by Jones,Skye
He shook his head. “No, they won’t, my pretty one. Yes, they do want, very much. But they won’t, because if they do, I will kill them. Horribly. They know this. Right?”
He said the word right with so much laid-back, friendly affability it made my blood run cold. The other three all nodded. One whined in the back of its throat, but it still nodded.
“Good.” He started to untie the ropes binding me. “Don’t even think about running. These guys have instructions to hurt you if you do. In a way you really won’t like. You behave, and I guarantee your safety. You try to run, or fuck about and don’t do as I ask, and these guys can have some fun with you. My suggestion? Read. Read some of the family histories, some of our legends, and then sit with the possessions of some of our most celebrated empathine. Hold them close and focus on them. This will lead you to others of their kind.”
He made his way to the door, and I grabbed the first book from the top of the chest. I didn’t want to give any of these three the tiniest excuse to hurt me.
Chapter Seven
Boyd stood by me, his skin glowing golden in the warm light of the lamp. We were in a large, simple room. A big bed dominated the space, a few low-wattage lamps dotted around the room threw an amber light over everything, and a solid chest of drawers held the photograph of a beautiful young woman.
I looked around and smiled when Boyd held out his hand to me. He wore only a white towel, loosely tied around his waist. His damp hair shone with water droplets. I glanced down at my own body and saw I too wore only a towel over my damp skin.
“As much as I enjoyed our shower, I think I need to check you’re completely clean.”
He came toward me and dropped to his knees. Strong fingers parted the towel at my thighs and lightly brushed my flesh as he moved the cotton aside. I gasped when those fingers moved over my most intimate area. “Part your legs, darling.” The words were gentle, but an order. I did as he said.
“Ah, my beautiful girl.” He leaned in and kissed my hip, my thigh, back up my leg and across my belly, until he went down the other thigh. In between kisses, he gave my skin tiny nips, making me gasp and squirm.
His incredible body glowed in the dim light, and the planes of his hefty muscles were rock-hard slabs as I moved my fingers over his big shoulders, down his arms, solid as tree trunks, and then back up and down his chest. His skin quivered where I touched him, and he looked at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, all lit up with something warm and soft.
Then his lips found what he searched for, and he kissed me right at my center. So intimate, so sensual, the way he made love to me with his mouth almost moved me to tears. This wasn’t mere sex; it became something more as we explored one another in the safe womb of this wooden room.
“I want in you. Can I?” His low voice came out almost as a growl, reverberating through me.
Could he? Yes, please. I wanted nothing more. Needed nothing but him, inside me, right there and then.
I nodded, incapable of speech. Boyd lifted me up as if I weighed nothing. My newly added pounds seemed inconsequential as he moved us across the room to the bed. With gentle hands, he removed my towel completely and laid me down. My damp hair spread around me on the sheet, and he looked at me, a smile hovering over his lips.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous.”
Not about to argue, I smiled at his compliment and beckoned him nearer.
He dropped his towel, and I looked at him in his full glory. My God, my lover was big everywhere.
Clambering over me, he held himself up on his arms, the muscles bunching as he stared down at me.
“Going to take it easy, okay?”
I nodded, not caring how he took it, frankly. I wasn’t some blushing virgin, and I wanted him so bad it hurt. He parted my thighs farther and positioned himself between them.
When he slowly pushed himself inside, he held my gaze the whole time. A twinge of pain had me closing my eyes, and he stopped immediately.
“It’s okay. You’re just big.”
He kissed my neck, my ear, down my throat. All the while holding himself still until I adjusted. When the pinch subsided, I rocked my hips experimentally, pulling him farther inside, and it felt good. The sharp pain fled, leaving only a glorious stretch in its place.
“You can move,” I whispered.
Suddenly shy, I turned my head to the side.
“Give me your eyes.” Boyd used gentle fingers to turn my head back to face him. “Don’t hide from me, beautiful.”
