Labored breathing could barely be heard beneath the crunch of leaves. He flew through the dark, drops of saliva slipping from his incisors, dampening his face and cooling his jowls against the autumn air.

Soon, soon, he told himself, but the fire inside him was growing, his gut crying out as he made his way through the thick of trees, toward the depth of the woods.

Abruptly, he paused, his ears prickling as he sensed movement. Something was there, something which also sensed him.

He willed his muscular frame to remain still, his nose inhaling the scent of fresh prey. Then he saw it: the bright, frightened eyes of a deer.

It is just a baby, he thought, but it did not matter—nature did not discriminate when hunger was involved. Their eyes locked and the animal froze, knowing its end was near.

He pounced then, claws extended as his dire wolf frame easily overpowered the helpless beast, tearing ruthlessly at its throat. The deer tried to back away, but her movements were futile, and he felt her take a long, relenting shudder as the life slipped from her body.

He closed his eyes, relishing the taste of her meat in his razor-sharp teeth, licking the blood from the tissue.

A clawed hand wrenched his shoulder and then he was flying backward. A roar of protest erupted from his windpipe and he released a ferocious, feral scream as the opponent dove into his fresh kill. Without hesitation, he lunged, digging his stinging sharp talons into the back of the assailant. Wrestling, the two tumbled to the grassy lea, a mashing of fur, teeth, and fury.

“Jesus Christ, Cameron!”

The beast beneath him shifted, losing its lupine shape and becoming a full-grown man. Jasper Brewer stared at him, his mouth agape in shock.

“You!” Cameron hissed, his own Lycan form disappearing as he stood before his assailant. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Jasper cowered, stepping back as he bowed.

“I didn’t know it was you,” he protested, the fear in his eyes clear as water. “It’s all yours.”

Cameron’s rage was not sated, and he drew upon his inferior officer, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing relentlessly.

“I could have you killed,” he choked, blood dripping from his lips. “How dare you interrupt my kill?” Jasper had no answer, hanging his head, and Cameron released him, dropping the older man into a pile on the forest floor.

He turned his attention back to the newly dead deer, his body transitioning in and out as if deciding which form should take control. Irate, he turned back to the groveling underling and scowled.

“You ruined it, Brewer,” he snarled. “I haven’t eaten in days and you ruined it.”

“I swear, Cameron, I didn’t know it was you. You have to know I would never—”

“Just shut the fuck up!” He spun, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He turned as he noticed Jasper lingering, his ire growing. “You don’t think I’m going to let you feast now, do you?”

“No, no!” Jasper croaked, hurrying after the pack leader. “Of course not.”

Cameron watched as Jasper cast a wistful look at the carcass, sighing quietly.

“Did you plant the Monkshood around the Giberson property?”

“Yeah, boss,” Brewer replied, hurrying to keep with Cameron’s stride. “Well, I had Collins do it—especially around the chicken coop.”

“Which one of you assholes keeps killing her chickens?” Cameron demanded as they stole away in the inky blackness, their night vision allowing them easy passage. It was well past eleven o’clock, and Great Falls and most of its residents were asleep.

“I don’t know, boss,” Jasper replied, his voice taking on that sometimes nasally whine that made Cameron want to put him through a wall. “I have asked around, but everyone is pleading ignorance.”

Cameron grunted. “Not shocking. You guys are becoming a pain in my ass. The Monkshood will keep whoever it is away, but when I find out who keeps killing that old bird’s chickens, I am going to be pissed.”

Jasper did not respond, but as the two emerged from the woods, he blinked his eyes, the light from the moon illuminating their path.

“Want to grab a drink at Patty’s?” Jasper asked, and Cameron scowled viciously at him.

“It isn’t enough that I have to see you all day, but I’m stuck fighting you off at night too? And now you want to become girlfriends?” He huffed out a sigh. “Go home, you maggot. I better not run into you again on a hunt.”

Jasper swallowed visibly and scurried off. He was lucky Cameron’s wrath had not been worse.

I was too soft on him, he thought, wondering why. What Jasper had done was such a blatant infraction of Lycan code, there was little else to trump it. Why did I release him?

For a brief moment, Cameron considered going after him, but there was someone else on his mind.

Gabriella Medina.

It had started slowly throughout the afternoon, small images of her lovely face popping into his mind as he poured a coffee or tackled budget paperwork. By the end of the workday, he was wondering what he could do to run into her again.

You must be starving, he told himself as he walked into his apartment that night. You are thinking insane thoughts if that spoiled, whiny princess is popping into your subconscious.

He cracked a beer and turned on a football game he had recorded, eventually nodding off in his worn recliner.

In his dream, he found her bedroom window open, allowing for the crisp fall air to flitter through the curtains innocently. Gabriella was curled asleep on the bed, her body nude and drawn into a half circle like a child in the womb. Her glorious mane of silken chestnut tresses spilled against the pillow, her breaths rising and falling in an even, deep rhythm. A thin bed sheet covered her, though it did nothing to hide her figure from sight. In through the pane he climbed, his body still in human form but his mind completely primitive. Slowly, he stalked toward her, his nostrils inhaling the sweet scent of her skin even from the distance between them. She sighed in her sleep, her full mouth moving slightly, as if calling out to him, and closer her drew, running his tongue along his lower lip.

