Hunter kissed Joss deeply. She tasted hot like her—cinnamon and apples—and fiery like the booze they’d been drinking all night. Sweet, girly lemonade, and hard whiskey.

He eased back, hands still cupping her cheeks because he’d be damned if he stopped touching her. But he needed assurances. Needed to know she wanted him utterly, not because too much liquor in her system demanded she scratch an itch.

Plump, bruised-kissed lips pressed together in a confused pout. Clear eyes focused on him, concern and a sliver of doubt marring her perfect face.

Skies above, bless shifter genes. Another kiss, and a fire that matched his own flared to life in her hungry gaze.

They were a tangle of limbs and fingers and touches. Mouths collided wherever they could reach. Through it all, Hunter huffed a laugh and groaned all at once. No amount of awkward, desperate, teenage fumbling prepared him for finally getting his hands on the one woman who could satisfy him fully.

His.

He sucked down a sharp breath the moment her fingers brushed underneath his shirt. Skin on skin had him harder than a rock. More, he demanded. More, his bear urged.

He helped her take off his shirt, then stopped her when her hands went to his jeans.

This was for her. He needed to prove himself to her, make this better than he could imagine. He wanted to unwrap what belonged to him, then make her sing with the pleasure he provided.

He took his time. Each piece of clothing revealed a swath of pale skin for him to adore, and he did. With hands, with lips, with his tongue. He tasted every mesmerizing inch of her before he peeled back another layer.

Fucking gorgeous. Red hair framed her face, wide green eyes followed his every move. Her hips and thighs were thick, her waist small, and he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He cupped her breasts and massaged while sneaking another devouring kiss.

Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. Rosy nipples puckered at his touch, and suddenly that wasn’t enough. He dipped his head lower and took one between his lips.

She arched up against him, fingers digging into the blanket. “Hunter.”

“Yes, darlin’?” He moved to her other breast and filed away the way her throat worked as she tried to swallow back the growl of her inner animal. That had to go. He wanted her wild. He wanted her stripped down and past all the inhibitions others placed on her.

She was his. She had nothing to hide.

His bear demanded they prove just how perfect he found her.

Joss was perfection. He’d had days, only, with her, but the fact had solidified itself in his mind. He’d been given her laughs, her kisses, her hidden looks. They were a taste of what life could be with her, and he didn’t want to lose it.

And maybe, with his father showing up and saying he wasn’t a hunted man any longer, he could give that life a real shot. There was nothing to fear, except losing Joss.

He slid his way down her body, lavishing her with more licks and kisses and he drowned in her intoxicating scent.

“Hunter,” she pleaded.

He traced a finger around her opening, then slowly dipped inside. Silky muscles fluttered around his slow push and he had to steel himself to keep from stripping down and fucking her senseless. She needed time.

“You smell divine,” he growled instead. Her eyes flew open, but she tightened around his finger, so he retreated and added another.

“Do you want me to taste you, darlin’?” By the Broken, his words sounded thick in his own ears. Did she have any idea how much he wanted her? No, needed. Needed her.

She weaved her fingers into his hair. “Yes. Please, Hunter, yes,” she whimpered.

He licked a long line up her slit. A shudder ran through her body and her fingernails bite into his skull.

He did it again, and she rolled her hips against him. Good girl wanted it bad.

She tasted fucking amazing. If he ever had to request a last meal, Joss would be his one and only choice.

He teased her, sucking and nipping her outer lips between flicks of his tongue against her clit. It left her greedy and gasping, teetering on the edge of whimpering for more and demanding he give her release. Wild eyes stared into the great beyond and made her the absolute picture of wanton need.

His mate needed him.

Hunter attacked, teasing suddenly off the menu. He swiped his tongue through her folds and groaned with the explosion of taste on his tongue. Cinnamon and apples and thickly sweet arousal and all the goodness in the world.

His.

His bear shoved forward. His gums ached with the fangs filling his mouth. Fangs that wouldn’t touch Joss until he had her absolute consent, regardless of how tempting it was to mark the thighs quaking around his head.

He feverishly thrust his fingers into her welcoming heat. He sucked her clit between his lips, flicking with his tongue. Her nails bit into his head, his shoulders, wherever she could reach. His name dripped from her lips. She didn’t stop touching him—that felt like a victory.

Until she shattered around him with a scream to the heavens.

He eased his fingers out of her, still swirling his tongue. Lazy strokes meant to bring her back down to earth, or because he couldn’t get enough of her taste. Some mysteries were best left unsolved. The blissed-out look on her face was enough an answer for him.

Hunter crawled up her body. Heat rolled off her flushed skin. He ran his tongue around her belly button and dragged kisses up her chest. Her hard nipples begged him for a detour, but there was no stopping the connection he needed.

“Hunter,” she mouthed against him the moment he collided with her lips.

“Need you,” he growled.

Her choked hum of pleasure drew his balls up tight.

Joss shoved at his pants. He popped the button; she ripped down his zipper. Hunter groaned when her hand closed wrapped around his cock and pumped.

Fuck. Fuck. If he didn’t get a second to breathe, he was going to explode.

Boots, gone. Jeans, kicked off. Then it was just them, under the stars.

Bright green eyes stared at him. One slow blink, and Joss let her knees fall open.

“I see you,” he rumbled.

A huge smile lit up her face. “You do?”

“You’re everything.”

Hunter fell forward and claimed her mouth again. He couldn’t stop kissing her. Hands tangled in her hair, scent in his nose, there was no halting his lips on hers. He bit her lower lip, twisted his tongue with hers, and devoured her with his mouth.

The only thing better was the final thrust into her wet heat.

Fireworks exploded behind his eyes.

