“What the fuck was that?” I took a deep breath when his gaze cut to mine. “Why did you kiss me? Why did you want me? What are you—” I didn’t know how to finish. I didn’t know how to explain this, any of this, even though it felt so fucking right to be held in his arms.
His eyes flashed again, that golden glow lighting the fire behind his irises. Ragged breaths lifted his chest as he shook his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts.
The words he’d uttered before hauling me up his chest flashed through my mind. “You’re not with Carlos anymore. You should be with me.”
My lips parted. He’d said that, actually said that.
The Fire Wolf took a step back and placed me on my feet. I staggered, still limp from that soul-wrenching climax, but I managed to stay upright.
His nostrils flared, and I could only imagine the scent that was rolling off me as my full-blown witch aroma swirled with the heavy aftermath of my desire.
The hunter ran a hand over his face as he inhaled slowly and deeply again and again, as if trying to catch his breath while also soaking up every drop of my desire.
When another moment passed, he met my questioning gaze. Even though he stood a few feet away, his presence was like a looming shadow of menace and lust. He was tenting. Bad. That thick length that I’d gotten an eyeful of after the warlock attack was straining against his pants and, fucking hell, I wanted to reach for it so badly.
“Put your cloaking spell back on,” he snapped, still panting despite his attempts to calm his breathing. “It didn’t work. I still feel—” He shook his head, running his hand over his face again. “I don’t know what the hell I’m feeling, but your scent—your true scent—it does something to me.”
No shit? That was the understatement of the year.
I quickly called upon my magic and activated the spell, anything to stop this insanity that had been born between us.
The familiar feeling of my cloak settled on my shoulders and then drifted around my frame, like a long-time friend who’d worn out their welcome but you couldn’t kick out.
The hunter’s eyes flashed again—that golden glow behind the crimson flames still there—just as my true scent disappeared.
My eyes widened as that honeyed glow suddenly registered. It was his wolf trying to push his demon powers to the side.
All of a sudden, everything clicked. It all made complete sense.
The hunter’s wolf was causing the feeling he kept referencing, because his wolf was attracted to me—apparently, really attracted. Enough to mean that the Fire Wolf couldn’t maintain his control.
And that only happened to a werewolf if his wolf had found . . .
Holy balls.
Of course, I’d heard stories in the community about how male wolves reacted when they met their mate, or at least, who their wolf decided was their mate. Acting insane and irrational was top of the list as the male began courting the female, wanting to fuck her endlessly, and fighting any male who came near her. And that lasted until the female accepted or rejected the male who wanted to claim her.
My jaw dropped because that was exactly what had just happened.
But I’d never expected to experience anything like that since I was a hundred percent witch and not a wolf, but considering it was fairly common for male werewolves to mate with species outside of their own, I didn’t know why I’d never considered it. Hell, Carlos was a werewolf, so I knew all about the wolf species, even though he and I had never mated.
But if the hunter’s wolf had decided I was his mate, that would explain the Fire Wolf’s reaction to me in his man cave when he’d gotten his first hint of my true scent. It had awoken something in his wolf. And if he’d seen the text from Carlos, in which my ex referenced a night he’d spent with me, it could have stirred the Fire Wolf’s instincts which were to claim and possess the female his wolf had chosen.
But surely, this couldn’t be. What were the odds of me being the hunter’s chosen mate? I cocked my head. Didn’t the Fire Wolf understand what was happening here?
He still stood a yard away from me, his body so tensely coiled that he looked like a taut rubber band ready to snap. Given the confused and irritated expression rolling across his face, I had a feeling he had no clue. All he knew was that he felt an undeniable need to mate with me and claim me as his.
I crossed my arms and told my libido to cool it. Sex with this hot-as-fuck hunter was not happening, especially if the only reason he was suddenly attracted to me was because his wolf told him to be. Not because he, the man, actually wanted this. Ugh. Chosen mate? No thanks.
“How much time do you spend in your pack?” I asked briskly.
His head whipped up, that look of confusion still there. “My pack?”
“Yeah, don’t you have one? Surely if you’re part werewolf you have a pack somewhere.”
His jaw locked. “I don’t belong to a pack.”
Well, that explained it. The dude didn’t even know what was happening to him because he was too busy being the menace of the Underbelly.
“When was the last time you were around other wolves?”
A muscle in his jaw worked. “What does it matter?”
“Would you just answer the damn question?”
“Off and on. I have a few friends who are wolves.”
Friends? I could only imagine who his friends were. “Is that why you’re not rogue?”
“Rogue? What the fuck, Tala? Why are we talking about rogue wolves when I just jumped you in a fucking alleyway?”
Oh. So he knew enough to know this one-eighty with me was not normal.
I sighed. “Look, I know my scent did something super weird to you, but right now, none of that matters. How much time have we wasted here? Those fuckers in that club still have my sister.” Guilt flooded me. While I’d just experienced the best orgasm of my life, my sister was trapped underground by a sick asshole who could have ties to the European mafia.
Thank the lord baby Cheez-Its I still felt the bond with Tessa pulsing steady and strong or I seriously would be going mental.
The Fire Wolf’s hands fisted, and I saw again that he was so out of touch with his werewolf traits—hell, the man didn’t even associate with a pack—that he obviously didn’t understand what had just happened to him.
But now was not the time to enlighten him.
He stabbed a hand through his hair, taking another step back. “I’ll get your sister, and I apologize for that kiss, and . . . for what I did. I don’t know what came over me.”
What he did, right . . . I figured he was referring to the part where he laid claim to me and finger fucked me.
“It’s okay. Just find Tessa.”
The Fire Wolf gave a curt nod, a mask of resolve washing over his features before he disappeared silently from the alleyway.
Once I was alone, I sank against the concrete wall, my fingers going to my swollen lips as the memory of that orgasm scorched my mind.
Nope. Not going there. As much as I knew that sex with the hunter would blow my mind, I was not going down that rabbit hole. I never did understand the whole mates thing between male wolves and their women. I’d always assumed it was instinct driven and nothing more, and in this moment, I feared my assumptions were completely right.
If I let something develop with the Fire Wolf, while the lust between us would no doubt set the sheets on fire, I would always remember how he’d been before he’d gotten a hint of my true scent. While I’d been attracted to him from the second I’d laid eyes on him, he hadn’t felt the same for me. If anything, my arousal had amused him, or worse, he’d used it as a weapon against me. He hadn’t felt any lust until his wolf had gotten a whiff of the true power that flowed through my veins.