by Juniper Hart
Are we near a river? Summer wondered, straining her ears. Is that the Missouri River?
She could hear the men—or beasts—talking in the adjoining room, but their voices were low and she could not make out a word they said.
They are discussing how to dispose of your body right now, she told herself, panicked. Again, she fought against the restraints, but the action was futile. It was clear that Jake had experience in bondage.
If they give me a chance to talk, I’ll explain that I didn’t see anything and I won’t say anything to anyone and that I can leave town if they want me to and that—
Summer realized she was babbling hysterically in her own thoughts. She willed herself to take a deep breath and still her trembling body. The blindfold made it impossible to understand her surroundings, and with the near silence in the room, she almost felt like she was suffering from sensory deprivation.
All this on no sleep, she thought bitterly.
Instantly, she thought about Lara.
Is Alex at the house right now beating her up? What will happen if these guys kill me? Who will protect Lara?
She had forgotten her earlier promise to walk away from her roommate. It was as if her life was slowly flipping before her eyes.
Not flashing, because the decision to kill me is taking forever.
She thought about the leader, who had put off killing her. His voice was not one she recognized, but there was a familiar note in it. If the circumstances had been different, and he was a customer at the bar, for example, Summer was sure she would have found his voice to be very appealing.
When she had foolishly tried to escape earlier, being knocked to the ground by him had been both exhilarating and horrifying. She had desperately wished she could see what was happening so she could replay the moment in her mind’s eye, but she remembered how shivers of hot and cold slipped through her as he pinned her to the ground.
What is wrong with me? I’m in shock, that’s what’s wrong.
Summer sat back against a stack of boxes—at least that was what they felt like—and waited. She was surrounded by the quiet she had always longed for, but it was unnerving now.
Never had she felt so utterly helpless.
As if sensing her will dissolving, she heard the door open. Someone walked toward her and Summer immediately tensed, struggling against the bounds, her mind frantic with panic.
They’ve decided to kill me! That’s it! I am never going to see anything or anyone ever again!
In slow motion, Summer felt a hand at her mouth, pulling out the gag, and she opened her mouth to scream hysterically.
“Stop that!” the man ordered with annoyance, and Summer immediately snapped her mouth closed.
Slowly, as if fearing reprisal for his actions, the leader lifted the blindfold from her eyes and Summer felt her heart stop for a moment.
She was staring at a beautifully crafted being, standing at six-foot-five, at least, with piercing green eyes and a light olive complexion. His irises seemed brighter against his sweeping black hair, boring into her. Summer was suddenly unafraid.
“What is your name?” the man asked, and again, she was struck by the mellifluous tone of his voice.
Is he a werewolf too? She wanted to ask him a million questions, but she dared not. A fearsome quality about him lingered as Summer stared into his face, but she could read something else there, something gentle and warm.
“Summer,” she whispered, suddenly aware of how dry her mouth had become. She licked her lips and tried again. “My name is Summer Garland,” she croaked.
His eyes seemed to soften, but his gaze did not falter.
“Jake, get Summer a glass of water,” he called into the other room.
No response came, but she was sure he was heard. It was impossible not to listen when he spoke.
“Summer, I am Damon. I’m sorry about the situation you’re in, but you must understand there is no way we can let you go.”
“I didn’t see anything,” she gasped. “I swear. I didn’t see anything at all and I won’t talk to anyone. I promise. I can leave—”
“Slow down,” Damon interrupted, holding up a large hand.
Jake sauntered in, holding a glass of water that he handed to Damon.
“I’m going to give this to you now,” he told her, approaching. “Don’t be alarmed.”
Cautiously, Summer watched him draw near, parting her lips to accept the drink. She maintained her gaze on his face but drank thirstily, Damon guiding the glass.
“Easy,” he warned, but she continued to slurp it down.
Abruptly, she burst into a round of coughs, and Damon yanked the glass back.
“I told you to be careful,” he said, watching as she caught her breath.
When she had recovered fully, he offered her another drink, but she shook her head.
“Are you going to kill me?” Summer asked, swallowing her fear. Damon studied her unwaveringly.
“Should I?” he asked.
Momentarily stunned by the question, Summer began to shake her head vehemently.
“No! I promise, I won’t say anything to anyone! Please, don’t kill me. I have…” she trailed off.
What do I have? I have a roommate who hates me for interfering in her life. I have two minimum wage jobs. I have a mother who resents me for leaving her alone in Fargo.
“You have?” Damon asked expectantly, but Summer had no answer.
“I don’t have anything to give you,” she muttered. “I don’t have any money.”
Damon began to chuckle.
“Summer, I don’t need money,” he assured her, and she felt a stab of relief. She looked at him hopefully, her eyes wide.
“Please believe me,” she pleaded. “I have no one to tell. No one would believe me if I told them anyway.”
Amusement lit Damon’s eyes and he nodded in agreement.
“It’s true,” he conceded. “No one would believe you, but that doesn’t change the fact that you would be putting the word out there, and some conspiracy theorist might come poking around.”
