Wesley tried to justify his next actions. How bad could it be to satisfy himself in the arms of a human? His friends, including the Elite, did it all the time. It was just one night, not a prelude to mating. Even Ulric could see he was overdue to bed a woman. It just surprised him that his cock could become aroused by a human female, because it had never happened before.

He wanted Helen, and judging by the sharp scent of her arousal, she wanted him too.

“All I can think about right now is stripping you naked.” He waited for her to react, but she kept still and quiet. “Does that scare you?”

She shook her head. He wouldn’t have been able to notice if he wasn’t a shifter. His panther’s night vision was nearly as sharp in his human skin.

“I promise, if you knew all the things I’d like to do to you, you’d be very afraid.” He punctuated his words by kneading his fingers into her hair and locking her head in place. She gasped as he increased the tension. Wesley instinctively leaned close, tempted to breathe in her scent again. How could he feel these potent emotions for such a frail little thing? Maybe his panther had been wrong. Once he confirmed she was nothing special, he’d be able to walk away with no regrets.

But there it was again. The smell of her skin, her hair, her breath—it pulled him in like a potent aphrodisiac. He licked the pulse point near the base of her neck, tempted to sink his fangs into the soft flesh. He was fucking losing his mind, confusing sex with the mating call.

“Still not running?” He didn’t want to force himself on her like that lowlife coyote. He needed to give her every chance to run off and not look back. Once this started, it wouldn’t stop. And he wouldn’t be sweet and gentle like a human male. He was painfully pent up and hyped up on whatever spell Helen managed to cast over him. In his last honorable act, he’d make sure he sent her racing from the forest before things went too far.

Wesley reached around her and grabbed the fleshy mound of her ass, pulling her flush to his body. She gasped and braced her forearms on his chest. He bunched up the material of her skirt in his fist until it was nearly at her waist. Then he slid his hand under the edge of her panties. “Have you ever been fucked here?” He pressed the tip of his finger against her asshole, certain she’d take off screaming.

She swallowed hard, clenching the tight little rosette. Her desire perfumed the air around them. The girl was completely gone, making his act of valor more and more difficult.

“Answer me,” he said, holding his finger in place.

“No.”

“No what?”

“I’ve never done…that.”

What was he doing? Helen was playing a game she was never meant to play. He could hear the innocence in her voice, the caution in her words. Any other male would have succumbed by now. And if she was a shifter, Wesley had no doubt she’d be on all fours with his cock deeply embedded in her cunt.

“Turn around.” He gripped her shoulder and whirled her around until she faced away from him. Then he forced her down over the waist-high stump of a massive oak tree. He pinned her in place with a palm to her back while he roughly hiked her skirt all the way up and stomped down her panties with a foot.

Wesley stopped what he was doing for a moment and admired the woman beneath him. She had the perfect ass, round and tight with just the right amount of jiggle. He wanted to smack it to hear the sound it would make. In fact, he wanted to lick every inch of her delectable body, taking his time until she was begging him to fuck her.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“I’m going to give you what you want. Give you something new to experience.”

Her breathing picked up on cue. Any minute and she’d change her tune.

He parted her legs with his thigh to give him enough room to access her pussy. She was sopping wet as expected, her folds swollen and ripe. He couldn’t help but run his fingers along her slit a few times, dreaming of how it would feel to sink his cock in deep. His panther wouldn’t last much longer. He needed to frighten her enough to send her running.

He dragged the moisture from her pussy back to her ass and slowly impaled his thumb into her virgin hole. “Next will be cock. Can you handle that?”

She pulsed around his digit, clenching and unclenching. “Yes.”

What the fuck? She was acting like a she-wolf in heat. Wesley did everything he could to scare her off—and failed.

This time he made the choice for her. He walked away.