“Are you going to kill me?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
Devon smiled reassuringly, but before he could speak, Sly did.
“I haven’t decided yet.” With that, he grabbed Devon’s arm, shoved him out the door and slammed it shut behind him. He locked it and then glared at Devon. “You can stay here, fine. But only until I get what I want from her. After that—”
“Understood,” Devon replied, fighting the urge to provoke Sly further. He was just being so damn serious! “I’ll go up to my cabin and get my things. Be back soon.”
Sly snorted and headed up the stairs. “Whatever.”
Chapter Four
Even though she heard the bolt slide shut, as soon as the sound of the wolves’ footsteps had retreated, Chloe raced for the door and tried the handle. It wouldn’t budge. Not that it surprised her. She breathed in deeply, fighting against the anxiety beating at her chest. This wasn’t the first time she had been held prisoner. Erica’s ex-boyfriend had locked her away for weeks at one point because he was angry at something Erica had done.
And this was far nicer than anywhere Cooper would lock her up. It had a grand king-sized bed, carpeted floor and a shelf that was full of books, not to mention the large TV screen hanging on the wall. In fact, if it wasn’t for the locked door, this could easily have been her bedroom.
Chloe retreated to the bed and grabbed the bag of her clothes. Sly had taken them from her discard pile and several were just slightly too small for her frame, but she pulled on a t-shirt and jeans all the same. He’d forgotten underwear.
Or he didn’t bring any on purpose.
A shiver of fear ran down her spine, and at the same time, a slight tension came to her belly. She dropped her revealing nightgown back into the bag, her cheeks heating.
“That doesn’t mean what you think it does,” she told herself firmly.
But the fact that she didn’t know what it did mean was what really bugged her. Chloe knew life-shattering fear. She’d been terrified during the accident that killed her father, she had been terrified when she realized she was a vampire, she had been terrified every damn day that Erica and she had been under Cooper’s thumb. But she’d escaped that situation unscathed—Sly and Devon had been part of that.
And maybe that was why she didn’t believe that they’d actually kill her. Maybe that was why when she thought of the way Devon manhandled her down here, half-carrying her when her feet got tangled in the blankets, those shivers of fear were accompanied by a tightening in her core that was just as strong.
Chloe flushed as she paced the room, trying desperately not to let her mind go to what else they could do with her as their prisoner. Because even though the fear of what they might do was still lingering, that tightness kept getting stronger. Was this a stress response? She had never reacted to Cooper’s imprisonment! Was it part of being a vampire?
“Well, if I’m a prisoner, it’s my duty to try to escape, right?” She clenched and unclenched her hands as she looked around the room.
Breaking down the door wasn’t an option. The wolves would hear the noise and stop her before she got into the hallway. Right now, she wasn’t able to leave, anyway. Even if she managed to leave the house, she had no idea where she was, where to find help, or how long it was until nightfall… A frown crossed her face. That was the most troublesome part of this, wasn’t it? She couldn’t leave during the daytime and without a clock or any sort of way to peek outside, she would never know when the sun was up and when it was down.
She saw on the edge of the bed, perching herself lightly there. If they came in, she wanted plenty of time to get away.
Now the question was, what were they after? She had been too afraid to think about it before, but Sly had called her disgusting. So it couldn’t be that the wolves had kidnapped her to be a sex slave. They’d given no indication of that at all—so she could probably stop worrying about it. (And no, there was no trace of disappointment in her loins. None. She was not turned on by the thought that Sly and Devon might want her sexually—at least that was what she was trying to tell herself.) And if that wasn’t it, there had to be other reasons.
“Sly hates vampires. He probably thinks that I’m a threat or something. And they’ll let me go as soon as they realize I am not.”
Yeah, right. Sly didn’t strike her as the kind of guy who gave up once he was convinced of something. No, she should start thinking about what she’d do with the rest of her life in this room…
Or escape.
