But I knew Cameron had done it because he hadn’t expected to get caught. He thought I never would have been able to escape from those two sorcerers he’d handed me to, not when I’d been bound and gagged. And he had no idea about the blood bond that Kaillen and I shared, so he hadn’t anticipated the hunter finding me. Cameron had thought it would all look like an unfortunate accident.

I licked my lips again. “Don’t you think you’ll feel guilty after you do it, though? Even if Cameron is the king of douchebags?”

His eyes hardened, and he leaned down, placing his hands on the mattress, one on each side of me, before pushing me back.

I fell onto the bed, bouncing on the mattress before I lay beneath him, the soft covers shifting around me. My breaths came faster as his eyes shone with raging fire. Despite the horrific intentions he’d just shared, heated desire flooded my veins. Want. Want. Want.

His nostrils flared. “I will kill anyone who hurts you or tries to take you from me.”

His statement was said with such lethal quiet, and filled with so much malice, that I knew he meant it. He would kill for me over and over if that was what it took to keep me safe. Violence swam in his eyes, but something else did too. Something fiercer and more primal.

My mate.

My wolf whined, urging me to join with him. To be with him. Want him. Need him. I balled my hands into fists.

Kaillen’s breaths turned harsher as his heartbeat picked up, a thundering pounding in my ears. He sank lower, his body molding to mine when he said in a raspy voice, “So no, I don’t feel guilty. Cameron’s a sadistic prick. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”

I thought about what Kaillen had told me of his childhood, how Cameron had bullied him mercilessly his entire life.

I shuddered from the absolute violence that could accompany packs, but also from the predatory gleam which had entered Kaillen’s eyes. It wasn’t a gleam of violence though, it was a gleam of desire.

His gaze dipped to my mouth, the heat in his eyes growing.

Want. Want. Want.

The mating bond hummed in my chest, begging me to curl my hand around his neck and pull him flush against me. Gods, the pull . . . The incessant ache to mold myself to him. It was nearly overpowering in its strength.

Kaillen’s nostrils flared more, and the musk in his scent increased, just as I knew my scent was growing too.

“Fucking hell,” he growled, so low and throaty that my entire body clenched in need. “Jakub can wait. I want you, Tala, so fucking much.” And then he was on me.

His lips found mine, sealing our mouths in a bruising kiss. My hands lifted of their own accord, threading through the hair at the nape of his neck as my blood boiled with lust.

Mine.

He hauled me up the bed in a blurred movement, never once breaking the kiss as his hands ripped and tore at the clothes covering my skin, mine doing the same to his.

Too many layers. Too many obstacles.

I needed him. Wanted him. Now. It had to be now.

My hands turned into claws, until I’d shredded every bit of fabric that barred my way. Thumps sounded and sparks flew when the weapons and potions we’d strapped to ourselves hit the floor in a flurry of torn leather and flying metal.

And then we were skin to skin. Only his hot smooth body greeted my fingertips.

“Tala,” he growled against my lips, before he ripped his mouth from mine and pressed urgent kisses down my neck, to my breasts, across my stomach. He was everywhere at once, his body owning and possessing me as the energy crackled and grew between us.

But I wanted to touch him. Needed to.

In a blur of power, I flipped him onto his back, calling upon my wolf’s strength. His eyes flashed in surprise before I draped myself over him, my legs parting until I straddled him and my tits hung in his face.

A rumbling sound of pleasure came from his throat as his eyes darkened, lust fogging them as crimson fire and golden light flared in his irises.

He nipped at my peaks, and I moaned when he rolled a taut nipple between his teeth. He locked his hands onto my waist, trying to dominate me again, but I brushed him off and leaned back until his firm erection grazed my entrance.

His entire body seized, turning into a stiff plank as his breathing grew ragged.

Despite his strained expression, I didn’t slide back onto him or sheathe him inside me, even though my body was begging me to do it.

“I want to taste you again when I’m present enough to fully remember it,” I whispered.

His breaths turned shallow, his eyes glowing like twin rubies rimmed by the sun as I traveled downward, rubbing my body on his while kissing every inch that I passed. His muscles bunched and coiled, his entire body like smooth rock and as hot as a volcano.

My eyes widened when I reached his impressive length. He was hard and throbbing, his dick so thick my fingers itched to encircle him. I marveled at his girth and the slight curve at the tip that I knew would scrape exactly where my pleasure lay. When I finally wrapped my hand around him, he let out a guttural moan and bucked beneath my palm.

I bent down and flicked my tongue over his tip. His hands curled into my hair, his eyes glowing so brightly when he gazed down at me, that the fire and gold swirled into one. “Tala?” he rasped.

Closing my eyes, I wrapped my mouth around his length and took him in, letting my movements answer him in a dance as old as time.

He let out a strangled sound as I moaned from the taste and feel of him. Smooth, hot velvet, brimming with fire and desire, filled my mouth. The urge to devour him flowed through my veins, and I began sucking and pumping my mouth on him in earnest.

His buttocks clenched, lifting his hips as his hands gripped my hair so tightly, pain flared on my scalp. But it only added to my need to be with him, taste him, and claim him.

“Tala!” he rasped again when I began to pump my hand at the base of his cock as my mouth sucked him like a lollipop.

I only moaned as I let myself become lost in his taste and scent. The musk around him grew even more potent.

My movements turned frantic, enraptured even, as I savored every stroke and slide of his cock filling my mouth. Each taste and rub of him entering and exiting me wrought a new groan from him and heightened the desire flooding my veins.

I didn’t think. Didn’t question. Didn’t analyze anything that was happening.

I just wanted. Needed. Craved. He was mine. My mate. My wolf. My demon. Mine. So I devoured him as his hands turned into talons in my hair, and a deep shuddering breath filled his chest. I knew he was near to coming, so I sucked harder, licked faster, and the coiling energy wrapping around him unleashed.

His hips jolted, and the roar of his release filled the room as his hot seed shot into my mouth. But the taste of him only heightened my lust. I drank down every drop, savoring the power I wielded over the indomitable hunter as his cock throbbed and pumped his climax relentlessly into my mouth.

It was only when his body finally softened from the rock-hard slab that lay beneath me, that I released him from my lips and lifted my gaze to his.

He was peering down at me, a look of disbelief and unfiltered lust clouding his eyes. His chest still rose and fell unsteadily as his harsh breaths filled the room.

“Fucking hell, woman,” he finally breathed, then he hauled me up his chest.

In a blink, he had me beneath him. He breathed in my scent and then nuzzled my neck, his inhales still coming so fast. Somewhere in the last twenty minutes, I’d released my cloaking spell as instinct took over and I lay myself bare for him.

He kissed below my ear, then along my jaw, and finally my mouth. His lips molded to mine, but the urgency had abated, and he drew his kiss out, making it long and tender. Aching need flared in my core, and I curled my hands around the nape of his neck, savoring his taste and feel. So long. I’d wanted this for so long.