I’d hidden because this overwhelmed me. I’d never experienced so much emotion during sex before. Boyd threatened to take me over in every way possible. Physically, mentally, and emotionally—and I wanted it, but it proved to be an overwhelming experience.
“It’s the same for me.” He nudged at my ear with his lips as he spoke. “This means so much. It scares me.”
And with those words, I managed to look at him. Knowing I wasn’t alone in my feelings, I gave up the last part of myself and held his gaze as he moved in and out of me. Our breathing began to come in gasps. I’d never come from penetration alone before, didn’t believe it possible, but I felt the familiar climb to release deep in my belly.
I gasped as Boyd increased the depth of his thrusts, his pelvis rubbing against my mound and giving me the stimulation I needed. He stayed deep in me and rocked against me, murmuring words of affection and desire.
God, I was going to come, in a glorious burst of sensations.
“So pretty. She should be mine.”
Why did Boyd’s voice sound so weird? I looked at him, but he started to fade. No! I wanted him back. I tried to reach out, but I couldn’t see anything. Only blackness surrounded me now.
I opened my eyes and screamed.
In front of me stood one of my captors. The one most capable of intelligible speech, and his lips were drawn back from his foul teeth as he stared at me, eyes harsh and glittering in the light of the oil lamp.
“You better start to do your job, because if you don’t find the empathines, he will lose interest in you. Then you’ll be ours.” He smacked his lips together as if tasting the air around me, and I shrank back against the covers.
He laughed and turned away, and I looked around me, the bliss of my dream fading from my body until only the cold ache of despair remained. The book I’d been reading lay open on the bed beside me. I’d clearly fallen asleep. And dreamed…a hot, erotic dream. Oh, shit. I’d been about to come, and the freak had witnessed it. Seen me writhing about in my sleep probably.
Shame covered me, and I pulled the ratty blanket up around me, right to my chin. I picked the book up and started reading again. I needed to get out of here, and the only way would be to pretend to do as these things demanded. Even if I could get a location on other empathine, I’d not tell these horrors. They’d take more women, or men, like me and keep them prisoner. I needed to lead them on a merry dance—until I got the chance to escape.
I got up, making sure to hug the scratchy wool covering around me, and headed back to the box. I picked up some of the objects and held them in my hand, pretty sure I’d need to put on an Oscar-worthy performance to convince these creeps. Nothing came to me. So I set them to one side and planned out my fake psychic moment. Something in the chest glinted, and I moved a couple of journals and some papers out of the way. A ring caught the light, and I reached for it, curious. As soon as my fingers brushed the gold, pain slashed across my forehead and I gasped, shutting my eyes.
The face of a young woman flickered into view behind my closed lids. Beautiful, with long blond hair and pale skin, she walked toward me, laughing at something. I sensed goodness, but also power. A lot of power.
“What do you see?” The head creature breathed his words on me, and his fetid breath snapped my eyes open. The vision fled.
“A woman.” I didn’t have to lie about seeing something as my hands shook with the realization maybe I had more of a talent than I’d ever believed.
“Wh
ere? Tell us now.”
“I don’t know.”
Pain sliced through me as he hit me across the face.
“Do not lie!”
“I don’t fucking know, you idiot.” My anger at him hurting me overcame my fear for a moment, and I screamed at him. “Don’t fucking touch me again, or I won’t tell you anything. I need you to let me be. Give me some time. I saw her, okay. Now I need to know more.”
I calmed down and thought my next words through. The thing stared at me, and violence simmered away under its skin, evident in the tense muscles and ticking jaw.
“Look, sorry I shouted.” I forced myself to reach out and touch its disgusting, hairy arm. “It hurt, and I need…peace…calm to do what you ask of me. So no more hitting, okay?”
To my astonishment, it smacked its lips together twice and nodded. “No more hitting. But you work hard now. You see more.”
“Yes, I will. I promise.”
It nodded again.
