Chapter 4

Kael carried me over his shoulder the whole way back to the house.

He kicked the bedroom door open and dropped me on the bed.

My vision was still swimming when he came down over me.

Nobody had turned on a light. The only thing in the room was the dark red moonlight coming through the window.

It was a blood moon. The one night of the month when a wolf's instincts are hardest to hold.

Kael braced both hands beside my head and shut me in under his shadow.

His breathing was heavy and fast, and it came out hot against my neck.

"Shower." He forced the word out through his teeth.

"What?"

"Go shower. You've got another male's scent on you, and it's coming off." His eyes caught the red light, and I could see his fangs.

That was when I understood how bad this was.

He was in rut.

"Kael, calm down. We had one drink. We talked, that's all."

"Talked." His voice was thick with it. "Did talking need him that close? Did it need his hand on your face?"

He dropped his head to my neck and breathed me in like an animal.

"You smiled at him," he said. "Do you have any idea how much I wanted to tear him apart."

I went stiff and didn't dare move.

The Kael I knew was controlled. Careful. A man who acted like looking at me too long was a waste of his time.

This one had lost hold of himself over a glass of wine, and I didn't recognize him at all.

"The Sacred Spring already put our match rating at zero." I tried to push him off me.

It was the wrong thing to say.

His head came up fast.

"I stopped it," he said, one word at a time. "As long as I'm alive, you're mine."

Then he bent down and bit my collarbone.

The pain went through me and I locked up.

He wasn't putting any force into it. He just worked his teeth against that patch of skin, slowly, like he was leaving a mark that belonged to him.

His hand slid up my waist, rough and certain, and it wasn't asking.

"Kael. Don't." My voice cracked on it.

He stopped. He lifted his head and looked at the tears at the corners of my eyes.

Some of the rage went out of him, and what came up underneath was much worse to look at.

"Why." His voice had gone raw. "Why would you rather leave with a mage you met today than stay here with me."

"Because you don't love me!" It finally came out of me at full volume. "In three years, how many times did you even look at me? You wouldn't touch me. And now the bond's gone and suddenly you're in love?"

Kael flinched like I'd hit him.

His mouth opened. Whatever he was about to say, he never got to it.

Magic hit the air outside the house, hard enough to feel through the walls.

Elijah's voice came through perfectly clear.

"Picking on a human with no magic. Very impressive, Alpha Kael. Open the door. I'm taking her."

The last bit of sense went out of Kael's eyes.

A low growl rolled up out of his chest. Muscle swelled under his shirt, his nails came out as claws, and somewhere under his skin the bones moved with a soft dry sound.

He stopped at a partial shift. Still shaped like a man. Not a man anymore.

He looked down at me, and there was nothing left in his face but the want to keep me.

"He's taking you." He said it back like he was tasting the words, and his mouth pulled into something cold. "Where."

Outside, magic started hammering at the front door.

Kael lowered his head. His lips were burning against my ear, and his voice dropped so low I felt it more than heard it.

"You're not going anywhere. Tonight I'm going to make sure you know exactly who your mate is."

A second later, the front door came apart.