Az thrust into Jade’s sex, filling her, stretching her inner muscles, and she gasped at the delicious friction.

She sat astride his hips, her knees digging into the mattress, as she stared down at Az. His eyes were so blue, burning bright, and his face was locked in lines of heavy need and raw lust.

Her nails raked down his chest. He thrust harder, arching her off the bed. The first climax had barely ended for them both when he’d started to thrust again.

And again.

Her angel was insatiable, and she loved it. Her core trembled with aftershocks of pleasure. Every move of his body had her tensing and wanting more.

She’d thought to deny him? Deny them both? Why? Hell could come at dawn. She’d take this time, take him, and never look back.

Her head lowered. She pressed her lips against his. Tasted him, even as his fingers slid between their bodies and his thumb pressed over her clit. Yes . . . The man knew how to use that touch of his just right.

She tightened her sex around him, squeezing with the surge of pleasure. Then she nibbled on his lower lip. When his breath panted out, she stole it, and gave him her own before indulging in a deep kiss.

Her head lifted slowly as she stared at him.

“I . . . understand now . . .” Az gritted out the words.

His hands were on her hips. Holding so tightly that she might bruise, but Jade didn’t care. She rose onto her knees, then pushed down.

“Humans and sex . . . the need . . .” His voice was raw and rough with passion.

And he’d better not be about to call her a temptation again.

“You’d . . . kill . . . for the pleasure.”

Some had. Some would again. With Az, the pleasure was so intense it seemed to rip her apart. Would she kill for this? For him?

He rose up, positioning his body so that he faced her and his arms were tight around her. Her hands slid over his back. Touched the thick ridge of those scars.

She saw his control break at her caress. His pupils flared wider, seeming to swallow all of the blue in his eyes. Az growled, an animalistic sound as he thrust faster, harder. They wrecked the bed as they rolled and fought for their release.

He caged her beneath him. Lifted her legs so that he could thrust as deeply into her as possible. The pleasure wasn’t a wave this time. It was an explosion. One that rocked through her and made the whole world go dark for an instant.

His name slipped from her lips.

He erupted in her.

Pleasure worth dying for.

Oh, yes . . . more, please.

“They arrive at dawn.” Riley strode to stand beside Brandt as the alpha peered out over the old dock and at the murky water. “The witch will be bringing them. Her and that stray we threw out years before.”

Brandt’s back teeth clenched as rage hit him.

Riley continued, “Who would’ve thought those two would be the ones to bring in the bounty? That piece of shit shifter couldn’t—”

Brandt spun and, in one fast and brutal move, he drove his claws into Riley’s chest. Blood spurted onto him as Riley’s words ended in a strangled gurgle.

“Careful,” Brandt admonished as he took his friend’s heart with a yank of his claws. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

And, finally, finally, his brother was showing that he had what it took to carry the Dupre name. Bringing back Jade. Offering her protector’s body. No one else in the pack had been able to bring in the prey he wanted.

Only Tanner. The little brother who’d run from them one dark night.

The little brother who was coming home again.

Brandt jerked his hand from Riley’s body. The man who’d been at his side for the last ten years shuddered, then fell to his knees. His eyes were wide open, his heart gone.

But he still lived. Some shifters just took one hell of a long time to die. Brandt smiled at him before he lifted his boot and kicked Riley as hard as he could. Riley tumbled to the side, fell off the rickety dock, and sank into the murky green water.

In the distance, Brandt saw two gators slide off the bank and begin to cut a fast path through the water. A path that would lead straight to Riley.

Gators were good at following a blood trail. Not as good as panthers, but still . . .

Pretty damn good.

“Good-bye, Riley.” His friend’s death was overdue. Had been, from the moment Brandt realized that Riley didn’t want to catch Jade. The bastard wanted to kill her.

No one hurt Jade. No f**king one.

And no one screwed with his family.

The gators swam closer. “Don’t worry,” he promised them. “There will be more blood coming.” There always was.