I must possess her, he thought, his hand reaching out to caress her soft cheek. Again, she moaned quietly, and he knew she could sense him there, even if in her dreams.

He peeled back the sheet covering her slender figure, his fingertips tracing the delicate lines of her body. Goosebumps prickled her skin and he felt his breaths quicken as he dropped to his knees.

Wake, he told her silently. Wake and look at me.

Her long lashes fluttered instantly and her lids struggled to open. Her lips formed a circle of surprise as she registered his closeness, but she did not move nor speak. They stared at one another, and suddenly Gabriella bolted upright, reaching eagerly for Cameron’s neck and pulling him toward her, their lips crushing with so much force, he could taste her blood. Alarm coursed through him, his hunger overtaking his desire, and he tried to wriggle from Gabriella’s grasp, but her grip was fierce, vice-like. Deeper he was pulled into her, greedily lapping at her mouth and simultaneously attempting to wrest away. She did not release him, though, her hands digging deeper into his skin, and he could feel his resolve slipping away, his mouth exploring the softness of her cheek as he traveled lower, arms encircling her slim body.

Past the lines of her bronze shoulders toward her bared breasts he moved, the desire to sink his teeth into her unbearable, but as he nuzzled her nipples, tongue jutting out to taste her, she sighed as if in surrender to him.

He was on top of her, his form changing before her eyes, but she only stared without fear, as though she had expected such a transition. She did not question the transformation, her coffee-colored eyes only widening with yearning as her perfectly sculpted thighs fell apart and he mounted her, his member engorged and ready to claim her.

Cameron was inside her swiftly, but he was no longer a man, and instead, the untameable beast who could not be stopped.

Rutting into her, she cried out, a genuine noise escaping her lips for the first time since he had crept into her room unannounced. Faster he pounded into her, his passion knowing no bounds as he took her with near fury. Gabriella’s eyes rolled back into her head and he felt her tremble violently beneath him, a surge of heat meeting his member. He could take no more, leaning into her and gnashing violently on the throbbing vein of her jugular.

When she screamed this time, her cries were filled with panic as she fought to throw him from her, but it was too late. He had taken her and she belonged to him.

Cameron woke encased in sweat, the football game still playing in the background but nearing the end of the fourth quarter.

I need to feed, he realized, rising from his reclining chair. He grabbed a jacket as he left his apartment. Now I have not fed thanks to Brewer and I am wandering the streets of Great Falls at almost two in the morning.

His frustration was reaching almost insurmountable proportions and he did not know which way to direct his energies. He considered going to Patty’s Bar after all, but he knew she would likely be closing up.

She’ll serve me but she’ll spit in my beer.

Cameron silently willed himself to shift, but the moment had passed. Whatever little he had taken from the deer before Brewer interrupted him had sated him enough to keep him at bay for a little while, at least. He continued to walk, forgetting how long it was to prowl on human foot from Cascade County to Great Falls, but it was the only safe place to hunt.

His pack had become lazy in the past years, feasting at random. In an effort to control the town’s ever-increasing suspicion, Cameron had enforced a no-kill policy on Great Falls territory. He suspected that some of the renegades were not following procedure, but that was one of the reasons he had maintained a career in law enforcement. He had a better handle on what his counterparts were up to. Like Mrs. Giberson’s chickens.

He had yet to get to the bottom of which of his crew was attacking the old lady’s coop, but when he did…

Cameron glanced up, confused. He was in a neighborhood which was both familiar, yet unfamiliar. He tried to get his bearings as he looked around.

It was not until he looked directly up did he realize he was standing before Gabriella Medina’s rented house.

What am I doing here? An uncomfortable feeling overcame him as his highly charged dream came flooding back to him. He could not seem to stop himself as he stepped onto the property and slunk around toward the back of the house.

Is it how I remembered it? He slipped into the modest backyard. As in the dream, a window was open, and he could see filmy white curtains blowing ever so gently in the light breeze. Guided by a hand he could not resist, he drew closer to the half-opened pane, his breath quickening.

This is wrong, he told himself, but he could not stop. He stood before the window, unable to see in, but one more step would allow him clear view of the room.

Is she asleep in there? Cameron’s highly honed sense of smell told him she was, but he dared not make one more move.

The dark hairs on the back of his neck rose and he whirled to stare into the darkness.

Someone else was out there—someone he did not recognize.

Without waiting for a form to materialize, he shot out of the yard, knowing the repercussions of being caught in such a situation would raise too many questions.

He was home in minutes, semi-racing through the abandoned side streets like a burly ghost.

It was not until he was safely back in the security of his apartment that the gravity of the situation hit him.

Someone else had been outside of Gabriella’s house, in her yard.

A feeling of incomprehensible dread filled him.

Why was someone lurking in her yard? Why didn’t I stick around?

He knew why; his own guilty consciousness had stifled his cop and supernatural instincts. Self-preservation had kicked in.

He flew back out the apartment door, his heart hammering.

Is she in danger? he questioned. And if so, did I leave her to fend for herself?