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  Braden wasn’t a violent man, but he knew he would kill anyone who harmed her. He ran harder and faster, in a full-on gallop, unable to put any distance between himself and his sudden fury. The scent of deer brought him to a sudden halt. He focused his wrath on the hunt and took off after his prey. Blood throbbed in his veins with a rush of exhilaration as he crouched, his ears back and his nose low to the ground. The deer, a medium-sized buck, drank from a small brook.

  He couldn’t corner the large animal by himself, but he had the advantage of surprise. Carefully, he moved closer, trying to make no more noise than the wind. As he approached, the magnificent creature sharply raised its head—its ears perked with vigilance. Braden had hunted enough to know the deer hadn’t heard him.

  Before he had time to scent what had put the deer on alert, a wolf barreled from between two trees and startled the buck into leaping across the narrow expanse of water. It escaped into the woods. Braden snarled at the wolf. She snarled back and his heart soared. Eve. Why was she here? Had she followed him or had fate intervened with a happy accident?

  She raised her tail high, showing she wasn’t afraid, and approached Braden in a slow cautious manner. Her ears back and up, she spread her front legs and bowed down—her tail swishing in a playful challenge. Braden raised a questioning brow. He dipped his head to Eve and deeply inhaled her scent. In the blink of an eye, she barreled into him and knocked him down. After, she pranced around in a juvenile display of triumph.

  A burst of heat and happiness ran through Braden. If Eve wanted to play, he’d play. Rolling to his paws, he circled her, diving in and nipping her fur. The first time he tagged Eve’s wolf, she let out a surprised yip, but after the second and third time, she joined in on the game, sneaking in frisky bites of her own. As the game continued, their play became more intense.

  Braden’s human side longed for Eve—as did his wolf. Braden had been born lycanosapien. He’d grown up around females in the tribe, and hell, even this week, he’d been around several women who the tribe had culled, but Eve was different. There was something about the brash young beauty that made Braden want to have her, to claim her, and most of all to protect her… From everything.

  When Eve’s wolf dove at this side again, he rolled with her, coming up on top and pinning her to ground. She struggled to break free, but when she couldn’t, she shifted into human form beneath him—her naked body pressed against his underbelly fur.

  The look of terror on her face startled Braden. Somewhere in the fight, Eve had quit playing. He willed his body to transform—the bones in his arms and shoulders snapping and clicking as his fur disappeared, and skin replaced his animal hide. The whole process took no longer than a deep breath, and in seconds, Braden’s warm flesh pressed against Eve’s.

  He could tell by Eve’s flushed cheeks and slight gasp—and her growing scent—her fear had begun to turn into something else. Something baser—more carnal. He rubbed his face against hers, inhaling the warm musk of her natural scent. He wanted to explore her body, to memorize every shape and curve. Everything about this beauty drove him completely insane. He’d never felt such a desire and need so powerful he’d risk everything for her.

  His cock pressed hard against her stomach, and he lifted his upper body to look her in the eye. The gold flecks in her dark blue eyes swirled with her wolf just under the surface.

  “Braden,” she whispered, her hand going to his chest.

  He spoke with a partially inhuman voice—a low guttural tone. “I want you, Eve.” What he didn’t add was that he wanted her and only her for the rest of their very long lives.

  “Oh God,” she moaned and arched her neck, baring the skin for him to claim with lips and teeth and tongue.

  The taste of her sweat was nectar to his taste buds. He’d been with other women—human and lycanosapien alike—but none that made him feel like he felt with Eve—none that made him want to lose himself so completely. He rocked his hips, using his knees to part her thighs as his kisses moved to her gorgeously full breasts. From the minute he’d seen Eve he’d envisioned running his thumbs over those dark nipples, and now he did so, holding each tightened nub between his thumbs and index fingers, rolling them as he laved them, delighting in the textured surfaces as they responded to his seductive attention.

  Eve arched her back, her wet sex rubbing against his thigh. His cock jerked in response, and he rotated his hips, savoring the friction of her soft, rounded belly against his rigid shaft. She moaned, reaching down to fist Braden’s hair. When his gaze caught hers, he could see there was only a tiny bit of blue left in her eyes.

