004

BLADE

My hand lifted without my permission. I touched her hair first. It was softer than anything had a right to be. Then her neck, where her pulse hammered against my fingers like a trapped bird. She was still shifting, filling out, her skin burning hot under my palm.

I needed proof. I needed it to be real. My hand dragged lower, to the swell of her breast.

"Don't touch me!"

Her scream bounced off the walls and went straight through my chest, but it didn't stop me. My wolf was howling so loud I could barely hear her.

"You’re a female," I muttered, to no one, to myself. "You’re mine. You’re mine."

She scrambled backward across the floor, away from me, until her shoulders hit the wall. I shook my head and moved closer. I couldn't help it. It was like there was a rope tied around my ribs and she was holding the other end.

I reached for her legs. I needed to see all of her, to know that this wasn't a trick, that the moon hadn't played one more joke on me. My palms slid down her thighs, trying to part them, needing to see.

She kicked me.

Hard. Her heel caught my shoulder and my head snapped sideways. I barely felt it.

I caught her arms and pinned them down. "Stop fighting me."

She twisted. Her breath came in sharp, ragged sobs. Then her teeth sank into my finger, and I felt nothing. Not the pain, not the blood. Nothing but the weight of her under my hands.

So many years. So many years since any of us had seen a woman. We had buried the last hope of them long ago, and the moon had sent me one. Sent me her and she was my mate.

I lowered my face to her hair and breathed her in.

"Mine," I whispered. "Mine. Mine. You're mine, and you're not going anywhere."

MAEVE

This alpha had to be crazy.

There was no other explanation. Nobody in their right mind pinned a stranger to a cell floor and whispered mine into her hair like a prayer.

"Leave me alone," I said. My voice shook, so I tried again, louder. "Get off me. Now."

He didn't move. He only pushed closer, his chest hot against my arms, his eyes dark and wild.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"Don't you feel it?" His voice dropped. "The bond. You're my mate and you're mine. Only mine."

I felt it, all right. That was the problem. Something low in my belly pulled toward him like a hook and I hated it. I hated that my wolf had gone quiet and soft instead of fighting.

So I screamed.

It tore out of my throat and his hand came down over my mouth before it finished.

"Don't," he said, near my ear. "If you scream, you'll draw my men down here. Every one of them." His thumb pressed lightly against my cheek. "And that won't be very nice for you."

The threat sank in. I swallowed the next scream, but I still slapped his hand away.

He didn't flinch. His fingers slid along my arm instead, over my shoulder, like he was memorizing me. My skin crawled and burned at once.

Then he tugged his shirt over his head.

I froze. Hard muscle, scars, heat rolling off him in waves. I looked at the wall.

The shirt landed in my lap.

"Put it on."

I snatched it up and shuffled backward until my spine hit the stone, putting as much space between us as the cell allowed. It was still warm. It smelled like him and I pulled it over my head with shaking hands just to stop being naked in front of him. The hem fell to my thighs. I tugged it lower anyway.

He was already crawling toward me.

"Stay away." My voice came out low. "Or I swear I'll gouge your eyes out."

He didn't stop. His hand caught my wrist and yanked me forward and I crashed into his chest.

"I'm the alpha of this pack." His breath hit my forehead. "I'm to be respected and obeyed."

I wrenched my hand free. "Obey my foot."

His brows pulled together.

"Let me go," I said and I made myself look him dead in the eye. "Open that door, and no one will ever know I was here. Not your men, not your pack. Nobody."

"No."

"You don't have to—"

"It's never happening." He growled. "Never. Ever."

Before I could breathe, he scooped me up. One arm under my knees, one behind my back.

"Put me down!"

He pushed through the cell door. The guard was waiting outside, and his eyes went huge when he saw me in his alpha's arms.

"Look away," The alpha growled, "before I feed you to the rogue and keep your damn mouth shut.”

The guard's head snapped to the wall.

I kicked and twisted.

"Stop struggling."

"Then stop carrying me!"

He didn't answer. He walked past the main hall instead and took a back door, where the corridor was empty. I understood it a second too late. He didn't want anyone to see me.

He wanted me for himself.

An elevator hummed open, and the doors slid shut around us. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it. He only stared at the numbers climbing, his jaw tight, his arms like iron around me.

The doors opened on a bedroom.

His bedroom. Huge, dark, a bed big enough for three men.

The second he loosened his grip, I sprang out of his arms and landed hard on my feet.

"How dare you." I spun to face him. "How dare you carry me up here like I'm some prize you stole!"

He stood there, chest heaving, saying nothing.

So I turned my back on him and marched for the door. "I'm going home."

His hand locked around my arm and dragged me back. "The Moon sent you to me. That means you belong to me."

I laughed hard.

"I don't belong to anyone." I jerked my arm but his grip didn't give. "Not in this life and not in the next."

His eyes narrowed. For a moment he just studied my face, like I was a puzzle he couldn't believe was real.

"How have you survived this long?"

I stiffened.

"Are there others like you?" he asked. "Where do you live?"

"That's a lot of questions."

"Answer them."

"I'm not answering all of them." I raised my chin, "Or any."

He snarled low in his throat, frustrated and let go of me. I was already moving when I heard the key turn. The lock clicked.

I stared at the door. Then at him.

"That," I said slowly, "was a very bad idea."

He ignored it. He folded his arms and watched me like I was the strangest thing he had ever seen. "Why are you so desperate to go back?"

There was no reason to lie. Maybe the truth would scare him off.

"I have a brother," I said. "He's waiting for me."

Something dark moved behind his eyes.

"A man."

"A brother." I said it harder this time. "Do you not know what that word means?"

I brushed past him, close enough that my shoulder bumped his arm and headed for the door again. "I don't care if you're an alpha or the Moon himself. I'm leaving."

I didn't make it two steps.

The ground disappeared. He swept me off my feet, carried me across the room, and dropped me onto the bed. The mattress bounced under me. Before I could scramble up, he was already there, one knee sinking into the sheets, his arms caging me in on both sides.

I couldn't move, couldn't think.

His breath fanned across my face. His lips hovered so close to mine that I could almost feel them. My heart hammered against my ribs, and I hated it, hated that my body was leaning even an inch toward him.

His voice came out rough.

"I asked you again. How many of you are out there?"