Jordan woke moments or hours later, she couldn’t be sure. Her arms were pulled behind her back and tied. Her wrists felt raw, and she wondered if she’d struggled against the bonds in her sleep. Her mouth was dry and tasted of dust. That, and the cold, dirty floor beneath her brought her to the conclusion that she was below ground, probably in a root cellar. She tried to shift backward—not an easy feat when her legs were bound too—and couldn’t find a wall. Not a cellar, then. A cave?
When would Ezra come back? Would he keep her captive, or try to poison her? Maybe, she thought in a panic, he wouldn’t come back at all. Maybe she would lay here until dehydration did the job for him.
Apparently, Ezra didn’t have a quick death in mind, though. Twice a day, he would come and leave a plate of food and a bowl of water. It wasn’t an easy thing, trying to eat and drink with her hands tied behind her back, but Jordan managed well enough to keep from succumbing to thirst or starvation.
There was no light, except when Ezra came to bring food and water by lantern light before leading her a small distance away to take care of her other needs. She was fairly sure, though, based on her estimation in those first few days, when time still seemed to move forward, that he came twice a day. She counted out the days the first week. Before time had ceased to exist, before an instant and eternity became one and the same.
He always spoke to her when he came, explaining to her that she just needed time to herself so that she could think for herself again, could understand that shifters were monsters. Then, at some point, he had started calling her Helen. From the way he was gentle with her in those times, smoothing her hair back from her face, and helping to feed her, she could only assume Helen had been his wife.
God help her, she was starting to enjoy the visits when he thought she was Helen. She was starting to feel grateful when he showed her kindness. She hated herself for it afterward, but the gratitude was there, nonetheless.
Jordan began to wonder if it would be better to simply refuse the food. Would that be bravery or cowardice? The same instinct that had kept her here, where she knew Ezra would come to bring sustenance, kept her from trying to find her way out on her own and becoming lost.
Maybe the next time he came, she told herself tiredly, she would refuse the food. Maybe, she told herself, she would choose freedom.
Footsteps moved in her direction, breaking the dead silence around her. She must have been losing touch with reality because it sounded like more than one set of footsteps. She waited until she was sure Ezra was close enough to hear her hoarse whisper.
“I don’t want it this time, you son of a bitch. Just let me die. I’m not Helen.”
“Jordan?”
It didn’t sound like Ezra, but it must have been. No one else knew where she was. Hell, after all the suspicion that had been cast on her they probably just thought she’d left town.
“Just let me die, Ezra.”
Chapter 9
“Jordan?” The voice had been faint, and after having spent hours searching the cave system, Alex started imagining that his mind had been playing tricks on him. He listened closely to see if there would be a reply.
“Just let me die, Ezra.”
Matt, who’d spoken scarcely a word all morning, stiffened at the mention of the other shifter’s name and rushed out back the way they’d come. At this moment, Alex hardly cared if they caught Ezra. He rushed toward Jordan, who now lay crumpled on the floor with her hands and feet handcuffed.
She looked so small, far thinner than she had been when she’d gone missing almost a month ago. As hard as it had been for him, spending almost every waking hour searching for her, he questioned what hell had she gone through during that time? Why hadn’t he been able to find her sooner?
“Jordan, honey? It isn’t Ezra. It’s Alex.”
After a long moment, she turned her face to look at him, squinting at his flashlight. He turned it so that it faced the ceiling, illuminating both her face and his own. She stared at him. Not a word moved past her lips as silent tears trailed down her cheeks.
“It’s okay, honey. He won’t come back. Let’s get you home.”
Luckily, he’d brought a first aid kit, and the trauma shears in it cut through the flex cuffs on Jordan’s wrists and ankles quite easily. He’d thought she would be furious at him for taking so long and leaving her unprotected. But the moment her cuffs were removed, she wrapped her arms around him and cried silently.
He stood, helpless to soothe her pain but trying to soothe her the best he could by running a hand gently up and down her back. Once her sobs had finally subsided, he lifted her gently into his arms and began the long walk out of the cave system. It was nothing short of a miracle that they had found her.
He’d combed nearby towns and worked with the small group of volunteers their community could scrape together, given all the poisoning cases, to search the woods surrounding Bill’s house. He’d called her mother and stepfather to see if she’d gone home, though that was a long shot given that her shoes had been found in the woods near Bill’s house the night she’d gone missing.
They’d come out immediately and searched tirelessly until Jordan’s mother had fallen ill. They were still in the area, staying in a hotel near the nature preserve. He hoped Matt had the presence of mind to contact them once he apprehended Ezra because it was going to be a long, slow trip back to town with Jordan in her weakened condition.
It could have been so much worse, though. In the past few days, he’d started to believe they might not find her at all, or that when they did find her, they’d be bringing home a lifeless shell of the woman he’d come to love.
Finally, almost two hours later, they reached Alex’s car. He gently settled Jordan into the passenger’s seat, making sure to buckle her in securely. He rarely bothered with a seatbelt, but humans were so fragile, and he’d seen the damage a car accident could do.
