* * *
ANNA
Anna couldn’t stop shaking. Thinking about the shifter who had tried to rape her had her shrinking into herself. She felt like she had been shoved into into a deep, dark, dank pit that she’d dug the day she had blood-bonded Kurt. No, that wasn’t fair. Blood-bonding Kurt had been magical. It was what followed that had set her on this path to hell.
“You okay?” the naked shifter in front of her asked.
She didn’t even know his name. Only that he had saved her from being raped and was now leading her away from those demons, taking her… somewhere.
She nodded to let him know she had heard him. Finding her voice was hard right now. Tess had sent him, so he had said. What if he had lied? What if this was another one of Drake’s tricks? No, the body on the floor was real, at least the blood she’d slipped in was. It had been too damn dark in there to see if her attacker was really dead.
The clouds had thinned out, allowing enough light to see the shifter with the dark brown eyes and the tattoo of a wolf on the inside of his left forearm. He gave her hand a squeeze as he wound his way through the trees. Such a small gesture, but it helped tremendously. Maybe it was the warmth of his flesh against hers or the simple reminder that she wasn’t alone. Anna stared at her hand in his. She didn’t even recall taking his hand or him taking hers.
Her foot caught on a root and she would have gone straight down, except the shifter caught her by her waist. He was standing right in front of her, one hand lightly resting on her hip, waiting. For what?
She squirmed out of his hold. He didn’t scare her, not really. She didn’t know him. He wasn’t Kurt and that touch, though he hadn’t moved his hand or made any moves to touch her elsewhere, felt too intimate.
“I wanted to make sure you were steady. I don’t want you to fall,” he said, offering his hand to her again.
He was giving her a choice. Before she could overthink his offer, she slipped her hand into his. Firm but not too strong, his fingers wrapped around hers. He was trying to keep from scaring her. She relaxed a bit.
This was the first sense of safety she’d had in a long time. And yet she couldn’t let herself fall for the illusion of being safe. It was like when she’d been happy with Kurt. The moment she had let her guard down, that happiness, that safety, had been ripped away.
“I wish we could slow down,” the shifter said, his voice slightly on edge. “But I want to put as much distance between us and Drake’s camp as fast as possible.”
She was a liability to him; she had already tripped on roots and downed branches several times, and each time he had kept her from falling, without complaint.
“I guess you’re not much of a talker,” he said.
I used to be. When Kurt was alive. When I had someone to talk to, someone who cared about how my day had gone, about my frustrations and worries. A man who truly cared.
“I can talk for both of us if I have to. Though the conversation will seem rather dull. Feel free to jump in any time.”
She couldn’t help smiling. At least he wasn’t looking at her. He might get the wrong idea. With her free hand, she tightened the pants knotted around her waist. She didn’t want to lose them; he would need them later.
Anna winced and bit her bottom lip, holding in a curse as another broken branch sliced through her foot. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to keep up this bold pace of his. Her feet were really starting to smart. Each step resulted in another cut or bruise, but she needed to focus on keeping up with her rescuer. She would worry about her injuries later.
Later. She hadn’t thought of ‘later’ in what, weeks? Months? How long had Drake kept her in that cave? She shivered again at the memories.
“Not much longer,” her shifter whispered. Her shifter… She half-laughed, half-cried inside. She shouldn’t be thinking of anyone beside Kurt as ‘her shifter.’
The shifter glanced back at her, his face tense and yet very calm, confident. A layer of fear seemed to peel away as those dark eyes quickly skipped past her to assess the surrounding woods. He knew what he was doing, and he took his job seriously. That was an immense comfort right now, having another to rely on. That had been the hardest part with Kurt. With no other family, she had to be the strong one. Kurt had certainly tried his best not to appear weak, so she wouldn’t worry.
“Still with me?” her rescuer asked, his eyes scrunched together. There was concern in his face, behind those dark eyes. Dark hair and eyes… If it weren’t for his rich colored skin, he’d blend in with Drake’s pack. She shuddered at the memory of those shifters always touching her.
A warm hand cupped her face. Her eyes snapped open. The hand withdrew.
Not Drake, her shifter, the man with a foreboding look about him was standing there, waiting for her to adjust, to relax. God, she loved his eyes, especially the softness they held. He would not hurt her.
“I promise, it won’t be long,” he said with a forced smile. He was trying to put her at ease.
The way he watched her, with concern ever-present in his eyes, warmed her. She’d been safe and loved without a care in the world once. It seemed like such a long time since anyone had worried about her. Kurt had, but that life had died with him. Anna swallowed hard and shoved the memory away.
“When we reach my pack, we’ll get you warmed up and fed. Hot shower, proper clothes, and a clean bed. The works. The shifters in my pack are a little on the nosy side at times, but they’re nice, decent.”
Why was he prattling on and on when they should be quiet so close to Drake’s men?
He looked past her. “What the fuck,” he said as he stared up into the tree behind her. There was a camera mounted to the tree trunk, with a camouflage skin wrapped to all but the lens. As she turned the shutter moved. With his shifter hearing, he must have heard the shutter go off. She would have walked by and never noticed the camera.
