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I don’t mean to shift. I haven’t shifted in front of anyone since my papa died. But it’s like all the panic accumulates inside me to such levels that my body simply cannot endure.

Stag shifters are assuredly predators, but females are unmistakably prey. My heightened sense of vulnerability pokes my flight mode with a big stick.

I spring under his arm, pausing to look over my shoulder. An involuntary shiver runs down my spine all the way to my tail—it shakes.

His nostrils flare, and his eyes home in on my tail—I might as well have painted a giant target on my ass.

If stag shifters are predators, then so are wolves.

Wolf

Gods. She is the most breathtaking creature I have ever seen. Her beautiful doe eyes, which I know so well and always seemed unnaturally large in her little heart-shaped human face, blink back at me.

I am not sure who is more surprised, her or me.

Don’t run.I warn under my breath.Do not fucking run.

Of course she does the one thing prey should not do in the presence of a predator battling his instincts—she spins away and takes off into the forest at a run.

My body shifts under compulsion.

Little fool.I take off after her. If any other fucker sees her, they might consider her fair game. There is still that bastard stag shifter in the village lording over his future fucking queen.

He can fuck off. I will snap his antlers off one by one and shove them up his regal ass.

I catch up with her. Then I let her run, following with enough distance not to crowd her but still keep her safe. My poor, sweet doe, how it must have been living here, never shifting, never letting her inner side out.

Only as we run do I realize the direction she follows will lead to the old, ruined castle. And Gods, it fucking terrifies me the thought of her shifting there without me to protect her.

She is sweet and nimble as she dashes through the forest. I follow with my eyes locked on her little tail, wagging enticingly at me.

Chapter Ten

Fawn

The castle ruins come into sight. It was foolish of me to come here, but despite all the cautioning, it represents a place of safety in my mind—a simpler time when my mama and papa were still alive.

I sense the moment he is about to pounce. Adrenaline floods my system, and I find reserves to put on a spurt, making for the big, crumbling archway that was once the castle gate.

I feel the displacement of air the moment before he takes me down, tumbling my body with his and bracing the impact. When the tumbling stops, I am underneath him, his weight pinning me to the grassy carpet, his jaws locked lightly over the back of my neck.

Panic and arousal slam into me, producing a heady cocktail of emotions and no small amount of lust.

I shift to human. So does he, and now there is a hard human cock nestled against my ass.

Oops.

“Someone has been very naughty,” he purrs, leaning back and removing his weight from me.

I miss it immediately, the pleasant way it squashed me to the grassy floor inside the ruinous castle, the way he made me feel protected.

“Hands and knees.”

His words shock me—I shiver, but not with fear. No, with anticipation. There is not even the briefest hesitation before I rock back and peer at him over my shoulder.

He is kneeling behind me, close but not yet touching. His chest heaving as though suffering a great strain… then I look down, all the way down to where his cock juts from a nest of dark curls, hard, ready, leaking pre-cum in a sticky trail.

He wants me. There can be no doubt.