Angelisa had been restless the past week when she began to sense him. She’d always known her Alpha soul-mate was out there, somewhere. Her mother had made sure she knew her ultimate destiny, and that she was prepared to meet and mate him when the time came.

Her mother had told her the stories that had been passed down over the generations about the Hunger, and the magnetism she’d feel toward her mate. She told her there should never be any other Wolf for her except this one, and that she should be pure as the driven snow when she presents herself to him. Her mother warned, male Wolves weren’t always as virtuous, but to make no mistake about it, he’d be faithful to a fault once he found his one true love. Her mother told her the love they’d feel would last throughout all their years.

Angelisa believed every word her mother said, because she knew her mother was raised the same as her. To love, honor, and walk beside her Alpha soul-mate.

When the Hunger was too much to bear, Angelisa could no longer fight the urge to be with him, so she kissed her parents good-bye and left home to seek him out. She had tracked him, and knew he wasn’t alone.

She’d made sure to remain hidden and kept her distance for a couple of days. Her body was craving him and telling her to go to her soul-mate, but her mind was forcing her to proceed with caution.

She loved everything she saw when she looked at him. He was tall with dark hair, and blue eyes like the sky. His eyes were so intense that they melted her heart. His thick, light-pink lips were perfectly shaped. Although she’d never really liked facial hair, his five o’clock shadow even was sexy. She loved the tattoo on her strong, muscled, gorgeous man. His voice, the few times she could hear him, was gravely, yet soothing. And his large white Wolf was stunning.

Despite being the physical man she’d always hoped would be hers, one disturbing thing she picked up on through her observations was that he didn’t seem like he had a home. She’d watched him leave what she suspected was his family’s home, then travel through the woods and save the Mountain Lion cub, then travel to this desolate location with three old, abandoned homes. She needed to know why he seemed like he wasn’t more settled. What trick had the Goddess played on her? Why did she get the super-hot, transient, drifter soul-mate?

As she watched him run into the woods to find her, she retreated in the direction she’d come from. She stood her ground and watched her mate in a frenzied state sniff the air and ground. She knew it was only a matter of time until they’d be together. She wanted it so bad, but she didn’t want to meet under these circumstances. She didn’t want him to know she’d stalked him and then got caught.

The ache between her legs was excruciating. She desperately wanted to be his in every possible way.

Just as he took a few more steps in her direction, she’d backed up two steps right smack dab into him.

Angelisa couldn’t scream because he’d covered her mouth with one hand while he quickly wrapped her body in his strong free arm. He hefted her up onto his hip and ran, with her legs flailing and her fingers prying and scratching at his hand.

As he ran through the forest with her in tow, her limbs and face were getting scratched and raked by tree branches and bushes. She could feel the blood trickle down her cheek from a deep scratch near her temple.

She didn’t get a chance to see her captor until they made it back to his domicile. Angelisa was tossed onto the bed of pine needles and leaves, which carried his stench. She wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling them tightly against her chest.

“Who are you, and what do you want with me?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about who I am,” he said in a rough and low pitch. He kept his back to her as he quickly pulled more pine needles and leaves into a large heap. “You’ll find out everything you need to know about me and that horrible, pathetic Wolf you’ve been following in due time.”

“What do you mean?” Angelisa’s voice quivered. “What about him? Tell me, I need to know.”

“Shut. Up. Just sit there and be quiet. Don’t you try to demand anything from me!” he said over his shoulder as he kept shoving around the leaves and pine needles.

“Can you at least tell me what you want with me? Why am I here?” Angelisa asked.

“Listen,” he said as he spun on his heels to face her. His head was slightly tilted and his large eyes were pools of never-ending fury. His lip twitched. “Stop asking me questions. I’ll tell you what you need to know, not what you want to know. Just know this, as much as it would please me to rip your limbs from you torso and leave you here to die, I won’t. But if you don’t stop with the questions, you may force me to do something regrettable.”