"Get back!" Nigel roared, making her jump and turn to stare at him.
"Shewolves," he ground out, staring straight at Cher. "Run!"
Cher froze. Stunned as the four women ranged beside her tore off toward the woods as if their life depended upon getting as far away as they possibly could as fast as they could.
"Now!" Nigel growled.
Cher jumped about a foot, whirled around toward the trees and sprawled out on her belly in the dirt so hard she grunted as the air left her lungs. Terror had her firmly in its grip now, however. Without hesitation, she scrambled to her feet and headed for the trees. "Path, path, path," she muttered looking around frantically as she reached the tree line and began running back and forth along the edge of the trees, too mindless with terror to form a coherent thought. "The moon," she thought suddenly and glanced around.
She saw a patch of moonlight and realized it had spotlighted the entrance of the path. "One Mississippi, two Mississippi--Jesus fucking Christ! Where the hell was I supposed to go?" she panted out as she swung onto the path at last and spared a look back.
The sight that greeted her put an extra spring in her step. She bounded along the path like a white tailed deer, her mind focused on trying to figure out just how many minutes had passed. Five? Ten?
She heard baying behind her. Her hair stood on end.
She ran right past the oak. Unable to put on brakes fast enough, she skidded like a baseball player sliding into home plate. Clawing at the ground, she gained her feet again and ran back to the oak tree, huffing for breath as she looked around, frantically trying to remember what Nigel had said. The tree. The fork. Left of the tree? Right of the fucking tree?
Right! That was it, swing right. The tore off the trail, ran a couple of yards and remembered she’d been facing the opposite direction. It was her other right.
Swinging around, she charged across the path again, this time away from the fork, like he’d said.
Twenty paces. Her paces? His paces?
She counted twenty long strides and got down on her hands and knees, feeling along the ground frantically. The baying was growing louder and she had a real bad feeling it wasn’t dogs.
She couldn’t feel anything that felt like wood.
Had he been fucking with her?
She widened the circle of her search. Suddenly, as she brushed away a handful of leaves, her hand slipped along something rough, and definitely wooden. Thrusting the leaves aside she searched desperately, blindly for a handle, a catch. She found the hinges and felt along the opposite side until she found what she’d been searching for. Almost weeping with relief, she heaved upward.
The door was heavy. She felt like she’d ruptured something important before she managed to lever it open far enough to squeeze inside. She screamed as she fell, landing in a stunned heap at the bottom of the hole. "Shit!"
It was as profoundly dark as a black hole—a complete and total absence of light that felt suffocatingly thick.
A totally new terror seized her. Blindly, waving her arms in front of her, she searched for steps, a ladder—there had to be some way into the damn thing besides just falling in!
She found the ladder with her nose. She had absolutely no clue of how she could’ve been waving her arms in front of her and still managed to walk right into the thing, but she did mange it. She was stunned for about two seconds, then she was searching for hand and footholds and scaling the ladder right back to the top.
She’s already stared heaving at the door, trying to get out, when she heard the wolves. She stopped, trying to listen over her heart, which was pounding in her ears like Indian war drums.
It sounded like wolves.
She decided she didn’t want to find out.
Easing the door down, she felt around and finally found the bolt Nigel had told her about and shoved it in place. She slipped off a rung as she started back down and landed in a heap on the floor again.
She stayed where she was, curling into a tight ball and trying not to think what might be in the hole with her.
That wasn’t as difficult as it might have been.
Insulated as she was, she could still hear the baying and hassling of the wolves.
They had to be close.
She heard something scratching at the door and her hair stood on end again. Covering her mouth with her hand, she stared upward, wondering if there was any possibility they could actually get that heavy wooden door open.
Surely not? Surely to god all she had to do was just sit tight, wait, and they’d go away.
They didn’t go away, however. They could smell her. They began clawing at the door, rattling it. Cher began chewing on her nails, her eyes glued to the point where she could hear the rattling growing louder and louder, as if they were heaving back and forth against it.
