“Which means that either Grayson’s source got it wrong or he’s lying.”
“That’s for Grayson to figure out,” Azazel says. “All I care about is getting to Fee.”
Me too, mate. Me too.
Chapter Four
Fee
The sun was setting by the time we sat down at the dining table in the spacious kitchen, all civilized as if we were on a winter getaway. I noted there were two exits—the main one into the room from the hallway, and a smaller door, partially hidden by the jutting fridge freezer. That one led to the formal dining room next to the kitchen, and from there, I could get into the hallway and to the front door.
A waft of garlicky goodness hit my nostrils. God, that smelled divine, and if I wasn’t mistaken, the garlic bread was homemade.
So, he could cook, so what?
He’d dressed down in a V-neck knitted sweater that molded to his muscular frame and hugged his biceps lovingly. He’d even pushed up the sleeves to expose his strong, tanned forearms. What was it about a guy’s forearms that made my knees weak? How could rolled-up shirt sleeves make my pulse quicken?
He caught me watching him as he laid the table and smiled slightly. “See, this isn’t so bad, is it?”
I crossed my arms defensively. “If you’re waiting for Stockholm syndrome to set in, you’ll be waiting a long time. All this nicely, nicely crap isn’t fooling me.”
He placed a plate of carbonara in front of me. It was garnished with some green stuff like you get in the restaurants.
My stomach made appreciative sounds. Damn traitor.
“Eat. You’ll need your energy.”
I looked up sharply. Did he know I planned to escape? No. I was being ridiculous. Why would he feed me so I could escape?
“Energy for what?”
He’d just forked some food into his mouth and chewed at a leisurely pace, finishing his mouthful before responding. “Rutting during a mating takes energy.”
He said it casually, as if rutting were an everyday thing, and maybe for him, it was, but I didn’t rut. It was a crude word, and I hated that it made my stomach flip in anticipation.
I focused on my plate, ignoring my stupid physical reaction.
“I won’t be easy on you,” he continued, but his tone was thicker now, as if he could sense my body’s reaction. As if he was feeding off it. “This second part of the mating, the part done in human form, will be primal. Our beasts will come to the surface, and it may go on for some time until the inferno becomes a steady burn.”
I forked food into my mouth and chewed with intent before swallowing. Yeah, I was going to need energy, all right. Energy to get the fuck out of here before he brought his cock anywhere near me, because once the heat hit, that cock would be the world to me whether I liked it or not.
I had to make a break for it tonight before the simmer in my veins became a searing need like last time.
Time to play nice.
I sat back and wiped my mouth with the neatly folded napkin he’d placed by my plate. I even paused to take a sip of water, but not before sniffing it to make sure it wasn’t drugged.
He chuckled softly. “I have no intention of drugging you, Fee. I want you coherent and obliging when I fuck you.”
Good to know. “You own this place?”
His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to suss out why I’d changed the topic.
I sighed deliberately. “Look, if I’m going to be stuck here with you, we might as well make conversation.”
He sipped his water. “I don’t believe for one minute you’re interested in casual conversation, Fee, but I’ll play along. Yes, I own this cabin and most of the woodland surrounding it.”
Right, so there probably wouldn’t be any residences nearby, which meant rural location. It had been morning when I’d left Azazel, and when I’d woken up here, it was mid-afternoon. I’d been out for at least five hours. But how much of that time had been spent unconscious in this cabin? If I could find that out, I could work out how far from Necro we’d traveled.
I rubbed my temple and fabricated a wince.
“Headache?” Hunter asked coolly. “You shouldn’t have one. The drug I used to put you under shouldn’t leave any ill effects.”
Yes, the drug… “Dominus are immune to being drugged.”
He shrugged. “But you’re not full demon, are you, Fee. And Loup can most certainly be drugged, using the right combination of herbs. You shouldn’t have a headache.”
Fuck. “No headache, just fizzy.” I made a show of frowning, as if the thought had just occurred to me. “How long was I out once we got here?”
He opened his mouth to reply and then snapped it shut, his eyes lighting up with triumph at having caught me out. “Clever, Seraphina. I get why fate put us together. You’re smart and cunning.”
Fucksake. “Just tell me where we are.”
“I’m not an idiot, Fee. And neither are you, so stay put. You won’t make it out there. Not in this weather. We’re miles from civilization and a storm’s about to hit in a few hours. It’ll be a whiteout. If you run, you won’t make it to civilization before the storm descends.”
Maybe not in human form, but my wolf could totally make it.
He studied me as if reading my thoughts. “Yes, you could make it as a wolf, but that shackle on your wrist won’t allow you to shift. I need you in human form, Fee.” He took another sip of water. “You can’t take the Rover either. It’s locked up tight in the garage, and I have the only keys. They’re in the safe behind the painting in the lounge along with your pretty daggers, and only I know the code.” He spoke calmly, deliberately, spilling all the information because he knew there was nothing I would do with it. “There is no escape from this, Fee.” He put down his glass and speared me with a penetrating glare. “If you run, I’ll have to chase you.” His throat bobbed and his mouth tightened, as if there was more to say, as if he was holding back, and then he picked up his glass again. “Don’t make me chase you.”
