No, no, it’s fine. I just have to go study.”Cara leaned in to hug her and every hair on my body stood up as she whispered, “Let me know if you find anything, okay?”“It’s probably going to take a week or more. The genome stuff it’s… tricky.”Cara nodded and murmured something grateful, then waved at us all before walking away.I didn’t even say anything to the others, I just darted after her as she stalked through the cafeteria. I caught her three tables away and made sure she’d seen me, her eyes cutting up to meet mine. But she didn’t smile.I slid a hand under the strap of her backpack. “Let me take that for you, so it’s not as hard with your crut—”I cut off, frowning.Cara
~ RIG ~“Did you bite her?” Charlie deadpanned, taking a potato chip from the bowl on the coffee table in the packhouse.“Hilarious,” I drawled. I had no idea why the human mythologies thought a human could be changed into a wolf through a bite. New wolves were only created through reproduction—which was why those in power focused so obsessively on breeding and the continuation of our lines. “But I’m serious, something’s happening to her. It’s got to be related to that thing that bit her. The question is, is it permanent, or temporary?”“Pretty sure only time is going to tell that,” Charlie said with a shrug. “Unless you’re planning on hanging around with her for twenty years… does it matter?”I gave him an unimpressed look even as my stomach clenched and a thrill raced through me at the idea of Cara in twenty years. Or forty. Hell, if we were lucky, decades more. I wouldn’t weaken until I was ninety or so. Modern wolves lived longer than our ancient ancestors—being apex predators wou
~ CARA ~I had left the library fully intending to call security to help me back to the dorm, but as soon as I got outside it was like breathing the night air invigorated me. I stopped just outside the doors and took a deep, cleansing breath—and caught a strange scent on the night air. Before I knew it, I was creeping down the path beside the library, every sense on the alert and my heart pounding—but with thrill, not fear.And that was crazy.I stopped on the path and looked down at my hands, opening and closing them to try and figure out what felt weird. Something was different. It should have been scary, but my body felt… strong. My knee had almost stopped hurting completely. I felt like if I needed to, I could run. Fast. I felt like if I walked, I could be quiet. And like… if I found a