She jumped all over when she heard the sudden crack of wood. Abruptly, the door was heaved open. A square of dim light appeared above her but disappeared almost immediately as something big and dark leapt through it.
Cher screamed, whirling mindlessly to flee even as a great weight slammed into her, driving her toward the ground. She struggled, kicking, biting, scratching at the man who’d grabbed her—because it was a man, not a wolf, and she was no less terrified.
Another dark shape appeared. The two began pulling at her. Within a few moments, she was dragged up the ladder and through the opening. She screamed again when she saw that others waited there, in the darkness. Dozens of hands grabbed at her, dragging her first one way and then another.
They fell upon one another, snarling, biting, rending at each other with their claws. One managed to fight the others off and started dragging her toward the path. Abruptly, another dark shape flew from the trees, this one notably larger than the others. Within moments, he’d waded through three of the men. Two had fallen to the ground and did not get back up. A third fled.
He watched the man who fled for a moment and turned, leaping toward the two men and the woman that struggled a few yards away. Knocking both men to the ground, he caught one around the neck and tore at his throat. When he’d defeated his opponent, he looked around once more, only to discover that they last man had scrambled up while he was occupied, grabbed the woman and was struggling to drag her deeper into the woods while she fought and clawed at him.
He caught up to them in four bounds, landing squarely in the man’s back. The woman rolled free and began scrambling away as he and his foe faced off, flew at each other, rending each other’s flesh with their teeth and claws. It took him longer to dispatch the man than he’d expected.
He rose shakily to his feet when he’d killed him, looking around for her, testing the air for her scent. It was difficult to pick it up, however, when the others had dragged her all over the clearing. "Cher?"
He lifted his head, listening.
"Nigel?"
As he turned toward the sound of her voice, she flew from the woods, slamming against him so hard, he took a step back. Her scent engulfed him instantly in a red haze of lust. He wrapped his arms around her. "My beast is upon me, chere," he growled warningly.
Instead of moving away, she hugged herself more tightly to him, as if she would crawl inside of him.
She did crawl inside of him, seeping into his pores, arousing his beast until he had to struggle to keep it at bay.
Chapter Four
Nigel growled fiercely and took her to the ground, sending up a spray of leaves as they hit it. She gasped in surprise, too stunned to struggle. He was beyond holding himself back.
He crushed his mouth down upon hers, thrusting his tongue inside to rub against her own. The urge to taste, to dominate was too great. She went stiff with shock, and he tasted fear before tremulous desire took hold.
He didn’t have the time for finesse, and he damn sure didn’t want to be caught in the open before he had a chance to mark her. She would not be safe until he had.
Tension throbbed in his gut, tightening his chest and groin until he
thought he would explode. He tore his mouth from hers, dragging his lips and tongue over her jaw and down her neck.
She tasted of salt and woman, sweet and soft to the touch. He couldn’t feel enough of her to satisfy himself.
Her hands moved along his shoulders, a shy touch that had him gritting his teeth for control. He didn’t know her, but she evoked a powerful response in him he was hard pressed to ignore.
He dragged his mouth down her chest, roughly pushing aside her halter top to latch on to one small, firm breast. Her nipple was hard before he reached it with his lips to tug on the tip. She gasped harshly, arching as he took it into his mouth and suckled her with a furious hunger. He moved, scraping her with his teeth, nuzzling her skin with his nose as if he could inhale her and appease the ravenous beast from taking hold.
Lust rioted off her body, potent, making his head swim with the faint scent of her arousal. Nigel’s mouth watered with the desire to taste the cream of her flesh, to bury his tongue deep in her pussy until he slaked this insatiable thirst. His cock surged to attention, straining against his pants. With a rough hand, he freed it and ground himself between her thighs, nearly coming with the molten feel of her trapped cleft. He groaned in frustration, to be so near his goal but so far away.
