by Skye Jones
“There’s always been something between us. I sensed it right from the start.”
Maybe when I’d first met the gang, there’d been a spark of playful attraction between us. Not anymore. Not once I’d seen his vanity, pride, and the cringe-worthy way he spent an hour getting his hair just right. Not once I’d heard his, frankly, vile views on women. No, Gregg wasn’t for me. In fact, since the whole thing with Jason, I found myself going right off my usual boy-band type. Then there was the mysterious man in the woods. He’d gotten me more fired up in a two-minute encounter than Gregg ever could. The blink of time I’d spent with the mysterious stranger, and my dream of him, had been more sensual than my whole relationship with Jason. Yep, I was done with boys.
“There’s nothing between us, Gregg. I’m sorry. Listen.” I touched his arm, trying for a conciliatory tone. “Do me a favor. Go and get Cindy. She brought a first aid kit with her. If we can find the wolf, we may be able to help it.”
“You have lost the fucking plot, haven’t you?” He stared at me, jaw set tight. “It’s a wild animal. Capable of tearing you limb from limb. You can’t simply walk up to it and patch it up.”
“I can try.” I turned away from him.
“I probably saved your life. I think you owe me something as thanks.” He caught hold of my arm, pulling me back into him.
“As if. Get off me, Gregg.” I pushed him away again.
Something nasty took over his face. His eyes darkened and a vicious smile stretched his mouth, more grimace than grin. The air between us changed, something unpleasant snapping at my skin, making me shiver. His grin widened and his gaze dropped to my heaving chest.
“Such a pretty bitch,” he muttered.
He looked back at my face, and his sinister grin chilled me. He watched me like a hawk, head cocked to one side. In that moment, I understood two things. I’d never known Gregg at all. And, I was in real danger.
Chapter Four
“Take your hands off me now.” I tried for calm as I attempted to pull my arm out of Gregg’s grasp.
“You stupid stuck-up bitch. Think you’re better than me? You should be grateful I’d even look at you. I have to say, though, your tits are amazing. Always wanted to have a go at you.”
Gregg snatched my other hand and pulled me in, his foot kicking my legs out from under me.
I hit the ground hard, the breath leaving my body. Run, my mind screamed. I twisted onto my front and tried to push up, but a sharp pain hit me mid-back, and I cried out as I hit the earth again.
“You’re going to find out why you shouldn’t play fucking games with men, Isobel.” He lingered on my name, drawing the syllables out. “Prick teases get what’s coming to them.”
His hand came down on the back of my neck, pushing my face farther into the dirt. I scrabbled at the mud with my hands, but he grabbed one wrist, then let go of my neck and got ahold of the other. He brought my arms up behind my back, and I sensed something warm and soft trail across my skin. The softness turned to pain as he pulled the material tight. Oh my God! He’s tying me up.
“This scarf is nice and soft, so long as you don’t try to pull too hard against it.” He nudged my ear with wet lips.
Blind panic hit. I thrashed and bucked, kicking my legs and shaking my head from side to side, trying to throw him off. This could not be happening. Not with Gregg. Gregg, whom I’d known for over a year and a half. Whom I’d shared meals with, laughed with, and joked with. How dare he do this to me? Tears burned, but I blinked them away. No time for crying. No time for anything but trying to get away.
“Keep still, bitch,” he shouted in my ear, so loud it made it ring.
I kept on thrashing and he grunted as my foot connected. Pain seared through me as he grabbed my hair and pulled hard. My neck jerked back until I screamed.
“Keep fighting me, only makes it sweeter.”
He was insane. Had to be. We’d go back to camp and everyone would see what he’d done; he would not get away with it.
“Let me go, Gregg. Stop this now and I won’t say anything. Otherwise, you’re going down for rape. The guys will see the state of me when we go back to camp. You’ll be locked up for years. Let me go, and we can work this out.”
“You’re assuming I’m going to let you go back to camp,” he replied.
“Get the fuck off me!” I yelled, livid and terrified and dying a little inside each second this went on.