He’d thought of everything. Every way to keep me penned in here. But he didn’t know me. He didn’t know the lengths I’d go to for my freedom.
A storm could lock us into the cabin for days. Days I didn’t have. I needed to get out before the storm hit.
I had to take the risk.
He banked on my survival instinct, my so-called lack of stupidity, but he didn’t bank on how much I’d risk to avoid being mated to him. It might be stupid, but I had to take the shot.
Now I just needed the right moment.
The meal was over, thank goodness. Hunter cleaned up, and I didn’t offer to help. Fuck the fake camaraderie. I was his prisoner, and I wasn’t about to pretend otherwise. I stood stiffly and lifted my chin. “I’m going to my room.”
“Our room,” he said.
Had I heard him right? “Excuse me?”
He glanced over his shoulder but didn’t bother to stop washing up. “There is only one bedroom in this cabin.”
Not happening. “Then you can take the fucking sofa.”
He shut off the water and dried his hands before turning to face me. “This cabin and everything in it belongs to me.”
There was no doubt what he was insinuating. “I don’t belong to anyone. The heat might addle my mind, and you might get away with claiming my body, but you’ll never claim my heart or my respect.” I strode away. “I’ll take the fucking sofa.”
Hunter didn’t speak to me as I made my bed on the sofa with pillows and blankets stolen from his room. I was tucking myself in when he appeared in the lounge. I tensed, ready to fight him off if he tried anything, and he sighed heavily.
“Can’t you relax?” he asked. “Just for a little while? We could talk. Get to know each other.”
Was he taking the piss? “I don’t want to talk to you, Hunter. I don’t want to spend any time with you. This isn’t a fucking getaway. You. Kidnapped. Me.”
He rubbed his temples. “You left me no choice.”
�
“You can’t fight fate, Fee.” He sounded almost resigned about that.
But resignation was the last thing in my mind. “Watch me.”
His expression hardened, and he nodded curtly. “Have it your way.” He locked the front door, pocketed the key, and headed to his bedroom.
I waited several long minutes until I heard the distant sound of a shower, and then I slipped out of my makeshift bed and headed for the nearest window. It didn’t take long to figure out the fucker had nailed them all down from the outside. Breaking one would do the trick, but the noise would also alert him that I was trying to escape. There was only one thing to do.
I needed to get that front door key.
Chapter Five
The door to the bedroom was slightly ajar. I held my breath and gave it a push, opening it enough to slip into the gloom. Light spilled out from the crack in the bathroom door, and the sound of the water hitting tile drifted out.
The jeans and the sweater Hunter had been wearing were folded and placed neatly on the chair I’d almost used to break the window. I tiptoed over and searched his pants pockets.
No key.
Fuck. It had to be here somewhere. I was running out of time. I scanned the room in the dim lamplight, grateful for my Loup vision.
No key.
Had he taken it into the bathroom with him? Shit, if I were a kidnapper, where would I keep the front door key?
Somewhere close…
He was about to go to sleep.
I strode across the room and lifted a pillow. Bingo. Hope surged in my chest as I crept past the bathroom, headed for the door, and then the scent of lemon grass hit me. My step faltered and my gaze flitted to the bathroom door, to the gap where a mirror was visible. It was partially steamed up but not enough to block out the image of Hunter’s powerful back. His arms were raised, soaping his hair, so his lateral dorsi muscles popped and the muscles between his neck and shoulders bunched, showcasing power. Rivulets of froth skated down his spine and along the ridges of the V shape of his back. His skin was bronze and smooth and fucking perfect, and I needed to get the hell out of here before I lost my mind.
I made it back to the lounge and tried the key in the door. It opened easily.
I was ready to run, so why weren’t my fucking feet moving? Why was my heart pounding with indecision? I didn’t want to mate with Hunter, but every primal instinct was urging me to stay, to shut the door and fucking stay. The Loup inside me, that part of me that was already connected to Hunter, rose up to cloud my human will.
Stay.
No…
Mate.
No. I didn’t want to…I couldn’t…My body tightened with need as Hunter’s naked, soapy form filled my mind, and a flush rose from my toes to the top of my head.
Oh God.
No! I forced the Loup back, grabbed Hunter’s coat off the peg by the door, and ran.
I had no idea how long I’d been on the move, but I was headed north, I was sure of that. The urge to turn back was gone now.
I guess distance from Hunter helped.
The woodland rushed by as I wove through the trees. The fact that I was continually moving kept the worst of the chill at bay, and my confidence that I could make it grew. Images of cinnamon swirls and chocolate-sprinkled mochas kept my legs pumping. They’d be my reward for getting away. I’d camp out at Lumiers all day and eat what the fuck I wanted once I made it out of this fucking wilderness.
How far had I come? It felt like forever. The breath was hot in my lungs, even though my mouth and nose were numb with cold. I’d hoped Hunter had been exaggerating about how far out we were from civilization, but I should have known by the way he so confidently left me to my devices that he was telling the truth.
