Daphne slapped blindly at the console, sending the wall crashing down between the observatory and terrarium, but it was too late.
A demonic aria of howling echoed throughout the facility, but it was his howl that took the lead. His howl that scraped against her skin. And in every nuance of the song, all she heard was that one, single damning word.
Mine.
Chapter Two
“Can you speak?” Konstantin’s woman demanded, her arms crossed over her lush breasts, her mouth set in a stern line, and her appraisal of him guarded and hostile.
Her posture was defensive, a feeble attempt to hide her reaction to him: her tightened nipples, her dilated pupils and the warm caramel scent of her need. Konstantin knew her scent anywhere, could track her now over hundreds of miles. A little bit of glass and crossed arms hid nothing.
He’d displayed his human shape for her inspection each time she’d come to the enclosure. She liked looking at him—it made her hot and wrapped him in her delicious scent. But he never let her forget his wolf.
She refused to come close to the glass now that he’d brought her to orgasm without touching her with anything more than his mind—as if that could stop the avalanche of what bloomed between them. His Daphne had begun the claiming rite when she’d whispered, “Mine.”
Her words tattooed themselves on his bones and she’d marked him soul-deep. Yes, he belonged to her—and she to him.
“I asked if you could speak,” she reiterated, her neck flushed and nostrils flaring.
He placed both hands on the glass and waited.
She shook her head.
He nodded in answer, smiled and let himself enjoy the scenery. The things he would do to this woman—the fantasies he’d given her didn’t begin to quantify them all. Konstantin licked his lips just thinking about how she would taste as she thrashed beneath him, digging her nails into his back just as she’d imagined. He’d seen all of that, experienced it as she had.
Konstantin shrugged his massive shoulders and arched a brow.
The flush darkened as it crept up to her cheeks and her eyes narrowed. Her expression told him he was on dangerous ground and if he did anything she didn’t like, she was going to make him pay. It made his blood run hot and his cock hard.
She swore and gasped, making a point to focus on his face. “Stop that.”
He shrugged again, but flashed a smirk. Konstantin knew his body was without flaw, knew she enjoyed the sight of him. It was his duty to indulge her. He flexed his hands on the glass again and the angry line of her mouth crumpled tighter into a rosebud scowl.
Daphne slammed her hands against the barrier. “Fine. But none of that other stuff. Got me, dog?” She looked around the enclosure as she spoke, eying the other beasts and obviously searching for Bethany who’d hidden herself behind the trees.
Konstantin nodded. He hadn’t even spoken and she’d already devolved to name calling. He didn’t need to hear the thundering beat of her heart, or smell her lust and fear to know she felt vulnerable.
“Parlez-vous français?”
Daphne swore again and rested her forehead against the barrier, her shoulders slumped.
“Such a mouth you have, ma cherie.” Such a mouth indeed.
Her head snapped up and a fierce sound rumbled from her. “I see you like to play with your food, but I’m in no mood for games. Why did you infect her?”
Konstantin was proud of her ferocity. She was a worthy mate. “Would you believe me if I told you the truth?”
He watched as a change fell over her, almost as if a magic wand had wiped away her hostility, and her eyes were suddenly clear and open. Just like her mind. She would listen.
“I can’t know if it’s the truth or not. Only you can.”
“You can read the data in front of you and the data your machines collect about my heart rate, respiration, body language, micro-expressions.”
“I will.”
“She was already infected.”
“You’re a liar.”
“Beasts don’t lie.”
“Yes, they do. There was an article in the Journal of—” She cut herself off and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to argue biology or animal behavior.”
“Okay, I don’t lie. Not to you.”
Incredulity stained her features. “You think I haven’t heard these lines before? I work with death row inmates who all have a reason to sweet-talk me. Who all want me to think I’m special, that we have some kind of connection.” She rolled her eyes.
“We do. You’re mine. I’m yours. You said it. It is so.”
“People say things—”
“People,” he interrupted her. “Of which I am not, and neither are you. There is a wolf under your skin, lovely Daphne.”
She jerked away from the glass. “No.”
Konstantin didn’t like the taste of her fear. She wasn’t ready. “As you say.”
“If you ever say that to me again, I’ll close the wall and I will never open it again. Do you understand me?”
The part of him that wanted to court her gently was quickly silenced by his new role as species Adam—his title by genetic right as the first of his kind, he was the Alpha of all Alphas for this new race.
“You mistake me, my love. I’m here because I choose to be.”
“Prove it.”
He let his gaze linger until she fidgeted under the weight of it. “Do you really think you’re ready for me to be on that side of the glass with you, my Daphne?” He cocked his head to the side and studied her hard. “Say the word and I’ll tear this place down for you brick by brick.”
She feared it, but her pheromones spiked. She liked his ferocity.
Daphne swallowed and licked her lips. Her pulse fluttered against her throat like hummingbird wings. “If you can, why don’t you?”
“Because I want you to find a cure. For them.” He nodded to the significantly smaller group of infected. Those who had died a true death were devoured during the night. “The antibodies are in my DNA.”
“All this is well and good, but you still scratched Bethany with the intent to change her, and now she’s one of those things.”
“She’s not. That’s why I scratched her. She reeked of infection.” His lip curled with disgust.
“The bio suits—”
“Are worthless. They didn’t attack her because the origin of her infection was the same as mine.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nor will you until you turn the cameras off.”
“I can’t do that.” Her shoulders slumped.
“Then I can’t tell you my story, Daphne. Your government would use this knowledge to weaponize the virus. I can’t let that happen.”
“No, we’re looking for a cure!”
So heated, so passionate. But somehow still so innocent. “Don’t be naive.”
Trust in me.
“You agreed!”