He pivoted, re-fired the iron, then walked over to stand in front of Sam. “You know who I am, don’t you, girlie?” He pulled his shirt open then slid a palm lovingly over the long scar.
“I knew it.” Sam struggled against the ropes. “You’re the werewolf who tried to attack me twice. But you blew it, didn’t you? You failed both times.”
“What’s the old saying? Oh, yeah. The third time’s the charm.” He squatted down, holding the poker close to her face, then craned around to look at Blake.
Blake’s pulse raced at the man’s unspoken implication. He would burn Sam instead of torturing him more. He’d burn her, then use her and throw away her dead body.
“What do you say? Will you still want her with an ugly scar marring her beautiful face?” Burl grabbed her breast and squeezed, making her yelp in pain. “You could always fuck her from behind. That’s the best way anyhow.”
“Leave her alone!” He fought the ropes again as the animal inside roared closer to the surface. The shift started as fangs broke through his gums, but he barely managed to keep the rest of the transformation in check.
Burl chuckled, rose, and strode over to him. “Are you going to let me burn her? Is that what you always do when someone you love is in trouble? Do you just stand by and let it happen?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Why, Blake?” The evil man peered at him. “You’ve figured it out, haven’t you? If not, then you’re dumber than I thought. Hmm, let me help your feeble mind.”
Reaching into his back pocket, Burl pulled out a chain and fisted his hand, hiding whatever he held. “I like to keep mementos of my achievements. This one is my favorite.”
Opening his hand, Burl let the object fall until it dangled by the chain. Blake gaped at the black rabbit’s foot with the white toe. Anger flared into fury.
My father’s good-luck charm. He’d known it before, but seeing his father’s luck charm tore at his gut. Blake lifted his eyes to Burl’s. Rage consumed him, making him forget everything else. His inner beast shot to the surface as his ears changed, his face elongated, and fur spread over his body. The world’s colors left as shades of amber and gray filled his view.
“You killed my father.” The change distorted the words, but he’d managed to get them out before the transformation took away the power of speech. For a moment, he saw fear on Burl’s face, and satisfaction filled him. But then Burl whirled away to stalk over to Sam.
“Oh, Blake.” Even though she was in pain and frightened, she still wanted to comfort him. Blake nodded, letting her know he would survive as he’d survived the years following his father’s murder.
“See what he is, bitch? He’s just like me.” A sinister smile filled his face. “They’re all like me. All three of your bastards from hell. Oh, wait. That’s right. One of them is a werecat.” He leered at her. “Does pussy like pussy?”
Blake’s gaze met Sam’s. She gawked at him, her mouth parted, her eyes wide. Was she too horrified by his appearance to have heard Burl’s taunts?
Burl hurriedly untied her from the tree and yanked her onto her feet. She stumbled but never stopped staring at him.
He tried to speak, tried to tell her not to be afraid, but the words came out jumbled. The fury that had overwhelmed him diminished as heartache took its place. Would she still want him now that she knew?
Suddenly, her eyes softened, and she once more looked at him with love. “He’s nothing like you. He’s a good man, and I don’t care what he is. I love you, Blake. You, Reed, and Victor. If I never get to say it again, remember that I love you.”
Burl’s growl echoed around the forest. Rage changed his face, morphing it into a mask of anger. “You still love him knowing what he is? He’s a beast like me. Nothing more and nothing less.”
She held her head high. “Let me say it again, and maybe you’ll get it through your thick skull. He is nothing like you.”
Yanking her to him, he clutched her hair and crushed his mouth to hers. She struggled, beating her hands against his chest, but she was no match for the large man.
Ending the kiss, Burl snatched up the gun and pointed it at Blake. “Time to die, asshole.”
Blake snarled, exposing his fangs, and wished he could reach the man to tear out his heart. If he had to die, at least he’d heard Sam say she loved him. He could ask for nothing more.
Sam struck out a second before Burl pulled the trigger. The bullet ricocheted off the tree.
