He laughed but he didn’t take another sip.
Hannah was also cautious. She’d already had a buzz from the beer she’d had with the wings. She was mellow enough.
If they got it on, she wanted to remember what happened! She didn’t need to drink herself into a stupor so she could pretend she hadn’t been in any condition to defend her ‘honor’. She was single and a grown woman. She could just decide if she wanted to take him on as a sexual partner.
They had so much fun at the festival, they almost missed the start of the movie. The opening credits were fading in and out on the big screen as Jeff parked the car and wrestled with the speakers.
They thought at first that they’d been shafted and gotten a speaker that didn’t work, but finally figured out ten minutes into the movie how to turn the damned thing on.
They settled then to cuddling and watching.
“You want anything from the concession stand?”
Irritation flickered through Hannah. She’d just started getting in to the movie. “You getting anything?”
“Popcorn and a cola.”
“Ok. I’ll have some too, then. I’m going with you. I need to go to the ladies room.”
“Yes. The beer ….”
Uttering a snorting laugh, Hannah got out and went into the snack shack.
It was a slightly rough start to their night but actually made Hannah more comfortable with the idea of intimacy. By the time they’d necked through the movie, Hannah was not only primed, she was ready and at least part of that was because Jeff had begun to seem almost as familiar to her as the people she’d known for years.
Jeff didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry to go once the movie ended. He tossed the speaker out of the window, but then made no attempt to start the car. They simply sat watching the other movie goers jockeying for position as they left.
Hannah glanced at him questioningly when they last moved away from them.
“I was waiting for the fog to clear from the windows,” he said with amusement.
Hannah laughed.
He slipped an arm around her and dragged her close for a long, lingering kiss. “Your place or mine?” he murmured huskily.
Before Hannah could answer, someone blew a horn at them that made both of them jump a mile high.
Jeff glanced around angrily.
“I’m locking up now, folks. Move along.”
“Oh god!” Hannah muttered with an uncomfortable snicker. “Mr. James. He was the principal when I was at the high school. I hope he didn’t recognize me. He was always an old gossip!”
Jeff started the car. “That’s a long drop,” he murmured with a touch of acid. “Principal to security guard?”
Hannah shrugged. “He retired. I guess he just got this to supplement his retirement.”
The incident seemed to ruin his playful mood.
It put a damper on Hannah’s mood, too.
“Why don’t we go out to the Hill before we head back?”
Hannah turned a wide eyed look at him. “You know about the Hill?”
He grinned at her. “I asked around.”
Hannah checked her watch. “Well … it is past curfew for most of the local teens, so we’d probably have it to ourselves. Sure. I haven’t been there in years and years.” She thought about how that sounded. “Well, I never actually went but a couple of times.”
The knowing look Jeff bent toward her set Hannah’s back up. She struggled with it while they made the drive out to ‘the Hill’.
Maybe she wouldn’t have sex with the judgmental bastard, she thought angrily, struggling to convince herself she’d misinterpreted the look.
* * * *
The festivities were winding down by the time Rafe got to town, the crowds thinning. Deciding he’d worry about the consequences later, he dismissed all pretense of subtlety. After he’d stopped several couples, he came across one that had overheard Hannah and her date talking about going to the newly reopened drive-in theater for the movie.
The information damned sure did nothing to sooth his anxieties or mitigate his anger. Grim-faced, he nodded and left them, moving quickly toward the end of town where the drive-in was situated. By the time he got there the movie was over and the gates locked.
Frustrated, he stood staring at the swinging lock and trying to decide what to do next.
He was starting to lose it, he realized.
It would probably be best to head back to Hannah’s and just wait for her to come in, but there was a churning feeling in his belly that he just couldn’t dismiss.
This was more than just a causal date, he knew. There was a threat to both him and Hannah.
After glancing around to be sure no one was close enough to see, he summoned his beast form. When he’d completed his transformation, he slipped into the theater without any difficulty and sniffed around until he caught Hannah’s scent—and the bastard that was with her.
He followed the scent out.
He was enraged to discover that they hadn’t headed toward Hannah’s house. Instead, they’d headed out of town.
That discover was enough to very nearly send him into a panic.
Where was he headed with Hannah?
And what did he have in mind?
Because he damned sure hadn’t detected a scent of arousal in the male!
Chapter Eight
Five minutes out of town, Jeff directed the car down a small dirt road that veered off into the forest. He continued through the trees until he came to a clearing on a slight hill that offered a view of the town's flickering lights below.
"Here we are," he said, pulling the car to a stop and turning off the engine.
Hannah turned sideways in her seat to look at him. "Well, aren't you full of surprises? I can’t believe you found it so easily! I wasn’t even sure I remembered how to get here.”
He shrugged. "I did a little recon—like I said, I asked around. The bag boy at the Pick 'n Save recommended this place. Said it was the 'perfect place to bring a babe'. Told me how to get here so I checked it out."
Hannah stared at him while that sank in.
He’d planned this?
And the whole fucking town probably knew he had by now!