I remembered seeing a TV show about hostages once, and the experts interviewed all said it helped to make your captors see you as human. My captors weren’t human themselves, though, so I needed to get them to view me as important to their plans, precious, and therefore in need of gentle handling.
I reached for the ring again, and this time, I grasped it tightly. Scents. Wonderful, warm scents, flooded the dank space. Cooking of some sort. Something hearty and comforting. Soft voices began to filter into the cold space where I sat, the ring held tight in my hands.
“Put a pinch of the mountain oregano in. Makes it taste wonderful.” A woman’s gentle tones filled my mind.
A loud howl right outside the cabin made the hair on my neck stand on end. The rogues all stopped what they were doing and looked at one another, their mouths wrinkling as they began to snarl. Oh, fuck. What now?
The ramshackle door burst open, and five massive wolves entered the space. The rogues howled and snarled and changed into their own wolves. Then I stopped tracking the action as the animals flew at one another, teeth snapping and saliva flying.
I edged toward the door, shoving the ring in my hand deep into my pocket.
An arm reached around me and grabbed around my middle. I opened my mouth to scream, and a hand clamped over it, sealing the sound inside.
“Shush. You need to come with us. Now.”
Boyd! I’d know his voice anywhere. I sagged against him in relief, but he didn’t give me time to have a girly collapse. He whispered in my ear. “Move, Laura. We have to go.”
He pulled me outside and then let go of my middle and took my hand. I looked at him and bit back a gasp. He wore no clothes, and neither did the female with him. Irrational jealousy seeped into my veins, and I wanted to snarl at her, with her perfect body and long dark hair.
“This is Reba. She’s another pack enforcer.”
Of course. As the fog cleared, I recognized her as the woman from the fight in the village all those weeks ago.
“Enforcer in training.” Reba smiled at me.
“We have to go. Come on.”
“I’ll stay and help out here, boss. You get her back to the village.” Before Boyd replied, Reba dropped to all fours and her limbs lengthened and cracked until a moment later, a wolf stood in her place.
“Come on.” Boyd began to run through the woods, pulling me after him, but I couldn’t keep up. He moved too fast for me, even if I’d been wearing my running shoes, but my bare feet hurt on the twigs and stones and my ankle screamed.
After a few minutes, he cursed and stopped. He lifted me up into his arms and resumed running, moving as fast as before, despite having over a hundred and seventy pounds’ worth of woman in his arms.
His strength and agility impressed me to no end and added to my already monumental crush. I clung on to his neck and prayed for the others back at the shack.
Boyd slammed to a halt. He sniffed the air and turned his head from one side to the other. “Fuck.”
His whispered word sent a shiver running along my spine.
We’d neared a clearing in the woods, and open fields lay beyond. He tipped his chin forward, and I turned to look. At least seven scraggy, rangy wolves crossed the field, heading our way.
“Can’t go back to the village. Change of plan.”
He turned, me still in his arms, and raced back the way we’d come, veering left as he neared the shack. He zipped in and out of thickly wooded copses and seemed to be going all over the place. I realized after a while he’d been trying to leave a confusing scent trail for anyone who followed. A loud rushing came to me through the trees, and I turned to look and saw a river.
We headed right for it. Boyd took us to the bank.
“Sorry about this, Laura.” The whispered words tingled the skin of my ear.
He clapped a big hand over my mouth again and plunged us both into the icy cold waters.
My gasp got swallowed up in his palm. He ducked under, taking me with him. Then he climbed out the other side and put me down. I shivered where I stood, my teeth clacking against one another. I’d never been so cold in my life.
“Stay.” He pointed at me and then headed off down the bank, looking for something. A few minutes later, he reappeared with something dark in his hands. As he neared, I reared back.
“Ugh.”
“Fox shit. Best thing ever for throwing those fuckers off the scent.”
