“Brander, get Sabine the fuck out of here, now,” the leader with ocean-colored eyes warned.
I pulled power to me as my chest rattled while fear of being trapped ripped through my mind, focusing my power on a goal: taking them all down to escape before they tried to capture me, or breed me.
“You do that, and you will hurt your sisters, Aria. Remember them? You love them and don’t want to hurt them, do you?”
My head tilted as the rattle vibrated from deep in his chest, and the other men joined him. Idiots, I wasn’t stupid. I wouldn’t give him my back in order to subdue me. I stood up, judging the distance between me and the woods, knowing there would be creatures to hunt within them. I stepped back, watching as the shirtless male took a step forward, crouching as if he intended to catch me the moment I moved—right, like he could.
“Can’t let you do that, little lamb.”
I took off running with a burst of speed, knowing that I was smaller, faster, and as long as my fire burned, he couldn’t touch me. My feet slammed against the pavement as the freeing sensation of running in the wide open hit me. My arms extended, and I started to leap into the air as something moved in front of me.
Skidding to a stop to prevent colliding, I slammed against the larger male. He fell to the ground with me, smoothly rolling back onto his feet, watching me as I began to circle him. My arms went out, extending talons as I followed him closely, intending to take him down quickly and claim him. Once he was subdued, I’d take him with me into the woods and mate with him after I’d sated my hunger for meat.
“Fuck me sideways. She’s trying to dominate you, Knox,” someone chuckled. “She’s fucking wickedly delicious.”
I didn’t take my eyes from the male I circled, knowing out of them all, he was the largest and most dominant male here. Take him down, and the others would leave, sensing the predator in me. He smiled as if he thought it was cute. He put his arms out wide like mine, and I shivered at the scent of him as he showed his sleek build that bunched his muscular abdomen with every step he took as we danced in a circle. I lunged, swiping across his bare chest before I ducked and jumped back, not allowing him to capture me.
“Fucking hell, little monster!” He peered down at his chest at where my nail marks had gone deep, drawing blood. I’d marked him, drawing first blood. I smiled victoriously as I started hunting him again, watching as he moved with me.
Everyone went silent around us, finally understanding that I wasn’t playing. A bitch needed to eat, and I was hungry. I didn’t want to play anymore, I had needs. I needed substance badly, and he’d interrupted my feeding. He could either feed me or get the hell out of my way so I could do it myself.
My mouth opened, and I released a loud, angry rattle in warning. His teeth pulled back, revealing wicked fangs, and I paused, watching him with intrigue, shivering with desire as I tried to sense what he was. He sounded like me, but his scent was different, more primal and masculine. It created a hum within my core, causing my muscles to clench with excitement. I opened my mouth, showing him my teeth before growling again loudly. He smirked, letting his tongue run over his teeth to hold my attention, lowering his head as he crouched down.
“Go for her back, Brander.”
My heart slammed against my chest, beating wildly with fear as the males fanned out to circle me. I added flames to my flesh, protecting myself from their fangs. I let them hear my warning again, loudly letting the noise rise from my lungs to explode into the night air. Seven masculine rattles mimicked mine, sounding all around me. I spun in a tight circle, realizing I was once more being surrounded, and there were too many to fight alone. I jumped over them without much effort, rushing toward the woods without looking back.
“What the fucking-fuckity, fuck is she? An Ifrit?” someone asked, but I didn’t care.
I was running free!
Adrenaline rushed through me as I felt the call to move faster, to expand my lungs as I released myself into the wild. I felt invincible!
Running felt amazing! My legs pumped faster as I felt the wind against my face, excitement rushing through me. Zoom, I was free…until I slammed into something hard again and went to the ground in frustration. I rolled on the ground, coming up on my feet, staring into dark sapphire eyes, opening my mouth to move in for the kill. Something touched against my shoulder, and I turned to attack, but the mouth of the large male brushed against the soft hollow place between my neck and shoulder, and I moaned loudly.
“Mmm,” I purred from deep in my chest.
Teeth sank into my shoulder deeply, and I sagged against him. My head turned to the scent of blood mixing with male, and more purring erupted from my lungs at the delicious feel of his claiming bite. His hand wrapped around my belly, pulling my body against his. I nuzzled him invitingly, letting the fire extinguish as a new kind of warmth erupted in me, dripping from my pores as my scent exploded, signaling my sexual need.
“Fucking hell, she smells…delicious,” the sapphire-eyed male in front of us whispered and scrubbed his hand down his face. “What the hell is she?”
Growling started against my shoulder, and I nuzzled him more, adoring him for wanting to protect me with his claim. He laughed wickedly, and my eyes grew heavy from the sound of it. Silence filled the area, and I whimpered, rubbing my ass against him with the need to let him claim me, dominate me, and breed me.
“So fucking hot,” someone else said, and my male snarled with his mouth full of my flesh, baring his teeth at them. “She’s all yours, my king.” He put his hands in the air and nodded at something behind us. “The alphas are incoming from the east, Knox.”
“Handle them, she’s mine. If they don’t listen, kill them all.”
I purred huskily in agreement, bringing my hand up to his cheek as my claws retracted. I rubbed my ass against him again, showing him what I wanted, and he growled deliciously, but he still didn’t give me what I needed. I had to figure out how to make my voice work to tell him quickly.
His hand lowered, skimming my sex, and I purred louder until it filled the area, in case he was slow to pick up my cues. He seemed to lack smarts, which I hoped he made up for in other ways. If not, I could always find another male and eat this one; he’d provide a good meal.
“Are you drenched for me, little creature?”
“Mmm,” I moaned, or tried to. I grabbed his hand, pushing it against my aching sex, mewling as words failed to leave my throat.
“You can’t speak, can you?” He loosened his bite enough to be understood around my flesh he held in his mouth. I rubbed against the thick cock in his pants, sending my scent out to lure him to me. “Bloody hell, woman,” he growled huskily as his fingers slipped through the mess of my core. “Stop that shit, or I promise I will bend you over and fuck you right here without caring who watches me wrecking that tight, delicious scented cunt.”
I bucked against him as I made strangled noises of frustration, needing him to do what he promised. Gods, males were so thick. What did a bitch have to do to get dick around here? He rattled from deep in his chest as he started to lift my body, not removing his teeth from my shoulder.
He knew the moment he did, I was gone. Maybe he had some brains, after all? Probably a very tiny brain, but hopefully he could sate other needs.