“Yes,” I whimper. I want to give him control, but in a very different way than Leon takes control. I want to escape the whole tangled web of Mr. Bosley’s bullshit, to forget all about my shitty job and let Eli fuck all the tension out of me.

He runs his hands down my thighs, digging the claws of his other hand into my jeans.

“You want to run away from the big, bad wolf?” he asks, still gripping my hair, breathing against my neck, and I can’t help the moan that falls from my lips.

I nod rapidly. I want to find the high he’s promising me, far away from all these people.

“Then go.” Eli releases me. I find his canines have grown even longer, even sharper. He licks them, as if he’s ready to tear out my throat, and that makes all the blood in my body run even hotter. “Run and hide, little rabbit, so I can find you again.”

I know these woods, probably better than he does. A thrill runs through me. I can weaponize all this fear, all the anxiety I’ve felt since Mr. Bosley called me this morning, and use it to fuel me.

Maybe then I can lose myself in Eli, instead.

My breaths speed up, and without thinking twice, I turn around and run.

I sprint past other picnic tables, where people give me odd looks as I blaze by. Once I’m through the picnic area and surrounded by tall trees, I dive off the main path, because I’ll be much too easy to follow if I take it. I careen between trunks, my legs finally recognizing what I’m asking of them. My muscles come to life and speed me into the forest.

From far behind me comes the sound of footsteps, the crunching of pine needles and twigs. A loud howl echoes through the woods, and I know I’m no longer being chased by a man, but by a creature.

I push my legs even harder, my feet pounding the forest floor as I take a quick left turn, then keep going. That heat in my abdomen hasn’t cooled—if anything, I’m even hotter, even wetter between my thighs, thinking about what Eli might do to me when he finds me. He is truly a beast right now, something feral and hungry. And he wants to eat me.

The ground slopes upward, and my breaths come harder. My thighs burn as I try to keep my pace going uphill. I’m dodging fallen logs and zigzagging between tree trunks when a roar echoes through the air. Instead of two feet crunching the forest floor, now I can hear four bounding through the trees behind me. They’re growing closer and closer, and a manic laugh comes out of me.

I think, perhaps, I’ve always wanted to be chased. I’ve been training for this for years without even realizing it. All my anxiety about Mr. Bosley has drained away, turning into raw fuel.

I take another sharp turn and keep going, my lungs burning, my chest aching. My legs are losing strength quickly, and now my heavy breaths can be heard everywhere.

Suddenly, there’s a low growl from behind me, so close it could practically be on top of me. I don’t have time to dodge or duck before something heavy slams into me, catapulting me to the forest floor. My hands skid across pine needles and dirt, and all the air rushes out of my lungs.

“Caught you,” Eli’s gravelly voice says.

Something massive is holding me down with sharp claws, its body weight keeping me from escaping, no matter how much I scrabble with my hands and twist my body. The more I wriggle, the more those claws dig into my shirt and jeans, and the monster on top of me snarls. My fear and my arousal all mix together, driving me absolutely wild. I’m so painfully wet that it’s sticky between my thighs.

“Keep struggling, little rabbit,” Eli tells me, lowering his drooling mouth to my ear, “and you’ll awaken the beast more than you already have.”

Droplets of saliva fall onto my cheek, dripping down to the forest floor. I moan as those clawed hands rake down my sides, chewing into my clothing. He licks the side of my face, that hot tongue leaving a trail along my cheek and ear. I gasp as his huge hands find my ass, squeezing it tight. I buck, pushing my hips against his paws.

“Should I rut you right here on the ground?” he asks, panting into my ear. “Or should I take you on my cock against this tree?” He tears into the fabric of my pants with an audible rip.

Oh, I kind of liked those.

He drags his claw between the cheeks of my ass, down to where I’m moist and needy, and cups my pussy in his paw. “I think you want me to mate you right here, in the dirt.” There’s even more ripping as my thighs open of their own accord, exposing me to the air.

Yes, that’s exactly what I want: to be fucked by this monster, right here out in nature, right where we belong.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Something hot and slick rubs against my ass, and liquid drips onto my back. I don’t have to look to know it’s Eli’s massive cock. He groans and reaches under my hips to yank my ass into the air.

“What do you think, little rabbit?” he snarls, his tongue laving across my neck, tasting my sweat. I shiver and wriggle, my pussy clenching and unclenching. “Should I put all of my cock inside you? Should I fuck you until you beg me for mercy?”

“Please,” I moan into the ground. I need it, now, or I might just cease to exist. “Please, big bad wolf. Right here.”

His groan is deep and low, rumbling in his chest. He pushes his cock down between my cheeks, and then it slips between my folds, gliding easily along with how slick I’ve become.

“So wet for me,” he murmurs, that wide head already pressing into me, insisting I open for it. Like this, my elbows and knees in the dirt and my legs askance, I’m spread so wide that my pussy easily parts for him.

“Yes, Tiff,” he grunts, trying to squeeze in even more, but his cock is so fat and swollen that I don’t think I can take it. Panting, Eli reels his hips back, and with a heavy grunt he thrusts in, hard.