Adrienne was eager to leave. She felt if he was alone, he was no match for all three of the Samsas, especially since they would have to hunt him. Things are looking better, Adrienne thought.
But it would get far worse for her before it got better.
When Bane walked out of the room, Adrienne searched around for her Uggs. Her boots were in the restroom. She lay them there to take a bath. She wanted to bath away the scent of Bane on her, but now it still lingers. How can she keep him from taking her? The truth is she can’t. Sooner or later if Wilder, Lycell, and Drayton didn’t come for her, Bane would mark her and then the Samsas might not want her, and that was her greatest fear. Not to have the love of those werewolves because they thought she might have given in to him freely.
But what is she to do? If she doesn’t give in, she and her pups would not survive. If she gives into to Bane, then the Samsas may not take her back if ever they see each other.
A distraught and overwhelmed Adrienne trudged out of the bath room holding her boots to see Bane waiting. “I’m ready.”
“Bane is dressed for the cold weather wearing snow shoes and a coat with a fur hood, covering a pair of jeans and flannel shirt.
“Here’s your hat. Sit down.” Adrienne sat in a chair. Bane placed a fur hat on her head and handed her a scarf. She gazed around the room. She wondered what she might leave behind where Wilder would know that she had been there.
“I have to eat first.”
“We don’t have the time to eat. I can kill you something on the way.”
“Do you think I’m like one of your werefemales? I can’t eat fresh meat, and I have to eat every day. You may as well kill me now. I’d rather die now than have my pups born dead.”
“No one is talking about killing you, or your pups.” He leaves the room and returns and throws some beef jerky at her. “Can you eat this? And here is some fruit and berries.”
“I need milk.”
“I don’t have any milk.” Bane’s voice showing his impatience with the human female. “I’ll get you some once we’re on our way.” He absent minded places the scarf around her neck and tucks it into her coat like he’s dressing a doll.
Adrienne looks at him. She’s taking in his dark thick coarse hair. His face handsome with a strong jaw. His shoulders wide as Drayton’s and he’s as tall as him. He looks at her and their eyes meet, and for the first time, she sees the human man in him—strong and seductive.
He’s stunned at his reaction to Adrienne. She had touched something in him for the first time in his life. For the first time he felt human. Not a werewolf. Not even a wolf, but he felt like a man. A man who wants to please a woman he desires. Adrienne brought out that quality that he thought had been lost for years.
Bane thought there were two types of females, one to be desired and one to be useful. Adrienne was both. He desired her and she would be of use to him for breeding.
His mother was a human. She tried to tell him that one day he could meet a woman that would make him feel almost human. He never thought that day would come. His mother tried her best with him and his brother, but they listened to their father. When his mother died, he was a teen in wolf’s years, the father took over teaching them to be fierce and dominate any female, human, or werewolf.
Bane’s father was used to the old ways. The way of the werewolf. He had said that if they had any amount of sympathy they wouldn’t survive. It is the way of humans and not werewolves. His father had said that loving females would be their undoing, so to avoid that, they should treat them like they treat their dogs. Females were to be controlled, and beaten when they didn’t obey, not loved.
“We’re leaving so don’t ask any more questions.” He took her by the hand and led her out of the back door of the compound.
“Why are we leaving this way?”
“Didn’t I warn you not to ask questions? If you ask me one more question, I’m going to leave you alone in the forest where the wolves and bears will take care of you.” He jerked her hand, and pulled her through the snow, and into the forest without Adrienne saying another word.
When they were deeper into the woods, Adrienne glanced at Bane. She could tell he meant what he said. She held a piece of the beef jerky in her hand, sucked it, bit it, and spit it out. Knowing that Wilder is one of the best hunter’s and trackers, he would find it, if the snow fall wasn’t too heavy and deep the next day. Bane chose early in the morning when the sun was just rising in the west to travel.
