He released her in intervals, finally catching her arm, pulling her into his side, and facing the Sheriff. Georgiana tried to look to the clerk for help, but she had fallen to her knees and was prostrating herself before them.
"I'm so sorry, First. I had no idea she was your Georgiana."
"That's fine Trista, we were just coming around with the warning that she might show up. You couldn't have known. In the future though, make sure to call the Sheriff before you allow a stranger to call out on your phone.
"Yes sir. Thank you."
"Come along Georgiana, we need to get you out of these wet clothes. If you catch a cold from this your punishment will be worse."
"Eat shit and die." The word might have had more bite if her teeth were not chattering so hard, but she was so angry and disheartened it was either snarl at them, or cry.
She heard Trista gasp at her words as she was pulled unceremoniously out of the warm shop and back out into the cold winds of early morning. Only to be tsked at by the big sheriff who followed.
"Quite a mouth on her," he said in a voice, rough and deep, touched with humor as if he was finding the situation funny. Georgie refused to look at either man, so mad at being thwarted when she was so close to freedom. Not to mention she was so fucking cold the heat of her captor was drawing her like a magnet.
"I noticed that myself," was the dry reply that had her gritting her chattering teeth in frustration.
"You own this town too?" She asked bitterly.
"I own everything on this mountain," he said, the very softness of his voice a warning in itself. "Including you."
"Why?" She stopped moving forcing him to drag her the few feet to the waiting limo. Her eyes latching on to her kidnappers with a will. Georgie had had enough. "You kidnap me and then dump me in your crazy cult village and disappear for weeks. Then you show up and tell me I'm moving in with you. Why me? What do you hope to gain by this?"
"I thought to give you time to adjust to your new circumstances." He said, pushing open the door of the hummer limo idling at the curb and motioning her to proceed him inside. "But from the reports I have been getting and this latest escapade you are not even trying."
"Trying to do what?" she asked exasperated and frustrated. "What circumstances? Why did you take me to begin with and what the hell are you planning to do with me?!" Her voice got more strident with each question. She was not getting in to that limo with him. "Tell me what the hell you want from me!" Instead he stepped forward with an animalistic growl and shook her, making her gasp and shut up.
Then he buried his nose in her neck and breathed her in. He growled again, and Georgie could feel the hum all the way to her toes. She froze. What the hell was with her body. Why was it so impossible to fight this man? He was so warm she had to fight the need to burrow closer.
For weeks she had wanted nothing more than to escape before he returned, knowing that when he did she would find out exactly why he had brought her here, and there was no possible way she would like what happened next. Then he was back, and she was out of time. She had risked her life in the river, faced the possibility of being eaten by wolves, stumbled through the cold forest wet and shaking. Her resolve had never faltered. Now here she was pressed up against the man responsible for everything and she didn't even have the strength of mind to push him away. Worse, she was fucking turned on.
It had been somewhat understandable the first time. He was six feet plus of twisted steel hard body. What woman wouldn't be attracted. His eyes a cool forest stream green, his mink dark hair and sun kissed skin in no way detracting from his dangerous looks. Plus, at the time she had not known he was crazy. Added to that he had that deep chocolate voice that vibrated every nerve she had.
It had been understandable if not expected that she would have been turned on when this completely hot stranger had walked up to her on the street and pulled her into his arms. O.K. she had stood there like a lemming when he had bent down and buried his nose in her neck and smelled her, just as he was doing now. Anyone could be excused for not reacting fast enough when he growled, and bit her, making her feel claimed in a way she still did not understand.
It was completely logical that her breasts had swelled, and her vagina contracted. But that was before he had somehow knocked her out and dumped her in his psycho village where there were no phones, and everyone ignored her pleas to be set free. A whole village where the people act as if nothing is out of the ordinary to keep a woman hostage. His village where everything he said was law. He wanted her kept there. They kept her, men women and children, all of them had a hand in keeping her where he had decreed she would stay. It scared her. These people were people she would have liked in normal circumstances. He had done something to them, she knew he had, and now she was letting him do it to her. Why wasn't she fighting this?
"Let me go." She felt him hesitate before raising his head and meeting her eyes. The cool green seemed lit from within and she shuddered from the force of them. "What are you?" She whispered it before she thought better of it. At the same time, he was so utterly male she had to fist her hands to keep from touching him.
"Get in the limo." His hot chocolate voice reverberated through her body, but she fought the pull of it.
Instead she put as much pleading in her voice and eyes as she could. "Please, just let me go."
He bared his teeth and pushed her back until she was trapped between his body and the car. She felt the hard press of the limo digging into her back and the harder press of his erection digging into her belly. The only way to go was into the open door beside her.
"Do not push me farther than you already have, Georgiana. Not now. You are freezing, wet and exhausted. You could have been seriously hurt." He snapped his teeth just over the pulse point on her neck, his voice going impossibly deeper. "and you ran from me. Get. In. Or I will strip you on the street." He licked a swath of heat up her neck, and she shuddered. Jerking out of his arms in the only direction he would allow she ducked into the limo and moved as far away from him as she could get. When he followed behind her, his eyes glowing in the darkened interior, she knew it would not be far enough. He pulled the door closed and she was, once again, caught.
