Chapter 5

FIVE

RUTH

I nstinct took over the moment the wolf told me to run. I'd cover more ground in a shorter time if I shifted. He told me not to, but what were the chances he'd be able to shoot me in time? A vicious shiver tore through me, colder than the wind that whipped my hair. I had a feeling he wasn't bluffing about being an excellent shot. Even if he was, it was a wonder his wolf hadn't taken over yet.

If I morphed into my rabbit form, I doubt the monster inside him would resist. It didn't give a damn if the Hunt hadn't officially started. Instinct didn't give a shit about rules.

But it wasn't the fear of the bullet or being hunted by a fully shifted werewolf that kept me in my human form. It was the dark thrill of imagining him cutting my clothes off with my own knife.

Jesus. What in the ever-loving fuck was wrong with me? Why was I so attracted to this monster?

For all I knew, he was the alpha of the pack, and he was toying with me for shits and giggles until the Hunt officially started. If he was the one to kill me, wearing that cocky smirk while he sunk his teeth into me, shredding my clothes with his rough hands… There had to be worse ways to go.

A small, inexplicable part of me wanted him to catch me. And it was that epiphany that frightened me more than anything else. These woods—this male—they were screwing with my head.

Even on two legs, I zipped through the trees. Outrunning predators was second nature.

Snapping twigs and crunching leaves from behind got louder as he gained on me. I didn't have to look back to know the precious space between us was shrinking fast. My breath came out in harsh gusts, my heart pounded hard in my head like an alarm.

You're going to run, and I'm going to catch you.

The ghost of his words haunted me. Not because they struck fear into my heart, but because they filled me with a fire that I was all too familiar with…

My heat cycle was near. A female bunny's heat was always intense and impossible to control. There was no stopping it. Why now? And why was it this creepy werewolf and his psychotic games shaking my hormones awake? It explained that little part of me that wanted to be caught. Stupid bunny libido. Didn't it know this male only saw me as dinner?

Adrenaline slammed through my system. My legs pumped harder as I shot through the dark, and as my speed picked up, so did the male's.

A sick sensation roiled in my gut, one that told me this chase could be over as quickly as it started. The wolf was playing with me. He wanted his own hunt before he had to share me with the rest of his pack.

What was I doing? It didn't matter how horny I was. This wasn't a game. The werewolf didn't want to mate with me. He wanted to slaughter and eat me.

I started to shift, but a muscular body slammed into me, and a large hand wrapped around the base of my rabbit ears. My knife's point found my throat.

"Finish shifting, and I'll gut you right here, Ruthless," the wolf snarled, his face shoving into mine.

My head spun. I was stuck in half form—still human, save for the big floppy bunny ears and fluffy tail pushing against the back of my jeans.

I winced as the man's grip tightened around my ears, and he slowly walked me backward until my back hit a tree. His steely eyes combed over my ears, and something almost akin to a genuine smile lurked at the corner of his mouth. He brought the knife up from my throat and hooked the tip of the blade through one of the hoops adorning my ears.

"Your bunny ears are pierced."

"They don't just disappear when I shift, asshole. And I hate to break it to you…" I forced a saccharine smile. "But that's not the only place I have piercings. Your meal is gonna be full of metal."

The male's eyes flashed. Something dark and dangerous lurked behind those storm-gray orbs.

"One, two, three…" He tapped my piercings one by one with the end of the knife, creating a little metal jolt each time. "Four, five, six."

He slipped the knife down my shirt and, with a swift motion, started to cut my clothes off. A scream flew past my lips. His hand released my ears and slammed over my mouth.

" Quiet. The Hunt hasn't started, but my pack might be near. Don't tempt them with your screams. I'm not in the mood to share."

I shivered, another flood of heat sweeping through my core.

His nostrils twitched. My breath froze in my lungs as he bent over me, buried his nose in my neck, and inhaled. "Fuuuuck," he rasped against me. "Why do you smell so damn good?"

This wolf could scent my pre-heat pheromones. I had to get out of here. If he had this kind of reaction to the scent all bunny shifter females gave off just before their cycle, what would he do when I went into full heat?

I winced against his palm as he kept cutting my upper layers off, the knife nicking my flesh as his ministrations grew hurried.

He said he wouldn't touch me.

I wanted to believe that, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that he was lying.

A few of the most intense seconds of my life crawled by on hands and knees as this strange man sliced through my shirt. Dropping his hand from my mouth, he tugged off the ruined fabric and tossed it away.

He leaned back, sucking in a breath as he took in my naked breasts. I didn't bother covering up. As shifters, we didn't have the same kind of embarrassment as humans when we were in the mood. When we shifted into our animal forms, our clothes would fall away, and when we turned back, we'd be naked.

The male drifted closer. His brutal heat swept over me like a caress, and his scent clotted in my lungs like a chloroform-soaked rag, making my head swim.

I bared my teeth when he took the knife and flicked the metal loop adorning one nipple, then the other, as he continued counting my piercings.

"Eight, nine…" He trailed it down my torso, applying just enough pressure to leave an angry welt. Then he tapped the blade to my belly ring. "Ten."

With a flick of his wrist, he popped the button of my pants off. Slotting the flat of the blade between my jeans and my panties, he pulled back to pin me with a heated look. "Should I keep going? I have a feeling there's more."

My skin heated beneath the chill of the blade against my apex. Our eyes locked.

Something shifted behind his gaze. His muscles visibly tightened, his shoulders stiffening. His aura shifted, turning primal and violent. One minute, he'd been wickedly playful. Now, he was dominance incarnate.

His control over his wolf was slipping.