Chapter One
Warm breath hit Kathleen Davis’s neck, giving her only a second’s notice before she heard, “You’re mine.”
A chill crawled up her spine. A firm hand grabbed hers and gave a tug before she’d even seen the face that went with the voice and lips only millimeters from her ear.
Something didn’t feel right. Her heart pounded as adrenaline pumped through her body.
She stood taller, glancing around the crowded noisy room before turning toward the squeaky male voice. No one was currently paying attention to her. She’d been flitting from table to table, meeting other wolf shifters and enjoying the atmosphere of the meeting room.
Her face fell as she turned toward the man who’d spoken only those two words to her before pulling her toward the door. She was graced only with the back of his head. No face. Just a shock of thick black hair in need of a cut. He was short. Not more than an inch taller than her own five five.
His hand gripped hers tighter, sweaty and infuriatingly tight to the point her fingers ached.
She followed dutifully. He’d said she was his. She felt nothing. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of spark? A beam of light? A sign that he was indeed her mate? Didn’t the women feel the same intense connection as the male shifters?
In moments, the man weaseled his way through the crowd and out into the hallway. He kept walking until they rounded a corner. No one was around. Of course. Everyone who was unattached and looking for a mate was in that room.
It was Saturday night, the first night of the biennial gathering. The only people who would be leaving that room right now would be wolf shifters who encountered their mates and wanted some time alone. Was she one of them?
The dark-haired man turned toward her and pressed her into the wall. He smiled, but nothing about his face was sincere.
Kathleen gasped. She held her breath. He reeked. He needed a shower and a toothbrush. His dry lips curled up in an apparent grin, but it was ominous. His eyes were dark, but she couldn’t read his intent in them.
He held her to the wall with his entire frame, making it impossible for her to move an inch in any direction. He was strong for someone so small. Broad. No . . . overweight.
He grabbed both her biceps with his hands and leaned his face in closer. “You look so much like your sister. I hope you aren’t as big of a bitch as she was.” With one hand he reached to toy with a lock of her hair, twirling it around his finger before he grazed her cheek with his thumb.
What the hell? Her sister? Mackenzie or Cassidy? And what was he talking about?
Cassidy was giggling it up with her friends inside the meeting room. She was only nineteen and not ready to even consider mating.
Mackenzie, twenty-three, was where? No one had seen her for hours. Kath assumed she was hiding in the car with her chip on her shoulder, unwilling to succumb to the mating ritual.
Had this crazy man actually had an encounter with Kenzie earlier?
Kathleen turned her head to one side to get a breath. She couldn’t bear sucking in air with the man’s face in front of her.
He gripped her jaw, too forcefully, and turned her face back toward his. “Mine,” he repeated.
One thing she knew with absolute clarity—she was not his. He was delusional.
When he tried to lower his lips to hers, she pushed against him. “Get off me. I’m not yours.” The resistance was futile. He was too big. “I’ll give you two seconds to walk away and then I’m going to scream. Got it?” Something about him made her believe he was not all there, mentally.
He only chuckled. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Why? The man had a screw loose.
“I’m Marcus, by the way. And I’m going to claim you.” As he smashed his dry lips into hers, she lifted her knee and slammed it into his groin. He buckled, hunched forward, releasing his grip on her.
Kathleen wiggled free and scrambled away. Gasping for breath, she ran as hard as she could down the hall, not considering the direction she was headed or the fact the majority of the meeting attendees were in a room behind both her and her assailant.
“Stop! You bitch! What’s with you Davis women anyway?” She could hear him catching up with her.
She ran harder, wishing she hadn’t worn a sundress and cute sandals. “Cute” shoes weren’t made for speed.
When she rounded a corner, she saw several closed doors. It was quiet in this corridor. Whatever conferences had been held there earlier in the day were all disbanded now. The older adults had probably headed toward the dining hall or a social event.
Desperate, Kathleen reached for a random door and found it unlocked. She slipped inside the dark room and pulled the door shut silently.