“No! It won’t happen if I leave town tonight! You can drop me at a bus station and you’ll never see me again.”
A strange look crossed over Damon’s face and he cocked his head to the side.
“Summer, I’m not going to kill you,” he told her earnestly, and she believed him. She offered him a small smile.
“Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you. I swear, it will be like we never met. I’ll never speak a word of this to anyone. You’ll never hear from me again and you’ll forget what I look like.”
He laughed again, but there was no mirth. “I find that difficult to believe,” he told her honestly.
For some inexplicable reason, a slow blush crept into her cheeks.
He finds me attractive, she realized. He’s going to let me go because he likes me.
The feeling was bittersweet as she understood how close she had come to losing her life. He turned away then, and Summer felt her sense of happiness drip away.
“Wait! Where are you going? Aren’t you going to untie me?”
Damon glanced at her over his broad shoulder, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“No, Summer, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied, and her pulse quickened.
“But… I… you just said you weren’t going to kill me!”
“I’m not,” he replied, his look of consternation deepening.
“How am I going to get out of here if you don’t untie me?” she whispered, suddenly understanding.
Damon sighed deeply and fully turned back to address her, but she already knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth.
“Summer, I’m not going to kill you, but I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here.”
Her eyes widened in terror.
“For how long?” she choked. “How long do you intend to keep me here?”
Again, Damon exhaled and shrugged.
<
br /> “Until I figure out another place to keep you.”
And it was in that moment that Summer understood that she was never going home again.
Part II
Chapter Six
“This may be the stupidest thing he’s done yet,” Ty hissed angrily. “First the kill orders and now—”
“Shut up, Ty. You’re going to be on the wrong end of a kill order if you keep talking,” Marius growled.
“What the hell is the difference? If he keeps that girl here, we’re all going to be dead. He doesn’t know how to lead.”
“And you do?” Marius chortled. “You got caught by a girl.”
“And I wanted to kill that girl. At least I have the good sense to know when the pack is in danger.”
“Ty, just stop talking and smoke your cigarette. You obviously need it.”
The men were outside the tavern, but they had not accounted for the open window to the right of the entranceway under which Damon sat listening.
“He’s all talk, boss,” Jake said lightly but loudly, and Damon knew he was trying to warn Ty of his nearness. Instantly, the voices outside quieted down.
“He’s all brawn, no brain,” Damon retorted, stepping away from the glass.
Jake glanced nervously at him.
“If you don’t mind me saying, Damon, he’s got a point. You can’t keep the—”
“I do mind you saying. And I can do whatever I damn well please. Are you worried about the safety of the pack, too?”
“I would be dumb not to worry about our security,” Jake replied, seemingly hurt by Damon’s interjection.
The answer was the wrong one, and Damon felt the blood in his veins turn hot. He pressed his face to Jake’s and watched as the smaller man backed down instinctively.
“Have I ever led you astray?” he snarled, his teeth flashing.
In his anger, Damon could feel the intense throbbing of his incisors wanting to extend. He willed himself not to shift. It would not do any good to rip out Jake’s tongue with his fangs.
“No, not once,” Jake answered quickly. “I’m not suggesting—”
“What are you suggesting? That I cannot lead? I have been chosen by Nash to guide us and I have been successful thus far. What is with the sudden unrest amongst you?”
Damon’s eyes, sparkling yellow against the dim light, challenged the others in the room.
No one spoke, all the men lowering their heads.
“You can speak behind my back, but when I ask you face to face, you balk? I say that you are a great bunch of leaders,” Damon snarled sarcastically.
“You have no right to lead,” Ty snapped from behind him.
The words had barely left his lips when he was knocked to the floor, pinned beneath a giant, black paw. Damon’s claws extended to the lines of Ty’s throat, but Ty did not waver.
“You can kill me if you want, Damon, but we both know you are not an alpha by natural selection. Nash had no right to appoint you.”
Damon growled, snapping his jaws before jumping onto his hind legs. Slowly, he transitioned, half man, half beast, and spat at Ty.
“And you know that this is not a democracy,” he retorted, his snout glistening as he spoke.
The tension in the room was palpable.
“I was the best, the strongest, and the smartest.” Ty grinned coldly.
“But are you still?” Damon cooed. “Or is there someone better for the job?”
Time stopped. Ty lumbered to his feet, his own eyes glowing yellow as he waited for any indication of a challenge.
“Ty…” Jake muttered. “Stand down.”
Damon and Ty continued to lock gazes until abruptly, Damon was upon the blonde again, this time hauling him against the wall before he could fully shift.
The pack watched helplessly, knowing they could not intervene, but as the fur flew, it was clear who was winning the tussle, and they all looked away.
Feral grunts and snarls filled the tavern, and suddenly the mass was still.
As the group tentatively glanced at them, a look of shock flowed through them.
Both Lycans lay on the floor, unmoving.