His, his bear roared.

His forever.

Joss thought her eyes rolled to the back of her head twice before finally settling back in place. Her body hummed with need as she stretched to fit him. He felt so good. So thick. Too good.

She felt huge and small. Stars twinkled down at her in a silent message of encouragement from the universe. This was important.

This was life.

Scary, sexy, dangerous, tempting life. The kind of risk she’d already gambled on and lost, and couldn’t help playing another hand.

“Holy cannoli,” Joss laughed and whimpered.

Hunter pulled back, surprised grin stretching his face. “You have to be kidding me. Not even here?”

“Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

He groaned as he eased back, leaving just an inch inside her. A growl rattled in his throat when he thrust back into her. “Say fuck.”

“Fudge.” Oh lord, she couldn’t stop her body arching against him. She wiggled her hips to encourage him to move again.

Slow retreat, then shockingly pleasurable slam home. Her body welcomed him with a rush of endorphins. Her skin tingled and felt too tight and too hot. She needed more.

“Fuck me, Hunter, please,” he insisted.

She raked her nails over his shoulders. “Holy hot fudge sundae, Hunter, just do it already.”

“Do what?” he laughed. He dipped his head to her chest and licked her nipple. “That?”

Joss’s breath hitched. His game, his touch, lit up her body like she’d touched an open socket. “FuckmeHunterplease,” she said in a desperate rush.

“Good girl wants to be bad,” he murmured against her ear. “I’ll show her bad.”

He thrust into her, cock pressing deep. Her body clamped around him and squeezed him tight. Spots danced in her vision, wavering with each retreat and surge forward.

Her nerve endings fired like crazy, zapping her with pleasure beyond belief. Hunter bucked into her faster, less gently, wilder than before, and she loved it. Love seeing his control slip because of her, loved knowing she was the cause of the grunts and groans he worshipped her with.

A keening moan left her lips and she searched for something more to cling to. Hair, shoulders, legs around his hips, she didn’t care. She wanted to destroy everything keeping them apart. Sheathed to the hilt inside her, there was still something more to be done.

Bite.

Mate.

Her inner badger tried to snatch control, but she was too far gone. Hunter had her bound to him. There wasn’t room for anything else in her head.

Hunter tangled his fingers with hers and stretched her hands above her head. She was his entirely for the taking, and good gravy, he took.

He bent his head and ravished her breasts with licks and tiny bites that bubbled pleasure in her veins. When she nearly contorted herself arching her back and giving him every inch, he dragged a hand down her arm and over her collarbone. Between her breasts, down her navel. Ragged pants filled the night by the time she realized what he intended.

Joss was lost. Hunter’s eyes glowed pure gold in the night. Inhuman, unearthly. Sexy. She couldn’t look away even when his fingers brushed against her clit and sent fire searing through her limbs.

“Fuck, Joss, you look so fucking good, darlin’,” he growled in such a deep tone she could hardly make out the words.

That, too, shivered bliss up her spine. Pressure built in her body. She moaned when he connected their bodies deeply, and panted when he pulled them apart.

Joss threw her arms around his shoulders and dragged him down, crashing her lips against his just as pleasure exploded, rippling waves of pure ecstasy through her and around his cock.

He froze, buried deep inside her, and throbbed hot release. Aftershocks sparked up and down her body as they clung to each other for what felt like the most perfect eternity.

When he finally pushed back and brushed the hair out of his eyes, the grin he beamed at her was cocky and full of sin.

“Hello, badger.” He tucked his fingers under her chin and stroked his thumb down her throat. “You’re growling.”

“Am not.” Her skin felt too tight.

Hunter pressed his lips to her ear. “You are, and it’s fucking sexy. Let’s shift. Then I’m taking you back home and fucking you until you scream.”

Joss’s mouth went dry at the naked plans. No games, no pestering, just straight desire to get close again. Her thighs involuntarily tightened around him.

The scary part was what he intended before. “You want to shift? Now?”

He shrugged and planted a kiss on her shoulder. “Why not? We’re already naked, you’re growling up a storm. My bear wants to run. There’s no one around. Let’s do it.”

Huh. Just like that. Simple. No arranging a visit to a park or making sure the neighbors weren’t peeking over the fence. She didn’t need to hide.

Again, because of Hunter’s words, something rearranged itself in her chest and she breathed a little easier.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But I don’t know what she’ll do. Last time she took control, I fought a bear!” Mortifying. She wasn’t to be trusted. All her suppressed anger over Cal and his family’s shenanigans burst out of her when Hunter’s ex started in on him. She’d wanted to save him from all the hurt she endured from loving the wrong person.

Which made him what? The right one?

Her badger ratcheted up the rumblings.

“Sexy little badger.” Hunter’s lips twitched. “I think she’ll listen to me.”

Hunter eased back to sit on his feet. He rolled his shoulders, then fell to his hands and knees with a burst of cracks and pops of changing limbs. Blond fur slid through his pores and filled in his coat as his shape bulked up right before her eyes.

With a chuff, the bear prodded her with his nose.

Joss giggled. Her heart wanted to burst out of her chest, she felt so good.

She poked at the inner half of herself. The badger crouched down, waiting for something to happen. Here goes nothing.

The first crack of bone made her whimper. Then her badger was there, pushing forward to save her from the hurt. In her head, she stepped aside and let the inner animal take her place.

With a shake of bristling fur, she rolled to her feet and rubbed her face against the bear’s leg. He licked her fur, then turned into the night. Several feet away, he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

He waited for her. In the night, in life, he gave her as much time as she needed to figure herself out.

Joss shook herself. She’d had enough of sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone to wave her in. She hurried to catch up.