He smeared some of it on his arms. Then he smeared some on me, down my forearms, in my hair and finally on the soles of my feet and did the same to his own. Then he hoisted me back up and began to run straight across an open field and back into the woods.
After about twenty minutes, we came to a clearing and another dwelling. Small and simple, this one looked a lot more livable than the horrible shack the rogues had kept me in.
“Pray to the gods no one is staying here at the moment.” He put me down and crept around the building.
At one point, he dropped to the floor and sniffed under the door. Fucking hell, these guys really were not human, and it hit home how different they were then.
“No one has been here for a while.”
He moved around the back, and I followed him. He went to a small window and jimmied it open.
“Come here.” He crooked a finger at me, and I walked to him. “I’ll lift you up. I need you to climb through. I won’t fit. Inside, there’s a key on a hook by the door. Use it and open the front door for me.”
I nodded and let him hoist me up. He pushed me through the window with no finesse, and I landed in a heap on the other side in a small bathroom. One leg landed half in the bath and twisted at a funny angle. When I stood, it hurt and I winced. Great. Another injury. Just what I needed.
I hobbled to the door and saw the hooks to one side. A key ring with a few keys snagged my attention. I grabbed it and tried the first one—no joy. It took me three more attempts before the lock turned. I opened the door, and Boyd walked in.
He locked the door immediately and pushed the bolt shut too.
Then he went around the small room and checked all the windows. He went to the bathroom and pulled the window shut. “Gonna need to cut some wood to put across this, or they can get in.” He seemed to be talking to himself.
“Will they find us here?” There’d been so many of them, I didn’t think even Boyd could fight them off alone.
“Hopefully not. I think I covered our scents adequately.” He frowned. “Of course, it means my pack won’t be able to trace me either. I hope Drew, Jake, and Adam will realize I’ve brought you here once we don’t arrive at the village.”
“What is this place?”
“Used to be a woodcutter’s cottage. Now it’s a research station used by scientists on occasion. Brooke stayed here. It’s how Drew met her. It’s how this whole thing started. Until Brooke, we’d not seen an empathine for…centuries, pretty much.”
As he moved around the place, checking windows and securing them as best he could, I tried hard not to ogle Boyd a
nd his incredible body. His back flexed as he battened down the window in the tiny bedroom, and my throat went dry.
God, there must be something wrong with me. Here I was, in danger for my life, and yet I found the time to perv over a man…wolf shifter…whatever. The fact of the matter seemed to be…I’d clearly lost my marbles.
“I’m going to go and gather some wood. Lock this door behind me, and only open it if you hear my voice.”
I nodded, and he left without even casting a glance my way. I sighed. Rather than being a temptation, I proved nothing more than a burden to the object of my desire. Still, I ought to be grateful he’d saved me. It showed what a character he possessed. No interest in me, yet he risked his own life to save mine.
A few minutes later, he returned, calling a soft hello through the door. I opened it and let him in.
His arms were full of wood, and I went to take some from him. He locked the door and began to look around the place. He opened a cupboard under the sink and gave a grunt. Moments later, he pulled out a toolbox and a bag attached to a belt.
“We need to secure the door and windows as best we can. Any good with a hammer and nails?”
I nodded. As it happened, I kind of was. An only child, I’d often joined my father in his shed when he worked on projects. I’d been as happy playing with a train set as with my dolls. All my friends knew to call me if they had a DIY emergency.
“Good. Take some of these planks and place them across the smaller windows. I’ll take the door and the two larger windows.”
I nodded but then paused. “Don’t you think you ought to look for some clothes first? You don’t want a splinter in the wrong place.” And for a moment, I let my eyes stray down his body. Oh. My. God. My dream hadn’t been wrong about him being big all over.
I dragged my gaze back to meet his and saw humor dancing in his eyes. “No time. First, we’ll make this place safe, then I can allow myself the luxury of hunting out some clothes. If there are any here. First thing after I get these doors and windows boarded up, though, is to take a shower. This fox shit is making me gag.”