Not knowing much about direction, Adrienne knew that they were facing the blinding sun rising, and therefore, they were traveling east. In places, the snow was so deep, that Bane had to take her hand and pull her up to his chest to carry her along. She was a burden to Bane, and soon he would realize it, and maybe leave her to die.
Where is Wilder? Maybe he isn’t coming after all. Maybe she was on her own. Adrienne had forgotten about Drayton and Lycell. When she’s in trouble it’s Wilder she thinks of and calls out to.
Adrienne called out to Wilder as she lay sick having Lycell’s six pups.
Wilder is the one she fell in love with first, but Wilder is the practical one, and he had his sons to consider. He wouldn’t sacrifice them for a human who doesn’t have the good sense to listen to him, she concluded.
But then there’s Lycell. He tries to pretend he isn’t a soft touch for her, but he is and there was no way he would let Bane get away with kidnapping and raping her. He would track him to the ends of the earth. His blood ran hot for Adrienne every minute of the day. She knew he would come, and so would Drayton. Drayton would rush to her side if he knew she was carrying his pups. But she had just found out.
If she had been a little less impulsive and a little less pig-headed, she would have been home and breaking the news to all of them about her pregnancy, instead, she’s being dragged through the deep snow by a wolf who would rather kill her, and then rape her, leave her carcass for Wilder, Drayton, and Lycell to find to revenge the killing of his brother.
“I can’t go any further. I’m tired. I have to stop for a few minutes.” Bane stopped in front of her and turned and glared at her.
“I said before I’m not like those werefemales of yours.” Adrienne’s voice is shrill and broken from the chill of the false spring air.
“Don’t remind me. At this moment I’m wondering why I thought I needed you. I should have killed you and left you for Wilder and the others to find you. And I might still do that,” He had changed from the wolf in the compound to the one on the run with a pregnant human who doesn’t want to be with him.
Bane looked exhausted tramping in the snow trying not to shift into the massive monster he is. Adrienne picked up her feet and tried to walk a few more steps, and then she collapsed. It was surreal. She felt a large warm hand take her and throw her over a shoulder and carry her like she was a side of beef.
She watched the view of trees quickly pass her as if she’s riding in a train. She saw a red fox wrapped around a pine bracing to keep the cold wind and snow from burying him. She watched as deer began running once they caught the scent of a grey timber wolf.
This wolf wasn’t hungry or interested in pursuing the elk, so the elk stood with his large antlers waiting and watching at Adrienne and the werewolf, as they ran past him.
When Bane became tired of having her on his shoulder, he shifted his hands, and brought her to cradle in his arms. Adrienne opened her eyes slightly, Bane hadn’t shifted and she realized she was being carried. Thank god he didn’t shift into a werewolf. She was having enough time warming up to him. She didn’t relish the idea of seeing him as a werewolf.
He couldn’t be as handsome a wolf as Wilder, Lycell, or Drayton. She imagined him to be one of those brown or gray scruffy wolves who was hideous to look at.
Adrienne opened her eyes wide and looked up in Bane’s face. “Where are we going?” she said breathless and dizzy from the speed at which he ran.
“Why do you insist on angering me by const
antly asking questions? You will find out in another minute.” Bane stepped up his speed. He ran quickly in the direction of a mountain range. There were sounds of lakes and animals in the forest. She recognized the calling of wolves. But these were not werewolves these were the last few creatures who hadn’t been killed by man. These were four legged wolves who were out on a hunt for food.
Bane stopped at the base of a mountain and put Adrienne on her feet. “You took me from a warm place to bring me to a cave?” She said unmoved by his threats.
“I brought you here so I wouldn’t have to kill you.”
“If I have to live in a cave then kill me now,” Adrienne said her eyes large saucers. Bane didn’t know whether she meant what she said. Nevertheless, he would never take orders from a human and a female. He looked down at her and raised a thick eyebrow and silence descended over him as if he was considering her words.
