Pressing the phone to her ear, she prayed she wouldn’t lose service again. The phone rang and rang, and then Gregory’s voice cut in. “Hey, you know what to do.”
Voicemail. Damn it.
“Gregory, it’s Alyssa. I’ve had some car trouble about a half hour out of town. I got a burst tire and I hit my head. I’m okay, but I need help. I’ve no idea how to change a flat, and there’s no one else around.”
The phone beeped as she lost service again. She screamed in frustration. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
She lifted her face to the sky and yelled, “You could have answered your cell phone, asshole!”
Suddenly, a hand locked over her mouth, stifling her words. Someone with immense strength yanked her backward, pulling her off her feet, and her neck screamed with fresh pain. The cell phone clattered to the ground. Alyssa noticed what she hadn’t before, another vehicle parked farther up the road, hidden partially by bushes.
A low voice growled in her ear, “Who are you calling an asshole?”
Chapter Three
She froze in the man’s grip, allowing herself to be dragged backward.
Gregory? Surely it wasn’t him?
But no, even facing away from the man, she could feel this person’s build was different. Where Gregory was short and stocky, though fearsomely strong, this man was long and lean. Plus the hand covering her mouth was nothing like her alpha’s scent or taste.
She’d have smelled the man coming and been ready for him if it hadn’t been for that damn whiskey stench filling the air, and the knock to the head must have affected her hearing.
The distance dividing her from her truck grew greater, while the space to the partially hidden car reduced. Alyssa’s brain suddenly switched into gear as she realized what was happening. This wasn’t her alpha trying to teach her a lesson in humility; this was a strange man dragging her toward his car.
The realization caused panic to surge through her body. She wasn’t small in stature, and she bucked and squirmed in his grip, trying to kick back with her feet and jab with her elbows. She opened her mouth to bite the fleshy pad of his palm, which pressed against her lips, but she couldn’t get a decent grip with her teeth and only succeeded in nipping him. The man didn’t even break his stride.
Except, he wasn’t just a man, was he?
Now they were farther from the stench of the whiskey, she could detect the distinctive scent of wolf about him. Something about the scent pinged a memory—she’d smelled it before. In the parking lot, when she’d believed herself to be watched.
Could that be right? Had he seen her then? Had this whole thing been a setup, and he’d thrown the nails on the road in the hope of damaging her vehicle?
The possibility of him stalking her and causing the accident on purpose filled her with dread. It meant he had plans for her. This wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing.
Why her? She wasn’t much to look at, with her thick thighs, and big backside, and bust. Plus she knew her dress had been too short, exposing every bulge and dimple. Had she appeared vulnerable? Was that why he’d chosen her?
She didn’t get any more time to think.
He was too strong for her to fight him. With one arm locked against her body, his hand pressed against her mouth, he reached out and popped the trunk.
No, she wanted to cry. Please, not the trunk, but it just came out as a mumbled moan against his hand.
“Sorry, darlin’.” He spoke against her ear. “It’s got to be done.”
He released her mouth, enough for her to let out a yell, though there was no one around to hear her, and then he caught her up under her legs. With a scream, she was lifted off her feet and thrown unceremoniously into the trunk. She hit the metal bed, jarring her shoulder and already stiff neck, but she didn’t just lie there. Rolling toward the opening, she lunged forward, hoping to get out before he shut her in.
She wasn’t fast enough.
Just as the trunk lid slammed down, she locked gazes with him for a fraction of a second. Hard eyes of ice blue, framed by a fringe of thick, black lashes.
Then the lid blocked out any view and she was shut into darkness.
Alyssa let out a sob.
The smell of metal and gasoline surrounded her. The heat felt suffocating.
The driver’s door opened and then slammed shut with a hollow bang, and the engine chugged and stuttered to life around her. The vehicle got moving, taking her with it.
She bumped and jolted around the trunk as the car drove down the road and then swung around. They were heading away from town, but she assumed they wouldn’t be going back to her shifter compound. He would have to take a turn off somewhere up the road, and head in a different direction, or would he drive right by, perhaps bringing her within meters of her home, and her family. They would have no idea the car that drove past contained their sister and fellow pack member.
Alyssa held in another sob. She couldn’t cry. If she was going to make it out of this, she needed to be tough. Tough and smart.
Using her hands, she felt along the inside of the trunk lid, hoping to find a safety catch that might allow her to pop the trunk. But if such a feature existed, she couldn’t find it.
Realizing there was another way out, she kicked, thumping what would be the rear of the back seat with her feet. She couldn’t get enough movement in her legs to make the kicks efficient. Besides, she didn’t know what she planned on doing if she did break through. Would she strangle the guy while he drove? Cause an accident and hope she wasn’t badly hurt so she could run? It didn’t matter anyway. She couldn’t break through the back seats.
In her frustration, she slammed her palms against the inside of the trunk. “Let me out, you son of a bitch!” Forgetting her promises to herself, she yelled until her throat hurt.
She was strong, but not strong enough to bust out from inside the trunk, and not strong enough to fight the man who had taken her.
