He split the fabric along the seams, tearing down one leg and then the other so I was naked except for my shoes. It was when he tried to pull off one sneaker, I saw my chance.

Heaving off the ground, I shoved my foot into his chest and pushed off him, stumbling to my feet and running. My hands were still bound, hair wild, and I sprinted, not saving any energy. I gave it all to my flight, knowing it was the last chance I had.

Kade roared behind me. Branches snapped and his steps thundered. I pushed myself, cresting the hill and down the incline on the other side, flinging myself out of the trees and into the tall grasses.

He was only seconds behind me. If that. The grass stung against my legs, whipping past my skin. It was a little brighter out here without the cover of trees, but not much.

A snarl was my only warning.

The arm that curled around my waist yanked me down and against Kade’s body as we crashed together. He’d jumped—tackled me. And we were still moving. My hands were tied by the t-shirt, and I had nothing left to fight him with. My strength and energy were gone, my limbs shaking with the remnants of adrenaline.

There was no sky, only him. Pinning me down, holding me by the throat and shoving my thighs apart to drive himself home. I moved, and the growl that met me was different.

Somewhere along the way his shirt had gotten lost, and all his beautiful tattoos were inky stains in the night. Even more a monster taking the maiden. He melded in with the darkness. A shadow creature appearing to hold me down.

His hand tightened on my throat. Not enough to frighten me, but I understood the warning. “Mine,” he said again. But the word was different. It wasn’t conscious. Pure, ruthless, claiming instinct.

“Kade,” I breathed, and he growled, sinking his cock—and his swollen knot—all the way into me. “Oh, fuck.”

The eyes locked on mine weren’t those of my conscious Alpha. They were Kade, but stripped back to the barest hint of humanity. He was in rut.

I stopped fighting.

There was no part of me afraid of him, but I also knew better than to fight back against an Alpha in rut. He wasn’t toward the surface enough to play the game.

Kade would never hurt me. Not on purpose. And even now the way he was fucking me, I was going to shatter into a million pieces of glowing glass and melt back together with the second wave of pleasure.

I looped my bound wrists around his neck and pulled him closer. He was already knotted, and it wasn’t coming out now.

No, he was thrusting deeper, knot pushing against all the delicious places inside me, and sparks were flying behind my eyes. “Kade. Please. Yes.”