The woman shook her head. “You have to go now. This is your only chance.”
Penny turned to her and asked, “Why are you helping me? Who are you?”
She wasn’t ungrateful, but her experience with her parents had taught her that trust was a precious thing that should never be given to people who didn’t deserve it.
“I am...was, Gordon’s wife,” the young woman answered.
“What?” Penny sputtered. “Gordon? The Alpha’s son?”
“Yes. Your bridegroom,” the woman deadpanned. “Your wedding is tonight. Everyone is busy with the wedding preparations. I’m supposed to help you get dressed.”
“But...you said you’re his wife,” Penny said, shaking her head. “I don’t understand...”
“Gordon killed his first wife to marry me.”
Penny gasped. “So...”
A fierce light entered the woman’s eyes. “He was going to kill me too, but I begged him to spare my life and let me be a servant girl in the pack.”
The woman unzipped her dress and stepped out of it. Penny saw that she was wearing another similar gray dress underneath.
“Put this on,” she said. “You’re about my size so it should fit.”
Penny pulled the gray uniform over her own dress, the dress she was wearing when she left her parents’ house for the last time.
As they moved to the door, the woman whispered urgently, “You have to move quickly. Turn right and go down the stairs at the end of the corridor. Keep going down until you reach the kitchen. Just move through the kitchen and get out through the back door. The cooks are new. They won’t recognize you. They’ll think you’re one of the servants.”
“What about you?” Penny asked just before the woman opened the door. “Come with me. We’ll escape together.”
The woman pointed to her leg. “I’ll slow you down.”
Penny’s eyes narrowed. “Did Gordon do that to you?”
The woman hesitated before giving an almost imperceptible nod.
“Please, come with me,” Penny urged. “He’ll hurt you. Again. When Gordon finds out that you’ve helped me...”
“He won’t find out. Now go. You don’t have much time. The guests are arriving soon.”
Penny slipped out the door and turned around abruptly. “What’s your name?”
The woman smiled and in that instant, her entire face was transformed. She was really pretty. “Meg.”
Penny watched Meg disappear down the other end of the corridor.
Sucking in a steadying breath, Penny crept down the empty corridor.
They won’t recognize you. They’ll think you’re one of the servants.
She just had to stay calm and keep moving.
She was getting out.
She had to get away.
Her life, and Meg’s, depended on it.
CHAPTER FIVE
Penny drove faster, keeping her eyes on the long road ahead. She didn’t know how long she had been driving, but she couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when she had made it so far.
“I can’t let Meg down,” Penny whispered as she gripped the steering wheel.
She had followed Meg’s directions and made it out the back door without anyone noticing. There were uniformed servants and cooks scurrying around the place, but everyone was too flustered and preoccupied with their own chores and responsibilities to pay attention to her. She looked just like another servant girl moving through the busy kitchen.
Once she was out of the mansion, she had made her way towards the tall gates in front of the mansion which were wide open. The wedding guests were arriving so the gates had been left open. Everyone was at the back of the house or in their rooms getting ready for the wedding. No one was watching her.
When she got to the end of the driveway, she happened to glance at the last car parked near the gate. The key was in the ignition.
Penny didn’t hesitate or even slow down to think. She was already in the car and turning the key before she was even aware of what her body was doing. She was just acting on pure instinct. Survival instinct.
As she drove away from the mansion, she kept looking fearfully in the rear-view mirror. She saw no movement. No one was coming after her.
Penny floored the gas pedal. And she didn’t look back.
She drove for miles, and the landscape kept changing around her. Hours sped by, but still she refused to stop.
The sky darkened and became completely black and still she drove. She had no idea where she was or where she was going. She just had to get as far away as possible.
The car lurched and Penny cursed as she glanced at the fuel gauge. She was literally running on empty.
How much farther could she go?
With a hiss, the car stopped. The gas tank was completely empty.
Penny gulped and tried not to hyperventilate as she stared at the stretch of long, lonely road ahead of her. On both sides of the road were trees and more trees.
She was in the middle of nowhere. There were no lights ahead at all. She didn’t know if there was a town up ahead or not. She hadn’t paid any attention to the road signs as she drove. All she did was step on the gas pedal as she held on to the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.
For a moment, Penny just sat in the car. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to get the car to move. But the stupid part of her brain, the part that had gotten her into this mess, kept hoping.
Stupid Penny hoped that by some miracle, the car would wake up.
Stupid Penny wished that all this wasn’t happening to her.
Stupid Penny wished that her parents would love her.
Penny didn’t know how long she had been sitting in the car. But when she looked up, she saw that the windows were all fogged up.
She turned around and through the fog, she could see flashing lights in the distance.
Penny gasped and her senses came back to her in a rush. She fumbled with her seat belt and scrambled out of the car.
The cold wind bit into her as she squinted at the growing circles of light coming towards her.
She counted six circles of light before her exhausted brain kicked into gear.
