Page 9 of Savaged By the Beast

I stare at him, wide-eyed. “But…but you look thirty-three maybe. Mid-thirties for sure.”

“We age differently. In your years I’m about thirty-five.”

“My years? You mean human?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not human?”

“Nope.”

I wrestle with the weird feelings of longing, need and lust. Confusion swirls through the fog he starts every time he’s near me.

“I don’t believe you.”

His lip quirks up on one side. “Wanna see me shift?”

“No! No way.” I can’t breathe. Something’s wrong with me. With him. With us. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

“I will. I’ll just have to take my clothes off. If I shift wearing clothes, I’ll tear these up. It’s hell on my wardrobe.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, that’s the big concern.”

“Mate? What does that mean?” I ask, wondering if I’ve lost my mind.

“Do you feel a pull to me? A need for me to touch you? To make love to you? A tingling in your throat where I want to put my mark?”

I shake my head, lying through my teeth. My hand reaches up to cover the side of my throat where I see his eyes touch. I feel all of it. My skin tingles and burns on the left side of my throat right where it meets my shoulder. It’s worse when he’s talking but it never goes away. Not since I first saw him.

He stands up and stalks over to me, his steps light and sure. I stand and put the chair between us. “Wh-what are you doing?”

His head cocks to the side and he smirks at me. “You sound nervous, little mate.”

“Little?” I snort. “Nobody has ever called me little.”

“You’re just a little bit of a thing.”

Wide-eyed and feeling that tug in my belly again at the heat in his eyes, I watch him come closer. I should back away. Should run away. But I don’t. I stand and watch him, enthralled with the sheer physical beauty of him. Then his eyes flash golden and I yell and point.

“There it is! What is that?”

He growls, “What?”

“And you’re growling?” What the hell is wrong with this guy?

“That’s my bear. He likes you. A lot,” he snarls. “I’m barely holding him back from meeting you.”

I back-pedal quickly, forgetting about the fireplace until he snarls again and then jumps to catch me and pull me back. I fall into his chest and struggle to catch my breath. My fingers curl in the soft fabric on his chest and he growls under his breath. I tilt my head back and stare up into his golden eyes, seeing the flash of long white canines when he curls his lips at me.

My heart thunders against my ribs as I realize that what I felt all along is real. He’s telling the truth. And if he’s telling the truth about that? Am I his mate? Is that why this strange ache plagues me and my body desperately wants him to take me?

His lips crash down on mine and I feel the sting of his sharp tooth scraping my lips and tongue while he devours me.

A long, low moan tears from my throat and I can’t stop myself. I wrap one leg around his hip and practically try to climb him, my hands scrabbling to wedge myself as close to him as possible.

Need rears its head, bringing me to a shaking, wobbly mess completely out of control.

He leans over me and that’s the last thing that I see before I he takes me to the floor, his body covering mine, my eyes closed, mind whirling.