by Elaina Jadin
Diving inside, I snatch the keyring and shove the first one at the ignition slot. It jams immediately, and I yank it out, grabbing the next key on the ring with trembling fingers.
It doesn’t fit, either.
The third key slides in place and I turn it hard, feeling the thin metal twist as the engine roars to life. As I reach for the door, a hand clamps down on my arm and shoves me roughly, slamming me down on the slippery vinyl seat, my shoulder and head bouncing from the shock.
I shriek in surprise and before I can get my bearings, the sole of a boot plants against my hip and shoves again, pushing me so hard I tumble head-first into the floorboard.
A man slides into the driver’s seat and throws the car into gear. From my vantage point, my neck twisted, my arms askew, all I can see are his pant legs and boots, but I know it’s Bryan.
He peels out, my body vibrating and bouncing against the oily floorboard, my hips wedged between the seat and the dashboard. I grab at the seat, the dash, anything to get leverage, my legs kicking against the back of the seat and the window to find purchase.
I manage to get upright and I lunge at him, punching and clawing. “Stop the fucking car!” I scream the words, over and over, my throat hoarse.
Bryan jerks the wheel hard and the car screeches to the left, sending me flying back against the passenger window, but there’s a handful of his hair clenched in my fist.
“You fucking bitch,” he says, spitting at me.
He careens around the parking lot, driving like a maniac, heading to the street. Flashes of movement catch my eye and I snap my eyes to the rearview window. Behind us, leaping across cars and hitting the pavement again at a dead run, several wolves are charging toward us.
A wave of nausea crashes through me at the sight, and I freeze momentarily, my mind crushed between two horrors—being trapped with Bryan and being chased by the wolves.
Bryan runs over a concrete barrier, the car lurching chaotically, and my head smashes against the roof. My neck crunches, a sizzling bolt of pain shooting through my temple, and black spots cloud my vision.
Blinking, I try to clear my eyes as I grope for the door handle, desperate to escape this madness. Let me be caught by the wolves. Didn’t Bishop say that was my deepest desire? The pavement will rip my skin open, and they can finish tearing me apart. Perhaps it’s my destiny and I’ve been running from it for far too long.
I tug on the door handle, but it doesn’t budge. I grasp for the lock, making sure the silver knob is in the open position, but the door still won’t open even though I yank on it furiously.
“The handle’s broken, but good try.” Bryan’s gloating voice is acid in my ears.
He cranks the wheel, making a sharp right onto the road, and I clutch onto the handle, my other hand digging into the back of the seat, as I try to keep from being slammed into the floorboards again.
Before he can straighten the car out, a wolf leaps into the air, and I watch in disbelief as it rapidly transforms into a furious Kade. He crashes onto the hood with a roar of rage, his eyes seething.
Kade grabs the edge of the hood with one hand, his fist slamming into the window with the other. He punches the windshield over and over, splintering it inward, red streaks of blood marring the glass surface.
“Fucking psychopath!” Bryan shouts, slamming his foot on the gas while whipping the wheel back and forth.
Kade swings wildly, his body sliding across the hood. The car lurches across the road, swerving dangerously close to oncoming traffic, and I scream as we almost plow into a large delivery truck.
Bryan yanks the wheel at the last second and slams on the brakes. I fly forward, my forehead smashing into the dash with a sickening crack. I’m thrown back against the seat a second later as he tromps on the gas again. As I grimace in agony, I notice Kade has disappeared from the hood of the car.
“Can you hear them, Jemma?” Bryan’s voice penetrates the fog of pain. “The wolves howling?”
“Fucking asshole.” I scowl at him, the sharp throb in my head blotting out everything but the sound of his voice.
I turn to look out the rear window for Kade, but a hot knife slices through my brain with a high-pitched buzz of anguish, and I gasp, squeezing my eyes shut. Every jarring pothole, every jolting sway of the car from Bryan’s shitty driving makes the knife lance further into my brain.
“They’re after you,” Bryan says, his tone animated. “God, they’re going to fuck you up.”
I’m queasy and dizzy, like I’m on a boat rolling in a rough storm. I force my eyelids open, trying to stave off the wave of darkness descending over me like a blanket.
Beside me, Bryan’s eyes are wide, and he looks manic. “They’re hunting you right now. They’ve always been hunting you.”
I close my eyes again, my hand going to my pendant, trying to hold on to my anger so I don’t succumb to the fear. The chess piece Bishop gave me bites into my hip, but I ignore it. If I think about it, I’ll think about them. If I think about them, I won’t be able to keep it together.