  He kissed down her stomach, relishing each rewarding moan that escaped her lips. When his mouth hovered over the lush triangle of curls, he inhaled deeply, before slipping his tongue between the wet folds of her sex. He caressed her swollen clitoris, licking and sucking. The sweet taste of her desire drove him insane.

  Eve tilted her hips, her fingers lacing tighter into his hair—the slight pain of it only added to Braden’s lust. He spread her thighs and put one of Eve’s legs over his shoulder, fighting every impulse to claim her right then and there. He thrust his tongue inside her tight, hot channel.

  Eve cried out. Braden thumbed her throbbing clit, the pulse quickening at his touch, and shifted his form a little, feeling his face widen as he thrust his tongue in again. Eve’s ankle hooked behind his back drawing him tighter to her. He wanted to make love to Eve, to join their bodies as he made her his mate, but first he wanted to feel her orgasm against his mouth. He propped her beautiful round ass up with his hands, positioning Eve for the deepest penetration. He darted in and out of her slick heat, rejoicing every time he made her squirm and squeal.

  “Oh Braden,” Eve sobbed, her voice thick with emotion. “I…” Her words trailed off into moan of pure rapture as the first violent tremor of climax shook her body.

  He withdrew his tongue, gently licking the cream—his victory, his prize—from her tender pussy. From experience with lycanosapien lovers, Braden knew she would recover quickly, and a good thing too, because he ached to sink his rigid cock deep inside this gorgeous creature—to complete their joining. The overwhelming need made it hard to breathe.

  He nipped and licked and kissed his way up her body. Hovering over her breasts, he took the left nipple into his mouth, sucking the taut nub between his teeth—between his fangs. The slight change had dropped down his anthro-form teeth, and Eve gasped when the sharp points grazed against her soft flesh.

  Braden wanted to bite into Eve, to mix her blood with his saliva, to allow her to do the same to him, as he took her as mate. He steadied himself for the moment—the tip of his cock pushing at her opening. Ready. She was so ready for him.

  “Braden.”

  Hearing his name penetrated the fog of lust and desire clouding his thoughts. Her heaving breaths drew his attention. He snapped his gaze of her body until his eyes met hers.

  Her eyes were all amber now, no more indigo remained, and her nose and cheeks had widened with her half-form. “What are you doing to me?” She panted hard and sharp—her voice had taken on an inhuman edge as well.

  “Making you mine,” Braden responded. “Will you let me make you mine?” He didn’t know this woman. He knew nothing about her life or who she was as a person. These things should matter, but they didn’t. Braden didn’t care if Eve had been an ax murderer in her human life. He only cared about right now.

  He stared at Eve, waiting for her response. He wasn’t so far gone that he’d force her, but he prayed to the gods she would say yes.

  When she finally found her words, what she said made Braden’s heart sink. “I can’t.”

  I AM NOT A POSSESSION.

  The allure of Braden, the sleek masculinity of his body, the feel of his hot breath and hot kisses on her skin drove her completely mad with desire and lust. The memory of his clever tongue when he’d been inside her made Eve tremor with anticipation. She’d been ready to give herself over, to be with Br
aden like she’d been with no other man. But his question, “Will you let me make you mine?” had brought back too many memories of her stalker—an evil person who’d tried to make Eve his as well. The idea made her feel like property—an entity that could be bargained or bought, won or stolen.

  She pushed Braden, hoping her would let her go, and not fight her retreat. He didn’t. Instead, Braden rolled to his side. His thick cock sprang away from his stomach, and she fought the urge to grab him and take his length between her thighs. She wanted him—wanted Braden so bad and seeing his hard erection, not just feeling it pressed against her, caused a delicious clench between her legs. She ached to have his warm flesh pressed against her once again, but she’d done the right thing in stopping their actions from going further. Hadn’t she?

  Braden sat up, his arm over his eyes as he fought a visible tremble rippling through his muscles. When he finally looked up and connected his gaze to hers, his eyes were no longer wolfish-amber, but the bright green that had initially drawn her attention.