I hit a clearing, one of many in this vast woodland, and leaped over a thick fallen branch that curved up out of the snow in an arc. I landed badly, and the sound of tearing ligaments was loud and distinct. A fiery lance of pain shot up my ankle.
“Fuck!”
I went down hard, butt in the snow, hands grabbing for the offending ankle. The pain was a deep throb that tightened with each pulse. Dammit, my foot was swelling up.
Shit. No. Don’t panic. It’d be okay.
Just a few minutes and my body would heal. A tingle spread across my foot and up my ankle. Yes, it was working. I winced as my whole foot began to throb, but this was a different throb, one that told me my ligaments were knitting back together.
A sharp crack sliced through the silence, and my head whipped up, searching the darkness at the edge of the clearing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, and my scalp began to crawl.
There was someone out there.
The throbbing in my ankle ebbed. I was almost healed. My breath came out in puffs of mist as I scanned the trees around me.
Hunter.
It had to be.
He’d followed me. But even as I thought the words, they felt wrong.
Not Hunter.
The presence was a palpable force, though.
The fire in my limb winked out, and tension rippled through me. I fake-winced and touched my ankle again. Whoever was out there, watching, needed to think I was still hurt and vulnerable. I pulled myself up slowly, making a show of testing my ankle with my weight, when in reality my muscles were bunching, ready to make a break for it.
And then a shaggy gray wolf stepped out from the shadows and into the clearing. It fixed its blue eyes on me, mouth open in a pant.
Not a regular wolf, because we didn’t have those. This was Loup-Garou. Small by Loup standards, but still lethal to me in human form.
I held up my hands. “Hey. I’m Fee, and I’m just passing—”
Another wolf, a muddy brown color, entered the clearing from the left. Fuck. Could they sense I was one of them?
“Look. I don’t want any trouble. I just need to get out of here.” I made myself stand tall to look less like prey. “If one of you could show me the way to the nearest road, that would be great.”
Yeah, it was a tall order, because if these were rogue wolves, my protected alpha status would mean shit to them—only the official packs adhered to those rules—and these fuckers would probably try and claim me, or some equally bullshit move.
The gray wolf growled and prowled closer. My hackles rose, and I fell instinctively into a defensive crouch. Fuck Hunter and this damn shackle. With it on, I was buggered. I had no weapon, not even my wolf to fight off these fuckers. There was only one thing to do.
I had to run.
My gaze flitted from the gray to the brown wolf, judging the distance between them and me, working out the odds of my slipping past them.
Not gonna happen.
I wasn’t a moron, and going up against two Loup while I was in human form with no weapons was suicidal. I had no choice but to go back the way I’d come.
I was about to spin and take off when the gray wolf shimmered and morphed into human form.
A female human form.
She was lithe and pale, dark hair spilling over her shoulders to cover her breasts.
“You’re one of us,” she said, her gaze skimming over me.
The brown wolf growled, but I recognized it as a warning.
“Quick,” the dark-haired female said. “You must shift and come with us. It isn’t safe for you here. There are rogue males prowling these parts.”
The other wolf was female too, I could sense that now. “I can’t shift.” I held up my wrist. “This stops me from shifting.”
Her mouth tightened. “A male did this to you?”
“Yes.”
She opened her mouth to say more, but a howl cut her off. It was too close.
“The rogue males come.” She looked torn.
The brown wolf rushed her, nudging her with its nose. The stench of fear was sharp and potent.
The female looked at me, her mouth turning down with regret. “Run.”
She shifted, and they vanished into the trees. The howl cut through the air again, closer than before but on the other side of me. Fuck. More than one.
I broke into a sprint in the opposite direction the female wolves had gone. It was obvious they were hiding from the rogue males, and the last thing I wanted was to lead the bastards to them.
How long had these Loup been in these parts? Did Hunter know?
Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. I needed to focus on my path and not tripping or falling. My back prickled with awareness, and then pants filled the air.
They were behind me. Two of them. I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know.
I was being hunted, and if they caught me, then Hunter would be the least of my worries.
My lungs ached and burned as I pushed more speed into my limbs. My thighs were on fire. I couldn’t keep this up for much longer, and then I didn’t have to because a weight slammed into my back, taking me down.
My face kissed snow, ice slicing into my skin. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Growls and yips of triumph assaulted my ears. A rough wet tongue laved the side of my face, and rage burned away the horror of my predicament.
“Get the fuck off me!” I slammed my palms onto the ground and pushed up with all my strength, but my 140-pound human form was no match for the 250-pound Loup on my back. And then the weight lessened, and hands shoved the back of my coat up.
Hands.
The fucker was in human form now, grunting and panting in excitement as he fumbled for the waistband of my jeans.
“Fuck you!” I twisted, bringing my elbow up to smash into the side of the Loup’s head. He let out a bellow and released me long enough for me to attempt to scrabble free, but another set of hands grabbed me.
I fought, twisting and bucking to get loose, but it was two on one, and they had me pinned to the snow much too quickly.
One straddled me while the other pinned my hands above me. Too much naked muscled flesh, leery faces, blazing eyes. They were in a frenzy of lust. Incoherent with it.
Oh, fuck, they could smell my heat.
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