by Jacey Ward
“You’re the one who shot my brother.”
Sasha screamed aloud, jerking so violently that she fell off her tree stump. Scrambling to her feet as best she could, she stared up at the large, angry looking man in front of her.
“I – I’m sorry?” she repeated, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. “What did you say?”
His lip curled, his dark brown eyes flashing. “I said, you’re the one who killed my brother.”
She didn’t understand what he was saying, the shock and surprise of his presence clouding her mind.
“You shot an innocent man.”
Sasha backed away, holding her one good hand up in front of her. She hadn’t brought her gun with her, or any kind of weapon, which meant that already, this situation was pretty dangerous.
“You need to stay out of this,” she said, firmly, wishing that Bramble would stop barking so incessantly. “You’re only going to add to your burden if you come after me.”
Her mind scrambled to work out what he was saying, slowly realizing that this was the other McBain brother. Torin, if she remembered right. He was tall and broad across the shoulders like his brother, with a strong jaw, a shock of jet black hair and a fair amount of stubble. He only wore a t-shirt, leaving no doubt about his strength since she could plainly see the outline of slabs of muscle that formed his chest, shoulders and stomach. This wasn’t a man to be trifled with.
“It’s Torin, isn’t it?” she asked, softly, hoping that the fire in his eyes didn’t mean that he was going to do something stupid. “Thomas was your brother.”
“You shot an innocent man,” he spat, his hands curling into fists.
She shook her head, a surge of sympathy in her chest. “He wasn’t innocent, I promise you. I know how difficult this must be to take but all the evidence –”
“Don’t tell me that you know anything about what I’m going through!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the forest as he slowly advanced on her. “Have you ever had the police at your door, ready to tell you that, not only is your brother dead but they believe he was a serial killer?” His face was contorted with anger and, for the first time since he’d appeared beside her, Sasha felt true fear.
What should she do? She couldn’t reason with him, not when he was so angry. And, even if she did, chances were that he wouldn’t listen to her anyway and it might push him towards violence. Sasha could tell from his stance alone that he was right on the cusp of losing his already tenuous hold on his temper.
“You’re right,” she said, honestly. “I haven’t been there. I don’t know what that’s like, but you can’t blame me for his death. I had to protect myself. I gave him ample warning, but he kept coming.” The memory of everything he had shouted at her, everything he had threatened, forced its way back to her mind, making her shudder. “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you, but I swear to you that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You took his life,” he hissed, his eyes narrowing. “That was wrong.”
Sasha was about to reply, but to her surprise, she saw that his eyes had begun to glitter with the same shade of gold that she had seen with Thomas when she’d been fighting for her life. She’d never seen anyone’s eyes do that before. There was something uncanny about it, something almost mystical or otherworldly.
“I can’t let you get away with what you did,” he said, eventually moving closer until her back was at the wooden hut. “You’re going to pay for taking his life, Sasha.”
Sasha frowned, keeping her stance strong. The last thing she wanted was to show fear in this situation because that would give him the advantage.
“You’re not going to lay a finger on me, Torin,” she said, firmly. “This isn’t right and you know it.”
“What you did wasn’t right!” he cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. “You killed my brother! You put the blame for all those other deaths at his feet, just so you could tie up your investigation with a neat little bow!”
Sasha’s heart picked up its pace as he neared her. She had nothing to fight him with, especially not with her arm strapped up like it was. What did he intend to do in order to ‘make her pay’?
“Your boss Stephen told me everything,” Torin continued, his voice dropping to a low, silky tone. “All about how many months you’ve been working on it, how desperate you’ve been to find the killer and how hard this was for you.” He shook his head, practically snarling at her. “You shot first and asked questions later. How convenient for you!”
“You think this is convenient?” Sasha retorted, pointing to her strapped up arm. “Do you really think all these cuts and bruises came from nothing?”
He shrugged. “My brother probably tried to get away but you were determined to stop him, weren’t you? He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you chose him to be your scapegoat.”
A sense of spiraling hopelessness centered itself in Sasha’s chest. She wasn’t going to get through to him. He was clearly determined to believe that she was the one in the wrong and that his brother had been innocent. Nothing she could say or do was going to change that.
The only chance she had to get away from him was to run.
He must have sensed what she was going to do, because he strode towards her and, as she attempted to dodge to one side, he grabbed her bodily around the waist, making her cry out in pain as her arm jarred.
“I told you that you were going to pay,” he growled, slamming her back, hard, against the wall of the wooden hut. “You’re no match for me.”
“My colleagues will wonder where I am,” she bluffed, lifting her chin in defiance. “They’ll come looking for me.”
He chuckled, mirthlessly. “No they won’t. A month off, isn’t it?” He tilted his head as her words of retort died on her lips, stunned at what he knew. How had he gotten that kind of information? Who would have given it to him? She didn’t think Stephen would have been so transparent.
Bramble was still barking, but edging away from Torin. Sasha prayed desperately that the dog would run away, head back home and somehow, raise the alarm.