“Headlights,” she croaked.
CHAPTER SIX
Penny backed away with a strangled cry. She hadn’t seen a single car the whole time she was driving along this dark, deserted road. And now there were three cars all coming her way.
This wasn’t a coincidence.
These cars were coming for her. Gordon had sent his wolves to retrieve his runaway bride.
Penny looked around wildly and the trees seemed to beckon to her. She ran and ducked into the woods.
Penny ran blindly between the trees, trying not to cry out when thorns and branches clawed at her. She could hear brakes squealing and screeching, and loud, furious voices echoed through the woods.
Shit! They had found her abandoned vehicle.
With a muffled cry of dismay, Penny realized that the wolves could track her scent through the forest. They would be upon her in no time.
“No,” she swore. “I won’t go back. I would rather die!”
She ran harder, ignoring the cuts and scratches on her face, arms and legs. She had to keep moving and put as much distance between herself and the wolves as possible. There was a chance that she could escape. She just had to pick herself up and keep running.
A bone-chilling howl cut through the air and Penny stumbled. There were answering howls, and Penny realized that the wolves had fanned out.
They were going to surround her and cut off her escape.
Penny tore through the forest, listening to her own ragged breathing and frantic footsteps. She tripped on a tree root and crashed to the ground. As she pushed herself up, she listened to the gentle chirps and coos of the insects and birds around her.
There were no other sounds.
Had she managed to outrun the wolves?
Holding on to that sliver of hope, Penny stood up.
She froze when she glimpsed a pair of glowing yellow eyes to her right. Veering to her left, Penny bit down a scream when two pairs of yellow eyes blinked at her from the shadows. The growls grew louder as the eyes came closer.
Penny backed away as the wolves advanced towards her. The wolves were everywhere. They had her surrounded.
Two wolves blocked her when she tried to run. A wolf with reddish, tawny fur detached itself from the pack and stood in front of her.
In a blink, the wolf shifted into a man.
“Where are you going?” Gordon asked casually. “We’re supposed to get married tonight.”
“I’m not marrying you,” Penny said. “I...”
She clamped her mouth shut before the words “I’m sorry” slipped out. She had to stop apologizing for things which weren’t her fault.
From a very young age, she had been made to apologize for anything that went wrong around the house. She had been manipulated and bullied by her parents into submission, subservience and stupidity.
Penny balled her fists. For once, she would stand up for herself.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Penny squared her shoulders and told Gordon firmly, “I never agreed or consented to the marriage.”
“I don’t need your agreement or consent. You don’t have any choice or say in the matter.” Gordon laughed and clucked his tongue at her. “I bought you, at a very high price I might add. Your parents accepted the money. In fact, they were so busy counting the money that they didn’t even say goodbye to you.”
It was the truth, and Gordon knew that the truth would hurt her. In fact, it cut like a knife.
He wanted to let her know that she had nowhere to go. Her parents didn’t care about her. She had no home, no family. She belonged to the pack now. She had no choice but to marry him.
Penny swallowed hard. It was true that her parents didn’t even bother saying goodbye to her. But it wasn’t true that she had no choice. She always had a choice.
“I have a choice,” she said evenly. “I choose not to marry you. Go get your money back from them!”
Gordon growled and lunged at her. Gripping her chin roughly, he said, “You belong to me. I bought you. Once they handed you over, they fulfilled their side of the contract. I can’t get the money back,” he snarled. “If you wanted to run away, you should have run before I handed over the money. You are mine now, and you will do whatever I want you to do.”
Penny was aware that she was trembling. It took all her strength to get the word out.
“No.”
She could feel claws gouging into her flesh, and she gasped at the pain. But she kept her eyes on Gordon and repeated in a stronger voice, “No.”
When was the last time she’d said no?
Penny winced. Every time she said no to her parents, her mother had a major meltdown. The woman would cry, throw tantrums, hurl accusations and play the victim. Eventually, Penny just went along with whatever her mother wanted just to avoid the stress and drama.
That was wrong. She thought she was keeping the peace, but all she was doing was rewarding her mother for her bad behavior.
Her parents had groomed her to be afraid to say no. She finally recognized that her mother’s tears, groundless accusations and violent tantrums were tactics to get her to back down and doubt her own reality and reasoning.
It was mental and emotional manipulation and abuse. This very insidious form of abuse was all the more traumatic because there were no physical scars. She had been traumatized and browbeaten without even realizing it.
“What. Did. You. Say,” Gordon snarled into her face.
Penny didn’t flinch. She would not go back to her old pattern of behavior.
“I said no. People don’t always get what they want,” she answered, staring straight into his yellow eyes. “Grow up.”
She wasn’t sure if the last piece of advice was meant for Gordon or herself.
“My mother is the Alpha of the Emerald pack,” Gordon snapped. “Nobody says no to me.”
Penny let out a mirthless laugh. “You are hiding behind your Momma’s petticoats?”
