How do you tell a woman who has threatened to set you on fire on more than one occasion that she’s your mate? Oh and not only that but everything her father has ever told her is a lie and she also has a forty foot monster living inside her? Ryker Anosov didn’t have an answer to that question. As a matter of fact if it were up to him then he’d just walk away and pretend like none of it was happening. But it wasn’t up to him entirely. When his inner beast wasn’t lounging about or demanding that he take someone’s face off, it was sniffing around Catori Akita. Now he has to muster up enough courage to inform her of what he knows. That should be easy enough right? Now came the hard part. He could blurt it out or transition her into it. Then again, when had Ryker ever been subtle? Never. “Darlin’, I know what you think you are—”“What I think I am?” Her eyes narrowed on him. Ryker held up his hands. “I need you to listen to me for a minute.” “No.” She shook her head again. “No more of your bullshit.” “This isn’t bullshit!” he shouted, stepping closer to her. “This is real, Tori, and it’s happening. Whether you want it to or not.” Ryker ran his hand through his hair, paced in front of her. “At first I thought it was some weird obsession because I like the way you smell when you get pissed, the look on your face that says you’re about to go to war.” He stopped. “But now I’m realizing that I was ignoring what my body, what my beast was trying to tell me.” Looking at her now, he said, “Catori, you’re my mate.” “Fuck. You. And. Fuck. This,” she growled. “I don’t have time to play with you, Ryker. I’m not your mate. I’m not a shifter and I’m damn sure not a dragon.” “You’re ignoring what’s right in front of you because you’re afraid, but Tori, I’m telling you there is nothing to be scared of.” “I think we need to be assigned to separate teams,” Catori said, turning away from him. “It won’t help,” he said softly. “Getting away from me won’t help. No matter what you do, where you go, you will burn for me. Every second of every day until all you can think of is me taking you.” He watched her inhale, could smell the spike in her arousal as soon as it hit. Her voice was low, guttural when she demanded, “Stop.” Ryker licked his lips, could almost taste her. “Tonight when you go home, when you climb into bed, you’ll spend the night tossing.” “Stop.” “No matter how high you turn up the fan, how wide you open the windows, crank up the AC—”“Stop.” “—you. Will. Burn.” “I mean it, Ryker.” He slowly closed the space between them. “Your thighs will clench and every movement will cause a shudder, a spasm that you just can’t stop.” “Ryker.” “Your nipples will be hard just like they are now and your pussy will flood, but there will be no relief. No matter how many times you put your hands between your thighs. No matter how many times you make yourself come. You. Will. Burn.” “I. Said. Stop!” He didn’t have time to duck the fireball that came his way. As he watched his feet leave the ground and felt the wind at his back, Ryker had the strangest feeling that maybe he shouldn’t have stood so close.