The shifter climbed up to the lower branch and yanked the camera out of the tree. “The camera’s motion-activated. Night vision and a transmitter. Not cheap stuff.” He looked worried, really worried.
“W-who?” Anna forced the word out.
“Could be hunters trying to figure out which trails are frequented by deer the most, but we’re rather far from the towns for hunters and I can’t imagine Drake hasn’t found a way to keep hunters off his territory.”
Anna felt her stomach sink. The WSSO. They figured out who had taken her.
A streak of white moved in the distance behind her shifter who was focused on the camera. “Drake.” It was the only word she could get past her lips.
Here rescuer shifted immediately—in seconds!—dropping the camera to the ground in the process. He had shifted so incredibly fast! Kurt’s shifts had been slow and very painful. Her poor Kurt…
Anna shook the memory away out of necessity, as the large, brown and tan wolf shot off in the direction she’d seen the white wolf. She needed to focus on her present situation, not stay trapped in the past by what could have been, what should have been.
Branches whipped and snapped as the shifters raced through the woods. In seconds, both wolves disappeared and an eerie silence descended on the area.
Anna was alone again. As alone as the day Kurt had died. She wrapped her arms around her and stood completely still, trying not to panic, or worse, create any noise that would attract the wrong attention.
What if her shifter never returned? What if Drake came instead?
Snarls and growls erupted in the distance. Anna bit back her cry and ran. Sharp branches and stones cut into her feet, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t let Drake’s pack catch her.
Her foot caught in a large root and she went down hard on her hands and knees. She fought against the pain, forced herself to swallow the terror, and pulled herself up.
A branch snapped behind Anna, and her heart slammed into her throat. She poured every ounce of energy into her legs as she bolted through the dense trees, as fast as she could.
A wolf cut her off, causing her to trip. Her head struck the ground and her vision blurred. As she struggled to keep her eyes open, her body screamed in protest. Every inch of her, from her feet to her head, throbbed. Part of her considered letting go completely, so she could be with Kurt again. That’s all she had ever wanted, to be with him, but she had failed to save him.
A feather-light touch caressed her cheek. “Anna?”
Her eyes flung open, panic seizing her for an instant before she recognized the shifter standing over her. Worry softened that hardened face of his. His deep brown eyes held a warmth she so desperately needed right now. Large, muscular arms scooped her up.
The need to push away from him, to fight him off until he set her down never surfaced. It was the gentleness with which he picked her up that calmed her. Even as he cradled her against his solid chest, with arms three times the size of her own, she never felt trapped. Just the opposite. Safe. Protected.
Anna wrapped her arms around his neck for balance. Confusion settled in the sharp, angular lines of his face. She reached up and lightly traced the slice that ran the length of his jaw. Fresh blood mixed with dried blood from earlier.
He had fought off another shifter to keep her safe. No one had ever fought for her. Not even Kurt.
“It’s a small cut,” he said, making light of the four-inch gash along his jaw. “My wolf will heal it soon enough.”
She dabbed near the skin, brushing the dirt away from the wound. Shifter or not, the wound could still get infected. As she carefully removed the dirt, she admired the color of his skin, a robust bronze with a warm clay undertone that reminded her of a mountain cliff basked in sunlight. The shifter was certainly well-built, with muscles covering his torso, from his shoulders and arms down to his…
Heat warmed her cheeks as she remembered he was completely naked. A naked shifter who wasn’t Kurt was carrying her, and the shirt she wore barely reached her thighs. Even now, the shirt was riding up on her, leaving a gaping opening along her backside.
“You’re not Kurt,” she said, still trying to process everything. Her head felt muddled, and she was so tired.
“No, Angel. I’m not,” he said with a smile that warmed her. “My name is Blade. I guess I should have introduced myself earlier.”
His name suited him. He had an edge to him like a blade, except his eyes were really soft, like his touch.
He carried her over to a small patch of grass where he set her down and began inspecting her feet. She sucked in air when he touched one particularly painful spot in her heel. As slowly and carefully as one might pick up a bird with a broken wing, her shifter lifted her again, cradling her against that hard-muscled chest of his.
For the first time in weeks, maybe months, Anna felt as if she could breathe.
This shifter had fought for her. This shifter that she didn’t know, this tower of muscle, had risked himself to protect her.
“Who?” she asked, still unable to speak more than a word or two at a time.
“A guard from Drake’s pack,” he said, not trying to hide the facts from her. She liked that. Despite how scary the truth was, she wanted to know what was going on.
“More?”
He hesitated, then said. “I crossed two other scent trails. They’re going the wrong direction, but they could turn back at any time. We’re changing plans, Angel. We’re not going to make it back to my pack, at least not from this direction.”
She should be terrified at his words right now, but she wasn’t. Whether it was the confidence in his voice or the way he held her as if she were as light as a feather—a testament to his own strength and not her smaller stature—she couldn’t say, but she was starting to believe him. If anyone could get her out of these woods, it was Blade.
Letting her head fall against his shoulder hadn’t been something she planned, but it felt right, and he didn’t object. Whether it was the rocking motion, Blade’s calming smell that hinted of berries, or her body telling her she needed to rest, Anna started drifting to sleep in his arms.