“Now,” Torin said, with a cool calmness that made her skin crawl. “You’re going to come with me. Move.” He grabbed her arm and forced her to walk beside him, her feet stumbling through the damp grass. A hard shove sent her flying, but, as she righted herself, she realized he was gone from her side. Without even looking where he had gone, she attempted to run, but his fingers wound through her hair, making a fist and pulling her up short.
“Now,” he said, twisting his fingers cruelly even more until she was forced to bend backwards. “Don’t try that again, or it’ll be all the worse for you.”
Managing to look back at him, Sasha saw that he held Bramble in the crook of his arm. Bramble was cowering and Sasha’s heart broke.
“Please, let me carry her,” she begged, reaching for her dog – but Torin only grabbed her arm again and continued to march her towards her fate.
Chapter Six
Torin strode through the forest, his mind dark with rage. It took everything in him to keep his temper, but he was determined to get her back to his home before he began any kind of punishment. She was obviously injured, but he felt no sympathy; mostly just satisfaction that she had been hurt. It meant that she hadn’t got off lightly with her battle against his innocent brother.
“Please, let me go,” he heard her say, her voice shaking a little. “I didn’t do anything except defend myself.”
Torin’s wolf growled, urging Torin to let him free so that he could show this woman exactly what happened when you killed a shifter. But with an effort, he kept a firm control over the beast. The first step was to get her home. After that, he’d think about what it was he was going to do.
It didn’t take much effort to shove Sasha into the back of his van, practically throwing the scrap of the dog into her arms. She cried out and desperately tried to catch the creature, but he slammed the door shut before seeing whether or no
t she’d managed it. He didn’t care about the dog. The only reason he was bringing it along was so that it wouldn’t raise the alarm.
Locking the back of the van, he strode around to the front and went to pull the driver’s door open. It was only then that he realized his hands were shaking.
His jaw tightened as he ran his hands through his hair, drawing in a few deep breaths. He had to control himself before he got behind the wheel. The last thing he needed was someone stopping him for driving erratically – not that there were very many police officers near this part of the highlands. There were hardly any houses out this way, which was just what he liked. His pack could roam free whenever they liked, and he had the solitude he so often craved.
Pacing towards the front of his van, Torin leaned against the hood and tried to ignore the shouts coming from the back of his van. Sasha was clearly upset, although she hadn’t quite given in to panic. Probably some of that police training kicking in. Oh yes, she’d know every trick in the book to try to get him to let her go free but Torin was prepared for that. He wasn’t about to let her get at him. He’d tracked her for a couple of days, before the right opportunity had presented itself. She could cry and scream all she liked, but he wasn’t about to listen. She’d killed his brother in cold blood, somehow believing that he was the serial killer everyone had been searching for, but Torin knew she had been wrong. Most likely, she’d been trying to find someone to put the blame on so that she could bring her case to a close, and Thomas had been the one she’d found.
Thomas Clifford. His brother. Dead.
Dropping his head, Torin struggled against the swirl of nausea in his stomach, still struggling to take in the truth of the matter. His brother was gone. They’d never been particularly close, but Thomas had been his own flesh and blood. They’d grown up together, taken over their father’s business together and spent a few hours every day together. There was no way that Thomas was the man the police had been looking for.
Okay, so Thomas had been distant the last year, but that was just Thomas. He’d never been particularly open with anyone, choosing to live in a house a good few miles away from the factory, but Torin hadn’t had a problem with that. They didn’t have to be close just because they were brothers. He just liked that Thomas was a good business man.
Sasha had gotten it wrong. Thomas wasn’t a killer. And, because she’d taken his life, that meant she had to pay.
It had been pretty easy to discover where she was, given just how chatty the townspeople were. They’d told Torin more than enough about Sasha for Torin to make a few quick calculations. If Sasha was meant to be on holiday for a month, then no one would miss her if they couldn’t get in touch with her. They’d just assume she was taking the break she apparently so ‘desperately needed’. Torin rolled his eyes, thinking about the sympathy on the superintendent’s face as he’d discussed Sasha. It was as though the man didn’t care about what Torin was going through, focusing only on the woman who’d spilled Thomas’ blood.
Flinging open the driver’s side door, Torin threw himself into the front seat and revved the engine. If he revved it loud enough, he could almost drown out the sound of Sasha’s cries, in spite of his enhanced hearing. Turning up the radio, he drove down the dirt track away from the forest, a small smile spreading across his face. He had done it. He’d captured the woman who had put his brother in the grave and now, somehow, he was going to have his revenge.
“Get out.”
Sasha stared at him with wide, fearful eyes, holding her dog to her chest with one hand.
“I said,” Torin growled, his eyes narrowing. “Get out of the van.”
“No,” came the reply, in a voice that was stronger than Torin had expected. “You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m a police officer. If you kidnap me or….” Her voice trailed away, her face growing pale.
“If I kill you?” Torin continued, with a wolfish grin on his face. He’d had that idea, but wasn’t sure yet which way this would go. Besides, there were other ways to get his revenge.
Sasha lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid of you. People will come looking for me.”
