"Dahlia!" I roar, charging blindly toward the sound. Ivy tangles around my arms and legs. Branches and tree limbs snap as I grasp them with both hands and simply throw them out of my way. I leave a trail of destruction in my wake.
It doesn't matter that I can't see anything but shadows as I race toward the sound of her screams. I hearher, and that's enough to guide me.
I smell the wolves before I reach her. I can't tell how many or where they are, but their sharp, earthy scent bounces back to me from every direction. Jesus Christ, she's stumbled into the middle of a den. Their angry rumblings break through the haze of fury in my mind a moment later. I don't hesitate to rush forward. Let them come. Let them attack me.
They won't find me easy prey.
I break through the woods into a small clearing.
Dahlia's here. I smell her lavender scent and the sharp musk of terror. The sun is slowly sinking toward the horizon, making it easier to see. Not easy, God no. She's still little more than a haze of light in a wall of fog, but she's my light. My beauty.
Four darker shadows surround her, snarling and snapping. Circling her like she's prey.
I roar in fury and charge forward, not giving them time to attack. This is my forest, and she belongs to me. Nothing, and no one threatens her. I slam into the first wolf, taking it to the ground.
Dahlia screams, a sharp, sustained note of terror that pierces my heart.
"Run," I growl, fighting to get my hands around the throat of the wild animal as it snarls and snaps. As his pack abandons their prey in defense of their packmate. They turn on me with all the viciousness of those who fight and die by fang and claw.
I fling one animal off as another leaps at me. His claws rake down the back of my arm, burning like fire. I bellow a curse and roll to the left, coming up on my haunches.
My heart stalls in my throat.
"Leave him alone!" Dahlia cries, rushing toward us. She swings something and a wolf yelps.
"I said run!"
"I'm not leaving you!"
A wolf leaps. I bat her out of midair, sending her flying off to the side. She hits…something…and yelps. The next wolf attacks before I can even recover. His teeth close around my pants leg, ripping it all the way up to my thigh.
I kick him off me, sending him flying too.
"You leave him alone right now!" Dahlia swings her weapon like an angry housewife with a broom. It whistles through the air, smacking the ground in solid thumps. Either every species in existence knows not to tempt a desperate woman, or the wolves have had enough.
First one and then another slinks off, slipping into the trees. Quiet falls over the clearing.
Dahlia's weapon falls to the ground with a thud.
"I can't believe that worked," she whispers.
I snap like a bowstring pulled to the breaking point. In two steps, I'm at her side, dragging her to the grass beneath me.
"You left me," I growl. Her shirt rips beneath my hands, torn down the middle. "You left me."
"Never," she sobs. "Never, Draven."
I bow my head to her chest, dragging one hard nipple through my teeth as she drags her nails down my back. Ah, God. I need her now. Now. I can't think through the driving need to fuck, and claim, and sate the beast.
She feels the same desperate need. Already, she's reaching for my zipper, trying to free my cock. My name breaks on her lips in a keening plea of surrender, of need.
We work together to drag her pants down her thighs. She's dripping wet.
"Draven!" Her hips arch upward, her back bowing from the ground when I thrust two fingers inside her, getting her ready for me. Tormenting her like she torments me simply by breathing. "Get in me. Please."
"You ran from me."
"No, no." She claws down my back, sobbing my name.