4

Leon wrenched his hand free from my grip and jammed the silver blade toward my chest. The barest warning of danger flickered through my mind, and I managed to turn at the last second. Instead of the blade burying in my heart, it slid deep into the meat between my shoulder and collarbone. A scream tore from my throat as I rolled off him and fell to the asphalt. He scrambled to his feet and bolted. I was still holding my shoulder when he disappeared into the forest.

Carter and Douglas came skidding around the corner, their weapons drawn. They saw me on the ground, a knife sticking out of my shoulder, blood spreading from the wound. Carter took a step toward me, but I waved frantically at the forest.

“He went that way. Dammit, hurry. He’s getting away,” I growled.

Douglas shook his head. “Kira, you need a medic–”

“It’s a shallow wound, I’ll be fine. Go after him. Move!”

Reluctantly, they sprinted into the woods. What the hell was going on with my body? It had to be whatever he’d put in my drink because I’d never experienced anything like it. That, along with the agony from the silver in my shoulder, was driving me mad. There was more blood than there should have been. I wasn’t sure if the blade had nicked an artery or if the silver was preventing my blood from clotting. Either way, it added a new wave of fear.

Wyatt sprinted toward me, his hair in sweaty disarray. His face was still as chiseled as it had been all the years I’d known him. He was opening his mouth to chew me out, but when he saw the wound, all thoughts of chastising me vanished.

“Holy shit, Kira. Are you okay?” he asked as he dropped to his knees beside me and cradled my head.

The smell of him hit me: musk and man, pine trees, sawdust, and whiskey. A single thought burst through the pain. Heat. I was in a heat so powerful and beyond explanation. I tried to understand what was happening to me, but it was as if my thoughts were thrown into a blender at the highest speed. All that was left was my inner wolf howling and snapping as it blocked out all coherent thought. A growl purred out of my throat as I turned and clutched at Wyatt. Running my hands through his messy dark hair, I gazed into his green eyes. It was like a fire had been lit between my legs, and all rational thought took a backseat to desire. All I wanted was to have him inside me. The thought of Wyatt filling me, thrusting into me, had saliva pooling in my mouth. Nothing had ever made me feel so animalistic, at least not for a long time. I didn’t just want him; I needed him. My very nerves begged to have him, and the warmth between my legs engulfed me in flames that I knew only Wyatt could quench. Like water in a desert, Wyatt was what I needed to survive.

His eyes widened in shock as I pawed at him, clutching his shirt and yanking him toward me, my injury forgotten.

Chapter 2

Wyatt

Kira’s pheromones pulsed off her in palpable waves that overwhelmed my senses. It was so strong and unexpected that I was at a loss for words until she lunged at me, yanking at my shirt. There was nothing but lust and need in her eyes.

“Kira?” I shouted at her, trying to snap her out of whatever daze she was in, but it was useless. Her hands continued their path over my chest.

“What the hell?” I gently tried to push her away, but she batted my hands like she would an annoying gnat and leaned forward to kiss my collarbone.

With a heavy force of will, I pulled away. “Hey, Kira. Stop.”

I grabbed her wrists, but she was strong and highly trained. She flipped her hands out of my grasp and pawed at me again. The scent of her was quickly draining my self-control. Kira was always searching out danger, taking on the most treacherous assignments and ops, trying to prove herself and generally being a pain in my ass. She got under my skin, irritated the crap out of me, and was the only person who could ever get my control to slip. My calm, carefully cultivated demeanor cracked when she was in the vicinity. And this was not helping.

Kira leaned close, eyes half-lidded with desire. “Fuck me, Wyatt,” she moaned.

Shock and surprise had me gaping at her even as my traitorous body responded. Despite my best intentions, I was hard in an instant—partly from her words but mostly from the pheromones and the thick smell of her heat surging around me. For the barest second, I had the urge to rip off her clothes, yank my cock out, and take her right there on the pavement in front of the goddess and anyone else who might see.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to pull myself together. I managed, though barely, to reign myself in. Opening my eyes, I tightened my grip on her wrists and pinned her to the ground. Kira’s hips bucked in the air as she tried to rub her crotch against me. What the fuck was going on? This was out of character for her. Had I not been able to see her face, I would have assumed this woman was not Kira.

I remembered the video feed, remembering seeing that jackass slip something into her drink. Could that have caused this? There was no other feasible explanation. Whatever he’d given her had forced her into an insanely intense heat.

The knife was sticking out of her shoulder, the weapon’s silver cloying in my nostrils. Panic and anger roiled within me as blood oozed out of her at an alarming rate. He’d not only poisoned her but almost killed her. Who knew which veins or arteries the knife might have hit? It must have hit something important to produce so much blood.