Page 2 of The Fated Hunter Wolf

Over there.

My pulse surged, muscles screaming as I pushed harder. I was gaining on her.

Her wolf vaulted over a fallen log, her movements fluid but frantic. My chest heaved as I closed in on her, the cool night air searing my lungs. I couldn’t slow down. She glanced back once, amber eyes flashing in the darkness, and the look in them hit me harder than any blow ever could.

I didn’t see a stitch of fear in her. It was all challenge.

I growled low in my throat, the sound ripped from the depths of my being. She didn’t get to challenge me. Not on my land. The predator in me rose up, answering her defiance with a non-stop command.

Control her. Claim her.

The chase took on a new light. I tore after her, my senses sharper, the world brighter. Every scent, every sound, every heartbeat in the forest sang to me, but none louder than hers. Her scent drove me mad, spurring me on harder. She was fast. I was faster now. The distance between us shrank with every stride, her dark form weaving through the trees like a shadow given life.

Then she stopped.

Her wolf planted itself in the middle of the path, her head high and eyes blazing.

My wolf snarled and stopped. His chin lowered. Wait, was my wolfsubmittingto her?

No fucking way.

I’d call it hesitation, give my wolf the benefit of the doubt, even if I had no idea why.

Sable shifted into human form as easily as water pouring from a glass, her sandy hair spilling over her shoulders as she rose to face me.

She was naked and glowing under the moonlight. The sight of her stopped me dead.

My wolf retreated, sending me into an involuntary shift in front of her, and I was a man again.

Her body was a contradiction I couldn’t look away from—lean muscle carved into someone who’d fought for every inch of strength, yet the sight of her soft curves made my wolf ache with need. She wasn’t just beautiful; she wasbreathtaking. Her power was evident in every ripple of her frame, her femininity a weapon as sharp as any claw.

She glowed in the moonlight, breasts taut and nipples firm. The line of her waist to her succulent hips stole my soul and I nearly passed out.

A goddess forged by battle and shadow, untouchable yet standing close enough to destroy me.

“You should have stayed back,” she hissed.

“You should have stayed gone,” I shot back. “But now you’re going to answer for what you’ve done.”

Her lips curved, a humorless smile that only stoked the fire burning inside me. “You don’t know what you’re chasing, Rhys.”

“You don’t know who you’re running from.”

Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t move. That was her mistake.

I lunged, my hand closing around her wrist and bringing her toward me, skin on skin.

That same electric shock ripped through me again, slowing my pulse. All I could hear was my heartbeat at a dangerously low rate.

Let me go.The words reached me through an inexplicable bond.

I didn’t.

I pulled her closer.

You’re a fool, she said, which I took to mean I was getting closer to winning—without knowing what the prize was.

Take her, my wolf—myfuckingwolf—demanded, rising up through my veins and finally increasing my heart rate while I stared into those dangerously wicked amber eyes.