Page 2 of Wolves Bound by Desire

He slowly backed away from the water and lifted his wolf head. There she stood, on the other side of the stream, tall and beautiful in her animal form. Her bared teeth and dropping saliva should have told him all he needed to know, but all he could see was her long neck, her human body stretched out beneath him, her eyes rolling back as she came…

Misti darted to the fallen tree that crossed halfway through the stream and leaped the rest of the way to his embankment. Before he could react, she was on him, pinning him to the ground. Her teeth snapped way too close to his jaw, and he pressed against her neck only hard enough to create some space between them.

Her paw swatted his head so hard he saw sparks of color. Sometimes he liked it rough in the bedroom, but this was too much for him.

He growled out a warning, but she went to swat him again.

Easily shifting his body weight, he forced them to roll over again and again until they plunged into the water. Misti surfaced first and placed her paws on his head to try to keep him down. He tugged on her tail, not enough to hurt, and pushed his head above the surface. After swallowing some air, he dogpaddled to his side.

From the splashing behind him, he knew she was gaining on him. He didn’t know by how much until he climbed out and shook the water from his fur. Suddenly, she yanked on his tail and mounted him.

There was nothing sexual about this, but oh, did he wish that was the case. He jerked his body, and Misti tumbled down. Now he was the one to pin her, and he snapped his teeth near her nose to try to warn her to stop.

Of course she wouldn’t listen. Not that Anders had expected the she-wolf too. She had a mind of her own, and she was in the killing mode. He could sense it, not just from her fighting style, but she even smelled of it, blood and heat and fire.

She lifted her head suddenly, and her teeth gripped his ear. With a flick of her neck, she pulled his ear hard. The stench of blood grew, and it called to the wolf he was controlling. His wolf wanted complete control, to either claim her or kill her, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to control his beast. As it was, he wanted to claim her in his own right.

He laid a paw on her chest and pressed down until he could feel her heart beating. So fast, so swift, so strong—just like her.

Misti released his ear and snapped at him again, this time aiming for his throat. He blocked her with his mouth, their teeth colliding, growling, snarling, nipping at each other. To him, it was rough foreplay, but to her, it was probably only an attempt to end him. While he was bigger and stronger, he didn’t know if he had it in him to stop her through brute force if that was what it would take to stop her. In fact, he wouldn’t. His father and his people were also on the hunt for him. Even his killing a Red Nightwalker and taking another one wouldn’t change his father’s opinion on him. The only two questions were whether or not his father had sent out trackers to find him and kill him and how much time he had left to live, regardless of who it was who killed him.

So he climbed down from her, rolled onto his back, and stretched out his neck. Giving up? No. Choosing his time. One last act of disobedience.

But she did not approach him, and her snarls stopped. She took a step away from him and whined. There was a rustling in the bushes, and a naked, bloodied man crawled forward.

The growl Misti unleashed made Anders’s blood freeze. With an animalistic shriek, she dashed to him, teeth snapping, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the sweet bite that would set him free.

3

The sight of Gerald bleeding and broken, the stench of death surrounding him blinded Misti to everything except for Anders’s wolf, lying there, waiting for her to end him.

And she was so ready to. She even charged Anders, her wolf screaming for more of his blood.

But then Gerald said one word: “Don’t.”

Her teeth had just touched his fur. All she had to do was clamp down, and it would all be over.

“Don’t. He… he was trying…”

One bite and she could return home. Father need never know what she had done, that she had not only disobeyed him concerning sleeping with a werewolf, but with a vile Shadowed Star. To kill the one responsible for Jason and for stealing away Gerald might even elevate her high enough in her father’s esteem that he would stop his talk of making Xavier his heir. Her cousin was nothing more than a pup compared to her, too willing to do whatever her father wished to even stop and think whether or not it was for the best. The pack needed someone who could be logical and brilliant if they were to survive the feud against the Shadowed Stars.

Maybe her father should look elsewhere other than her or Xavier.

Her mouth watered, and she readied to snap her jaw shut.

“Trying to save…. Save me,” Gerald said through strangled gasps of air. He collapsed onto the ground and stopped moving.

Misti jerked back and ran over to Gerald’s side, changing as she went, not caring about her nakedness. “What happened to you?” The stench of blood and decay was stronger now that she was beside him.

Anders walked over, naked as his name day, bruises already coloring his body, blood dripping from spots.

She glowered at him. “What did you do to him?” She had to fight herself to not revert to her wolf form, so great was her fury.

“I did nothing but try to save him.”

“You expect me to believe that?” she snapped. Did Anders think that just because they had slept together, she would forgive his sins or accept his lies?

“After we parted, I wanted to try and make things right.”

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