Gods, this was so fucked up.

Our faces were only inches apart, allowing me a perfect view of his amber-cut eyes and smooth honey-hued skin.

“Get off of me.” Huh, I even sounded calm. Nice one, Tala.

He smirked, not even trying to hide his satisfaction. “I believe I asked you a question.”

“Really? And I believe I asked you to remove yourself from my bed.”

His chest rumbled, and it took me a second to realize that he was laughing.

“Is this funny to you?”

Crimson flames burst to life in his irises, and all mirth left his features, although the heat in his gaze stayed as he settled more on top of me.

Seriously? Why can’t I catch a break? His erection was now settled right against my core, and my damn vagina was fluttering in anticipation, but nothing like that was going to happen. I knew in a heartbeat the Fire Wolf would be fucking me senseless if I let him.

His nostrils flared, the glow of his wolf growing more with each breath. But then he shook his head as though trying to clear it. “Fucking hell. Put your cloaking spell back in place.” His jaw clenched, a strained expression overtaking his features as his erection grew even more.

Even though my initial plan had been to use my scent to distract him, it wasn’t going as planned. My hormones were proving just as unruly, and I was having insane thoughts of opening my thighs as he thrust himself inside me, both of us saying to hell with the consequences.

In a rushed whisper, I activated the spell and my witch scent once again grew subdued.

His expression cleared, if only a little, as my heart pounded against my rib cage. And even though his wolf was no longer entirely ruling him, that predatory look descended over his face again. Shit. Maybe sex would have been a better alternative to what was coming.

But then I thought about those ramifications. Or maybe not. I sighed. Man, I just couldn’t win.

“Are you going to get off me now?” I asked mildly.

He shook his head, dark interest alight in his gaze. “Not until you explain to me what happened. You unleashed something on me back in the club, and I want to know what it was.”

“I did?” I batted my eyelashes innocently.

“Don’t play games with me.”

“I didn’t realize I was.”

“Tala,” he said in a warning growl.

My breath caught, and fuck me if my name on his lips didn’t create a spike of desire that shot straight to my core. My damn lady parts were going to be the end of me.

His nostrils flared, and for a moment his wolf shone through again. He ground his teeth together. “Are you going to tell me what you did?”

I shook my head, deciding that playing stupid was the only way out of this. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, but I think you do.” His lips parted and he dipped his head down, his dark, silky hair brushing softly against my throat.

“What are you doing?” I squeaked.

“Prying information from you. Considering that a very delicious scent is rolling off of you, I have a feeling I know exactly how to get the information I want.”

My breath sucked in when he pressed his body even more intimately against mine. I felt every hard line of his torso, the heat of his legs, and the strength of his arms as they formed a cage around me.

One of his hard thighs parted my legs. He lifted his knee, brushing it against my womanly area just as he nuzzled into my neck.

“Fire Wolf!” I bucked as panic descended. “Get off of me!”

But he carried on, nuzzling my neck while doing that embarrassingly pleasurable movement with his knee.

“Not a chance. You want me. You crave me. You have from the moment I met you, and I believe I asked you a question.” His lips danced over my skin before he pressed a trail of hot kisses from my ear to my collarbone.

My back arched, my body betraying me at his delicious onslaught. His tongue flicked out to taste my skin, and my gods if that didn’t feel amazing, I didn’t know what did. I gasped as his hips tilted, and a very large and very hard piece of the Fire Wolf’s anatomy pressed into me.

“You’re taking advantage of me,” I said breathlessly.

“Really? And would you like it if I did? You definitely seemed to like it in the alleyway. I have no problems repeating that act. Perhaps going a bit further. In fact, I plan to plunder you senseless just as soon as you tell me what I want to know.”

Plunder me senseless? Oh gods . . . My eyes drifted closed before I snapped them open. No! Fucking hell, Tala. You are not falling for this fucked-up mating shit! The only reason this man has any interest in you is because his wolf told him to.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him just that, but then he caressed down my arm before his large, hot hand cupped my breast. My breath sucked in when his thumb flicked over my nipple.

A low possessive growl rumbled in his chest before his other hand drifted to my hip where he grasped and squeezed before settling himself more deeply between my thighs.

A moan escaped my lips despite trying to stop it.

Gods! What was it about this man? I’d never felt such an intense physical reaction to anyone.

“Tala?” he asked lazily as he nipped the skin just below my ear. “What did you do to me?”

I moaned as my stupid body sang in glee at the attention he was giving me, but enough was enough. This had to end before I did something really stupid, like tell him. My eyes narrowed, or at least, I tried to narrow them. “You need to leave.”

“No.” He nipped at my neck again, then began pressing soft kisses down to my collarbone while his hips executed a tantalizing series of rolls against my core.

Another spike of desire flared in me, my body responding, betraying me.

“You’re going to be begging for me by the time I’m done with you,” he whispered into my ear. Another roll, just enough pressure against my core to have my body bucking in need. “But I won’t give you release until you tell me. What did you do to me earlier?”

His hand was now kneading my back muscles, moving down steadily until his fingers dipped around my ass and reached my core. He probed and stroked my clit through my panties, while also doing maddening swirls and flicks.

The waves began to build inside me. How? How was I being his pawn so easily? My body wasn’t mine. It was his. I was his orchestra and he was the maestro commanding his symphony.

“I can’t tell you,” I panted.

“Yes, you can.” His tongue flicked my ear, just the barest brush before he was moving seamlessly downward. The sound of something ripping came next, then his silky soft hair was caressing my bare stomach. Wait, bare stomach? When did that happen? And worse, my panties were gone. Cool air floated over my molten sex. When had he removed those? I only wore a shirt now, which was bunched up above my breasts. I was literally naked.

Then the hunter’s face was between my legs, his eyes pulsing with smoldering heat and fire before his tongue darted out and—

“Gods!” I arched off the bed as a low possessive growl rumbled from the hunter.

“Tell me, my sweet.” He licked my core again, long lazy strokes that turned faster and rougher until my fingers were threaded through his hair and he was lapping me in a delicious dance. “Tell me.” A wave of alpha power entered his words, his wolf shining in his eyes as that command reverberated through my bones. “Damn, your taste is addictive,” he added, as though he was also getting distracted, before he began licking me in earnest, feasting on me in never-ending licks and sucks.

“Tala,” he commanded again using even more of his alpha power. “Tell me.”

My mouth parted, and the words flowed from me of their own accord, his seduction and alpha power impossible to resist. “There’s this power inside me. It’s always there, waiting and lurking, just on the tip of my fingers if I choose to use it.”