Desperation took over. Adrenalin pumped fast and hard in her veins, giving her the strength to run, to get away. Hearing someone chase after her only fueled it.
Just when she was about to reach a pasture, a strong arm wound around her waist, and pulled her off her feet and back against a brick wall of a chest. She knew then a big, strong man held her—very easily.
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She screamed again, kicked her legs out, and twisted her body. But it was no use. His hold on her was too tight. She wasn’t going anywhere.
He stopped running with her, turned her around, and walked back toward the cars. As he walked, he wrapped his other arm around her, pinning her arms to her side. Fear overwhelmed her, but it also gave her the strength she needed to fight him to the end.
The walk back to the cars didn’t take as long as it took her to run from them. She saw her driver on the ground, holding his leg, which was bleeding. Natasha whimpered at the sight. She also heard banging coming from the trunk of her car.
“He’ll live,” the driver with the gun said to the one holding her.
“Get the bags and let’s get the hell out of here.”
She knew that voice! Heard it tonight at the party, but couldn’t place a face or name with it since he was holding her against his chest facing away. The one holding her turned and walked back to the limo. The back door was still open, and instead of him, letting her go to get inside he kept hold and slid into the backseat with ease with her.
Another man was sitting in the back waiting on them. “I hope you know what the hell your doing?” he snapped. “This could start a war.”
“I know what I’m doing. Now you want to hand me the stuff?”
The older man took a deep breath and picked up a small bag on the floor. Natasha watched him, still struggling with the tight hold that gripped her. Her eyes widened when the man brought out a syringe and some liquid in a tiny bottle.
“No!” she moaned in desperation, twisting harder in the iron arms.
“You’re only going to sleep,” the one holding her whispered, brushing some hair from her face and away from her shoulder. She felt his warm lips touch her shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
That hand which just touched her face moved down to her waist. He pulled up her shirt, pushed her slacks down some to show her hip. His grip got tighter, his hold more snug as she felt the other man draw closer with the needle.
“Please don’t!” she begged again. It punched her skin and she jumped.
“Everything’s going to be alright,” she heard him say in her ear again.
Instantly things started to spin, her eyes became heavy, and they felt like lead. Natasha couldn’t fight anymore. Darkness was coming, sleep taking her away, just as the limo started up to take her away also.
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her said. “Left her in the trunk.”
Natasha slumped back against him, weak, fighting the sleepiness.
With another kiss to her shoulder and one to her cheek, she lost the fight and gave in to the peace of whatever drug they just gave her.
* * * *
Drake looked down at Natasha as she finally gave up fighting. The drug worked every time, putting the user into a deep peaceful sleep. It was something he had to use a few times during his heat. A safe, sleeping drug for shifters. Perfect for a fighter. “She’s beautiful,” Allen remarked. “I can see why Millard has kept her well hidden from the male population.”
Drake glanced up at his father for a second. His full attention was on Natasha. He turned her on his lap, cradling her like a child. Damn if she wasn’t delicate feeling in his arms. So light, so soft.
“You do know he’ll come for her,” his father went on. “The full moon is in one week. You don’t have much time.”
“I’ll make sure he can’t take her away,” Drake said.
“Don’t force her, son. You do that and she’ll only resent you for it.”
Drake touched the side of her face that her father had slapped and saw a light bruise forming on her cheek. “He doesn’t deserve her.”
“Let’s hope you do.” Drake looked up quickly at his father. “She’s a prize, Drake. I don’t think she’s the kind of lady for your darker side.”
Drake looked back down at her. Again, he touched her face, running his fingers over every feature—her cheeks, her nose, lips, forehead, chin.
She is perfection. “She’s my light. She’ll tame it.”
The rest of the ride was done in silence. Drake kept staring at Natasha. Kept touching her, assuring himself that she was indeed real, and that she was his. Well, sort of. He still had to mark her, mate with her, claim her as his own. As his father said, the full moon was a week away, not much time to get to know her. She would be going through her cycle two days before his heat, meaning they were going to have a small problem. Time sure as hell wasn’t on his side. A week wasn’t long enough to convince any female to be a mate.
“I see you’ve gotten the gates up and working.” His father’s voice tore him from his sleeping mate on his lap. Drake looked up just as the limo turned into the long drive. “The house is coming along good then?”
“It’s livable.”
They pulled up to the front door. Allen got out first, held the door open for Drake. He stepped out with Natasha passed out in his arms. A quick shift and her head rested on his shoulder.
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One cook and one man to run the rest of the house was all Drake hired. He couldn’t cook and needed to eat, and the other, well he just thought having a man to help him oversee the house would be nice.
Nelly, his cook came out with a big smile on her face. She was a plump shifter in her late fifties. Dark brown hair pulled back into a bun, skirt, white blouse, and apron all the time. Tony, his other servant quickly joined her. Tony was much younger; in fact, he was about the same age as Natasha. He needed a job; Drake needed the help, so they fit perfectly together.
Tony greeted him with a quick nod on his way to the trunk for the luggage that awaited him. Neither asked about the girl in his arms.
