Page 13 of His to Hunt

She removes her bra and turns around. My cock twitches painfully when I see her tits. They’re large and round enough to need a bra, but perky enough to hold their shape without one. Her nipples are sweet little rosy nubs that look like they desperately need to be licked and sucked.

“No,” I mutter, feeling my balls start to ache from the pressure. I remind myself that the mating bond hasn’t fully formed yet. I can still resist her.

My words sound hollow in my head. I can already tell my control is slipping and it isn’t because my mate is so gorgeous. I’m imagining those pouty lips wrapped around my cock. Imagining how badly I need to sink into her tight heat and claim what is mine.

The lights go out and I hiss through my teeth with both torment and relief. I can still see her in the dark, but she’s going to bed now. I still watch, my dick begging for me to pop the sliding door open and step inside. I could take her right there on her bed. Nothing says I have to wait for the frenzy to make my mate scream my name.

I step back from the glass before I become the kind of monster I usually hunt.

This is going to be more difficult than I realized. I growl, stalking away into the darkness.

I find a spot on a hill where I can see her house. It gives me a good view of the front and the side yards. If she leaves the house, I’ll know. Until then, I’ll rest. Sleep if I can, but I’ll keep one eye open. The fucking long night passes slowly.

It’s still dark when I notice the lights come on in the basement. I’m on my feet, sprinting toward the house before I even realize I’ve moved. I’ll have to be more careful now. There are a few cars on the road as people begin leaving for work. Morning traffic is starting to pick up, but I can’t resist my mate. This pull is getting stronger, even if I should be weeks away from getting consumed by the frenzy.

“Damn it,” my voice is an almost silent whisper when I get to the sliding glass door. She looks even more beautiful now and she just rolled out of bed.

Lights flicker on in the windows above me. Other people in the house are waking up, too. I should go before someone notices me, but I’m too captivated to care.

Taryn strips off her panties and starts the shower. My dick throbs, the stitching near the zipper straining with every needy pulse until I hear threads popping. I don’t get this obsessive over women. I’ve always been able to maintain control. But no one else was ever my mate. This isn’t something wolves can easily fight. This is as instinctual as breathing.

If the glass weren’t between us, I’m not sure I’d be able to stay out of reach. She already senses me, but she doesn’t know what is making her feel odd. I can tell by how she continues to nervously look around like a predator is going to crawl out of a dark corner of her dingy basement apartment. The real predator isn’t that close yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

I rub my cock through my pants while she showers. As soon as she steps out of the shower, a man’s voice echoes down into the basement.

“Taryn! We’re going to be late!” he yells like he’s said it a hundred times before.

“I’ll be right there!” she calls out, her voice like the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.

Taryn barely dries off before she starts putting on her clothes. I don’t look away until she walks up the stairs and disappears out of sight.

She’s dressed like she’s going to work, so she’s probably going back to the diner. With another quiet growl, I slip away into the shadows of the early dawn.

Taryn leaves the house first, followed by a man old enough to be her father. If he is, he’s a shitty one. He keeps her in the basement while he lives upstairs in luxury with his wife. Maybe I’m misreading it, and Taryn chose to live in the basement, but I can’t understand why she would. A house this size should have plenty of space for three people.

I shift quietly in the back yard. It’s harder to follow the car than the bus, especially this early when there isn’t much traffic. I have to run faster than I normally do, but once they get closer to the diner, a few red lights work in my favor.

There’s an old man who looks to be in his sixties waiting when they arrive. He walks over and opens Taryn’s door, which makes the possessiveness inside me flare until I’m growling. The mating bond is definitely getting stronger. If he touches what is mine, he might be clutching for his throat before he even realizes it’s been separated from his body.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” the old man says. “You’re the best part of waking up.”

“Thought that was Folger’s coffee,” Taryn replies dryly.

“Wish you two would just go on a date instead of flirting all the time,” the other man chuckles, taking a drag from his cigarette before flicking it into the parking lot.

I don’t think he’s Taryn’s father. Surely not. Why would a father try to set his daughter up with an old man who looks like a fucking vagrant? Even from here, I can tell he hasn’t bathed in a few days unless he bathes in garbage, sweat, and grease. A father shouldn’t want this horny old fucker anywhere near his daughter.

But instead of protecting Taryn, the man who drove her here walks into the diner, leaving her in the parking lot to fend for herself. My anger rises in my throat, and I growl when the old man blocks her way. If he puts a hand on her, he’ll lose it.

“Yeah, how about that? A date?” the old man says, grinning enough for me to see he’s missing more teeth than he has. “Saturday night? I’m not working and you’re not on the schedule either.”

“Um, no. Joe, look… I’m just not interested,” Taryn says, quickly moving past him.

“Not interested yet,” Joe chuckles. “That just means I haven’t tried hard enough.”

Joe doesn’t block her way once she gets past him, so I relax. He gets to keep breathing for now.

I watch the diner until customers start arriving, then I peel away and shift into human form. The sun is coming up, which means fewer shadows for me to hide in. It’ll be easier to blend in if I’m not a seven-hundred-pound wolf.