Kaillen was still moving the veggies around in the pan with a spatula as he added a huge can of tomatoes to the mix.

“I hope you like Italian,” he called over his shoulder. “I figured it was best to get you something to eat before the moon rises again, just in case we go for another run. Who knows, maybe they’ll pick rabbit tonight. Not sure how you feel about bunnies, so I—” His hand stopped mid-air, the spatula hovering over the pan when he took in my appearance.

I was fully dressed with my coat on, and my bags sat at my feet.

Something in his eyes flickered, a brief flare of emotion burned in them so hot yet so lightning-fast that I couldn’t decipher it before he turned back to the pan. “Going somewhere?” Despite his casual question, his movements turned stiff and aggressive as he stirred the sautéing mix.

“I’m going back to Chicago. I can’t stay here.”

Another scrape of the pan. “Can I ask why not?”

“Because my bitch of a wolf can’t be around you without taking over. I need some space.”

He didn’t reply, but another scent filled the kitchen—that metallic iron scent. Anger.

Huh, imagine that. The fucker turns me into a wolf and then gets mad when I’m not enjoying it.

“Can you create a portal for me?” I crossed my arms, hating that I had to ask for his help. If I could get a cab or rideshare to the nearest airport, I would, but as I was still being hunted, venturing solo anywhere wasn’t smart.

Thank you, Mr. Jakub-Dipshit.

“Where in Chicago are you going?” Kaillen lowered the heat on the stove as the sauce simmered. My stomach growled, that insatiable hunger clawing at my belly again.

“The SF Office. Commander Klebus said I could join Tessa in her safe house until they catch Jakub.”

He stilled. The only movement was his chest moving faster and faster as his breathing sped up. The ever-increasing pounding of his heart reached my ears next.

“What about us catching Jakub?” he finally said.

My jaw snapped together, and I said through gritted teeth, “Kinda hard to do when this new animal inside me is constantly trying to take over.”

He finally turned to face me, and his expression was so taut, that I was surprised his cheekbones hadn’t cut through the skin. “Why are you running from me?”

“Because I can’t handle this!”

He took a step forward, then said in a rough voice, “I can help you through it.”

“No, you can’t. Your presence only makes it worse. My wolf wants out, all of the time, because she wants to be with you. I have no control.”

In a blink, he stood before me, right in front of me, and his scent and strength flooded everything in my system. The urge to take that last step forward and mold my body to his swam through my veins in hot vicious rivers. My wolf wagged her tail, yet I held my ground and clenched my fists. I would not be ruled by her.

Kaillen’s eyes flashed gold. “You feel the bond just like I do.”

“So?”

“If you allow yourself to succumb to it, the strain will go away.”

Hearing that was like a blow to my gut. Was that the reason why he pursued me so aggressively? So the strain would go away?

Somehow, I managed to say without choking, “Is that what you’ve done?”

His eyes softened. “No, because you won’t let me.”

“So is that what this is about? You’re pursuing me so your damned wolf will stop trying to take control of you too?”

Fire rolled in his eyes. “I told you, I was attracted to you before my wolf knew what you were.”

“Are you sure about that?” I said quietly.

Gold flared around his irises, the rings so bright they were mesmerizing. “You want me.” He inched closer until our chests nearly brushed.

A quiver ran through my belly. Damn him.

His hand drifted around my waist, his touch feather-light. “I can scent it.”

My entire body jolted as my wolf whined inside me again. Another image of Kaillen biting into my neck filled my mind.

Back the fuck down! I snapped at her.

“Why can’t we just let this happen?” His face was at my neck, his lips fluttering against my skin.

I arched against him, my head lolling back as though I had no control of my movements.

A soft growl came from him, and then he was kissing me, his lips firm yet achingly soft as he pressed kiss after kiss to my throat. His strong fingers stroked my lower back as that musky scent rose from him and swirled through the room like a fog.

Before I knew what was happening, he had me sitting on the island, legs spread as he hooked my calves around his waist and began unzipping my jacket. I waited docilely before him in a drugged state. I was high on him, on us, on this aching need that pulsed between our souls.

“Stay,” he pleaded.

The heady desire in my mind grew, as his hands were suddenly everywhere. Running up and down my sides, over my thighs, around my ass, to the sides of my breasts.

And his mouth . . . fuck, his mouth. He kissed along my neck, over the tops of my breasts, down the length of my collarbone. His mouth was heaven and evoked tingles of arousal down every path they traveled.

His tongue darted out, tasting that sensitive skin at the base of my neck, right where the mating mark would go.

Wait, what? Mating mark?

With a jolt back to reality, my breaths came in heavy pants. My jacket was on the floor. My legs were wrapped around the hunter. Half of my shirt was unbuttoned and off my shoulder as the tops of my breasts strained against the material. And the hunter’s hands were locked onto my hips, his musky desire pulsing through the air and wrapping around my own heady scent, as his erection strained against his jeans.

We were two seconds away from fucking, from both of us giving into our wolves, when I realized that for the first time, my wolf had gone quiet.

Completely silent.

She was still present, still inside me, but she’d stopped pushing, stopped trying to assert her dominance.

Because she’d won.

I’d been about to let the hunter claim me.

I slammed my hands into Kaillen’s chest with so much force that he went flying ten feet back.

Somehow, he managed to stay on his feet, a true miracle given how violently I’d shoved him. He ground to a skidding halt on the hardwood floor with a glazed look of arousal coating his eyes. His chest rose and fell unsteadily as he looked at me with unconcealed hunger.

“Tala,” he said gruffly.

I shook my head frantically as a warning snarl came from my wolf. Shut it!

But she pushed and swelled, fighting me again since I hadn’t given into her wishes.

I clamped a lid on her growing power just as hairs pierced the backs of my hands. I leaped off the island and frantically whipped my jacket back on.

“Make me a portal. Now!” I gulped in a breath of air and then another. The urge to go to Kaillen was so unbearably strong. “Now!” I yelled again when he just stood there.

He shook his head, that fogged expression still clouding his features, and a wave of crashing sadness nearly brought a sob to my lips because did he really want me? Actually want me? Despite what he’d said? Or were he and his wolf so entwined with one another that he didn’t see his wolf’s prodding and manipulations?

Because my wolf was a brand-new being inside me, and all of the pulls and urges to go to Kaillen were different than they had once been. Before it’d been a desperate longing and insurmountable attraction, but now . . .

I gripped the stone countertop behind me. My fingers dug into it, my knuckles turning white, and some of the stone pulverized beneath my fingertips, turning to fine dust.

Because now my desire to be with the hunter was a necessity. I needed to be with him. Needed to have him near me, with me. It was no longer an attraction or interest in getting to know him.