“You’re going to pay for all those times you dissed me. The times you ignored me. The day you laughed at me for spending too long on my hair. In front of all our friends, I may add, making me look like a dick. Did you enjoy it, Izzy? Did you? Because I’m going to enjoy this.”
What the hell? I’d never really dissed him. He’d good-naturedly teased me, and sometimes, I’d teased back. Yeah, I might have once commented on him spending hours on his hair, but I’d seen it as nothing more than banter.
Hands behind my back, I continued to thrash my feet, but he moved off of me. His weight leaving my back provided a moment of welcome relief, and I sucked in air. The relief didn’t last. His hands grabbed my ankles, and I guessed he intended to tie them too. I thrashed more, kicking my legs wildly. He let out a harsh laugh as he managed to hold my legs together and bind them. This material wasn’t soft like the scarf; instead, it cut into my ankles through my jeans.
“There.” He stood back, breathing heavily. “Trussed up like a fucking chicken. Not so full of yourself now, eh, Iz?”
“Go to hell.” I sobbed as tears spilled down my face.
“Probably will. You’re not the first girl to wish me to hell, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”
“You’ve done this before?” I gagged on rising panic.
“You’re not my first, darling. But you’ll be my best. I can tell.”
He rolled me over until I faced him. My shoulders screamed as my weight landed on my tied hands, pulled taut behind my back. I stared at him through the shine of my tears.
“You fucked up, babe. Telling Cindy about the guy you encountered in the woods. She’s been worried about it. Now, they’ll all assume he’s the one to do such awful things to you. I’ll say I came looking for you, but didn’t see anything. I’ll put on such a show of sorrow when they declare you missing and then dead, no one will even look my way. It will be genuine grief, because the world will be a darker place without you in it, Iz.”
“Please,” I begged. “Please, please don’t do this.”
“I’ve no choice now, though, have I? I mean, I’ve confessed my sins to you. There’s no going back from this moment for either of us. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you forced my hand. You’ll be my first kill. My first, beautiful kill. Not counting the animals I’ve ended, of course. They were fun. Next door’s cat in particular.”
You couldn’t argue with insanity, and I cried softly as despair filled each cell of my body. I knew the signs of psychopathy, and his confession of killing animals for fun twisted my gut. From out of nowhere, a childhood memory came to me. Of my cat playing with a mouse. A dead mouse. Except, when my cat stopped and lost interest, the mouse jumped up, shook itself and darted off. My father had laughed and explained the animal had only been playing dead.
Play dead! I forced my body to relax. My arms and legs throbbed from their bindings, but I plotted ways to hurt him. I’d use my knees, my mouth, anything I damn well could. If I offered to give him a blow job, would he let me? If I bit down hard enough, I’d possibly buy enough time to get away. My arms weren’t secured too tightly, giving me hope of getting free of the scarf.
“Don’t hurt me,” I whispered.
“I won’t, darling.” He trailed a hand down my tear-soaked cheek. “When we’ve made love, I’ll make the end quick. I know how to do it so it won’t hurt. I killed my rabbit, and he didn’t feel a thing.”
His lips found my neck, and I shuddered at his touch.
“So beautiful,” he whispered. “So different to all the other girls. Jase m
ust be mad to throw a piece like you over.”
“I’m glad you like me, Gregg.” I forced myself to put on a smile.
He paused and looked down at me. Anger clouded his features. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid? What’s the plan, eh? Talk to me, pretend you like me, and then get me to untie you?”
Now that he mentioned it…
A sharp blow to my face sent pain rocketing through my skull. Gregg grunted and shook out the hand he’d hit me with. His eyes narrowed and he bent down and picked something up, a sharp stick. He eyed it for a moment, then jabbed it into my thigh, hard. I screamed as burning agony speared my leg. He left the stick poking out of my flesh and torn jeans.
“Are you going to behave?” he asked.
I nodded and schooled my face into what I hoped was a meek expression.
“Good girl.” He climbed over me and positioned himself above me. I kept still and tried to look both petrified, not too hard, and obedient, pretty damn hard. I bided my time and waited until the perfect moment.