She strode toward the closet. Maybe she could dig her way out somehow? If there was something in there that she could use—
When she opened the door, a body fell out.
Chloe screamed.
She dashed to the door, pounding at it and screaming. They were going to kill her. She should have fought more. They were going to murder her, and there was nothing she could do about it!
“Please,” she begged, tears breaking over her cheeks. “Please don’t do this to me.”
There was no response, not that she expected one. She pressed her forehead to the door. She didn’t want to die! But when she peeked over her shoulder again, a laugh bubbled from her throat. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the floor next to the body, laughing at the sheer relief—it was a silicone sex doll.
“Get a grip,” she told herself, lifting the doll half off the floor.
Her laughter died in her throat. The doll’s proportions weren’t what she expected. Big ass and boobs, sure, but she was thicker about the middle. Her hair was long, dark and slightly curly—just like Chloe’s. Her eyes dark, like Chloe’s. If the doll hadn’t been obviously fake, people might have thought they were sisters.
And that wasn’t the worst of it. Ropes tightly bound the false flesh. Hands tied behind the doll’s back, a harness around her breasts and slight indentations and cuts along her hips and shoulders indicating that she’d been used roughly.
There is something wrong with me, Chloe thought dully as her core tightened again, mingling strongly with a resurgence of thoughts of what they might be planning to do with her. Why would they have a sex doll that looked so much like her by coincidence?
But it’s only a coincidence that I moved here, isn’t it?
Chloe picked up the doll and laid her on the bed, inspecting the open wounds in her silicone flesh. What would it feel like for that to happen to her? Chloe had long known she had certain tastes. Past sexual experiences were never satisfying for her unless there was a certain amount of domination involved. And these feelings she had now, they weren’t just because the men holding her prisoner were handsome and sexy—Cooper had been objectively more attractive than them, but she’d only felt dread when it came to him.
No. There was something… else about the wolves. She swallowed hard as she traced a long claw mark over the doll’s breast and to her navel with a finger. Maybe it was because they helped Erica in the past. Maybe it was because she had had plenty of her own sexual fantasies about them before moving here… and come to think of it, she might have known that Sly was out in the Devil Mountain. Maybe that was how she heard of this place?
Her hands shook as she imagined Sly and Devon holding her in place. Hands tied behind her back as they took their pleasure in her. Dominating her completely. It made her breath come faster and she fought against the increasing arousal those images brought.
It was wrong for her to want this, wasn’t it?
She pushed her fingers into the doll, curious. Looking for what? She didn’t know. Chloe had never had any attraction toward other women, but if Sly told her to…
She jumped back from the bed and doll as a sudden noise rang through the room. It took her several seconds to recognize the ringtone of her cellphone. Her heart leapt to her throat as she dove for the grocery bag. She laughed—Sly had grabbed the pants she’d worn to the diner. And her cellphone was still in her pocket.
It was Erica calling her. Chloe turned her back on the naked doll on the
bed and answered. “Erica! Thank god you called.”
Chloe could hear Carolina and Rachel screaming in the background, with Erica’s mate Evan trying to wrangle them. She flinched—she had forgotten about that. One of the reasons she moved to Deville was so that Erica could focus on her own family more.
“What was that?” Erica asked, sounding tired and cross.
“I said…” Chloe took a deep breath. “I said I’m glad you called.”
“I said I would. Hold on a minute.” The sound grew muffled as Chloe’s heart pounded against her ribs.
“Erica,” she said urgently, but Erica was talking with Carolina—the sounds of sobbing came over the line. “Erica!”
“Auntie Chloe?” Rachel’s young voice came on. “When you coming back?”
What was she supposed to say to that? Her heart ached as she struggled against fresh tears. She had to tell them! Evan would be here in a heartbeat. He was a dragon; he’d be able to beat off these wolves and demand to know what they were doing.