She struggled with her anger, wondering why she wasn’t flattered that he was attracted to her enough to plot nailing her. There had certainly been a time in her past when she would’ve thought it was flattering for a guy to go to such lengths for her ‘affection’.
Now, though, it irritated her that he seemed so sure of himself … and her.
“Great view. Wow. This is really impressive. The terrain seems so flat around here I wouldn’t have thought ….” Leaving the sentence hanging, he got out and walked around to the front of the car—presumably for a better look.
Hannah was disconcerted—briefly. Wondering if she’d completely misread the situation, she got out of the car after a moment and moved around to lean on the hood next to him.
"So this is it, huh?" Jeff said as he gazed out over the town below.
"It's nothing spectacular, but its home,” Hannah said depreciatingly, but, really, she was more impressed than she’d expected to be. It was an exceptional view, she thought, wondering why she hadn’t realized it when she’d been there before.
Maybe because she’d had necking on her mind?
"No. It's nice."
"Well, the Harvest Moon helps. Makes it all seem more magical somehow."
"Actually, it's the Hunter's Moon."
Hannah frowned. "Oh, is there a difference?"
"The Harvest Moon was last month. This one, the Hunter's Moon, occurs in October, when all the animals are fattened up enough to be hunted."
“Hmm. I had no idea. I guess you need to know, though, to keep up with the best times to get out and take your photos."
"Well, there is that," Jeff said. Moving closer to Hannah, he drew her into his arms and added with heavy handed suggestiveness, "It's also a popular mating time for some specie
s."
Hannah stiffened briefly but forced herself to relax. She wanted this. At least, she’d been convinced she did before and she couldn’t honestly say Jeff had done anything ‘wrong’. She at least owed him the benefit of a doubt when he’d gone out of his way to show her a good time, didn’t she? "Is that so?" Hannah she asked with slightly forced amusement.
“That’s a fact,” he murmured, lowering his head to nuzzle her neck. Warmth flowed through her when he reached her ear and explored it.
She shivered in his embrace, not sure if it was from the chill in the air or the anticipation. Just as she started to lose herself in the moment, something rustled in the bushes close by. Hannah jumped away from Jeff, whipping a sharp look around the clearing.
She saw nothing and after a moment, she relaxed and laughed at herself. "You planned that didn't you?"
"Who me? Yeah, that was exactly my plan. To get you up here and plant someone in the bushes to scare you so you'll jump into my arms."
Except she’d jumped out of his arms, not into them! "Well, that's just the sort of thing the guys used to do up here," she said jokingly.
He looked vaguely outraged—well torn between outrage and amusement. "I hope I don’t have to use anything that juvenile to get a woman!"
Just as Hannah was about to respond, there was another sound from the bushes. Hannah gasped and whipped another look around. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe we should get back in?"
"We should be …?"
A low rumbling growl set Hannah's heart to racing. The two looked at one another before bolting to either side of the car and jumping in. Once they had slammed the doors and sat there breathless for a few seconds, they looked at one another and started laughing.
"Wimp!" they both accused each other almost in unison and then chuckled again.
After a moment, their smiles faded. Jeff reached for her, dragging her toward him and nuzzling his face against her neck.
She tried to loop her arms around his neck, but he grasped her wrists and slowly carried her arms down and manacled her wrists with one hand. Undeterred—convinced his movements indicated he was unfastening his pants and had something in particular in mind for her hands—she explored his neck with her lips.
His grip on her tightened uncomfortably for a moment.
Then she felt something cold and hard encircle one of her wrists and then the other.
There was a distinctive clicking noise as Hannah pulled away and stared at Jeff blankly. Struggling to comprehend what was happening, she tugged at her arms and then twisted to look at the chain linking her wrists through the steering wheel. Slowly it sank in. He’d handcuffed her! And if that wasn’t bad enough in itself, she was chained to the damned steering wheel! “What the hell?”
“Sorry,” he muttered dismissively. “Can’t have you taking off and ruining things for me.”
Hannah gaped at him, feeling cold horror wash over her like a tidal wave and engulf her until her teeth were chattering. “What do you mean?” she gasped.
He glanced at her absently as he shoved her off his lap and laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Don’t get me wrong! I’ve been tempted to take you up on your offer, but I’ve waited too damned long for this to allow some small town slut to distract me.”
If he’d punched her he couldn’t have stunned her more. “What?”
He shook his head.
It was like a switch flipped. In an instant, he was a complete stranger, cold-eyed and cold blooded. He shoved his seat back and leaned over the back, reaching into the backseat. Hannah craned her neck, trying to see what he was doing. She almost expected him to pull out a blindfold or some disgusting sex toys, but she certainly wasn't prepared for the large bowie knife and revolver he held when he straightened in the seat again.
Her heart seemed to stop dead in her chest. It flashed through her mind that she’d handed herself over to a serial killer and she struggled to jog her mind into functioning in survival mode. "What the hell? What are you doing?"
