“What?” she whispered, her body heavy with wanting.

Eric’s next kiss was savage but brief. “If I take you out here, you’ll belong to me, and me alone.”

“I don’t belong to anyone,” she said, still defiant.

His hands tightened on her wrists. “The mate-claim means you go to no other Shifter but me. It means I protect and take care of you, no matter what, no matter how much you fight me.”

Iona slanted him a smile. “And if I fight you?”

“You can if you want to.” He growled. “I told you, we like the chase.”

Iona liked it too, and she really shouldn’t. Eric’s heartbeat thudded against her chest, his skin so hot.

“You scared me earlier, when you called me,” she said, remembering her worry. “You sounded…” Weak, exhausted. Everything Eric Warden was not.

“I was in pain.” He kissed her again, this kiss gentle, followed by a light flick of tongue. “Your voice soothed me.”

“How? I didn’t say anything much.”

Eric nuzzled her. “The sound of the mate’s voice—her touch, her scent—calms and heals. Better if you’re in the same room with me, but I took what I could.”

“But I’m not your mate.”

“Not yet.”

Iona decided to deal with that later. “Why were you in pain? What happened?”

Eric shrugged, which moved his body deliciously against hers. “I had to pull one of McNeil’s wolves off one of my Shifters and thump him hard. Even then the wolf didn’t want to yield to me. That’s going to be a problem.”

“Did the wolf hurt you?” Iona managed to slide one hand out from under Eric’s—because he let her. She traced his shoulder and the tattoo hugging it, finding his skin hot, smooth, the muscle beneath it solid.

“He didn’t. My Collar did.” Eric frowned as he spoke, as though uncertain about something.

Iona let her fingers drift to the Celtic knot at his throat. The Collar was dormant, warm from his skin. “This went off?”

“Sparked, yep.”

Iona studied the pain that lingered in his eyes, matching the bleakness she’d heard in his voice on the other end of the phone. She brushed fingers over his face, wanting to erase every last vestige of hurt.

“And my touch helps?”

“Yes.”

She traced his cheek again, his unshaved whiskers sandpapery under her fingertips. “Part of me tells me to fight you with everything I have,” she said, her voice softening. “But part of me wants to help you, to make sure you’re all right.”

“At least part of you wants that,” Eric said, voice going low. “Let me work on the other part.”

He kissed her again. He didn’t trap her hands this time, and she shivered as she slid her palms across his shoulders and down his back as he kissed her. Eric’s mouth opened hers, the brush of his whiskers rough on her skin, the taste of them sharp.

Her need was driving her crazy. Iona ran her bare foot up his leg again, letting her toes caress his thigh.

Eric was a beautiful man, and he lay on top of her, ready for her. The space between her legs was wet, and she knew that if she moved her hips just right, his hard c**k would slide right into her.

That thought brought the beast back to life. Wanting raged. Never mind how rocky the ground was under her back, never mind she didn’t want to be trapped by this man.

She wanted his seed. Inside her. Now.

Iona bit his shoulder, not gently. Eric rumbled, “Easy.”

“I can’t.” Iona nibbled his neck above his Collar, licking where she bit. “I can’t…I want…”

“Yes, you can.” Eric grabbed her wrists again, trapping them against the ground. His eyes had gone Shifter, the wildcat pupils slitted. “Control the hunger, love. Don’t let it take over.”

“You want me. You’re hard as a rock. What’s stopping you?”

Eric put his face close to hers. “You’re frenzied. I don’t want mating with regrets.”

“But you want me. I’m going insane…”

Eric’s hands shoved hers into the dirt, his weight heavy on her. “You’re right, I damn well want you,” he said, the words a snarl. “I want you so much, it’s killing me. I want to pump myself inside you until we’re so spent we can’t get up for days. I want you here and now, all night, who cares if the sun comes up and roasts us alive? I’ll keep going, and so will you. We’ll screw so hard and be so mindless that we’ll probably die, but we won’t give a shit.”

“Die?”

“If we give in to the mating frenzy that’s crawling through me and you, we won’t notice. We’ll f**k for days, never mind about eating or drinking or even getting up off this ground.”

Iona started to smile. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

She wanted it. Wanted him. She fought to get her hands free, to touch him. She needed so much to touch him. She raised her head and licked his throat.

“I know it doesn’t sound bad,” he said. “It sounds damn good. But I don’t want to kill you, Iona. I want you alive, and with me.”

“Then why are you naked on top of me?”

“That’s my frenzy talking. And I’m naked on top of you because I didn’t want my leopard hurting you. Humans are fragile, and you’re only half-Shifter.”

“All right, so let me go. Let me run.”

He growled again, the rumble vibrating her and making her warm. “You’re out of control. You’re running like a wild thing. You have to learn to control it.”

“I have. I’ve controlled it all my life.”

“No, you suppressed and ignored it. Not the same thing. You have to let it out, love, but you need to be in charge.”

“Like you are?”

Eric licked her lips again. “I have iron control. I never came close to losing it until I met you.” Another lick. “I’ll help you through it.”

“And then you’ll boff me?”

His growl turned to a chuckle. “When we make love, it will be like the world exploded.”

Iona wanted it to be like that now. A tiny part of her mind was waving at her, telling her that if she did go into frenzy with him now, she’d hate herself later. She’d be angry, resentful, both at him and herself.