“Let me talk to mommy or daddy,” Chloe gasped. She hated that Rachel would think she didn’t want to talk to her, but the situation was too urgent. “Hurry, sweetie, it’s important.”
But as Erica’s voice came back, the locks slid back and Sly came into the room. His expression was one of sheer fury and Chloe shrank back from him. She hardly could hear anything as he snarled silently at her.
“Chloe!” Erica’s voice finally pierced through the haze of fear. “What is going on?”
Chloe swallowed. “I just… I really miss you guys. I love you. But this place I’m at, it’s not going to work out. Sly Yarbo came to the diner today and he terrifies me.”
Sly stepped around her as she backed away. He glanced over the sex doll and when he looked back at her, his face was utterly blank. And Chloe had a terrible thought. If Erica knew about this… what was to stop them from going after her? Evan was a dragon, but even a dragon could be brought down. So, Chloe took another deep breath and said the bravest thing she’d ever said.
“I’ve decided to blow all my savings. I’m tired of living in fear. I’m taking a backpacking trip across Europe. I’m leaving tomorrow. That’s why it was so important that I talk to you. Because I didn’t want you to worry if you didn’t hear from me for a while.”
“Chloe, are you serious?”
“Yeah. I always wanted to go to Europe. So I decided, why not? I know it’s sudden. But I know what I’m doing. Actually, I have to hit the road right now if I’m going to catch my plane. Love you.”
She hung up, bile rising in her throat.
Sly held out his hand and she passed him the cellphone. “You don’t have any reason to go after them now, right?”
“I never had any reason to go after them at all. This is about you.”
Chloe wrapped her arms around herself.
“Though it seems I ought to have been more careful.” Sly snorted as he slid the phone into his pocket. We’ll have to simulate you calling from the airport now. But it saves me some time, not having to deal with giving you a script every week.”
Chloe sank onto the edge of the bed; as she did so, her hand brushed the doll’s hair. And even as she shrank in on herself, she had to ask. “Why does she look like me?”
“What?”
“Your doll here. She looks like me. Why? Is this what you’re planning on doing to me?” she pointed at the ropes. “Was she just practice?”
Sly opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed. A growl echoed from his throat as he advanced on her.
Chapter Five
What. The. Fuck.
Sly stared down at Chloe, his loins tightening as his wolf snarled with delight. His eyes moved over her. One hand on the doll’s breast, the other resting over the area he so often used to work out his frustrations and desires. Did she even realize how enticing that image was? The doll was just a doll, but her words…
The image flashed through his mind. Chloe the one tied up, the rope tight against her creamy flesh. Laid out naked before him, helpless against his desire. He hardened as he imagined her cries of pleasure as he rode her hard; hard enough that she wouldn’t be able to walk when they were done, hard enough that when he was finished with here, there would be dark splotches of bruising the shape of his fingerprints.
His wolf snarled again. It was ready to go right now. To turn her over onto the bed and spread out her legs. Tear the clothes right off her body. Bunch his hands in that silky, curly hair of hers and fuck her until she forgot her own name.
And even as his erection pressed against his jeans and his wolf got all the more excited, disgust swept through him.
She was a vampire. It didn’t matter how enticing her body was, how beguiling those big, dark eyes were. She was a vampire and had no right to be trying to seduce him this way. She was just trying to make him drop his guard so she could rip out his throat and claim Deville. That look on her face, it wasn’t real. And even if it was, there was no way he was going to let some vampire get the drop on him.
A growl rose in his throat as he advanced. Chloe’s hands tightened on the doll and she started panting, eyes widening further. Fear radiated off of her and Sly laughed.
“You can’t make an offer like that and then take it back,” he seethed at her.
Chloe rapidly backed away from him, holding the doll out in front of her like it offered protection. Would she want to watch him use it first? That might be the better idea—work off some of his aggression on the thing that couldn’t be hurt before turning to the real thing.