He pulled his shirt out of his jeans and began to unbutton it.
"What are you going to do?" Her frightened whisper was loud in the small space. Her eyes glued to his emerging chest. The man was a ripped work of art and she wanted to bite him, despite or maybe because of the fear his actions sent deep into her belly.
"Not what I want to do," he answered still nearly growling the words. "Take off those clothes and put on this shirt." He tossed it to her with enough force that it hit her in the face. She could smell him on the shirt. Forest and man. Without intending to she closed her eyes and breathed him in. His scent alone had the power to turn her body traitor. She clenched her thighs closed but the pressure was not anywhere near enough.
A growl in the darkness had her eyes snapping open and color flooding her face. She dropped the warm shirt like a hot poker.
"Take off everything and put on that shirt. I won't tell you again." She could feel him there ready to pounce at the least further provocation. She swallowed and turned so that as much of her was hidden as she could manage in the close confines of the limo. She had to struggle getting the sweater over her head, the wet fabric sticking to her skin. She hesitated at the bra, but he growled, and she hurried on using his shirt as a cover while she removed it. She managed not to flash her erect nipples as she carefully pulled on the shirt and buttoned it. Then she removed shoes, socks, and the damp jeans with an effort. She wadded everything and dropped it to the floor, kicking it closer to the far door. She pulled the soft warmth down to her knees and tried to rub some warmth back into her hands.
Between one blink and the next he was on his knees in front of her and had a hold of her thighs under the shirt and just above her knees. She gasped and tried to pull back but instead was pulled forward until her butt rested on the
edge of the seat and he had situated himself between her legs, her thighs held firmly under his arms.
"Stop." Her voice pushed at him as ineffectually as her hands did.
"I told you I wouldn't ask again." He growled out while his hands followed her outer thighs up under the shirt tails to her hips and found her damp panties. She tried pulling his hands away, but it was like trying to stop a force of nature. He let her struggle, holding her hips firmly until with gasping breath and useless tears she gave up. Then he captured her eyes with his and started to pull the damp cotton down her thighs slowly.
It was too much, seeing him there with that savage look on his face as he slowly stripped her of any and all defenses. She felt completely at his mercy and it made her body ache and her mind rage all at the same time. The hopelessness of going up against his superior strength when she was so physically and mentally depleted had tears of frustration falling.
Seeing it, something in his eyes changed and he released his hold so that she could pull her panties back up and with a sob shift back away from him. Which she did as quickly as possible. He watched her huddling away from him, a shadow of remorse in his eyes.
He pulled a blanket out from under the seat, pulled her struggling into his lap and wrapped her up in the soft wool tucking it around her kicking feet and holding her there. When he did nothing but hold her down across his lap, Georgiana wiped at her eyes and looked up at his averted face. He seemed intent on watching the mountain outside the window wiz by around them.
"I don't understand you." She said it calmly, the tears stuck in her throat and on her cheeks.
He looked down at her. His eye once again a normal cool green. Then he shocked a gasp out of her when he drank the tears from first one cheek and then the other before meeting her bewildered eyes again. "Tomorrow, when you're rested, I'll tell you what you need to know. For now, you are safe and in my arms." He buried his nose right where her shoulder met her neck and breathed. "It's enough."
Georgia didn't know what to do or say so she sat still in his arms feeling like a rabbit in the clutches of a sleeping wolf, afraid any movement would awaken the beast. Gradually, when he didn't bite, she fell asleep.
CHAPTER SIX
She woke up as he was lifting her out of the limo, a man she had never seen before, presumably his driver, was holding the door open for him. He was yet another prime example of mountain manhood. Tall, ripped and scary.
"Studs are us." She mumbled against Coopers neck, where she seemed to be clinging most embarrassingly. There was a snort of laughter from the driver and a warning nip landed on her neck.
"Cut it out." She felt the heat rise to her cheeks even through her shivering. Somewhere along the drive she had both warmed up and lost that razor edge of fear that had been her constant companion of late. She heard the crash of a door opening before she could gird her loins as it were and demand to be put down.
"Is she alright? Has she been hurt?!" Georgie recognized Patrice's frantic voice over the general hubbub that had erupted around them. It seemed like the whole town was here. Wherever here was. She did not recognize the rambling luxury cabin they had arrived at and had the uncomfortable feeling that this was the big house she had heard mention of. Her new home.
"Put me down." She had to say it twice, the second time practically in his ear before she got a response. Not, however the one she wanted. He looked at her then ignored her, electing instead to address the masses that seemed to be most of the town in a hard, carrying voice.
"Georgiana is cold and tired but has suffered no serious injuries. She managed to evade our wolves and escaped into the river. She made it to Solitude before I found her. And that was after she managed to calm our feral wolf." There were a few gasps and mumbles. Quite a few of the men looked at her and then nodded to the First as if with approval. Justin winked at her. The only one who wasn't suddenly looking pleased was Stacia, who Georgie caught sight of among a few other younger towns folk toward the back.