Her voice, soft and rusty from disuse, startled him after hours with only the sound of his own progress through the forest reaching his ears.
“Home.”
“I know you must be homesick. As soon as you’re well enough, your mom and dad will take you home. In the meantime, I’m taking you to the hospital. You need to get thoroughly checked out.”
“Not there,” she replied with a touch of impatience that made him smile. “Uncle Bill’s. I need to check on Uncle Bill.”
“Uncle Bill can wait—”
“Alex, please! Ezra fed me and brought me enough water to keep me from getting too dehydrated. Please. He was doing so badly when I left…”
He couldn’t tell her no. Not when she’d been through hell these past weeks, and her first thought had been to worry for someone else. She would need a complete work-up, but in the meantime, he would stay near enough, that if she needed a doctor, he could be there.
When they got to Bill’s cabin, though, the snarls and growls coming from Ezra’s cabin told him that Matt hadn’t apprehended Ezra yet.
Chapter 10
Jordan had to will herself to sit up straight. The soft seat of the car felt like heaven after—who knew how long—sleeping on a hard cave floor. After all that time spent immobile, the trip to the car had been exhausting. She needed to see for herself that her Uncle Bill was still okay. And she needed to shower. She couldn’t smell herself, but she could only assume that she reeked. Then, and only then, would she allow herself to rest.
As they pulled up to the cabin, it became apparent that rest would have to wait for a while yet. The sounds of two shifters fighting swept through the night air, filling her with a primal fear.
Alex apparently had no such problem, because as soon as the car was in park, he ran toward the battle, shredding his clothes as he transformed into a large grey wolf between one step and the next. Jordan shoved her fear down determinedly, moving on only will and adrenaline, as she grabbed the first aid kit from the backseat where Alex had thrown it and moved toward Ezra’s cabin.
She searched for
a weapon while she walked, finally fishing out a scalpel that she had to admit probably wouldn’t do much good against a shifter unless the shifter in question was willing to stand still and let her carve into him.
Her limbs didn’t want to obey her, but she moved doggedly forward one step at a time. The man who’d held her captive was in there, trying to kill Matt and Alex. She couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing.
As she stepped through the front door; the air was filled with the metallic scent of blood. Her limbs shook with terror, but she stood her ground, trembling while clutching the scalpel in her hand. The fight raged on, with the wolves before her moving almost faster than her eyes in her weary state could track.
Matt and Ezra, or the wolves she assumed must have been them, were breathing heavily and bleeding from multiple wounds. She stepped through the door just in time to see Alex barrel into the smaller of the two wolves. Ezra, tired and all but beaten as he was, wasn’t able to put up much of a fight.
Alex had him down in short order, and some small, twisted part of her—darkness that hadn’t been there just weeks before—reveled in the sight of Alex tearing out her enemy’s throat. He looked over and met her eyes, looking for all the world like he was trying to appear less threatening. There wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening.
“Go shift and find some of Ezra’s clothes. I’m not upset that you killed him. I’m thankful.”
She finally released the adrenaline that had propelled her forward, and she leaned against the wall as she slid down into a seated position. “This,” she informed the other wolf, who she could only assume was Matt, “has been one hell of a week.”
She settled in to wait for Alex, but before long, he was there beside her.
“It wasn’t a week.”
“What?”
“You said it had been one hell of a week. Jordan, you were missing for a month.”
She couldn’t say if the news was a surprise or not. It had felt like a lifetime, and yet there in the darkness, without the sun’s light to mark the passage of time, it could just as easily have been a week or a day. She forced humor into her voice, trying to alleviate the guilt she heard in Alex’s voice.
“In that case, it has been one hell of a month. And I am in desperate need of a shower. Alex, take me home.”
“Of course.” The stiff formality in his tone told Jordan that he hadn’t yet forgiven himself.
A short while later Jordan had seen for herself that Uncle Bill, while still bedridden, was definitely on the mend. Her parents had visited her, staying until Jordan’s mother, who had been diagnosed with lupus a few years ago, could hardly stand. Jordan had insisted they go back to the hotel so that she could rest. She’d fallen asleep as her stepfather ushered her mother gently out of the room.
Chapter 11
Jordan was lifted gently from sleep at the touch of a hand smoothing the hair away from her forehead. She smiled and turned toward Alex’s touch. It felt so familiar to her, even though in the time they’d known each other, they had almost always shown restraint.
“I’m sorry. Jordan. I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”
He moved to leave, but she reached out and caught his hand. He stiffened, moving neither toward her nor away.
“Stay, Alex.”
“Of course.” He sat in the chair next to the bed.
“No,” she said, though she was suddenly a little unsure of herself. “Stay here with me.”
“You’re tired, and you’ve been through a lot. Just rest and see if you still feel the same way in the morning. If you still want me, then I’m yours, for as long as you want me.”
Somehow, the uncertainty in his voice helped to raise her confidence.
“Alex,” she purred, “I know what I want. Come and lay next to me.”
