Page 14

S hafts of light filter in through the trees, the boughs reaching out to bathe in the pale afternoon glow as the leaves light up like jewels of greens and yellows. But the light struggles to reach the depths of the forest, and closer down to the ground, where Blue and I are skulking. There’s an earthy scent that occurs only after a fresh rain fall. Petrichor. Damp and decaying leaves.

Peeling back my lips to let out a low growl, I warn my little hare that my patience is wafer thin. Lowering my nose close to dirt, I inhale, letting the fragrant notes of the forest guide me as all my other stresses melt away and I focus on my instincts. I may not be able to see my mate, but I know he’s out there watching. I can feel him.

Scanning the undergrowth, my muscles are coiled tight as I wait. Predators know all about patience. How the kill is all about the hunt. Somewhere in the distance, a branch snaps.

Up ahead, I see him, his beautiful silvery coat like a beacon against the greenery. My fallen star. My love. My prey.

He sits up on his back legs, ears twitching, swiveling nervously as he listens out for me. But I don’t move. Patience.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a game between us because if Blue had no intention of playing, he could have run. He would have been almost to town by now. He could have dug a burrow and hidden safely beneath the earth. Instead, my bratty little bunny was overconfident, baiting me into the chase.

Another faint rustle snags my attention, and we both turn, but when nothing emerges, Blue darts through a dense thicket of brambles and ferns, a blur of pure white.

Launching myself forward, I stalk him through the thickets. A thorny bush snags my fur, but I don’t let it stop me as I try to follow his path through the brambles. Mine. Mine. Mate. The chase was instinct, pure unfiltered, untethered instinct. I was driven by a need to claim him. Own him. Breed him. I’m close on his heels as we pick up speed, but he’s always just out of reach.

Just a little further ahead.

Just a little faster.

As I prepare to spring, he darts left, and I skid into a tree trunk with a thud, rotten roots ensnaring me. It takes me longer than I’d like to admit to right myself, and I let out a howl of frustration. The noise rises up my throat and disturbs a nearby owl.

Up ahead, I hear a clicking, similar to the one earlier at the cabin. But unlike the sense of dread that came with Abiel’s noise, I know that it’s Blue. Mocking me.

Taking off again, I’m desperate to close the gap between us. I could almost feel the warmth of his fleeing body, hear the frantic beats of his heart thrumming away behind his rib cage. He was so close.

Somewhere around us, I hear running water and as Blue skitters a little more to the right, I register that he’s avoiding a stream. Unlike him, I’m not quick enough, tumbling into the cold water head first as my paws slide in mud before I emerge on an embankment on the other side, shivering and dripping.

Blue takes pity on me, watching from nearby with a tilt of his head. My fox has had enough. Prowling towards him, shaking off the water that clings to my russet coat, I never take my eyes off him.

The closer I get, the more his scent, raw and sweet, fills my nostrils, driving me wild. His eyes hold a wildness that mirrors mine and I can see him trying to find a way out. There is no escaping what’s between us.

I begin to circle with a soft huff, a knowing breath that our dance was coming to an end. It was time for the hunter to claim his quarry, and I refused to let Blue slip between my fingers again, like a ghost. Mine.

This time, I leap, putting every ounce of power and drive I have into the jump. He tries to dart away, kicking out at me, boxing me with his front paws, but I am done with his antics today.

He is mine.

He. Is. Mine.

We tussle for a few moments, but while he may be faster; I am stronger. With a feral roar, I clamp my jaws onto the back of his neck and pin him down in the mud. His fur is matted with leaves and dirt as he lets out a whimper. Tasting copper as I sink my teeth in, I keep his writhing body held in place beneath mine.

This time, my shift is almost effortless. It’s like liquid, flowing from one form to another as if my human body was waiting in anticipation for this moment. I’m not the only one to have shifted, as Blue’s warm body stretches out beneath me in his human shape.

Where streaked silken fur had been, there was now smooth pale skin smeared with dirt, and covered in battle scars. Recognition flares between us as the bond finally clicks into place.

His frantic struggles cease, chest heaving with rapid, shallow breaths. That’s when I see the teeth marks on the back of his neck, bloodied and raw. A tremor runs through my body as the surrounding forest seems to blur, the sounds and smells fading until all I see and feel is him.

Mate.

Earlier, when he asked me if he was still beautiful, I had no words. Not because he wasn’t, but because my heart hurt at what he’d suffered at the hands of the people who were supposed to care for him. Now as he lies on a bed of leaves on the forest floor, a survivor, a fighter, a bratty little shit, he has never looked more beautiful in my eyes.

Unwilling to make this easy on me, Blue hisses and scratches at me as he tries to scramble away. Taking both his smaller wrists in my hand, I pin them into the mud above his head. Whether he admits it or not, he is mine. His body was made for mine.

Part of him recognizes that he belongs to me just like I belong to him as his back arches, pressing his peachy ass against my groin.

There’s a lingering wildness in his eyes as he looks over his shoulder at me. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Leaning in to lap at the fresh blood pooling over the teeth marks, I glide the head of my hard cock through his slippery crease. For all his arrogance, he was dripping slick, just as desperate for me as I was for him.