Cooper pulled her closer. "Tonight, she will rest. Tomorrow you will have the chance to give her your felicitations. After." The cheers from the crowd were deafening and only added to Georgie’s misgivings. Clearly, she was the only one that didn't know what the hell was going on. They were on the stairs before she could form the courage to ask.
"After what exactly?" Since she had a pretty good idea from the heated look he gave her she was almost glad when he ignored the question and left her with a hovering Patrice and a hot bath.
***
When she woke up yet again trapped in the weird dream that was her life, she pulled the down comforter over her head and screamed into the fluff. "You have to be kidding me!" She had meant to stay awake, clearly that had been futile. She would like to blame it on the food Patrice had brought her, but she did not think the wild mushroom soup and fresh baked bread had truly been drugged. Between her exhaustion and the wonder that was Cooper Hayes whirl pool tub and then the beckoning call of the big luxurious bed she had no chance. The hypnotic fire burning in the man-sized fire place had been the final nail in her coffin. She had barely even protested when Patrice had finally left, telling her to sleep, and tucking the pillowing down comforter around her like she was a child.
Georgie imagined it was how a mother would tuck in a beloved child, but as she had never had that it was just a guess on her part. She had fallen asleep soon after unable to keep her eyes open. Just too exhausted to worry about what the next day would bring.
Now here she was in Cooper Hayes' house and she could no longer put off thoughts of what was to come. She knew the room she had been placed in was a guest room just from the simple decor and feel of the place, as if it had never been used before. Even so it was almost equal in size to her tiny apartment in the city and the bathroom was the height of luxury in a modern cabin sort of way.
With worries and doubts running through her mind she squeaked in shock when she felt the warm weight pounce on her feet and she jackknifed up only to see a wolf cub with his butt wagging in the air while he crouched in challenge.
"Oh really?" She said narrowing her eyes and trying not to laugh at the wicked expression on his little furry face. "You think you can take me little man?"
He growled a baby growl that had her lip twitching. When a second ball of fur took him down in a roll across her feet before he could jump, she laughed outright. Her laughter turned into an undignified squeal when a large black wolf filled the bedroom doorway and barked. The little ones tumbled off the bed they moved so fast and then they were shooting past the wolf and out the door.
Georgie, clutching the comforter like a life line wished she could do the same. Instead she sat frozen while the biggest wolf she had yet seen invaded her room and came over to the bed. She had seen the wolves around many times when she was tracking the property or playing with the pups, but this was the first time one had ever been in a house, or this close. The size of him made even the spacious room feel small.
"Nice doggy." Which only made him growl at her. "Pretty wolf?"
He jumped up on the bed and had her pinned by the covers before she could roll off. Before she could scream he was right in her face and she saw his eyes. Eyes she had seen just the day before and she whispered the name without thinking. "Cooper?"
At that point she probably would have laughed it off as imagination, but the wolf nodded and licked her neck. She could feel the blood draining from her head.
"Oh, Shit." If that was not eloquent enough she heard more words tumble out of her mouth. "Fuck, shit, fuck." There really was nothing else she could say at that point.
Then the wolf chuffed at her, jumped off the bed and shifted into a man. A naked man with a cock that was as big and beautiful as the rest of him and seeming to grow bigger and harder right before her eyes. Her reaction caught them both by surprise. No longer wedged secure by the covers she managed to raise her knees and kick out with her feet, catching Cooper by surprise so that the momentum pushed him right off the side
of the bed he had been about to climb. She was up and running while he cursed a blue streak and untangled himself from the blankets that had followed him down.
Unfortunately for her that did not keep him down for long. She had a moment of shock when she realized her uncoordinated attack had worked. Then she moved her ass, determined not to wait around to see just how mad he was after she had knocked him on his ass.
He came at her like a freight train following her sudden flight for the door and sanity. He slammed the door with one hand while the other wrapped around her waist and hauled her up into the air and pressed her back side against his fully erect and hard body. She kicked her legs out and tried to catch the door as leverage to send him flying backward but he would not be caught off guard twice. He held her firmly and barely budged with her movements.
The heat that he produced saturated her through the thin flannel pajamas that had seemed so much more substantial a moment ago.
Curses continued to fall, this time from her mouth as he carried her back to the bed and threw her down on it. She sunk into the soft cloud of down and by the time she struggled back upright he followed her down, trapping her beneath all that hard, male heat that somehow managed to control her movements without crushing her. Her breasts were pressed into his chest and his hard cock was wedged firmly between her thinly covered thighs. He had her hands caught in his and pressed down beside her head before she could go for his eyes. Then he started to speak, and she stilled, trying to take in what he was saying and fit it into the situation and what she thought she knew of her world.
"I'm the First, the alpha of a wolf shifter pack. Every single person you have met since coming here has been one of my wolves." His matter of fact tone battled with the heat in his eyes and the branding of his body all along hers. It gave her pause, that tone and the craziness he was spewing, a craziness she had just seen the proof of. She stopped struggling, realizing he was finally giving her answers, and seeing what she had seen she was not sure she could continue to dismiss him as crazy. That did not make what he was saying easy to hear or believe.
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