The stifling heat in the trunk grew worse with her struggles, forcing her to stop. Her thin dress clung to her body, sweat beading across her skin. Would she die in here if he didn’t get her out soon? Would she run out of oxygen?
The thought caused her panic to build again, and only the force of her will kept the emotion at bay.
No, I won’t die, she reasoned with herself. The slightest breeze came from the front, between the joining of the seats and the metal casing of the car. The bastard must be enjoying the air, or had the windows rolled down. Her anger churned in a slow roil inside her. She wouldn’t let him get away with this. Sure, she might only be eighteen, with too many curves in all the wrong places, but she had claws and would rip his eyes out at the first opportunity.
Alyssa lost track of the amount of time she’d spent in the trunk—at least a couple of hours, it felt like anyway—and her whole body ached. Being cramped into such a tiny space, especially after she’d just been in a car accident, had left her stiff and sore.
Finally, the car slowed and stopped, and the engine cut out.
Alyssa held her breath, her ears straining as the sound of footsteps crunched on the ground outside. She tensed as the catch of the trunk popped open. She wanted to launch herself out, and catch him by surprise, but she wasn’t sure she could even move. Her whole body felt like it had seized in the fetal position.
The trunk opened and bright sunlight flooded the space. She squinted, and lifted her hand to shelter her already watering eyes. He stood, silhouetted against the light—a tall, lean figure, whose strength she’d already experienced, and whose bright blue eyes she had already seen.
He leaned into the trunk and reached for her.
Despite her promises to herself to be fierce and brave, she cowered back, and screamed, “Help! Somebody help me!”
His hand wrapped around her arm and dragged her forward. She pulled back against him, but his strength was overpowering and she didn’t stand a chance. He hauled her out of the trunk and dumped her to the ground. The padding
on her hips and backside helped cushion the blow, but she still landed awkwardly, jarring her sore shoulder.
He didn’t give her any time to recover. Bending down, he yanked her back to her feet, and then lowered his shoulder, fitting it under her chest and lifting her up and over.
Alyssa gave a scream of surprise—she wasn’t exactly lightweight—and smacked him on the back with her fists. Her balled hands hit hard muscle, and she was horribly aware of the way the skirt of her thin sundress had ridden up. Not only that, the man had hold of her leg in order to steady her. His fingers were wrapped high on her leg, so they dug into the inside of her thigh. She hadn’t allowed a boy to touch her there, never mind a man like this—aggressive, powerful, and strong.
With stunning blue eyes and eyelashes to die for ...
No, no, no.
She wouldn’t let herself be that person. He was still a man who was abducting her. Whether he looked like a catalogue model, or a troll, it didn’t change who he was inside and what he was capable of.
“Help!” she screamed again, though the pressure of his shoulder against her diaphragm stole some of her breath. She battered at him, struggling. “Put me down, you fucking bastard!”
“You can scream and yell all you like,” he growled from beneath her. “No one is around for miles.”
She lifted her head enough to take in her surroundings. They appeared to be in a clearing, a narrow track leading away, which she assumed he must have taken from the road to get here. At the far end of the clearing was an old, dilapidated barn. With the big double doors, broken windows, and sagging roof, it looked like something she’d seen on a horror movie.
Oh, God.
Her terror reared up inside her again and she put every ounce of energy into kicking and hitting. It only served to cause him to increase his grip.
“Quit it!” he snarled.
But she barely heard him. Blind with fear, she wriggled and writhed, until he released his hold on her leg and repositioned his grip, only this time his whole hand cupped the mound between her thighs.
Alyssa froze, and he gave a low chuckle. “I thought that might get your attention.”
No one had touched her that intimately before, and, though she hated herself for it, a pleasurable throb tightened between her thighs and spread in a low heat through her belly. The sensation both thrilled and sickened her.
With his hands still on her, he lifted a foot and kicked open the barn doors. A portable floodlight, like the kind used for camping, had been attached to one of the beams in the middle of the barn. Beneath the floodlight was a wooden chair. Coils of rope lay on the floor.
The sight caused ice to run through her veins. He had planned this. He might not have planned for it to be her he abducted—that might have simply been a case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time—but he’d definitely planned on taking someone.
Somehow, that knowledge made everything worse.
Chapter Four
The man carried her into the barn, his hand clutching her pussy to keep her frozen over his shoulder.
He reached the chair and dumped her in it. Before he got the chance to do anything else, she jumped back up, her eyes fixed on the door, meaning to run. But his big body blocked the way and he grabbed her by the upper arm, forcing her to sit back down again.
“Uh-uh. No you don’t.”
She was able to get a decent look at him now. In his mid-twenties, she guessed, he was at least six feet two, with black hair and those blue eyes that had caught her attention when he’d locked her in the trunk. The edge of his square jaw was darkened with the promise of stubble, and his full mouth was narrowed into a hard line.
“Please, just let me go,” she begged. “I won’t tell anyone you took me. We’ll pretend like this never happened.”
A smirk touched his mouth. “Now, why would I want to do that?”
“Because people will come looking for me, and when they find you, they will kill you.”
He laughed. “Who’s going to come looking for you?” He seemed to catch himself. “I mean, obviously there are people who are going to wonder where you are—you’re a beautiful young woman—but, what I mean is, who is even going to know you’re missing?”
