The water had been freezing, but my core was hot. It was pulsing with need, my deepest instincts dying to be fucked, taken, and knotted. It felt like I was on the verge of heat, though this wasn’t the same. My Omega simply knew.

Pressing myself to the bark of the huge tree, I slowed my breathing. I leaned so I could let my muscles rest and tried not to give in to the shivers. They wouldn’t last forever.

But mostly, I listened.

There were natural sounds, but they were easy to tune out. The unnatural ones were the sounds I was after, the huff of his breath or the scrape of his shoes on the dirt. A misstep on something that cracked.

I listened for the Alpha hunting me.

And there was nothing.

It was like I was alone out here in the woods, but I knew I wasn’t. I knew he was here, even if my senses were trying to trick me.

My entire body went still, instincts reacting before I processed them. Was that a scuff on the dirt? Another slow sound turned me to stone and made me hold my breath. He was close. I wasn’t sure where, but he was coming.

The sound felt like it was coming from the right, so I moved with painful, aching slowness to the left, not making any sound as I circled the tree. I didn’t see any moving shapes in the darkness. Everything was still and silent except for the wind. Another small sound in front of me made me jump, but it was just one branch brushing against another.

I blew out a breath in relief. It was me. I was being jumpy. It hadn’t been enough time for him to find me.

“Hey, baby.”

Kade stepped out of the shadows behind me and I ran without thinking, back toward the river, downhill. The low words pulsed in my mind. Soft and sensual, dark and determined.

He wasn’t hiding his presence now, steps crashing as he chased. I felt his hand move in the air behind me when I whipped to the right, grabbing a tree and using it to propel me in the opposite direction.

Kade cursed and turned to follow. He was fast. So much faster than I was. He hadn’t run to begin with, and I was already tired.

Prey.

My mind was sinking into a base place of both reaction and acceptance. I was going to fight like hell, and I also knew my capture was inevitable, along with everything which came after it.

I dodged him one more time with a sharp turn, but this time he was ready, catching the back of my shirt and tugging me off balance. I stumbled, but caught myself, pushing up to run. There was a crashing sound behind me and a curse a second before a hand circled my ankle.