When he seemed distracted with trying to drag my top up, I raised my bent legs and kneed him as hard as I could. I think I mostly got the base of his spine but his grunt of pain gave me hope I’d hurt his balls some too.
I shoved up with my whole body, my forehead hitting something soft, and he fell to the side. I somehow managed to get up while he still flopped around like a fish, and I started to hobble forward. I took about four steps before I fell. I desperately worked my hands trying to loosen the scarf before Gregg got back up.
“What the hell is going on here?” A deep voice had my head whipping to the side.
The man from the woods. He stood in jeans and a T-shirt, his jaw clenched as he took in the scene in front of him. My eyes tracked down to the blood seeping through the denim on his upper right thigh. I flashed back to the rock hitting the wolf on its right flank and shook my head. No way. No way on earth. Yet, the man’s face also carried a deep gash, right where the other rock had struck the animal.
Gregg finally managed to stand and held his hands up. “I’ve no beef with you, fella.”
I wriggled around until I sat upright, my feet still bound but my hands almost loose. “If you can keep this to yourself, I’ll let you take a turn. She’s a hot piece.”
The man looked at me for a long beat. Oh my God. Was he considering it? He turned back to Gregg. “You plan to rape and kill her?”
“I wouldn’t quite put it in those words.” Gregg sounded affronted, the lunatic. “You can have first dibs if you want. She’s hot as fuck. Stinks of sex, she does.”
“You are the one who stinks,” the man said. “Move away from her.”
“Okay.” Gregg moved back a bit. “She’s yours, pal. Do with her as you please.”
The man moved toward me and looked at my thigh, his features clouding over with something hard to decipher. Gregg lifted up a big rock and positioned himself behind the man, off to one side, arm raised. My eyes widened in warning, my throat seemingly not working anymore. The man didn’t look away from me, but his arm shot out and grabbed Gregg around the throat.
What the fuck? How did he do that without looking?
Gregg twisted and fought, but the man held him easily. He finally moved his gaze from me to Gregg, thrashing within his hold.
Gregg’s hands clawed at the man’s forearm, nails raking into the skin, but the guy didn’t flinch. He held on as if Gregg were nothing more than a butterfly fluttering in his grip, rather than a fully grown man.
“You have hurt her,” the man snarled, right up in Gregg’s face. “You hurt her.”
“She’s a fucking prick-teasing slut,” Gregg spat back.
“He’s done it before,” I sobbed. “He’ll do it again. He’s…he’s evil. He wanted to rape me and kill me. Murder me.” My voice broke.
I didn’t know if this man came here as my savior, or as another deranged man who wanted to hurt me, but somehow the words kept on tumbling out. “He said he’d make it painless. How can you make it painless? Rape and murder aren’t painless. He’s a…a psychopath.”
“No. She’s a fucking stuck-up, fat tease who thinks she’s better than the dirty, used goods she is. She should be fucking grateful I even looked her way.”
The man gave a low growl in his throat, and he took hold of Gregg with his other hand. “You dare do this to her. You dare say these things. Males like you can’t be allowed to roam around. You harm innocents. A male like you killed my sister.”
Gregg kicked out hard, and he aimed it right at where the man’s leg bled heavily. The man let go of Gregg and pushed him, sending Gregg flying. Gregg grabbed a branch from a tree, snapping it with both his hands and holding it out in front of him.
“Come on, you fucking piece of shit. Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my fun.” He laughed at the man and waved the stick in the air.
I stared with wide eyes as Gregg took on a guy at least six inches taller than him and probably a good thirty pounds heavier. All those pounds, pure muscle from the look of him. Still, the fighting was good for me as it meant I could sneak away. My hands were now free, and I worked with trembling fingers on the knots around my legs. The stranger’s words about his sister, and not wanting men like Gregg roaming around, provided some comfort, but no way was I about to sit around and wait and see whether he proved to be a good guy or not.