The expression on his face was so devoid of emotion that mindless terror gripped Hannah. She recoiled as far away from him as she could, but the handcuffs restricted her movement so she was only able to press her face against the dashboard.
He set the pistol on the dash and reached for her and Hannah struggled to get her knees up to shove him away.
“Be still, sweetheart. Otherwise this could get real painful real fast,” he murmured, grabbing her shirt and slipping the knife under the bottom edge.
Hannah gasped as he flicked his wrist upward, slicing her dress from hem to neck as if it was made of tissue and exposing her black lace bra. A whimper of fear rattled in her throat.
The moment he sat back to examine his handiwork, she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help me! Somebody! Help!”
To her surprise, he made no attempt to silence her. He merely looked around as if waiting for someone.
Or maybe it was to taunt her?
Because, like a moron, she’d allowed him to take her to lover’s lane where it was nice and quiet with no one around!
She was on her own, she thought fearfully.
She was doomed!
"Stop! Let me go! I won’t tell a soul! I swear! Why are you doing this, Jeff? Why? Somebody help me!" she bellowed.
Instead, to her relief, he retrieved his revolver, got out of the car, leaving the door wide.
“I’m gonna do something for you that you didn’t do for me—I’m gonna give you the chance to save your girlfriend,” Jeff called out loudly.
Hannah heard the brush rustle and a low, deep-chested growl emerged from somewhere beyond the light cast by the car’s dome light.
Her heart rate jumped upward.
“Count of five!” Jeff bellowed. “And then I’m going to blow her fucking brains out!”
Hannah reacted to the threat without any forethought. She swiveled around on her butt and slammed her feet against the partially open door.
She was never afterwards certain of whether that chain reaction of feet to door and door to Jeff launched him forward or if it was the huge hairy thing that flew out of the darkness and carried him to the ground. But there was instantly a whirlpool of activity around her—too much happening too fast to grasp the half of it.
Her brain was running on instincts, however. The threat was outside and she was still chained to the steering wheel.
She began frantically struggling to hook her foot into something on the door to help her pull it shut as screams, growls, grunts, meaty blows and gun shots filled the air. She discovered she couldn’t get a grip with her shoes on and hastily discarded them so that she could curl her toes around the molded door storage cavity. She yanked at it jerkily, producing enough force with the pull to bring the door in. Unfortunately, she couldn’t move her legs out of the way fast enough. The door banged into her and slowed its momentum toward closed so that the latch just barely caught.
It was caught, however. She couldn’t do anything but rattle the door then. She realized the only way she might try again was if she could open the door and she couldn’t convince herself to try when there was such a ferocious battle going on outside as Jeff fought for his life with the thing that had attacked him.
It was a pity she didn’t have a fucking clue of just how many bullets the revolver would hold or, for that matter, how many explosions she’d heard.
She might have some notion of whether Jeff was going to be able to carry out his threat and blow her brains out.
She wasn’t inclined to wait around for it, though, if she could help it.
Dismissing the door for the moment, she began trying to pull her hands through the loops by cupping her palms
She could almost compress her hands enough to pull through.
Almost.
But almost was dead in this instance if she couldn’t succeed.
She wiggled them in and out several times and realized the sweat on her wrists was
adding lubrication that seemed to help her get a little further each time she tried pulling again.
She tried spitting on the damned things but her mouth was so dry with terror she couldn’t gather enough moisture to do much.
The battle outside reached a crescendo just as she managed to get one hand almost all the way through the cuff with a combination of blood, sweat, and spit as lubricants. Someone or something slammed against the side of the car hard enough to rock it and pitch her out of balance. By the time she’d managed to right herself, she’d lost the battle with her metal ‘bracelet’.
Cursing, ignoring the pain, she began jerking on her arm and wrist furiously. By the time she’d worn herself out and stopped to pant and catch her breath, the battle, she discovered had either been won/lost or the combatants had moved away from the car.
She held her breath, listening.
After a few moments, she heard a man’s voice—low—as if he’d spoken quietly or was a good distance from the car.
“You stupid bastard! I never saw your girlfriend! Never touched her. I did save your sorry hide when the rogues jumped you.”
“Fuck you!” snarled another voice. “Finish it!”
“Not this time. Be certain, though, that I will if I ever set eyes on your sorry ass again, you bastard”
A heavy, meaty thud followed and then more rhythmic thuds and rattling bushes that she finally interpreted as someone moving through the woods.
Not away.
Toward her.
She began fighting the cuffs more frantically, stomping the steering wheel with her feet in the forlorn hope of breaking it loose when she couldn’t get her hands freed from the cuffs.
Abruptly, she heard … panting and realized a shadow had fallen over her.
She whipped a look around for the source. For several stammering heartbeats she didn’t recognize the naked man standing outside the car.
“Rafe?” she gasped finally in a shaky voice.
Chapter Nine
The car door was wrenched open suddenly. There was a flash of a whole lot of naked skin in the overhead light and then Rafe’s arms closed around her. “You alright, baby?” he asked in a husky voice.
Wolf Moon Page 4