  “I’m sorry, Eve,” he said, his mouth glistening with her juices. He ran his fingers through his mop of dark hair, his muscles shifting with the effort.

  Oh Lord. If Braden kept it up, Eve would lose her resolve. She bit her lower lip to steady her nerves then spoke. “Braden, I like you. Really like you. And I’m not going to lie…” As if she could. Her body was a walking talking neon sign of sex pheromones. She couldn’t hide her desire from Braden if she wanted to do so. “… I really want to have sex with you.” Hearing it sounded coarse to her ears, but she couldn’t let her sheltered upbringing stop her from saying what she had to say. “I’ve spent a long time avoiding someone who wants me for nothing more than to make me his very own, and damn it, I’m not a possession.”

  Braden winced, but he didn’t add to the conversation. Instead, he waited for Eve to continue.

  She took a deep breath and blew it out. “I can’t be yours, Braden. You can’t make me be yours, because there is only one person I belong to…”

  His sharp intake of breath made her pause.

  “And no, it’s not Tom.” She sighed. “The only person I belong to is me. Me.” The stalker had made her human life impossible by trying to make Eve his world. If Braden did the same, she’d never be able forgive him. She was tired of feeling like an object of someone’s desire instead of a person with the ability to make her own choices.

  She drew a heart in the dirt in front of her, trying to ignore the strong pull she felt… The longing. It was as if the whole world disappeared around them. Her mother’s words echoed in her mind. What if Braden truly was the one?

  Before she could wrap her head around her feelings, Braden went to his knees. “I understand, Eve. I would never force you, but I can’t be this near to you right now. My wolf is too close to the surface and he wants you as badly as I do.” He didn’t wait for her to reply. He changed into his wolf form—a reddish brown brute, large and magnificent—and head off toward the dens.

  “Damn it!” she cursed herself. She nearly cried out Braden’s named as she fought every impulse to run after him and beg him to take her in both body and soul. Instead, she let good sense control her actions, and she walked back to camp.

  Slowly.

  OH BOY

  Braden picked an empty den in which to wallow. What the hell had he been thinking? He barely knew Eve, and two seconds into their acquaintance he was already trying to make her his mate. What a joke. Of course she turned him down. With options of bigger and badder alphas like Tom Ellis, Eve probably wanted to take her time in choosing. She wasn’t mated to Ellis. That was the only thing Braden knew for certain. Eve had been telling the truth when she’d said the only person she belonged to was herself. And when she’d told Braden she wasn’t a possession, he’d felt shamed.

  Is that how she sees me? Someone who wants to own her? It wasn’t what he’d intended in the least. As much as he wanted Eve—wanted to claim her—he wanted her to do the same to him. Of course, she hadn’t been raised with the tribe, so she had no idea about their ways. She might go on for years without taking a mate, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t have lovers in the meantime. Could being her lover be enough?

  Braden shook his head. His emotions were all over the place. Eve made him dream of a life he’d never given much thought to in the past. He taught second grade, but he’d never wanted a kid of his own. Eve made him think of the possibilities. He was one of the rare second generation who had swimmers—most second gens were born infertile, especially the females. Still, it would have to be a complete mating, there would have to be the exchange of bite and blood, without it there would be no offspring.

  Why did it matter so much? When her sensual curves fit so perfectly against the planes of his body, Braden’s brain had shut down as instinct took over. The sweet and salty taste of her skin on his lips, the roughness of her hard nipples under his tongue, the soft give of her delicious breasts—when she came for him, her slick sex clenching against his tongue—Braden would give anything not to have completely blown the moment.

  He inhaled deeply, the scent of her arousal still heavy on his face. Proof he hadn’t been the only one overwhelmed with lust and desire. Why had she stopped? It was in their nature to claim a mate. Could Eve’s refusal really mean she didn’t feel the same strong pull that Braden felt?

  The quiet of the den allowed too many scenarios to run through his head. He couldn’t stay there, not if he wanted to keep his sanity intact. His stomach rumbled. He resisted the urge to rub Eve’s scent all over himself, another way to make his claim. He wouldn’t do that to Eve, not after she’d made it clear it wasn’t what she wanted. Instead, he threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and headed for the mess.