“You cunt. Look what you did. And that was the last bullet.” Burl pulled her along with him as he grabbed the poker lying in the fire and stalked over to Blake. “Thanks to you, he’ll have to die the slow way. Oh, well, that’ll be more fun anyway.”
Burl’s fury mixed with sadistic glee as he thrust the poker toward Blake’s chest. Blake inhaled, ready to feel the fire piercing his heart. Silently sending a message of hate he hoped the other man would sense, he kicked out but couldn’t reach Burl. He never counted on Sam saving his life again.
Throwing her body between the two men, she blocked the strike. The hot poker seared into her leg, but her shove was strong enough to make Burl drop the poker. She screamed and tried to fall, but Burl kept her on her feet.
He clutched her chin. “That’s the last time you’re going to interfere, bitch.” Flinging the gun away, he raised his hand, morphing enough to bring out his claws. “Let’s teach you who’s boss first. I’m going to enjoy fucking you before I sink my fangs into you.”
Sam closed her eyes as Blake shouted, but it was something else that stopped Burl. He froze with his clawed hand in the air and tilted his head to the side. “We have to hurry. They found us faster than I thought they would.”
* * * *
Reed dropped to his knees behind the tree and worked on the ropes even as Victor used his knife to cut through the bindings in the front.
“Where’s Sam?”
Blake broke out of the ropes and pushed against the tree to get to his feet. He shifted back to his complete human form. “We have to hurry. They’re only minutes ahead of us.”
Victor grabbed him and took a hard look at his burns then the wound in his arm. “Maybe you should head back to the car and wait for us. You’re in no shape to fight anyone.”
Sensing what Blake’s answer would be, Reed was already striding in the direction that Blake had indicated. He knew Blake wasn’t going to sit by and do nothing with Sam in danger.
He smiled as he heard Blake’s refusal then the sound of both his friends bringing up the rear. Shifting enough to bring out his better sense of smell and sight, he followed the signs on the ground and in the bushes around them. Burl was in a hurry and not bothering to cover his trail.
“I’ve got them. Stay with me.” Reed kept his sight on the ground ahead, his ears picking up the sounds around him.
Victor and Blake kept quiet, each of them listening for any hint of where Burl had taken her. Reed jogged on, never letting the awful thought that he might stumble over Sam’s dead body stick in his mind.
They had to find her. If they didn’t, he wouldn’t know how to face life without her. In the short time since they’d found her, she’d become everything to him and the other two men. Life without her would mean a sad, pitiful existence he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. Aside from Burl. Burl deserved the most agonizing life imaginable.
* * * *
“Sit down and stay quiet, or I’ll shut you up forever.” Sam fell to the floor and scooted into the corner. Burl stayed behind one of the two walls still standing and peered out a broken window.
A stone fireplace dominated one wall while the remnants of a grand staircase invited guests up the few stairs and into nothingness. Animal droppings covered the floor as well as broken branches and dead leaves. The smell of the fire that had destroyed it was long gone, but the black walls showed where the flames had ravished the home.
“They won’t stop searching for me.”
Burl’s bravado had gone, replaced by fe
ar and anger. “Then they’ll find your cold, dead body.” He took another look out the window then stalked to her and stood over her.
The lust in his eyes was nothing like the lust she’d seen in her men’s eyes. Burl’s held nothing of the devotion, admiration, and love they’d shown her. She shivered and tried to hide it, but she could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he’d seen her tremble.
Burl reached down, dug his fingers into her hair, then yanked her out of the corner. She gritted her teeth against the pain, not wanting him to gain any pleasure from her agony. Flailing her arms, she tried to strike back, but her fists against his strong chest were nothing but pebbles against a mountain.
He pushed her down on her back then sat down and straddled her. “I’ve waited way too long to have you, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss out now.”
Sam gathered her saliva and spit at him. The wad hit him in the face.
