Page 2 of His to Claim

Hard liquor.

Steel Harley.

Savage sex.

Hunting prey.

And not necessarily in that order.

I was consumed by a ravaging hunger very few humans could understand, except for those considered sick in mainstream society. I’d been around individuals whose dark proclivities were hidden; powerful and rich men and women who held their secrets dearly for fear of retribution. They were dangerous in their own right, capable of doing vile, heinous acts in order to protect what they held dear.

I was dangerous for an entirely different reason.

I was Wolfen.

I was a beast created in nightmares, a monster to all those who’d even encountered a member of our pack. I’d been taught about our ancestry, earlier generations succumbing to a horrific sickness that had killed thousands of humans. After our creation, we’d survived heinous battles, becoming stronger and faster, our abilities superior to those of any human. Once, we’d been considered kings. Now we were living in mainstream society, forbidden to turn into our natural state unless absolutely necessary. Was I bitter? Hell, yes, but life moved on. We all had to make a living somehow.

Love and mating were something else entirely.

She’d never learned that I was Wolfen and she never would. I was mandated by our laws to keep our world secret. While there were packs of Wolfen scattered across the world, one of the largest packs had settled just outside of Denver in a town created to keep our people safe. Roselake was self-sufficient, many of our elders serving on the town council.

I’d made the mistake of telling my father about her, but only once. He’d forbidden me to see her again, simply because she was human.

A rule that I’d ignored.

Vanessa…

Even the way her name slid across my tongue brought out the beast in me.

I’d once thought of her as my mate, the hunger burning so deeply within me that I hadn’t been able to sleep or eat, my college grades suffering because of my longing. While it hadn’t made any sense given she was human, she’d felt the same burning need, even for the short period of time. Only her departure had ceased the intensity, although her actions had altered the man inside in several ways.

Bitterness had taken over, shutting down a significant portion of everything I’d thought I wanted. Now I had no desire to procreate in any manner. Why bring more shifters into this world only to force them to live like outcasts?

Then again, even if I took her as mine, I could never turn her. The rules.

While I had no belief in bullshit karma or coincidences, literally running into the only woman I’d ever cared about had been… cathartic.

The electric event had aroused the kind of brutal desire that few women could handle, the same craving that gnawed at my insides from the very second I’d looked into her gorgeous emerald eyes. Even now, my heart raced from the beast hungering to the point of near insanity. Being around her would take every ounce of control I had not to transform.

My indulgence in Vanessa Bridges had started with one night of sultry, filthy sex in the middle of my dorm bathroom, the experience one I’d never forget. The meeting then had been similar in nature, bumping into each other at the college bookstore. From that moment on, we’d forged a bond, spending additional time sweltering in moments of passion, writhing in ecstasy.

A single argument had forced us apart, her nasty words creating a barrier deep within me. Then she’d disappeared, leaving school altogether. Not a fucking word of any kind. I’d sworn on that day never to give a shit about anyone else and I’d kept that promise.

I’d never heard from her again.

Then she’d made a wrong turn on the right street, running smack into my Harley.

Now she had consequences to pay for damaging my prized possession.

And for ripping out a part of my heart.

I wanted to continue hating her, tossing her away like she’d done to me years before, but it seemed my body had other ideas in mind.

What the hell. Another fling might do my psyche some good.

I remained in the darkness, able to see every nuance on her gorgeous body perfectly. She’d matured in all the right ways, her voluptuous figure a thing of perfection. While she was just as exquisite as I’d remembered, there was a hardness to her, as if life hadn’t gone exactly as she’d intended.

All I could think about was taking her.

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