With a snarl, I press myself against his tight hole, applying pressure but not pushing inside as I continue to lap at the claiming mark he wears. My mark.

“Madoc, are you just going to poke me with that thing or are you going to fuck me?” He lets out a frustrated huff as he thrust his ass back against me.

Chuckling quietly, I continue to lick up the column of his neck before sucking his earlobe between my lips and pinching it between my teeth gently.

I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted until he admitted what we both knew. We were Fated Mates. The energy fizzling between us down the bond was palpable. It felt like I was finally complete. Blue was the missing piece of the puzzle, slotting perfectly into place and suddenly it was like I could breathe again.

The parts of my mind that had been fractured into man and fox were working together, claiming the man with galaxy eyes. I had been waiting for him my whole life. And if he thought I couldn’t wait five minutes more or even an hour for him to finally acknowledge me, then he was underestimating my patience.

He rolls his hips grinding up against me, and I know he can feel my pre-cum dripping against his skin and on the small of his back, but still, I hold myself firm covering his body with mine.

“Fuck me, my alpha!” He demands. His words are like a match, lighting me up from the inside as he claims me in return.

Pressing my teeth back over the marks, I bite down again, lighter this time, but as I apply the pressure, I sink into his wet heat in one thrust, drawing a protracted groan from the both of us.

The bond between us means energy moves like an endless circuit, ebbing and flowing between us, back and forth. I can feel his pleasure like a feedback loop as I rut into him slowly, with hard, deep strokes.

The thrill of the Hunt and the heightened emotions of our day are taking their toll on me, as my body is on a hairpin trigger. Already I can feel my orgasm building in the base of my spine, the pressure growing with every plunge of my cock into his tight body.

I know Blue feels the same as he claws at the dirt, whispering my name into the mud like he’s seeking out divine intervention. “My alpha. Madoc. Mad. Fuckkkkk. Alpha.”

He begs so sweetly when he’s not biting or scratching like a feral thing. It doesn’t take either of us long to climax, spilling out onto the forest floor with animalistic groans.

When I come, I’m careful not to knot him, even though my alpha nature demands it. We’re too exposed here. We’ve spent too long in the woods, and leaving us stuck vulnerable while we wait for my knot to deflate would be a less than ideal situation.

“Later.” I promise Blue, as he keens and pleads for it.

As we’re catching our breath, laying on our back staring up at the fading light through the gaps in the trees, I intertwine my fingers with his. We’re broken, battered and bloody, but now things make sense. We had to shatter, so we could begin the work of rebuilding.

“I love you.” Lifting his hand, I kiss his knuckles. “Do you believe me now?”

He turns to look at me, and we need no words. I can feel the love pouring from him down the bond. One day he’ll say the words aloud, but that’s okay because I can wait.

Pushing up onto his elbow, he laughs. “You know, for an intelligence agent, you got your ass handed to you back there.”

“I’ll have you know, I was mostly a desk agent. I rarely went out into the field.” Groaning, I bury my face in my hands. It wasn't my finest performance. I’d been so overwhelmed with worry for Blue that I’d made stupid mistakes. “Plus, I was more concerned about you—it distracted me.”

“So, what you’re saying is that all your muscles are just for show?” Raising a brow, Blue looks over my dirty, naked body. “But, what about Germany?”

Pushing to my feet and attempting to brush away some of the dirt, I give him a small shrug. “I begged my supervisor to put me in.”

Stretching out and grabbing handfuls of dirt, Blue closes his eyes. Whispering, he says, “I wish we could just stay here.”

He doesn’t. Not really. What he means is that he wishes we could be away from The Husk and Abiel. That we didn’t have to return to a ruined cabin or deal with the fallout of our lives imploding with a new mate bond. Life was simpler when we were a hare and a fox.

“We need to go back. Warn everyone else.” Reluctantly, he let me pull him to his feet and into my arms.

“I know.” He murmurs before placing a soft kiss on my lips. “Let’s do this.”

Using our shifter senses, we find our way back out to the road, careful to stay hidden in the trees as we’re both roaming around completely naked.

The low humming noise of an engine reaches our ears and we both freeze. Glancing at one another, we crouch down to see if we can get a better view of the oncoming vehicle.

A dusty looking red truck quickly approaches, at speeds that I’m pretty sure are illegal.

“Is that...is that my truck?” Blue asks, tugging on my hand as he pulls us out into the road so we can flag it down.

The truck slows, and before we can see through the dirt cloud surrounding it, we hear him.

“Where the fuck have you been?” A familiar voice screams over the sound of tires screeching as he comes to a juddering stop. Tuesday leans out the window with his mouth open, clearly unimpressed with our lack of clothing and the dirty, bloody state we’re in. “And what the fuck happened to you?”

Reaching over, he opens the passenger side and waves us in urgently. I climb in behind Blue, relieved when he offers me a jacket to drape over my lap. Wrapping an arm around his waist, I run my nose along his neck, scent marking him.

Tuesday quickly turns the truck around and we head back towards town. He’s wearing an unhinged grin as he looks at us both and says, “Everyone’s been looking for you. You need to see this.”