He growled again. No! I am not going to sleep with a fucking vampire! There are plenty of girls in town and if none of them are willing, then I’ll just go to the city. I don’t care how good her curves look, she’s a vampire and I’m not fucking a corpse.
He ripped the doll away from her and threw it into the hallway, not caring about how it bounced around. It wasn’t like he was particularly attached to this model; he had plenty of money to buy another one, a customized one at that. Chloe pressed herself against the wall, her hands out as though in surrender. Her eyes were so wide they were practically rolling in her head.
“I wasn’t offering,” she squeaked. “I was asking. I don’t want…”
She trailed off, her breath coming in quick bursts.
Sly narrowed his eyes. Had he misread the situation? A flicker of embarrassment went through his chest, but that only made him angrier. He didn’t know what the vampire was up to and he didn’t care. She wasn’t going to draw him in with any of her wiles, nor was she going to make him do anything that he would come to regret later.
“Are you afraid?” he growled low in his throat. He was still impossibly hard. Why was he still hard? Maybe he needed to grab that doll and go to his makeshift room—but it only made him angrier that he couldn’t control his own fucking body. “You should be. You are going to tell me everything I want to know or—"
Her fist swung, faster than he anticipated. Sly jumped to the side, a surprised laugh in his throat—he wasn’t expecting the timid little vampire to fight back! But even as he did so, he saw the error of his ways.
Chloe darted past him, into the hallway. Sly roared with fury at being so easily tricked and lunged after her. He caught her shirt, yanking her back. Chloe fell heavily, letting out a surprised yelp. She kicked, her foot making a lucky connection with his shoulder. With a grunt, Sly released her. She dodged back into the corridor, stumbling slightly. She tripped over the doll, doing a face-plant into the floor.
Sly got to his feet, sucking in deep breaths. It was still daylight out there. She wasn’t going anywhere. Let her waste her energy on a fruitless escape attempt. Hell, she could even stumble out into the blinding sunlight if she wanted. It’d be an easy matter of toting her back and locking her up again.
And he wasn’t going to have more of these ridiculous notions of fucking her. No matter how juicy she looked, she was a vampire. He’
d sooner chew glass than sully himself with a bloodsucker.
Chloe lay trembling for a long time before she peeked through her fingers. Seeing him standing there, she scrambled back to her feet. When she took a step down the hallway and he didn’t follow, she stopped once more.
Confusion and then despair washed over her face. “It’s daytime.”
“Yes. And there are plenty of wolves around to stop you if you try to kill me. Not that you’d be able to.” He smirked at her.
To his surprise, she shuddered. “I don’t want to kill anybody. I thought you’d have known me well enough to know that much, at least.”
“You’re a vampire. The Chloe I knew was putting on a show for her sister. But the Chloe that she knew died the instant she became a vampire. You’re not that person, as much as you like to pretend to be.”
He came forward and she backed away, tripping over the doll once more.
Only this time when she flailed about to stop herself from falling, her hand grabbed at the handle of a cabinet with glass doors. And as she went down, so did it. Glass shattered, a scream rent the air, and Sly jumped forward.
“What the hell is going on down there?” Devon demanded as he jumped down the basement stairs.
His eyes widened as he took in Sly lifting the cabinet off of Chloe. Sly grimaced, knowing what it looked like. But he wasn’t interested in explaining himself, not yet. He yanked the vampire to her feet, ignoring her yip of protest. It was her own damned fault! Who the hell tripped over the same thing twice in a row?
“What the fuck are you doing?” Devon roared. He strode forward and shoved Sly back, taking Chloe from him at the same time.
Sly blinked in surprise. Then his wolf growled, and that growl built to a howl.
“We agreed that we weren’t going to interrogate her unless there were at least two of us there,” Devon snarled at him but his hold on Chloe… An arm wrapped tight around her waist, hand on her hip. And Chloe was leaning into him.
Kidnapped by the Wolves Page 3