  When he’d come to the tribe’s camp in the past, the eating situation was always one of hunting and sharing while in wolf form. Rarely did they have cooked meals, but since the cull began, there had been a tent set up for a daily evening meal. Braden had skipped several of the meals because he preferred to hunt, but Eve had scared off his prey earlier. Would she be at the tent? Would Tom Ellis be there with her?

  Lizzy Langston, a first gen, who used to babysit Braden as a cub, waved him over to her table. Lizzy was drop dead gorgeous. She was every bit as curvaceous a woman as Eve and her hair was the color of fresh clover honey. Her green eyes were a light pale framed by thick eyelashes. Braden had always had a small crush on Lizzy, but she had forty years on him, and never really thought of him as more than an annoyance when he was younger. Although, when he’d first came of age, a couple years back, she was the first lycanosapien female he’d had sex with.

  The way her hips moved against his had been pure music. How could she still be unmated? At one time, Braden had thought she would be the one for him, but he realized now, it wasn’t meant to be. He’d never felt the same pull for Lizzy that he did for Eve.

  “Braden,” she called to him. “Are you coming?”

  Braden smiled. Her question was one they used to tease each other with. Whoever asked, the other would respond with, “Not yet, but hopefully soon.” Her expression grew puzzled when he didn’t reply with the usual.

  Instead, Braden nodded. “Let me get my plate.”

  Suddenly, Eve’s scent hung heavy in the air. Braden turned his head toward her enchanting aroma, and there she was carrying a plate of roast beef and a pile of mash potatoes with Tom Ellis not two feet behind. Braden fought the powerful instinct to attack the larger man. He reminded himself that no matter how much he wanted Eve to be his mate, she wasn’t. He didn’t have a claim.

  He couldn’t smell himself on her anymore. The disappointment made his muscles tense and bunch. She’d showered and put on a pair of cut off jean shorts and man’s royal blue dress shirt tied at her waist. The shirt stank of Tom Ellis. Braden’s knees shook, threatening to buckle as Eve passed by him so closely her breast brushed his elbow. Anger rolled off her like a fired up bull at a rodeo.

  What th
e hell was she so mad about?

  She’d rejected him, and now she wore a shirt belonging to another man, and she was the one pissed off? Braden fought the rage simmering beneath his normally calm demeanor. But even angry, Eve made his cock react—uncomfortably so. His hard erection strained against his jeans. She hadn’t even made eye contact with Braden, but Tom had… If looks could lop off a man’s head and cut out his heart, Braden would be on the ground a few inches shorter and a few pounds lighter.

  Tom Ellis seemed to be directing a whole ball of hate at Braden. Well, good. The feeling was fucking mutual.

  Braden watched them walk toward the tables, Eve still fuming. He still didn’t understand why she was angry. He was the injured party in this scenario. When Eve had told him to stop, he stopped. When she’d said she couldn’t be his, he’d let her go. Why was she so goddamned pissed off?

  Just past Braden, Tom asked Eve where she wanted to sit, Eve pointed to two empty chairs across from Lizzy.

  Oh boy.

  THE MAN OF HER LIFE

  Eve’s earlier encounter with Braden had left her confused and vulnerable. Tom had insisted she shower when she got back to camp, and really, the warmth of the pulsating water spray had helped release some of the tension in her shoulders. For whatever reason, her anxiety when alone with Tom continued to grow. So, when he suggested they go eat at the mess tent, she’d eagerly agreed. At least they’d be around other people.

  Also, Eve had hoped to run into Braden. The way they’d left things in the woods unsettled her. She wanted Braden. Heck, she yearned for him. He consumed her every thought. Her damn knee jerk reaction to his statement, “making you mine,” had ruined the moment—ruined everything.

  And now, he was flirting with the blond bitch sitting directly across from Eve. How could Braden want to make love to her one minute, and then make googly eyes at another woman less than a few hours later? He sure moved on quick.