“I didn’t mean that. I was just being witty.” He slanted his head to the side. He didn’t understand the human’s sense of humor. He had none. It wasn’t in their vocabulary. They were a serious breed.
“You don’t have to kill me. You’re making a choice to think you have to kill me. You just need to bring me to a town so I can call Wilder and everything will be all forgiven.”
Bane let out a chilling laugh and started walking to the mouth of the cave. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. Adrienne was still standing in the same spot.
“Are you coming, or do I have to chase you down. You can’t win. It would be easier to come in here with me.”
Adrienne looked around. She had never done an easy thing in her life, and she never listened to a man tell her how easy it would be if she cooperated with him. In one second she made her decision to run. She turned and started running through the heavy snow. Bane stood looking at her and didn’t move a muscle or change his expression.
She ran so fast she was amazed at how far she had gotten when she heard heavy foot steps behind her, and before she could go another step, Bane had her in his arms, and slung her over his shoulder. He took his hand and hit her once on her ass.
“You struck me, it hurt,” she said.
“You’re lucky that’s all I did. Do you know what I’ve done to females who disobey me? Are you telling me Wilder never paddled your ass, and then fucked you, because that’s what I’m planning to do if you try to run again? If you care about those pups you’re carrying, I suggest you think about what I just said. I will not fuck you like Wilder or even Drayton, I will fuck you like Lycell.”
“Lycell was never forceful with me.”
“Then he should have been.” He entered the mouth of the cave and dropped her on a large bear rug in the back of the cold small cave. Then he left to build a fire. “I bet you’ve never slept in a cave before,” Bane says dropping more wood on the fire, then stoking it to make it hotter.
“I’ve slept and lived in a cave before.”
“Then you shouldn’t complain about this.” Bane picked up an armful of wood and placed one after another in the open pit.
“It was nothing like this damp dump you want me to hide away in with you. Why are we here anyway?”
“I said don’t ask me questions.” He opened his sack and threw some dried meat at her. She let it fall.
“I can’t eat just this every day. I’m not a dog don’t throw food at me.”
“Dogs are more useful than you.” He picked up the dried meat and handed it to Adrienne. Hunger prevented her pride from refusing it, and she pulled the meat from his hand and bit off a piece.
“I’ll get you something tomorrow.” Bane dropped down close to Adrienne. “Come close to me, I’m sleepy and tired. I can’t trust you. You might think you can leave in this snow. But you can’t. Do you hear those sounds? Any one of them is a potential predator and you will be their prey.”
“Like you?”
“Like me?” Bane pulled Adrienne down to his side and wrapped his muscular arms around her. He turned facing her back and placed his face in her hair. Her brown curls flowed over his face and he nuzzled closer to her. For some reason, he didn’t frightened Adrienne anymore. She had one notion that maybe he could be reasoned with. He could have taken her but he is choosing to sleep instead. Maybe he’s not that animal she thinks him to be.
Or maybe he’s more cunning than she thought.
Adrienne didn’t know how long she had been imprisoned in Bane’s arms. He didn’t snore so she didn’t know if he was asleep. She tried to raise his arm from her but it was too heavy and she couldn’t pry it off of her waist, so she settled down and tried to find sleep. She dreamed of Wilder in the cave and how she had made love to him near the fire.
When Adrienne woke she saw Bane standing watching at her. “What are you looking at?”
“You of course. What a stupid question. Do all you female humans ask stupid questions?”
“No not all of them. Only the ones that have been kidnapped by werewolves.”
“Enough of your talk.”
“Sleep only made you worse. You should try staying awake,” Adrienne quipped.
“I’m hungry and I need fresh meat. I can’t eat that dried meat any longer,” Bane said.
“You mean you can’t eat that shit you gave me to eat?” Adrienne laughed.
“I have to go out and hunt.”
“You would think that if you were planning on kidnapping someone, and running off with them, you would have had a better plan than this?”