“You cunt whore.” Taking hold of her shirt, he ripped it away from her, exposing her breasts. He leered, spittle easing out the corner of his mouth.
She tried to cover her body, but he thrust her arms above her head and held them with one hand. His slap on her cheek sent her head reeling and her jaw aching. She didn’t have the strength to fight as he used her torn shirt to tie her hands together.
He pushed his body lower, skimming his hands over her breasts and twisting her nipples. She bucked, but then horror set in as she realized her movement only encouraged him more. Grinning, he jerked her jeans off her, taking her shoes along with them.
“Well, shit damn.” His hot gaze scoured her naked body. “You’re even better than I thought. Spread them, girlie. I’m going to show you what fucking a real man is like.”
Terror took her over, wiping every other thought away. She kicked out, but he easily pinned her legs down. Another slap stilled her fight, and her pants came faster. He licked his lips as he undid his dirty jeans and pushed them along with his underwear to his knees.
He bent over her and took a nipple into his mouth. Biting down hard, he made her cry out, and tears sprang to her eyes. His erect cock pushed at her crotch.
Please don’t let this happen. I’d rather die.
Her mind raced, searching for any way to get him off her, but came up empty.
Biting on her breast, he reached down and took his cock. He grunted as he pushed it against her pussy.
She couldn’t stand the horror any longer. As he repositioned his cock to shove into her pussy, she screamed as hard as she could and brought her bound hands down to hit him on the head.
Growls erupted around her as dark forms jumped into the house from different angles. Startled, Burl raised his head then rolled off her. She scrambled away, the broken wood, branches, and other debris cutting into her hands and knees. Tears streaked her face as she found refuge in the corner again. Pushing against the wall as hard as she could to try to make her body smaller, she tugged her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
Two werewolves and one enormous mountain lion formed a circle around the third werewolf. Shredded clothes littered the ground, and she realized that the werewolf in the center was Burl.
The werewolves had to be two of her men, but the other was a large cat. Hadn’t Burl said one of them was a werecat? In the dim light of the night, she couldn’t tell which one was which man, but it didn’t matter. They’d come for her as she’d prayed they would.
Snarling, the largest of the werewolves leapt at Burl and landed on his back. They rolled together until their bodies struck the wall. The werewolf jumped away from him, giving the other two a chance to attack. Burl got to his feet, snarling, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he shifted.
She shouted, sensing what he was about to do. He threw his body backward into the air and through a jagged hole in the wall. The two werewolves followed him.
She gasped as the werecat turned and looked at her. Glowing amber eyes stared at her, and he tilted his head as though asking a question he couldn’t voice. Yet she wasn’t afraid.
“Go. I’ll be all right. Just come back to me in one piece.”
She would’ve sworn he grinned at her. Growling, he disappeared through the hole. Sam struggled to her feet and looked around, gathering her clothes together. She didn’t know how long until they would come back for her, but she’d wait as long as it took.
A growl had her whirling around. A werewolf bolted inside the house, foam flying from its mouth. The large scar running down the front of his shoulder sent a clog to her throat.
“No.” Her anguished cry was more of a whisper as Burl crept toward her. Blood soaked his fur and he limped, but the hate in his amber eyes was worse than before. She bent low, skimming her hands along the floor to find anything she could use as a weapon.
Burl crouched and leapt at her. She screamed, falling onto her back as he landed on top of her.
Chapter Ten
“Hey, babe. We’re glad to see you finally open your eyes.”
Sam blinked against the light filtering through the blinds. She was back in the same bedroom where the men had made love to her. Reed leaned over her with Blake sitting on the edge of the bed and Victor standing off to one side.
Confusion hit her as she tried to remember what had happened. “Burl. What happened to him? Did he get away?”
Blake rubbed her leg in a comforting slide up and back. “You don’t remember?”
She tried, but her brain didn’t want to function clearly. “No. The last thing I remember is when he jumped on me. I think I must’ve passed out.”