Even through her shorts, he could feel her damp heat, and the knowledge that she was as aroused as he was sent lust spiraling through his body.
He slid his lips over hers again, kissing her, allowing her to know just how desperately he wanted her.
Cher sucked his tongue, too aroused to care where they were, what had happened … what he’d done. He’d saved her from god only knew what, and she was so damned attracted to him, if he’d wanted to screw her in the middle of her parent’s house, she’d be tempted.
She arched as he ground against her mound again, heightening the desperate need to feel him deep within her. With frantic hands, she plunged them between them, trying to peel her shorts off.
Breaking from her mouth, he lifted his hips and she pushed her shorts off her hips and down her legs with his help. In seconds, he was back against her, rocking, as if he couldn’t bear to leave her touch for so long.
His hands roamed over her body, pinching her nipples, massaging her breasts before moving lover, down to her panties. He hadn’t given her the chance to take them off, but as if realizing there was still the barrier to their joining, he snapped the flimsy sides and ripped them away.
Cher didn’t care. All she knew was that if he didn’t ease this incredible ache soon, she’d throw him on his back and ride him until he couldn’t move anymore.
Nigel pulled back and hauled her legs up, throwing her ankles onto his shoulders. Her calves pressed against his chest, aching at the unfamiliar touch of hard muscles and crisp hair. The position left her completely vulnerable to him, her lips taut and exposed like a tight smile. He leaned forward, pressing her down.
A molten tip of flesh prodded her bare slit, making her belly jerk in response. She felt her juices gather, felt them slither down her cunt to her anus. She’d never been so wet in all her life.
His cock lodged at the entrance of her vagina, preparing to invade. He shuddered, as if trying to control himself, and then he pushed. Pushed that incredibly thick thing inside her, past the delicate edges of her hole.
Cher hissed in pain and pleasure, unable to believe how large he was. She could barely hold him, and couldn’t keep from clenching as he worked his way inside. Her muscles spasmed with his advance, quivering with a sensation not unlike fear.
Desperation clawed at her loins. She planted her palms on the ground, giving herself the leverage she needed to move. She tightened her legs against him, muscles screaming from the position.
He groaned and jerked, then drove so deep inside, she screamed. He sank to the root of himself, holding still a moment within her, allowing the burning of her passage to ease and accept him. Her cream seemed to have sizzled away, leaving her bereft of moisture, and her body overreacted, forcing her to gush as he retreated and thrust inside her again.
"You’re mine now," he growled softly, so quietly she almost couldn’t hear him past the roar of blood hammering in her ears.
As if possessed by some violent need, he moved, thrusting in and out of her with a rhythm that had her muscles cramping to resist the ecstasy that hovered so close. She wanted the feeling to last, for hours, forever.
Cher clawed the ground, tossing her head from side to side, whimpering with need. The piston movement of his cock drove her mad, a tight slipping that had her nerves skyrocketing out of control. She could feel every veined ridge stroking in and out of her. Her flesh seemed to devour him with each pounding thrust. She couldn’t seem to weep enough moisture to keep from burning alive.
His hips ground against the backs of her thighs, the friction of his hair making them tingle with sensation. His scrotum slapped against her anus. The lips of her cleft seemed to swell as he connected with them, again and again, drilling into her hole faster and harder, pumping shorter as the tremors of orgasm took hold of her.
Her pussy clutched him like fist, desperately trying to climb to that peak that stood at the root of his shaft. He bent forward even more, pressing her knees down until they brushed her tight, aching nipples, squashing her breasts between her body and his.
Cher closed her eyes, welcoming the tightening of her nerves, the quivers of sensation that sizzled through her veins. She couldn’t quite reach orgasm, and the feeling, like an unscratched itch was driving her crazy.
As if sensing her need, he shortened his strokes, locking a hand down to massage her clit to awakening. The touch was like a brand. The bud plumped to instant, roaring life. It tingled with the pressure of his fingers.