The pack rushed to their assistance, and slowly, their eyes began to flutter. Damon shifted form first, quickly followed by Ty, and the two ambled to their feet, slightly disoriented.
“Stalemate,” Marius breathed, and the others nodded in awe. “You had a stalemate.”
There was a lull hanging over them as they waited for Damon to speak.
“Get out.” The words were flat and without emotion, but there was no denying the immediate danger they faced if they disobeyed.
Silently, the pack hurried toward the door, leaving Damon alone with Ty.
“You too,” Damon snapped. “Get out.”
Ty smiled lazily.
“I don’t think you have the right to command me anymore,” he replied lightly. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you the night to say goodbye to the girl and ponder your last night as leader, because come tomorrow, I’m going to take you on again and win. And then I’m going to bury the girl.”
The mention of Summer sent Damon into a tailspin of cold fury.
“Get the fuck out!”
The roar caused Ty to visibly jump, and he swallowed his fear, smirking as he sauntered toward the door.
“Good night, sweetheart!” he called toward the storage room. “Hope you enjoy your last night alive.”
He was out the door before Damon could pounce again, but even if he had the opportunity, their initial struggle had drained him.
How did we land in a stalemate? Damon wondered, horrified. That has never happened. What does that mean?
He forced himself not to think about it.
I will have to talk to Nash about this.
Even as he thought it, he recalled what the old man had told him earlier in the day.
“You will fight for your power. But if you share, there will be order.”
Damon wondered if he meant he was to share his power with Ty. The thought filled him with malice, but Nash had never steered him wrong.
“Damon?” a timid voice called, and he turned his attention toward the storage room.
He entered the back room and looked at Summer, who sat cowering amongst the boxes, her pale face almost translucent with fear.
“Yes?” he asked nonchalantly, as if nothing had occurred.
“What happened?” she whispered, eyeing him warily.
His gaze fell on her bound feet and a flash of compassion flowed through him. Without hesitating, he hurried over to untie her raw legs from the ropes. Cruel red marks were visible against her flesh, and she was bleeding slightly.
Dammit, Jake. You didn’t need to tie her so tightly.
“Nothing,” he replied, unfastening the bonds.
Summer glanced at him gratefully and stretched her legs. He found himself staring at the gentle curve of her creamy thighs.
“I’ll see if there’s something around here for those cuts,” he told her gruffly, trying to ignore the flutter in his heart as he looked at her.
Who is this creature? The thought was unbidden and distracting to Damon, but he could not stop staring at her, as if he was entranced by a subtle quality in her innocent face.
“Is he really going to kill me?” Summer called after him as he began looking around for some sort of first aid kit. He didn’t have high hopes for finding anything; his kind didn’t require medical supplies, and it had been years since regular people had stepped foot inside the tavern.
He settled on a towel and warm water, crouching beside her to dab at the tears in her tender skin. Her flesh was smooth and soft. His hand lingered longer than he needed, but he could not tear himself away from her. He was mesmerized.
“Of course not,” Damon scoffed with more confidence than he felt. “Ty tries to flex his muscles now and again, but it never serves him well.”
Summer was silent, studying him as he gently swabbed at the dried red
streaks on her slender ankles.
“What is a stalemate?” she asked.
Damon smiled humorlessly.
“It’s a chess term,” he told her. “Do you play chess?”
Summer shook her head quickly. “I know the premise for the game but I’ve never played.”
“It’s slowly becoming extinct,” Damon sighed. “In chess, the objective is to conquer your opponent’s king, but a move becomes illegal if you put yourself in a position for your king to be taken. A stalemate is when there are no moves left on the board for either player where the king is not endangered. No one wins in a stalemate.”
Summer pursed her lips and watched him with intelligent eyes.
“It sounds to me like everyone wins in a stalemate,” she replied quietly.
The words surprised Damon, and he paused to stare at her for a long minute, his hands fully resting on her bare calves. She did not flinch or give any indication of unease. Their eyes were fixated on one another and the heat between them was suddenly unmistakable.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he told her flatly, and she nodded.
“Yes,” Summer agreed. “Please do.”
Their lips met, and a bolt of electricity coursed through Damon, affecting him in a way he had never felt. As Summer’s lips parted, Damon’s hands reached behind her and undid the ties on her wrists, allowing her arms to encircle his neck.
He scooped her up easily in his arms, as if she weighed a feather, bringing her into the front of the tavern, to the worn sofa where he laid her down.
Summer closed her eyes, tilting her head back, and she sighed while Damon’s mouth moved down her neck, inhaling her sweet scent again.
A surreal feeling overcame him, as if he were floating, his tongue flicking down Summer’s slight frame but also watching the scene from above.
A small warning cried out to him as he moved down along the smooth skin of her chest, his hands pulling the button-down open to nuzzle her firm, small breasts.
Immediately, he silenced the voice in his mind, wanting only to relish the moment he had with the girl who had captivated him at first look.
His palms slipped her short skirt higher along her hips, one hand finding the softness of her center while the other caressed her now naked breast.