Gordon’s fangs elongated and his face twisted into an ugly mask of fury and hate. “I will kill you!”
“No you won’t,” Penny replied.
She closed her fist around the broken rock that she had quietly picked up.
Bringing her hand up, Penny mustered all her strength and smashed the rock into Gordon’s face.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ryder Sloan jumped out of the truck as soon as Dillon parked the truck beside the cabin. They called it their cabin, but it wasn’t a cabin. Not really. It was a house. That’s right. It was a nice, solid house, big enough for three muscly, growly bear shifters.
Ryder had known Dillon Hutchins and Ford Brennan since he was a wee lad. They had been neighbors and friends for as long as he could remember, and they were closer than brothers. In fact, Ford and Dillon were now the only family that Ryder had.
Ryder and Dillon were the same age, but Ford was four years older than them. The three of them had lost their parents in the same accident. It had been a chain collision, with many casualties and fatalities. The town of Nightbrook had mourned together and rallied around the survivors and the surviving family members.
Ryder and Dillon were fourteen years old when they were orphaned. Ford had just turned eighteen, and he immediately took the two younger boys under his wing.
Ryder and Dillon grew up in a hurry, and they got jobs as soon as they could. Ryder had so many jobs under his belt by the time he was twenty that he’d lost count of them.
After working at various places for a few more years, Ryder finally concluded that he would only be happy working for himself.
He talked to Dillon and Ford, and after a beer-fueled brainstorming session, the three friends arrived at a brilliant decision. In fact, once they arrived at the decision, Ryder wondered why it had taken them so long to take this glaringly obvious step.
They were all big and strong, and they loved being near nature and working outdoors. They were good with their hands, and they could build almost anything. They had always talked about building a house in the forest and doing what made them and their bears happy.
“So why haven’t we done it? Build this house that we’ve always talked about?” Ryder had asked.
He could remember the look on Dillon’s and Ford’s faces. He could literally see the light bulbs going off in their heads. They had stared at each other and started laughing. It was a big step, but a step in the right direction.
They wasted no time putting their plan into action. Day and night they worked. They found the perfect spot for their house. A clearing in the middle of the forest.
When their cabin was finally completed, the three of them had gone into town and celebrated the whole night. They had done it. They had built an amazing, perfect house right where they wanted it.
It was their dream house. The house had a large common kitchen and dining area, but they each had their own living space as well.
If they wanted to eat and hang out together, they could do that comfortably, but they also had their own private space. Each of them had his own kitchenette and their bedrooms were located at different corners of the house.
It looked like a simple wooden house on the outside, but the interior was spacious and bright.
While they were building their dream home, Ford was already in talks with the owner of a nearby sawmill. Ford was always thinking ahead and he had already secured a contract for them while they were still putting the finishing touches to their house. They would provide the sawmill with the logs they required.
It was Dillon who suggested building a workshop just beside the house, so they could get a carpentry business going as well.
Life was good. Peaceful, stable, comfortable.
Just today, they had delivered a massive batch of logs to the sawmill. Ryder wanted to take the scenic route home. Dillon was at the wheel of the truck, an
d even though Dillon had grumbled under his breath about not getting home in time for his favorite sitcom, he had complied.
The sky had turned dark while they were driving home. It was a long, tiring drive, and the three friends had planned to spend the evening relaxing in front of the TV with pizza and beer after a hard day’s work.
But it looked like their plans were being derailed.
Something was happening in their neck of the woods.
Ryder tensed in front of the cabin and turned around slowly.
There was an unfamiliar, unwelcome scent in the air. His bear rumbled just beneath his human skin and his senses sharpened.
CHAPTER NINE
Ryder saw Dillon and Ford climbing out of the truck. The way they closed the truck doors quietly instead of slamming them shut like they usually did told Ryder that his friends had caught a whiff of that strange scent as well.
The three of them scanned the woods around their cabin in silence. Bear shifters had excellent sense of smell, and they could detect and identify trespassers and intruders from miles away.
Unseen threats and dangers lurked in the woods, but they had grown familiar with the sounds and scents of the forest. The three men weren’t worried about being attacked since they could more than defend themselves. They just didn’t like trouble and nasty surprises.
In fact, Ryder and his buddies had built their home in the middle of the forest so they could live in peace and quiet, away from the politics and power struggles that the town of Nightbrook was mired in.
Nightbrook was a shifter town, and some of the shifter packs and clans were very ambitious and trigger-happy. Life was just too short for that kind of shit.
“Did you hear that?” Ryder said in a low voice.
Ford’s gray eyes blazed silver as his bear rose. “A woman,” he growled.
Ryder inhaled deeply and his eyes widened. He stared at Dillon and Ford. “Wolves,” they said together.
“Shifters,” Dillon snapped. “What the hell are wolf shifters doing here? I don’t think these shifters are from Nightbrook.”
Mated to Three Werebears: Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Nightbrook Book 1) Page 2