Chapter 19

NINETEEN

RUTH

J ust as I'd hoped, the instant my blood touched the silver wolf's tongue, he lost his hold over his primal nature.

He was shape-shifting right before my eyes.

Any other bunny in my position would be terrified. But my survival instincts told me I needed his mark. A voice so small, like a breeze in the back of my brain, whispered to me, telling me this was right despite how wrong it all was.

It was unsettling at first, feeling him transform beneath me. Feeling his bones rack and fuse back together, stretching skin with tufts of fur rapidly forming into a thick and flouncy coat of silver.

In the woods, I'd gotten up close and personal with his brother. Well, not this close and personal, but near enough to the beast to slay it. There hadn't been a lot of time to stop and study his features. It was a giant silver wolf, and it wanted to kill me with his pregnant mate not far away. It's not like I was going to stop and take in his features.

Now that I had time to drink in every detail, this creature wasn't wolf or man—but something in between.

His chest was still its same shape, only more expansive, with the masculine contours of his postural and abdominal muscles covered in a thick dusting of fur.

His legs morphed into haunches tipped with huge paws in place of his feet, and his hands expanded, growing twice their size, his nails extending into black claws that stood out against his moon-pale coat.

His head took on the shape of a wolf's—giant snout and a mouthful of deadly teeth—and had the little hairs on my rabbit tail quivering.

I braced my hands against his chest for purchase, my knees clamping tight around his hips as I held on for dear life through his shift.

At that moment, I realized my mistake.

He was still inside me, and if he was big before, he was freaking huge now.

It was too late to change my mind. Not after the lengths I'd gone to get to this point.

His cock and the shape it took on had my eyes crossing and drool trickling from the corners of my mouth.

He was longer, thicker, with maybe a tapered tip. It was tough to tell with how deep it was seated inside me. By the ridges rubbing my inner walls, it was definitely ribbed.

I knew the shift was over when the silver wolf collapsed back into the mattress with a pained growl that turned to a relieved purr on the next breath.

All the oxygen emptied from my lungs when our eyes locked. It was like I was looking at the ghost of the monster whose life I'd taken.

My jaw set as guilt crept into my chest, penetrating my armor of fury and vengeance.

None of this was fair. What had I done to get this dicked over by the universe? I didn't ask to be born into what was basically a cult, where young rabbit shifters were sacrificed at random to the local werewolf pack. Where my sister, my cousin, and so many of my kin went to their deaths.

I refused to conform. I refused to just lay down and accept my fate. As much as I hated to admit it, the silver wolf was right. I had nothing to apologize for.

I'd been forced into being prey and I'd turned out the predator instead.

The werewolf's post-shift haze seemed to dissipate, and he reached for me. I moved faster than him, grabbing for the ax.

He didn't move to stop me. He only smiled. At least, that's what it looked like he was doing. The human expression seemed out of place on his muzzle.

"It's only been one night since I've known you, but I've waited my whole life to meet you, Little One."

I stared blankly at the beast whose voice was raspy, low and full of growl. Summoning a coherent thought was difficult enough, with the gigantic wolf cock splitting me open, but this sudden shift in his demeanor had me turning to liquid. "Um…"

"So beautiful…" He tucked a rogue lock of my hair behind my ear with one of his massive claws, the simple motion shockingly gentle. "Especially when you have murder in your eyes."

The monster's words disarmed me. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting when I finally met the silver wolf's inner beast, but it wasn't this. He seemed…kind. The adoration warming his eyes terrified me more than the cruel touch of his human counterpart.

Trusting the kindness bank in his gaze, I dropped my grip on the ax for good. "I need your mark, Alpha. So, let's just get this over quickly."

He laughed as if I'd told some hilarious joke. "Oh, little one. You're seriously mistaken if you think this is going to be quick. We're together. True mates united. Tonight, we bond. Our first rut must be savored."

"I'm not your true mate. At least, I don't think. You said so yourself; rabbits and wolves can't be mates."

"My human host said that, and he's foolish. Blinded by the loss of his kin. Regardless, you will bear my mark. Therefore, you'll be mine."

"Technically, y–yes," I hedged. It was nearly impossible to articulate, considering how we were joined. "I'm only doing this to end my heat cycle and cover my scent. Your mark means I can leave these woods safely. Your pack is still out there, hunting me."

"You aren't going anywhere without me after tonight, Little Bunny. You are mine."

