Chapter 5: The Breaking Point
The hand around his ankle yanked, hard.
Winter was dragged from under the bed in one smooth, effortless motion, his back scraping across the polished floor. Before he could even cry out, he was airborne, tossed through the dim air to land in a jumble of limbs and soft quilts in the center of the massive four-poster. The breath left his lungs in a pained whoosh.
He scrambled upright, pushing damp hair from his eyes. The wolf stood at the foot of the bed, blotting out the faint light from the windows. It rested its enormous paws on the footboard, the carved wood creaking under the weight. Its muzzle split into a grin, revealing an alarming expanse of teeth.
“You really thought you could hide from me?” Kane’s voice rumbled from the beast, rich with amusement. “In my own den? Sweetheart. I can smell you in the walls. I can taste your sweat in the air ducts. You’re my little Bunny, and you’re everywhere in this house. The games are over now.”
Winter scuttled backward until his shoulders hit the intricately carved headboard, cold against his thin t-shirt. He had nowhere to go. The creature’s presence filled the room, a heatwave of wild musk and dangerous intent. “Please,” Winter whispered, the word cracking. “Don’t… don’t kill me. Don’t eat me.”
The wolf threw its head back and laughed, a deep, rasping sound that was wholly Kane and yet completely other. “Eat you?” It lowered its massive head, golden eyes gleaming. “Oh, Bunny. That’s not what I’m hungry for.”
A huge, furred hand shot forward, closing around Winter’s ankles. He yelped as he was dragged down the bed, the quilts bunching underneath him, until he was within arm’s reach of the beast. The movement pulled his jeans tight across his thighs. And that’s when Winter saw it.
Between the wolf’s powerful hindquarters, jutting thick and obscene from a sheathe of dark fur, was a cock that defied reason. It was massive, flushed a deep ruddy color, and at its base swelled a bulbous, intimidating knot. It was a brutal piece of anatomy, even larger than Kane’s already impressive human form. Winter’s brain stuttered, his fear momentarily eclipsed by sheer, awe-struck horror.
The wolf followed his gaze and chuffed, a soft, possessive sound. “See? We’re not so different. He and I.” A claw-tipped finger tapped its own chest. “I’m just… the honest version. The one that doesn’t overthink. The one that knew what it wanted the second you walked through my front door, smelling like rain and green wood and something so fucking fertile it made my teeth ache.” It leaned in, its hot breath fanning Winter’s face. “You looked so damn cute. So worried. So… breedable.”
Before Winter could process the word, the wolf moved. Claws snagged the hem of his soft henley. There was a sound of tearing fabric, a crisp, final rip, and then the chill of the room hit his skin. His shirt was pulled apart like tissue paper. His jeans and boxers followed, seams yielding instantly to those razor points, leaving him naked and exposed on the dark sheets. He made a futile grab for cover, but the wolf caught his wrists, pinning them gently but implacably to the mattress beside his head.
The beast loomed over him, its gaze a physical weight traveling from his flushed face, down his trembling chest, over the flat plane of his stomach, and lower. It made a low, appreciative groan in its throat. “There you are,” it rumbled, voice thick. A broad, raspy tongue swiped over its own muzzle. “All mine. Now, let’s see if I can’t make you forget why you were ever scared of the Big Bad Wolf in the first place, hmm, Bunny?”