Cher gasped as he flicked her clit and the rapid move of his fingers sent her orgasm crashing over her. She screamed, clenching him and going tense as if she was dying. He removed his fingers, pumping into her with abandon once more, riding the clenching and unclenching of her muscles to his own orgasm.
Her body seemed to melt beneath him, shatter like glass. Every nerve burned, tingled with pressure that threatened to make her explode. She was gasping, panting for breath. Her throat ached, and she couldn’t seem to breathe enough air to satisfy her lungs.
His semen erupted inside her quaking pussy, prolonging the orgasm that trembled through her. The climax was unlike any she’d ever known--so powerful, it drowned out all other senses, leaving her deaf, dumb, and blind. Her body convulsed on his rod as it went soft, soaking up wave after wave of utter bliss, until stars sparked behind her eyelids and her head rushed with dizzy sensation.
He stayed above her, inside her, breathing raggedly, holding still as the sweat of their bodies cooled in the night air and their hearts returned to a normal rhythm. Finally, he pulled his flaccid length from her grasping muscles with the soft sound of breaking suction, and he rolled off of her onto the ground, seeming as exhausted as she felt.
Cher caught her breath, unbelievably weak. "I can’t believe we just did that," she whispered.
He propped on an elbow, looking at her in the dark. The moonlight made his eyes look even hungrier than they had before.
If she was herself and not so sated, she might’ve been worried.
Chapter Five
Cher felt the next thing to catatonic as Nigel lifted her in his arms and carried her through the woods. It wasn’t until he emerged from the trees that she realized he was carrying her back to the house. Fear instantly reared its head and she began to struggle to be put down.
"Its all right, Cher. No one will challenge us," Nigel said soothingly, as if he knew exactly what was running through her mind.
She shivered. "How can you be sure?"
"Because I made you mine," he said simply.
Cher stared up at him, feeling a strange mixture of emotions at his words. She was a modern woman. She shouldn’t have felt such a strange flicker of excitement at that Neanderthal type, male domination–but s
he did. At the same time, she felt a good deal of uneasiness.
Somehow, however, she didn’t doubt his assessment of the situation, and she relaxed against him, content to enjoy being carried, thrilled that he seemed to do so so effortlessly.
Aside from the sense of security she felt being held close to him, she wasn’t completely certain she could have made it back to the house under her own steam. She ached and hurt all over from her race through the woods, and from trying to fight off those crazed maniacs.
They must have been high on something, she decided, shivering all over again.
He surprised her when they had climbed the stairs. Instead of taking her to the room he’d imprisoned her in before, he continued to the room at the end of the hallway.
She knew the moment they entered that he’d taken her to his room.
And without so much as a ‘by your leave’.
Not that she minded. She really didn’t want to be alone after what she’d been through.
Instead of carrying her to the bed, he turned and headed toward the door she knew must lead to the master bath. If possible, it was even more luxurious than the bath that adjoined the bedroom she’d occupied.
Setting her on her feet at last, he adjusted the water and began to peel his clothing off. Cher watched him, interested despite everything that had happened.
His eyes gleamed, a faint smile curling his lips.
When he’d finished undressing, he moved toward her and began peeling her clothing off as he had his--well, her halter top and bra. Everything else had been left behind. Pulling her into the shower, he bathed the ache from her with the hot water and a soapy cloth, instilling an ache of a very different kind.
Almost as though he were reluctant to hurt her, his hands moved gently over her skin. She was achy all over, but not bruised, and unbelievably, her sex burned to feel him inside her again despite the dull pain throbbing there.
Shivering with the steam tickling her skin, she wrapped her arms around him and rubbed herself sensually against his body. He stiffened in surprise a brief moment, and then his hands locked around her, going straight to her ass to cup it. He curled his hands against her cheeks. His cock hardened, digging into her belly, leaving her feeling as weak and womanly as she had before.
Dark and Dangerous Page 3