The Mate Effect

He was exposed to an alien toxin. Now he thinks I’m his mate—and he’ll do anything to keep me.

I’ve worked with Dr. Brandon Hale for years—brilliant, cold, untouchable.

But after a mission gone wrong, the man who returned isn’t the same.

He’s stronger. Wilder. Obsessively focused on one thing…

Me.

Whatever infected him is rewriting his instincts—twisting science into hunger, logic into possession. Now he calls me his mate. He growls when others get too close. He worships my body like he was built to break it.

I should run.

I should report him.

But every time he touches me, I forget who I was before.

The man I knew is gone.

What’s left only knows one word.

Mine.