Normally she would have pinched herself or dug her nails into her palms to stay awake in a situation where she was alone with a male she really didn’t know, but Blade wouldn’t harm her. She didn’t know how she knew that; she just did.
* * *
Refreshingly cold water trickled over Anna’s feet, waking her. Blade had set her down on a hilltop overlooking a lake. The cool water felt nice against her skin, not as nice as being held by him, but still nice. More importantly, she could see better now. The sun had risen, lighting the forest with a soft, warm light. In the far distance, sparkling lake water turned the dark and depressing woods of last night into a distant memory. Droplets of water clinging to the blades of grass nearby made her smile as fresh air rushed into her lungs with each deep breath. She was nowhere near Drake and his cursed pack. From the birds chirping to the wind swirling dried leaves on the ground, the forest suddenly felt alive.
“How long was I asleep?”
“Five, six hours.”
He had laid her down at the base of a tree. Once she pulled herself into a sitting position, she couldn’t help but stare at that lake in the valley below. She longed for a chance to bathe.
Blade covered the wounds on the bottom of her feet with several velvety leaves before tying them in place.
“Mullein leaves,” he explained as he took another leaf from the pile he had gathered and scooped up water from the stream a few feet away. He held the cupped leaf for her to drink.
“The leaves are antibacterial and often used for tea. As for the water, it’s as clean as we’ll get out here.”
Anna gulped down the water. Blade returned to the stream several times, bringing back more wate for her.
“I didn’t realize how thirsty I was.”
“You’ve had a rough time of it. I wish I could say we’re close to my pack, but we’re not.”
“I’m out of that damn cave and away from Drake and his perverted shifters. I’ll drink mud if it means not going back there.”
He looked so pleased for some odd reason.
“Why are you smiling? Do you think this is funny?” she snapped at him.
“Hardly. I’m glad to see you fighting. It means Drake didn’t crush your spirit.”
“Drake is a sick bastard, but his pack…” She shivered again, trying to forget the hell his shifters had put her through. Several of them had lost family to the virus. Once they found out about her connection to the WSSO, they had taken out their anger on her.
“White wolves. That’s what we call his pack. They’ve never been a very sane bunch from what I’ve heard.” Blade’s expression turned dark. “If I ever get the chance, I’ll put Drake down myself for what he put you through.”
“How long have we been here?” Anna asked, changing the topic. She didn’t want to think about Drake, of how he’d left her naked, telling her that if she was cold then she should shift and she’d have her fur to warm her. Over and over, he tried to force her to shift. Every time she told him—yelled, begged, pleaded for him to listen to her. She wasn’t a shifter.
“Just a few minutes. I needed a break,” he said, sitting next to her as she drank the last leaf full of water he’d brought.
He couldn’t have carried her through the night, could he? She traced her hand along his jaw, where there had been a gash last night. The skin was completely healed over. That explained his confidence. Blade was a strong shifter, in every sense of the word.
Before she could ask him about the other wolves he’d scented last night, he scooped her up again, scaring the hell out of her. She tried pushing out of his hold, but his hold tightened.
“Stop squirming, or I’ll drop you.”
She froze, not sure if that was a threat. Had she misjudged him?
“That’s better.” His voice sounded easy-going again and his hold eased up. The tug of a smile on his face surprised her.
“Please put me down.” She hated how her voice sho
ok, but right now, being held made her feel even more vulnerable. She needed to regain some sense of control.
He set her down without delay, but he kept a hand near her waist as if he expected her to buckle the moment her feet touched the ground, which of course she did. Strong arms circled her waist to keep her from falling. Pain in her feet flared, but she forced herself to stand.
“I’m good now. You can let go.” She patted that very muscular arm of his. He got me this far, away from Drake. He’ll get me out of these woods too. I’ll be home soon. In an empty house that still smells of Kurt, of death.
“What if I don’t want to?” Blade asked.
“Pardon?”
“What if I don’t want to let go?” he repeated. He had released her waist, but one hand rested on her hip as a delicious grin softened his expression.
No, she definitely wasn’t doing the flirting thing with him. Not here in these woods, in Drake’s territory. Not so soon after Kurt, with a shifter she didn’t know. She edged away from him.
“We don’t always get what we want.”
“I know that better than anyone,” he said, that luscious grin of his now gone.
She lowered her eyes for the first time and noticed he was wearing the pants she had tied around her waist earlier.
“They’re not the best fit,” he said, shrugging.
The khakis were tight about his trim hips and large thighs and looked incredibly uncomfortable. A shifter wouldn’t care about walking around naked. Blade had put the pants on for her. That was perhaps the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.
No, Kurt had done a lot of sweet things, like surprising her at work with lunches and dinners, insisting she take breaks and live a little.
Live a little…
She had failed him.
“I’m sorry if I sound ungrateful. I should have said thank you last night, for getting me out of there, not to mention carrying me all morning. And . . . having to kill because of me,” she added, her voice barely a whisper now. She hated that he had had to kill for her.
Damien’s Dilemma Page 37