"Stop saying that!" Panic struck my chest like a bolt of lightning. Adrenaline coursed through me, making my body shake, and my breath come out in short, rattling pants. Just about every instinct in my body urged me to flee, but there was no running now. I was still mounted over his pelvis with his cock lodged deep inside me. "You agreed?—"

The rest of my sentence was replaced with a yelp as his claws found my waist, plucked me off his cock with an embarrassing wet sound and flipped me over so that my back was to the mattress with the silver wolf looming over me, caging me to the bed.

"You are mine!" he repeated, this time with a roar that had my head swimming.

His paws closed around my thighs, his claws so large the tips met, and hepried my legs apart. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw what had been inside me.

There, taking up an alarming amount of my vision, was an erect cock so huge and obscene that it was a wonder how it fit inside me.

A rope of milky white pre-cum oozed from the tapered tip and dribbled down the bright red shaft. At its base was a large bulge. What on earth was that for? There was no way something that bulbous could fit into a female, even a werewolf female.

The wolf's silvery eyes turned dark as his pupils dilated. He crouched between the crux of my thighs and, to my horror, pressed his snout to my pussy and inhaled. The masculine groan he released reverberated against me, sending shock waves through my body. "You smell incredible. Your womb begs for my seed."

I squirmed against the bed, but one paw lifted from my thigh, his palm flattening against my belly to keep me still. His other paw lifted my leg in the air to spread me wider.

The wolf leaned closer, each huff of his molten breath a palpable caress over my core.

A tiny little " Oh " left me when he parted his jaws to reveal the biggest tongue I'd ever seen, snaking toward my exposed center.

My heart slammed against my ribs in a painful tempo as deadly jaws drifted closer to my most delicate parts, his teeth gleaming wickedly in the moonlight filtering through the window.

A throaty mewl climbed up my throat with the first lick he painted through my folds.

He tasted all of me, from my clit to the tight ring of muscle in my rear. The tip of his tongue flicked the ring decorating my labia, and he reared back with a growl.

"It's silver!"

I gaped at him through the dark, my brain taking a beat to make sense of what just happened. Before his tongue slithered back into his maw, I noticed the scorch where the metal had burned him.

He'd already touched the piercing, but that was in his human form.

The Elders always told us that werewolves' weakness to silver was made up by Hollywood. Did they really not know? Or had they lied to us to make sure the sacrifices didn't go into the Hunt prepared?

My anger devolved into panic when the wolf took me in his claws. A scream caught in my throat as I waited for the pain to register. A brief pinching was the only sensation I felt.

I blinked down to see him carefully prying the hoop open. With great care, he slid it off and tossed it away with an offended snarl. "What about the rest?"

The beast wearily eyed the jewelry in my ears.

"Surgical steel," I assured him. "Only that one was sterling."

He grunted in understanding and returned his tongue to my center. My hands flew to his massive head, curling into his fur as his tongue pushed into my entrance. He didn't fill me up as much as his cock, but it was wetter and more agile in the way that he hit my insides.

He plunged the muscle inside me, fucking me with his tongue until my body felt like jelly, and another climax threatened to swallow me.

The tip of his tongue curled, hitting a secret spot inside, sending me hurtling over the edge.

The beast kept me pinned to the bed as I screamed my release then he sat back on his haunches, his nostrils flaring when we locked eyes.

My chest heaved with my labored breaths, and for an intense minute, he just stared at me.

I was probably wearing a look fitting a bunny about to get fucked by a wolf several times her size. His gaze softened, and his grip on me turned into something tender.

The wolf was massive and scary, just like his brother had been. But there was that look in this one's eyes that Casey hadn't had. Something softer, meant only for a mate.

A flutter filled my chest as I deciphered that gleam in his frost-colored orbs.

Adoration.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Little Bunny." His purr was soft and comforting, making my muscles ease. "I'll give you what you need and so much more."

I'd heard that werewolf's beast forms almost had their own personalities separate from their human counterparts. What I hadn't expected was how different the beast would be. This one was tender in the way it held me. Careful.

Who could have guessed that the monster was the sweet one?

"I— I don't need anything from you except your mark, thanks."

Chuckling, the beast gripped his ribbed flesh and gave it a slow pump. He ran his thumb over the head and shivered when he dipped the tip of his claw into the slit—which pushed out another tear of pre-cum.

He canted his hips and lined up the pointed tip of his cock with my center. "Oh, sweet mate. You're going to take everything I give you."