Her friend's urgency had Sarina stiffening. "What. What is it? Did you just remember something else about Conlin?"

"What? No, no, nothing like that. I just remembered that I'm supposed to go into my breeding tomorrow."

Sarina stared open-mouthed at her friend, then shook her head and laughed wearily. "You really do have bad luck, you know that? Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to call um, what's his face...John is it?"

Alison crossed her arms tightly. John Dour had been her lover during her single days in her breeding cycle. He’d helped her for two years, then she met Conlin and was with him during her next cycle, and over the next two years John had been servicing her. He was kind, simple, and completely happy to service her needs during the cycle. Plus he didn't mind wearing a condom, since neither of them wanted a pregnancy.

"Yeah, I'll call him tonight and see if he can come over."

"What if he can't?"

Alison laughed quietly. John was a simple man, but a man nevertheless. "Unless he's married…He’ll come.”

"Oh, I'm sure he will," Sarina said smartly with a grin of her own.

"Listen before you go, do me another favor will you?" Alison hesitated, wondering whether or not she should tell her friend. Of course she could, she was always trustworthy. At her friend's enthusiastic nod, she continued. "Don't tell Rome about the breeding cycle, please. I'm going to hunker down in the cabin and stay that way until it's over. Luckily my cycles have never been as long as yours. Maybe it will even be over in a few days."

Sarina looked at her with a twinkle in her eye. "You like him, don't you?"

Alison sputtered and cleared her throat. "Not at all."

Sarina smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "Listen honey, he's a good man. I know how you feel about handsome men, but you can actually trust this one. Not only is he a Kategan, but he's Vane's brother, and I've gotten to know him a bit over the last month. I've also seen how he looks at you. A man only looks at a woman like that when he wants her, baaad. Maybe you should let your guard down a little with him."

Alison hugged her friend and said she would try, even though it was a lie. She could never allow herself to trust a man like that; already he was pushing down her steel defenses with brutal force. Hell, she hadn't kisses anyone besides John during her cycle in the last four years. She couldn't afford to let the barrier drop. She'd already gone through what happens when you do.

After informing Rome that he was right and she shouldn’t go back to work so soon, she ushered her guests out and prepared for the breeding cycle to come. It wasn't like her to forget something so important. Hell, it was even marked on her little calendar at home.

But with the break-in and the nasty letters she'd been receiving on top of the eerie, silent phone calls, she'd been on edge. Every little noise had her turning towards it with a start; each sound seemed to have taken on a sinister calling.

Paranoia. She knew it for what it was, but couldn’t stop it.

She asked Sarina to gather a few items for her that she'd need for the next few days. Six bottles of champagne was at the top of the list.

She was trying something new this year. Instead of calling John Dour, she planned to try a new strategy—get really drunk. With enough liquor and self-pleasuring, she should be able to stem off the throbbing roar of her hormones. Or at least that's what she was hoping for.

She knew she should call John, but the idea of him coming here was too weird to her. This wasn’t her home and she didn’t want people to know what she was up to, and surely, the guards would question him for coming to see her.

Seventy-two hours, that's how long she needed to last.

Unfortunately, she only managed to last six of those seventy-two hours. After her breeding cycle swept like a fiery burn through body at around eight o'clock that night, Alison managed to down more than half a bottle of champagne and pleasure herself twice.

She would not admit, aloud anyways, that it was Rome's cock she pictured thrusting into her. She pictured him taking her quick and hard, not bothering to undress her all the way before filling her deeply. She came twice with the image of him buried inside her and growling his hot release into her.

Alison rolled out of bed, uncaring of her naked state or that her fingers smelled richly of her breeding heat. She paced in front of the fireplace. Why couldn't she get him out of her mind? He was only a man. Good looking, yes. Funny, yes. Absolutely delectable, yes. Her heart told her she could trust him.

She had trusted Conlin and ended up in a bad way, but that was her fault. And her heart’s, which had been completely in on the whole deal. She had been naive, not believing of the rumors about him. He'd played the part so well too, about how unjust it was that people said such horrible things about him. Even Sarina had told her to be careful, but she hadn't listened. She'd trusted a monster.

But Rome wasn't a monster. While she didn't know that for certain, a part of her wanted to take a chance. Damn it all, she didn't know what to do. Her nipples were crying out to be pinched, her skin was sensitized to even the softest of touches, and her core throbbed like a rapid pulse between her legs. She was so hot and wet.

God she wanted him. Like a dying plant needed water, like a woman needed a man.

Her mind made up, she dialed the one man she trusted, the one man who was safe, and that man definitely wasn't Rome Kategan.

She could hear the breathless excitement in his voice at her request. His voice wasn't deep like Rome's but it was nice. He promised to be there in thirty minutes and hung up. Alison made another call to the sentry guard. Sarina told her that if she needed anything to let them know, so she called to tell them to allow her male visitor when he arrived.

She grabbed her bottle of champagne by the neck and took a long gulp. The tangy bubbles sizzled on her tongue and left a pleasantly sweet and crisp taste in her mouth. For a moment, she considered putting clothes on for when he arrived, but her skin was too sensitive. Each touch felt like it was supercharged a thousand times stronger than usual. She couldn't even bear the touch of the couch against her.

She paced in front of the fireplace. She'd planned on lighting it and sitting by the fire with a book all night. That was until her breeding cycle roared to life. She chewed on her bottom lip and ran a hand through her hair, probably messing up her bangs in the process. A dark feeling was eating at her like a parasite. She recognized it as guilt.

"God, I can't believe this," she muttered. She actually felt guilty over calling John. It wasn't like Rome was anything to her; in fact, she'd learned her lesson about gorgeous men. He was bad news. But then why did she feel like she wanted to go hide in the closet and not come out when John came to the door?

Her core throbbed, warning her of its emptiness, threatening her with its steady pulse to fill it or else. Already the painful stomach cramp started. If she didn't have sex soon she'd been in real pain. Masturbating only staved off the pleasure so much. God, just thinking about how Sarina had dealt with this without a man for so many years was horrible. Her father was monster for doing such a thing.

Just then, there was a knock at her door. Alison flew to it and flung it open. John's jaw dropped at seeing her flush, naked body. Her chest was heaving, her legs spread, and the scent of her sex filled the air like smoke. He closed his jaw and she looked down his body to see his erection pushing through his khaki pants. A part of her pulled her back a little and told her no, but the animal inside her, the lykaen told her to rip off his pants and sit on his cock. She couldn't help it, the animal was out of the cage, and she leaped at him with a growl.