“You killed the motherfucker.” Reed caressed her cheek. “Excuse my French.”
“I killed him?” She closed her eyes, delving into her memory. “Are you sure? I don’t remember.”
“You grabbed a large branch and impaled the sucker right through his heart.” Blake sent her a soft smile. “You did what we failed to do. You’re one hell of a woman, Sam Chambers.”
Burl was dead, and she’d killed him. She still couldn’t quite comprehend everything they’d told her.
Victor motioned for Reed to give him his spot next to her. “Now that it’s over, I need to make sure you’re all right. How are you feeling? I checked you out, and other than major bruises, cuts, and scrapes, you don’t look too bad considering what you’ve gone through. But I need to know. Do you hurt anywhere? I want to examine you again to make sure.”
She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’m fine. Good, in fact, now that I know he’s dead.”
“Great. We’ll pass the good news along to Loren and Tony. We told them you had the flu, but Loren isn’t going to stop nagging us until you call her. But do that a little later, okay?” Blake gave the other men a pointed look. “If you’re up to it, we’d like to discuss another matter.”
“I feel fine.” She pushed up to place her back against the headboard. They’d clothed her in an oversized T-shirt but hadn’t put any panties on her. Not that she cared. She was with the men she loved.
She ran her gaze up and down Blake. “Are you all right? What about the silver bullet? And the burns?” Tears filled her eyes. “I’d never forgive myself if you hadn’t lived.”
Blake gave her a comforting caress. “Hey, stop with the tears. I’m fine. Victor dug out the bullet before its poison made it through my entire body, and my burns are already healed.”
Her body shuddered with the last tear. Pulling herself together, she asked, “I’m so relieved. But what’s wrong now? What do you want to talk about?”
“Don’t fret, Sam. It’s not a bad thing.” Reed glanced at his friends. “At least, we don’t think so.”
She took a couple of deep breaths, relief flowing the stress out of her body. Smiling, she reached out for Victor’s hand. “If you guys think it’s a good thing, then I’m sure I will, too.”
“Good. Do you remember what you said? You know, when Burl got me to partially change?” Blake zeroed in on her, his expression anxious, as though waiting for a j
udge to declare his innocence.
She put a finger to her chin, suddenly wanting to play. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Did I tell you that I love…cheesecake? Because I do. I think I love it more than almost anything else in the world.”
Flakes of amber filled Blake’s eyes. He growled, the sound filled with frustration.
“If I’d realized that werewolves’”—she paused to study their faces—“and werecats’ eyes changed to amber, I would’ve known what you were from the start.”
“You’re stalling, Sam. Is there a reason you’re stalling?” Reed darted around to get on the other side of her.
She couldn’t tease them a minute longer. She wanted to tell them how she felt. “Of course I remember, Blake. I told that jerk that I love you.” She watched each of their faces as she continued. “I told him that I love all of you no matter what you are under the skin.”
“Then you’re okay with our being werewolves?” Victor’s green eyes penetrated her, seeking the truth of her words.
“And a werecat?” interjected Reed.
“Even after all the awful experiences you’ve had with werewolves?” Blake’s face softened, a sadness coming over it.
“That was one werewolf who changed both our lives.” She reached for him, needing to give him the comfort she hadn’t been able to give him when she’d first found out that Burl had murdered his father. Moisture glistened in his eyes even as a fresh tear trailed down her cheek.
Damn. First I’m crying, then I’m laughing. I’ve got to get a grip.
“Can we stop beating around the bush? I don’t mean to be insensitive, but you canines take too long to get to the point.” Reed pushed his hair away from his face. “We want to know if you’ll move in here and stay with us. We want to know if you’ll be our mate.”
“Your mate? What does that mean, anyway?” She saw them react, pulling back from her. “No, I didn’t mean it that way. I want to live with you. I don’t think I can even imagine a future without you in it. But does becoming your mate mean we’re legally married? Does it mean you’ll change me into a werewolf or a werecat?”
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