Iona ran and leapt and scrambled, climbing up a hill, gravel scattering. Eric was at her heels.
The last time he’d chased her, she’d run in fear and anger. This time, he could tell, she ran for the enjoyment of it.
And for her wild need. Iona’s voice when she’d called him tonight had been half-crazed, Iona barely containing herself. A run might settle her tonight, but her mating hunger wouldn’t stop until it was satisfied. Or it killed her.
Iona made it to the top of a ridge and raced along it, never minding the sharp stones and prickly weeds. Eric bounded after her, shouldering his way in to run beside her on the edge of the cliff. His need to protect her was powerful, and one missed footfall could mean her death.
Iona growled and sprinted past him, leaving him in the dust.
Eric doubled his speed. Iona’s tail whipped across her back in annoyance, then she picked up the pace even more, running recklessly along the top of the ridge.
As soon as they hit a wide enough stretch, Eric leapt, landed on Iona, and took her down.
Iona snarled and fought, ears back, teeth snapping. Panther limbs writhed under Eric’s, Iona’s pelt foamy with sweat.
Eric closed his mouth over her throat, the alpha subduing a pride mate. He held hard without his teeth penetrating, his body weight stopping her struggling. He needed to teach her that he wouldn’t hurt her but that he wouldn’t let her get away either.
Iona shifted. Soft human flesh replaced fur, scrabbling claws became clutching fingers. Eric found himself with his leopard’s mouth on her warm throat, her pulse pounding beneath the prick of his teeth.
“Get off me, you big…cat,” she said, pushing at him.
Eric grunted as he eased away, but he remained leopard. Iona rolled away and to her feet, then she stretched, arms above her head.
Her body almost glowed in the moonlight, her black hair sleek and beautiful, matching the midnight hair at the join of her legs. Her br**sts were round and full, the tips dusky.
Even in his wildcat form, Eric appreciated the beauty of her. Her body was strong but curved, hips rounding from her waist, her navel a shadowed indent in her belly. He wanted to lick her skin, revel in the silk of it, let his tongue find the sweet honey he knew waited for him between her thighs.
Iona stood above him without shame, a woman enjoying the freedom of being bare under the starlight. She laughed, then she spun away from Eric, shifted again, and ran.
Little shit. Eric growled and was after her.
Iona heard Eric snarling as he chased her, but she didn’t care. He was trying to subdue her, make her obey, and Iona wasn’t about to obey.
The human part of her laughed as her panther paws connected with the earth, her wildcat fast and strong.
Eric, though, was faster. In about ten strides, he was on her again, taking her down to the packed earth.
Iona landed on her side but instinctively rolled onto her back, feet coming up to fend him off. Eric locked his jaw around her throat again, keeping her from biting him, his teeth sharp in her fur.
She struggled against him, even that making her want to laugh. Eric thought he’d bested her. Well, he could try.
But she couldn’t get away. Eric’s leopard body pinned her to the ground, his paws heavy, his mouth unyielding.
Only one thing she could do. Iona shifted again, the shift a little more difficult this time. Once she became human, she wrapped her arms around several hundred pounds of leopard fur.
“Eric,” she said.
He shifted. In a few seconds, Iona found herself hugging not a soft leopard, but a large, well-muscled man with jade green eyes and strength she couldn’t match. He grabbed her wrists, pinned them over her head, and gave her a raw, brutal kiss on the mouth.
Iona struggled, but his strength excited her. She drew her foot up the length of his leg at the same time she parted her lips and let him inside.
Eric had kissed her like this when he’d fed her the chocolate. He glided his tongue over her lips, dipped between them, tasted her entire mouth. His weight held her down, his body and hers slick with sweat.
His breath was warm, fingers tight on her wrists, the rigid length of his c**k against her abdomen, Eric not disguising what he wanted. His kiss opened her mouth, the taste of him like sharp spice.
Iona lifted her head to get more of him. His tongue tangled hers, fierce friction, lips mastering.
She curled her hands into fists, her struggles against him slowing. Eric’s touch gentled as he lowered her to the ground, his mouth becoming tender. He licked over the lips he’d kissed so roughly, then lightly caressed them, ending with little kisses to the corners of her mouth.
He raised his head, starlight glistening on his Collar, his throat damp with sweat. “Iona…”
“What?” she whispered, her body heavy with wanting.
Eric’s next kiss was savage but brief. “If I take you out here, you’ll belong to me, and me alone.”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” she said, still defiant.
His hands tightened on her wrists. “The mate-claim means you go to no other Shifter but me. It means I protect and take care of you, no matter what, no matter how much you fight me.”
Iona slanted him a smile. “And if I fight you?”
“You can if you want to.” He growled. “I told you, we like the chase.”
Iona liked it too, and she really shouldn’t. Eric’s heartbeat thudded against her chest, his skin so hot.
“You scared me earlier, when you called me,” she said, remembering her worry. “You sounded…” Weak, exhausted. Everything Eric Warden was not.
“I was in pain.” He kissed her again, this kiss gentle, followed by a light flick of tongue. “Your voice soothed me.”
“How? I didn’t say anything much.”
Eric nuzzled her. “The sound of the mate’s voice—her touch, her scent—calms and heals. Better if you’re in the same room with me, but I took what I could.”
“But I’m not your mate.”
“Not yet.”
Iona decided to deal with that later. “Why were you in pain? What happened?”
Eric shrugged, which moved his body deliciously against hers. “I had to pull one of McNeil’s wolves off one of my Shifters and thump him hard. Even then the wolf didn’t want to yield to me. That’s going to be a problem.”
“Did the wolf hurt you?” Iona managed to slide one hand out from under Eric’s—because he let her. She traced his shoulder and the tattoo hugging it, finding his skin hot, smooth, the muscle beneath it solid.