But it’s too late, and a howl echoes through my head, the familiar nauseated dread trailing up my throat.
“Didn’t know you were shacking up with the wolves, did ya?” Bryan’s voice taunts me. “I told you they were a one-way ticket to Hell.”
“Shut up!” Panic scrapes at my insides and I slap my hands over my ears, wondering if Bryan’s losing his shit, or if he’s trying to trigger me on purpose. Either way, I need him to shut the fuck up.
“That’s why they like hurting you. Toying with you. They’re going to drag you across the ground, just like your parents.”
Images flash through my head and a whimper escapes me. I can’t hold back against the terror thrashing at the edges of my sanity. It’s a tsunami, rising higher and higher, and there’s nowhere for me to run.
I scream as Bryan’s hand rips at my hair, forcing me to look at him as he yanks me closer.
“The worst part Jemma?” He sneers at me, not even glancing at the road. “When they finally get ahold of you, they won’t kill you. You’re not worth it. They’ll have their fun and toss you in the garbage, where you belong, and let you rot from the inside out. You don’t even deserve to die quickly, like your parents.”
He shoves me away with disgust, and I smack into the side window. My eyes are blurred with tears, and my head is spinning. Blood trickles down my forehead and my arm burns from the bullet wound, but I hardly notice.
Bryan starts howling, mocking me. But it does exactly what he wants it to—it triggers the unstoppable wave that pulls me under.
My throat burns, and I lean forward, hovering over the floorboard as I dry heave. That makes him laugh even harder, but I press my fingers into my ears, ignoring him as he swerves from one street onto another, jostling me as my stomach convulses.
I lose track of time and direction as I fight to stay conscious. A numbing weight envelops me, luring me toward sleep, and I want so badly to give in, to wake up tomorrow and have this all turn out to have been a bad dream.
A creaking sound startles me, and I raise my head, blinking at my surroundings as I realize we’re stopped by the side of the narrow road, nothing but a stretch of trees ahead. My door opens and I tumble onto the ground, the taste of dirt and grass filling my mouth as I land face-down.
I spit and sputter, scrambling onto my knees, but before I make it to my feet, strong hands clamp down on my wrists from behind me, jerking them back painfully. The coarse texture of rope scrapes against my skin as my wrists are tied.
Frenzy overtakes me and I buck, twisting and kicking, but my arms are wrenched up and I’m hoisted from the ground, my legs captured by another set of hands. My ankles are bound with the same rope, and then I’m being carried to the back of the car.
Screaming, I thrash hard, trying to jerk free. It’s a futile exercise because the trunk opens, and I’m dumped inside.
I twist and wiggle, rolling onto my side, and finally lay eyes on my
captors—Byran, and the man Draven called Terrion.
Terrion’s upper lip is swollen, his face bleeding, and purple shadows are already forming around his right eye, but there’s a grin on his face as he stares down at me.
“Your men don’t seem to know how to keep a woman around, now do they?” His toothy grin widens as he glances at Bryan like it’s the best joke ever.
He turns his attention back to me, the smile replaced by a sinister look that turns my blood to ice. “I tried to tell them straps and chains do the trick, but they didn’t seem to think you’d like that very much. I think I’ll have to find out for myself.” He breaks into a laugh again before leaning down to pat my cheek. “Isn’t that right, Prudence?”
“Fuck you,” I say, spitting at him, the glob of saliva hitting him dead between the eyes.
I’m rewarded with a harsh slap across the face, and I glare at him even as the throbbing ache sets into my cheek.
“You didn’t tell me she was a feisty little thing.” Terrion’s looking at Bryan again as he wipes away my spit.
My horrible scumbag of an ex shrugs with an amused smile. “She won’t be once she sees what’s waiting for her.”
“Yes, that should be fun. Well, for me at least,” Terrion says as he flashes me a spine-chilling grin. He slaps Bryan on the arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
Bryan stares down at me with vicious satisfaction. His gaze moves to my neck, and he reaches out, grasping my mother’s necklace. The chain bites against my skin as he rips it off and throws it to the ground, leering at me with cold eyes.
“I warned you, Jemma,” he says, and slams the trunk closed.
*
*
The wolf’s teeth are at Fawn’s throat as the dark saga continues in FURY, book two of the Blackfang Barons.
♥
Thank you for reading!
Elaina & Marie
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