“My first plan was to kill you and wait for Wilder and his brothers. Do you want me to carry that out now because I will be more than happy to do that? After I have fucked you.” Bane winks at Adrienne. She looked at him with cold eyes and didn’t say another word.
“I’m going to hunt for a rabbit. That will take no time and I’ll be back soon. I’m going to tie you up for now.”
“You are going to do what?”
“Do you want to come with me and see me rip apart a poor little rabbit and eat it raw? Do you want to see your food alive before you cook it? Can you cook?”
“Not well. But I think that’s not your first concern seeing that you like your meat raw and fresh.”
“Maybe I should start with the fresh meat before me.”
Bane kneels, looks Adrienne in the eyes, and proceeds to tie her hands behind her back and then her ankles. “Suppose an animal comes in here looking for food, I can’t run.”
“If a large animal comes into this cave, I wouldn’t worry about trying to run, you won’t be able to run, or do anything else.” Then Bane tied her waist to the crude chair made from branches of trees. “I won’t gag you. If an animal comes for you, scream, and I’ll hear you.”
“What if you’re too far away?”
“I’ll hear you. If I don’t get back to you in time, then the wild animals and I will have a great meal tonight. They’ll eat you and I’ll eat them. You should take comfort in that. I will have avenged your killing and have a taste of you in my mouth at the same time. ”
“I’ll let you taste me now if you let me go.”
“I don’t need to let you go to do whatever I want to you. I could eat your pussy and you would forget the Samsas, but that’s for later.”
“Who do you think you are?” Bane stood raising his head on hearing her words.
“Why, I’m Bane the number one Alpha werewolf, feared by all werewolves in the America’s, and lover of werefemales on all continents.” He shot Adrienne a sly captivating smile. “And I have in my possession my future mate.” He placed his large hand around her face. She looked up at him and they gazed at each other as if lost in each other.
The spell was broken when a cold wind passed between them, and Adrienne jumped from the jolt of Bane’s closeness and touch, and she pulled away.
She was angry with herself for feeling something, anything, for this horrible wolf standing so near and over her. She felt his hard muscular irresistible body. He was so close he could have put his cock in her mouth.
She took a deep breath and took a chance saying, “If your future is heartache and pain then maybe you’re right.” He glared at her, turned, and headed for the mouth of the cave. Once through he looked back at Adrienne straining to get free. He laughed and disappeared in a quick motion. She sat motionless unable to break free. She decided to close her eyes and think about the times she fell in love, and how wonderful it would be to be back at the ranch and in one of the brother’s arms. But she realized she is a woman facing the harsh realities of her life—her mates may never find her, and she would have to give in to Bane, or perish.
Chapter 11
The sun is rising and the SUV pulls into a clearing near a heavily dense forest. “This is as far as we can go,” Wilder says. He hadn’t slept in twenty four hours. He couldn’t for wondering about Adrienne and how she was fairing with Bane. Bane wasn’t particularly fond of humans and he had less tolerance for human females. As beautiful as Bane might have found Adrienne to be, he wouldn’t tolerate her obstinate and persistent behavior, Wilder thought.
Wilder and his brothers felt Adrienne’s dogged behavior was different and refreshing. They were annoyed but they liked when she refused them sex. She had her own mind. They didn’t care for the werefemales, who lived to please, no matter how badly they were treated.
The Samsas never treated women as concubines, but Bane did, and he demanded that women be seen and not heard and Adrienne never could keep her opinions to herself. That’s why Wilder knew his beloved human was in serious trouble, and he had to find her soon. Not just for him, but for his sons, and the sons he hoped to have in the future.
Drayton, Lycell, Hunter, and Devin woke when the motor stopped humming. Wilder hit the ignition and everything came to a stop. Watching at the others wipe sleep from their eyes didn’t make Wilder want for a bed. He wasn’t worried about his lack of sleep. He didn’t need that much. He never slept that much at night anyway. Roaming the ranch lands kept him busy, where he looked out for other lone werewolves looking to kill his family and take over.
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