“My pack will. As soon as I don’t come home on time, they’ll all be out searching for me.”
“Do you really believe they’ll find you in a forest made up of thousands of acres?”
She straightened her back. “They’ll find me. They’ll sniff me down, and when they do, they’ll tear you to shreds with their teeth.”
He leaned in closer, his nose brushing against her cheek so he could speak in her ear. “What makes you think I’m not stronger than they are?”
She froze at his contact, so aware of every single cell making contact with hers. But the scent of him—oh God, the scent of him—flooding over her was like honey, chocolate, and warmed brandy all rolled into one. A sudden desire to put out her tongue and lick the side of his face gripped her, and she had to physically ball her fists and clamp her jaw shut to stop herself from doing so.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“There are a lot more of them than there are of you,” she managed to say, though her voice sounded forced. She wished it were due to the stressful situation she was in rather than her struggle to control herself.
He chuckled. “Oh, darlin’. Do you really think that’s going to make a difference?”
Anger fired through her, anger at both her own body’s reaction and his irritating, cocky attitude. “Yes, actually, I do. What the hell makes you so special?”
“I’m a fighter, I always have been, always will be. I don’t rely on anyone else. It’s just me and the things I want to fight for.”
“Like what?”
“Like you.”
Their eyes locked and she stared at him, not wanting to be the first to glance away while trying not to drown in the blue glacier of his gaze. A slow smile spread across his face, and the tip of his tongue flicked out and ran over his full lower lip.
Alyssa’s breath caught, her cheeks flaring, and despite what she’d wanted, she looked away.
“So you’re saying you’re a lone wolf?” She flustered, trying to get the image of his tongue swiping across his lip out of her mind.
His head tilted to one side, contemplating. “For the moment, though I wouldn’t be averse to starting my own pack if I were to find the right mate.”
“Well, if this is your idea of dating, you really suck at it.”
He grinned, wolfish. “I don’t date. I take what I want.”
“Yeah, well I’m not available to be taken, so I suggest you let me out of here.”
“Sorry,” he said. “Not gonna happen.”
He crouched at her feet and picked up the length of rope.
He’s going to tie me up!
She couldn’t let him do that. Sensing an opportunity, she jerked her knee upward, catching him in the face. He let out a yell and fell back, clutching his bloodied nose.
Alyssa leaped to her feet and ran for the door. This time she managed to get past him, her feet digging into the dirt floor, skidding as she ran, but he lunged forward and snagged her ankle with his hand. The contact sent her flying, and she hit the ground with a full body slam, the impact jarring through every part of her.
She let out a groan and tried to get up, but the next thing she knew, he was on top of her, his heavy weight pressing down, his breath hot against her ear.
“Stop fighting me, darlin’. This is all for your own good.”
She managed to gasp. “You’re crazy.”
Alyssa wriggled and struggled beneath him, could feel his body pressing hard against hers. Something pushed a little too firmly against the rounded top of her bottom. She instantly fell still.
He gave a gruff laugh and got to his feet, pulling her up with him. “You’ve got some wicked curves going on, girl. I couldn’t help but react to them.”
“Pervert,” s
he spat, but he only laughed again.
His arm locked across her chest, pushing into the full mound of her breasts. He kept her pulled tight against him, and she tried not to think about the hardness pushing into the base of her spine. He wanted her, of that she had no doubt. She just wondered how long it would be until he took what he wanted.
Chapter Five
Damn, this girl is frustrating.
Callum Fraser shoved her back down onto the chair and grabbed the first loop of rope. Not planning on making the same mistake again, he moved behind her and pulled her wrists together behind her back. She hissed air in over her teeth, but she didn’t call him any more names—not for the moment, anyway.
His nose throbbed from where she’d kneed him, but he ignored the pain. He liked that she was fighting back and hadn’t given in to him. He’d been able to tell from her scent that she was a feisty one, and so far everything she’d done had confirmed as much.
But he needed to prove things to her. He had to convince her he was the one man she needed in her life. He somehow had to persuade her that he could give her everything she’d ever want, and she should turn her back on her pack and go with him. Callum only knew one way of doing that and to do so he needed to take her back to her basest state, to make her forget the role she’d been given in life. She shouldn’t be some bottom of the rung pack member. A woman as vivacious and beautiful as she was should be ruling the pack.
He needed to open up her mind, and her body, to a different way of life. If he didn’t break her down, she’d get right up and run back to that pack of hers. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
Securing the rope around her wrists, he pulled the knots tight.
Unable to help himself, he leaned in and pressed his nose to the soft, warm brown waves of her hair. God, that scent. It did something to him he couldn’t explain. He’d never experienced this before—the absolute certainty he had to have this woman. He had to take her as his own, or he’d never mate with anyone. Her luscious curves didn’t help matters. The way the thin cotton dress clung to her breasts, hips and backside made him hard, and having her struggling beneath him when she’d tried to get away had practically made him come in his jeans.
Wolf Snatched: A Dark BBW Shifter Romance (The Dark Ridge Wolves Book 1) Page 2
