Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

CARVER

A s a thirty-year-old hermit who'd lived in the woods his whole life, I didn't get out much. But I had my pleasures. The full moon cresting the tree tops in a starless sky and the wordless joy it brought my wolf. A ten-pointed stag roaming behind my cabin in the early morning, fog rolling in around it like a protective spell from the forest telling me to leave the rifle inside and just sip my coffee from my porch and enjoy the view. Getting my hands on the last book in a series that the author had taken a year to release and having the ending be just as good as I'd hoped.

But this rebellious little rabbit shifter wearing nothing but my shirt, with my ax in her hands and murder in her eyes? Top of the list.

"Stop looking at me like that! You know what I can do with this ax!"

I knew exactly how dangerous she was with that thing. She unnerved me with it, even after seeing her get down on all fours and fuck it.

Didn't change the fact that she'd taken my brother's life with it. She'd take mine, too, if pushed.

My dick was harder than ever, and my thoughts darkened with my smile. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, girl."

I debated telling her the chances of her getting pregnant were high. Would she even believe me? She'd probably see it as me trying to get out of marking her.

"Just get on the bed," she demanded for a second time, her tone warning me that she wasn't going to stand here and argue with me.

I slowly put my hands up, palms raised to her in submission as I moved backward toward the bed, a smug grin on my face the entire time to show her she didn't rattle me even though that was a bald-faced lie. Everything about this woman shook me to my core.

When the back of my legs hit the bedframe, I dropped onto the bed and laid down with my back flat against the mattress and my feet planted on the ground.

Only when I was lying down did she move to me, careful to keep the ax in her hands even as she shuffled onto the bed with her knees on either side of my hips. She didn't trust me worth a damn. Good girl. Bunnies always had good survival instincts.

Every move she made was calculated as she mounted me, each visible sinew in her slight frame coiled like a goddamn snake, ready to strike if needed.

"What kind of freak gets a boner when a girl stands over him with an ax? You don't know what I'm about to do with this."

She positioned the ax so the blade pressed to my balls. "I could chop these off right now. I don't need you to have balls to sit on this cock and make you bite me."

I laughed, and her brow wrinkled in annoyance. "What's so funny?"

"I was stupid for thinking that male rabbit could ever be your mate. No rabbit shifter could handle a mouth like yours, Ruthless."

Her eyes narrowed into venomous slits. Wordlessly, she positioned herself over my pelvis, lining us up, keeping one hand on the ax while her other held my cock in place. As she moved, the ax shifted, and the blade sliced the first layer of my skin.

I hissed, and the monster inside me whined.

"She's so perfect. And all mine. Soon that pretty little pussy will be filled and bred. Imagine it. Her perfect body, round with my pup."

I didn't want to dwell on the image the wolf summoned to mind. I couldn't get attached.

"Too late."

Ruth lowered herself onto my shaft, and her face contorted as I stretched her. The copious amounts of pre-cum, along with some of the blood that leaked from my fresh cut, had me sliding into her tight body with ease.

The piercings in her bunny ears gleamed in the moonlight coming in through the window as her head tipped to the ceiling.

My attention dropped to watch her take me in, a sight that would be branded forever into my brain.

Ruth kept one hand tight on the ax with the blade perilously close to the base of my shaft with her other hand now braced against my chest as she pulled herself up—my dick coated in her arousal—then back down.

If only I could freeze the moment.

When I'd fucked her against the fridge, I'd been in control. Now, she was the one dictating speed and depth. She was just as rough as I'd been.

She was hypnotic.

A smile curved my lips as I watched her take me, chasing her climax and alleviating the ache the heat instilled within her.

A blush bloomed across her cheeks when she caught me grinning wolfishly at her, and she shot me another glare through the darkened room. "You're not supposed to be enjoying this, you sick bastard."

"Would you enjoy yourself more if I acted like I wasn't?"

The bunny's blush deepened. " No . That's not what I meant. Just shift already so we can get this over with. It's your wolf's cock I need. This form is useless to me."

"You're sure not acting like you find it useless."

She gnashed her teeth, but the effect lost its bite as it crumbled into a moan. "Shift. Please. I want your wolf cock. I— I need it."

The emphasis she put on "need" had me wondering if she was referring to her escape plan requiring my mark or if there was some other part of her that yearned for me. A part that went deeper than her biological need to rut in her heat state.

"Come on my cock first. Do that for me, and I'll let my wolf out."

A snarl of pain ripped from my throat as she nudged the ax closer to my shaft, the blade slicing deeper into my skin. The scent of blood permeated the air, but it didn't slow her thrusts. She kept riding me even as she spilled my blood.