I glanced back at the action to see Gregg swinging the stick in his hands at the man. On the third swing, the man caught the stick easily and held it perfectly still. Gregg moved in nearer and aimed a kick at the guy’s nuts. From the grunt the man gave, I think he connected.
The big guy shook his head and grabbed Gregg by the shoulder, his face a dark and deadly mask of anger. He wrapped powerful hands around Gregg’s throat.
Gregg writhed and twisted, and tried to break those hands from his neck by scrabbling at them with his fingers. “I’ll fucking kill you,” he spat.
“No. You won’t.” With a twist of his hands and a sickening crunch, the man snapped Gregg’s neck.
I froze. Even my sobs stopped. Horror curdled my insides, turning the blood sluggish in my veins. Had I stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire? It seemed I’d gone straight from the arms of one psychopath and into the path of another. Unable to take any more, my mind shorted out. Sparks danced in my vision and a strange rush of white noise assaulted my ears. The mystery man moved over me again, peering at me. His face dimmed as the sparks turned into gray dots and the rushing in my ears became deafening.
Chapter Five
“This is going to take some time to heal.”
A woman’s voice drifted over me.
“Yes, and she’ll require antibiotics.” Another woman spoke, this one with a lower voice.
“We don’t need this. It will bring a lot of shit down on our heads.” A man butted in this time.
I struggled to open my eyes, but my lids were so heavy. So tired.
“Drew, she is empathine, like your Brooke. He wanted to rape her, take her against her will, and then kill her. Should I have let him live? You know what happened to my sister. You fucking know.”
I recognized the voice of the man from the woods.
“Ah, shit, Louis. I get it, my friend, I really do. But this is still a mess,” the other man, Drew, said.
So, my mystery man had a name. Louis.
Drew spoke again. “Which brings me to the question of how come you’ve been hanging around an empathine and not reported her to the pack.”
Empathine? Pack? I must be dreaming. It explained the whole closed eyes thing I’d got going on. I couldn’t open them because I was dreaming.
“I know. I should have. She is rightfully your father’s to work with, or Jake’s, if she agrees to stay and help us. Whether as a mate or an assistant, she belongs with one of you. She’d be a help to the leaders…”
“But?” Drew again.
“But…I am drawn to her. I stayed to watch over her in case othe
rs of our kind, rogues, or young males from our pack, found her. My feelings only deepened. Strongly so. I’ve dreamed of her.”
Ah, my woodsman had dreamed of me.
“I’ve dreamed of you, too,” I said.
Wow. My voice came out all slurred. This was a dream, though, so what did any of it matter?
A sharp intake of breath told me my words had been heard.
“This makes things…complicated.”
“Drew, if they are connected, then maybe it is meant to be?” The woman with the deep, melodic voice spoke again.
“The code states if an empathine is found, he or she is to stand with the pack leaders and the alphas. Either as a mate, or to stay by their side and help them rule.”
“Yes, and until you found me, none of you even believed in empathines anymore and had been managing quite well without. I can’t abide all this nonsense about codes and rules. Your lore is, at times, ridiculous.”
“Maybe. However, Louis didn’t guard her well.” Drew’s voice dropped. “Sorry, Louis.”
“It’s true. I nearly died, and all because I became distracted enough by her to let a human male sneak up on me,” Louis said.
“We might have lost you, friend,” Drew replied.
I tried again to wake up. What a strange dream. My lids were too damned heavy, though, and I lost the battle. Smiling to myself at the idea of my hunky man from the woods dreaming about me, I drifted off to the lull of voices.
I shot up in bed, gasping. My heart beat a wild samba against my ribcage, so fast and hard it actually hurt. Gregg. His face loomed over me, rage-filled and vicious, and I opened my mouth and screamed.
“Hey. Lady…Izzy?”
My vision cleared, and the man from the woods replaced Gregg. His face twisted in concern. “You are safe. You’re at my…village. Amongst friends. No one will hurt you now.”
“You killed him. You killed Gregg.” The sound and sight of Gregg’s neck snapping came back to me in a sickening rush.
“He meant you harm. You are empathine. We let no one harm our empathine.”