He chuckled, reaching forward to grab one ankle before pulling her towards the edge of the van. Sasha shrieked and tried to kick out, but he caught her other leg almost at once.
“You’re on holidays for a month, don’t you remember?” he asked smoothly, continuing to pull until she was sitting right on the edge, her body almost pressed up against his. He had her right where he wanted her and Torin fully intended to intimidate her in any way he could.
“No one’s going to come looking for you, no one’s going to raise the alarm, no one is going to do anything,” he breathed, his furious anger igniting itself again. “I’ve got you to myself for a whole month and I fully intend to take my revenge for what you did to my brother.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” she whispered, only for Torin to jerk her, hard.
“Don’t say that,” he bit out, his face inches from hers. “You killed an innocent man, just so you could close a case. My brother would never do anything like that. You’re a fraud.”
Sasha stared up at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and determination. He wasn’t quite able to break her yet, and, much to Torin’s surprise, he felt a slight frisson of admiration for her. In fact, he found himself almost caught by her eyes, suddenly unable to look away.
“Please,” Sasha whispered, still clutching her dog. “I didn’t do anything wrong. If you come to the station, I can show you the case notes, all the evidence –”
“No!” Torin shouted, stepping back and pulling her roughly from the van. “I won’t listen to your lies. I know what you did. You shot him. He’s dead because of you.”
Sasha lifted her chin, her skin milk white but a resolute look in her eyes. “Your brother died because he attacked me,” she said, quietly. “Nothing you can do or say to me is going to change that.”
Torin blinked twice, surprised to see that she was still appearing so unafraid. “We’ll just see about that,” he muttered, reaching for her dog.
Sasha’s eyes flared immediately, and she tried to run, but his grip on her arm was too strong. Torin smiled inwardly, aware that she was attached to her dog in a way that he could use.
“Now,” he said, quietly, each word filled with fury. “If you don’t do what I ask, I’ll take this dog of yours apart bit by bit.” He glared at her, unblinking, giving her no doubt that he’d do exactly what he’d said. She slumped almost immediately, the fight temporarily gone from her.
“Good,” he grunted, shoving the dog back in her arms. “Now, through that door and up the stairs. No nonsense now.”
He chuckled darkly to himself as she turned and walked towards the door, the spark and determination to fight against him completely gone. He’d have knocked her out and thrown her into the room if she’d refused to do what he wanted, but things were just easier this way. It meant that she had to give in to his demands regardless of what she felt herself. She would see that she wasn’t about to escape from him, no matter what she tried. It was better that she learned that now, better that she gave up now. And all for a dog, Torin thought to himself, rolling his eyes. He had no time for softness of that nature, in either personal life or business.
“In here,” he growled, leaning past her and shoving the door to his room open, hard. She stopped just outside it.
“Whose room is this?” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder at him.
“It’s mine,” he said, softly. “I want to keep you safe, see?” he said with a leering grin.
She swallowed hard. The dog leapt out of her arms as she began to tremble, clinging to the door frame for support. Frustrated with her, Torin scooped her up and strode in, practically flinging her onto his large queen bed. She shrieked at once, scrambling back across it until she fell backwards onto the floor. Torin, feeling quite happy that she was so afraid of him, simply pulled the door shut behind him and feeling for the k
ey in his pocket, locked it. There was no way she could get out. The window was nailed shut, and with a large drop underneath, even if she could get out that way, there was nothing she could use to get to the ground.
He paused for a moment, frowning to himself as a sudden thought hit him. Had she thought he intended to rape her? Was that why she’d gone sheet white and had scrambled off the bed in fright? An uncomfortable feeling ran down his spine, filling him with a sudden urge to unlock the door, go back inside and explain that he wasn’t that kind of man…. but he stopped himself just in time.
He wanted her to suffer, didn’t he? So what did it matter if she thought that about him? It would only add to her fear and distress and that was exactly what he wanted. Shrugging his shoulders, Torin walked down the hallway, back down the stairs and into the kitchen, feeling more than satisfied with the day’s events.
Chapter Seven
Sasha clung to Bramble, her whole body still trembling. Torin had been gone for over an hour, but every creak and squeak had her tensing with fright. She had no idea what he intended to do to her, but the look in his eyes had left her with no doubt that he intended to do something terrible in order to get his revenge. His threats about Bramble had her blood freezing in her veins. She would do whatever he said so long as he left Bramble alone.
When he’d thrown her on the bed, Sasha had thought he’d follow after her, intending to rape her – but he’d just frowned and left the room.
“I have to try to get a hold of myself,” Sasha muttered to herself, as Bramble lay sound asleep on her lap. “Come on, Sasha. Think!” Looking about her, Sasha took in the large room. There was more than enough space for her to move around, and certainly plenty of things she could use to defend herself. Was that an option? Could she try and get past him somehow?
Getting to her feet, she left Bramble asleep on the large sheepskin rug by the bed, and drew in a deep breath. She had to think calmly and clearly. That was the only way she might be able to get herself out of this mess.