Fissures of pleasure and pain shredded my nerves. Thick beads of sweat rolled down the sides of my neck, soaking the sheets beneath me.

"Fuck," I groaned, my head rolling back into my pillow as she rode my cock hard. Blood, cum, and sweat pooled where we were joined, making a wet slapping sound every time she brought herself down.

"Fucking—"

Clap.

"Shift—"

Clap.

"You brutal?—"

Clap.

"Werewolf—"

Clap.

"Bastard!"

I cackled hysterically, my hands moving to grip her waist as she bobbed up and down on my body. She had been angry from the moment I'd laid my eyes on her. Understandably. She'd been dumped in the woods by her own people, left to fend for herself. And that's exactly what she was doing. Surviving even if the odds were stacked sky-high against her.

"Shift, or I'll gut you like I gutted your fucking brother."

Oh, no. She'd crossed a line with that one.

Keeping a hand anchored to her waist, my other found her throat. I wrenched her forward, forcing her spine to bend until her tits pressed against my chest and our barreling breaths entwined.

"Go ahead, kill me. Use my corpse to get off, if that's your thing. But good luck getting a dead man to mark you, baby girl."

Fucking this girl was like playing footsie with the grim reaper. Undeniably dangerous. Addicting, too, when near death felt this good.

She could wear that pissed-off expression all she wanted. She was enjoying this. Her pussy clamped around me like a vice, growing wetter with every pump, and the obscene sound of wet flesh against flesh growing louder.

Electric warmth wound tight in my belly as I watched her ride me.

I bucked my hips, fucking up into her as I dragged her back down on my cock. A delicious little moan dribbled from her lips. My fingers twitched around her throat, pulling her mouth to mine.

"Come for me, Bunny," I whispered against her.

"Alpha," she whimpered, the sound so small and etched with bliss. She had to be close. "I–I'm coming. You're going to stick to our deal and s–shift, I swear to— Oh ?—"

Her thighs quivered, and her stomach clenched as waves of pleasure visibly wracked her body. "Fu—ck." The word came out as atwo-syllable groan on her tongue. She collapsed onto my chest in a boneless pile, her perfect tits pressed into my pectorals.

A raspy growl rumbled from my chest as I craned my head to look down at her. With how the blade was still nestled at my shaft's base, it cut deep into my skin, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Anything to look at her for just a few seconds longer.

My fingers combed through her locks, and I wound the section with the purple through it around my finger.

She finally pulled the ax away with a sigh and craned her head to look at the damage. All the color drained from her cheeks as she took in the amount of blood she'd shed over my sheets. "Oh shit. You've lost a lot of blood. I'm so sorry."

She was apologizing to me?

I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or cry or keep pounding into her to chase the release that was just within reach…

I resisted the urge to keep fucking her, and instead, I brushed the backs of my inked knuckles over the delicate column of her throat. She winced as I touched the bruises, and the knot between my lungs tightened, making every breath I took agony.

"Don't apologize."

Her gaze lifted to meet mine, those dark eyes peering at me through her thick lashes. "Why?"

"Because I don't think you're sorry for a second. Besides, if you're going to kill my own damn brother, break into my house and threaten to cut my balls off, you'd better mean it."

Ruth drew her arm back. I saw the slap coming, and I didn't stop it. The crisp smack of skin on skin sounded through my room, and as I blinked the stars away, I saw her reaching for the ax again.

There wasn't so much as a flicker of fear inside me until she brought the blade to her forearm.

"She's going to cut herself! Stop her!"

I reached for her, but the blade had already sliced through her skin. It wasn't deep, thankfully. Tossing the ax aside, she held her arm over my mouth and, with her free hand, shoved her fingers inside my mouth—prying my jaw open.

It would have been easy to fight her off. I didn't.

She was right, we had a deal, and it was time to hold up my end… Even if there was a part of me that wanted to protect her… from myself most of all.

I allowed her to wedge her fingers between my teeth and dribble her blood into my gaping mouth.

The taste of her was like a drug, shooting straight into my bloodstream. Oh, gods.

My head spun, and my entire body ached as monstrous instincts clawed their way to the surface. I'd already made the first shift of the season, but this felt different. More significant.

More… Feral.

This was the first time where I felt like the kind of werewolf depicted in human movies—an uncontrollable, wild beast.

I was no longer in control of my urge to mate and breed and destroy.

I was a slave to it.

As I was shoved to the back of my consciousness, forced to watch from the backseat, the monster's voice was a practice purr in my ear. "My turn. Time to show you how we treat our mate."