He laid down beside her, dressed and on top of the blankets. Jordan was used to being pursued, being seduced, but she was willing to give the role of seducer a try. She rolled until she was facing him fully so that their lips were only a whisper away from meeting.
“It’s you,” she said softly. “I want you so much.”
She pressed her mouth to his, expecting him to continue his stoic restraint. She was pleasantly mistaken. He groaned and deepened the kiss, threading his fingers through her hair to angle her head back gently before moving to kiss the sensitive skin on her neck. He eased her clothes off before he started kissing a path toward her breasts, talking between each caress.
“I thought you were lovely the moment I saw you. You’re so beautiful, so smart and confident. Then, I was watching the house one night, before I knew you were innocent. I saw you get undressed before your shower, and God help me, you were so perfect that I almost couldn’t force myself to walk away.”
He took one of her nipples into his mouth then, and she gasped in pleasure as he suckled, licked and nipped lightly before giving the other similar attention.
“The things I wanted to do to you...well, I’ll just show you.”
He slipped one hand into her folds, dipped a finger inside.
“You’re already wet for me. I love that.”
His mouth began to trail down her body as his finger dipped into her center again and again, causing her to writhe against it in anticipation. Then he replaced his hand with his mouth and the world shrunk until there was nothing left but the two of them and her need for him.
He licked from her center to her clit, firm and slow, before moving one hand up to twist her nipple lightly between his fingers. She groaned, her hips—on their own accord—grinding her against his mouth
Just when she thought the pleasure couldn’t get any more intense, he centered his attention on her clit, licking it soft and fast, again and again. Her legs began to shake with the intensity of the pleasure before the climax took her, the force of it shaking her to her very core.
Chapter 12
She tasted amazing, even better than he had imagined. The scent of her drove him to the edge of reason, but Alex restrained himself. He didn’t trust himself not to lose control once he was inside her, and he wanted to make sure that Jordan’s needs were met first.
And that aside, the taste of her…there were no words. He smiled against her sex as she climaxed, sliding one finger into her tight center both to heighten the orgasm and so that he could feel her release as her body pulsed against him. He let her rest for a breath of time as he gently kissed the insides of her thighs before moving to remove his own clothes.
He kissed her deeply, turned on at the thought that she could taste herself on his lips and his tongue. Her hips were making small, needy circles as she ground her wetness against his length, begging him without words to fill her.
He eased in gently, groaning at the feel of her gripping his cock tightly. He began to move, slowly at first, then faster and faster as his need built.
“Let me be on top, Alex.”
He gladly complied, watched her breasts sway gently as she rode him and watched her take his length again and again.
“Christ, Jordan. You’re so beautiful. And you feel amazing.”
She leaned forward to kiss him, and he eased her torso forward just a little more.
“Let me kiss your breasts, baby. I need to taste them again.”
He licked slow circles around her nipple as she rode him, smiling when her movements became smaller and faster. She pressed her breasts against him harder, a wordless plea not to stop. He roughened his touch ever so slightly, moving from licking to suckling. Light at first, then harder as her moans told him that this was definitely something she liked.
Heaven help him, this woman was amazing. She felt so good, so wet and tight. He couldn’t cum though. Not yet. Not when she was obviously so close to release.
He groaned as she kept moving rhythmically, faster and faster until she came with a hoarse cry.
The waves of her orgasm gripping his cock nearly undid him, made him lose all reason until instinct reigned.
; He flipped onto her back and pounded inside her, deeper than before, harder and faster. He wanted every inch of him buried inside her, again and again. He lifted her legs up, slung them over his shoulders in an effort to get deeper inside her. He would never get enough of this woman.
He thrust into her, again and again, until he came with a wordless cry. His cock pulsed inside her with release, and he stayed where he was, unwilling to move from a moment more perfect than he could have imagined.
When both of their breaths steadied, he laid back and brought her gently against his chest.
“I could never, even if I lived a million years, get enough of you, Jordan. You’re amazing, perfect. I think that I am falling in love with you.”
He kissed her and felt a smile curve against his lips. “I love you too, Alex. More than I would have thought possible given the short time we’ve known each other.
His heart soared. At that moment, he realized that one day he would mate this woman. There was no way he would ever let something so perfect slip away.
Chapter 13
The sun’s first rays were pouring in through the window the next morning when a knock sounded on the door. She moved to get up, but Alex eased her back down gently handing Jordan her clothes so that she could dress before quickly dressing himself, then moving to answer the door.
“Jesus, you two. Get a room,” Matt said, teasingly from the doorway as he walked to the chair next to the bed.
“We had one,” Alex replied easily, “until an enforcer busted in and interrupted.”
Matt laughed lightly. “I thought you’d want to know that Ezra wasn’t acting alone.”
“After what I saw in Alabama, I could have told you that,” Jordan replied.
“True, but could you have told me that there have been three other communities with poisoning outbreaks in the weeks you were gone?” Matt went for a light tone, but the grave news made it fall flat.
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