“I’ll keep you posted on what goes out about her,” Allen stated with a nod. “I’m sure there are going to be calls coming in. You keep low and keep her well hidden until you finish your claim. If you’re serious about this, Drake, then you need that claim before facing her father.
Remember, he has the power to banish you.”
“I’m only following his rules,” Drake said. “He can’t fault me for that.”
Allen nodded and got back into the limo. Drake turned and went into the house, Nelly right on his heels.
“Well I do have to say I didn’t expect this,” she remarked. “You were heading for a meeting and bring home a mate.”
“An unwilling mate,” Drake told her.
The house was still in a major state of remodeling and building. He fell in love with the grounds and took the house as is, knowing that the place was going to need one huge ass make over.
Walking inside, you were greeted with fresh marble flooring, a brand new staircase with oak banister. To his left an open dining room, still in a state of being worked on. Beyond that the kitchen that was finished. To his right, a front room, uncompleted, to the back of that the living room which was somewhat finished. He had two wings of rooms upstairs. Each had its own private bathroom. A total of fifteen bedrooms in the house, and each were going to be re-decorated. Why he decided on taking such a huge house, Drake couldn’t say. He just fell in love with the place.
Nelly went right up the stairs with him to the master suit. Tony followed, lugging all three of Natasha’s bags up the stairs without one complaint. When he reached the double doors to his room, Nelly was right there opening it up for him.
There was a large king sized bed to the left of
the room with a soft 21
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cream silk comforter and plush thick pillows. The bed faced the door to the closet and bathroom, which was side by side. In fact, you could go from the closet right into the bathroom if one wanted to. A small balcony overlooked the large wooded backyard, which was still being cleared out. A pool that had seen better days was getting a makeover, and the small pool house already had its turn. Tony now lived in it.
Drake went right up to the bed and gently put Natasha down in the center of it. He sat down next to her and Nelly went to work at unpacking her things. Tony quickly exited the room, closing the doors behind him.
“She’s pretty,” Nelly remarked. “What’s her name?”
“Natasha,” Drake answered, touching her face again, brushing hair away.
“Lovely name.”
With a sigh, he forced himself away from Natasha. He stood up and went to the bags Nelly was going through. He flipped through some of the clothing wrinkling his nose at the plain panties and bras. In fact, most of her things were boring as hell.
“I have the same thoughts,” Nelly said. “A beauty such as her should have silk and lace, not things like this.”
Drake picked up one of the plain pairs of panties. It was cotton.
Same as the bra. “Burn them all, and get her new ones before she wakes.” Nelly nodded. “Get the silks, lace, and color. She needs to have pretty things, not this shit.” He tossed the panties back into the bag and went on to the next. The couple of nightgowns she had were also boring.
Long, up to the neck gowns that hid everything. “Get rid of this shit also.
Get her better stuff to sleep in.”
“What about the rest of her clothing?”
“Leave them for now. I’ll replace all of it later, but I want her sleeping in better shit. My mate deserves silk and lace. The dainty stuff.
Camisoles and those low hip panties. I want to see that on her. Even the baby doll nighties.”
“Then I better head out now if you want all that before she wakes.”
Nelly picked up one of the bras and panties. She nodded to herself, tossed them back with the rest, and picked the bag up.
Not trusting himself, Drake finished the unpacking. He hung everything up in the closet next to his things. He had to smile a bit at the sight. He sure as hell didn’t think he was going to have female things in his closet so soon.
Once finished, he finally went back to Natasha. She still slept and 22
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would until late in the night. He looked down at her. Man, she seemed so damn tiny in that huge bed and fuck if he was carrying stone between his legs. So hard from just looking at her that he couldn’t stop himself from sitting back down next to her and lowering his lips to hers. He kissed her lightly before pulling back and moving to the foot of the bed.
He took her shoes off, socks and felt her legs. In fact, he skimmed his hands up her legs to the waist where he pulled at the snap of her jeans, tugged the zipper down, and gently pulled her jeans from her.
Peaches and cream. That’s what her skin reminded him of, had him thinking about. Again, he lowered his face and just rubbed his lips over her bare legs. The sweet scent that came off her was toxic. He didn’t trust himself to remove her shirt. Drake knew better. If he did that then he wouldn’t be able to stop until she was completely naked. Then he would just be tempted to touch her and feel her and he really wanted her awake for that.
With great willpower, he stood back up and walked away. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Walking away was the hardest thing he did. Drake wanted so much to go back into that room and stay there, but he didn’t. He closed the doors and walked down the stairs heading for the kitchen. Tony was there, putting the food away. He gave Drake a quick smile before tossing him a beer out of one of the sacks.
“Thanks.” Drake raised the bottle up in the air before twisting the cap and taking a deep drink. Tony didn’t speak much, which was pretty much why Drake liked the boy so much. Nelly did enough talking for all of them. “Got a job for you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Want you to keep your ears open. Philip Millard is going to be putting out the word about his daughter. I have her.” That had Tony stopping what he was doing. “She’s my mate and I’m following his law, his rules as to my claim. I need you to find out what ever you can about what he’s up to where she’s concerned. Think you can handle that?”
Tony nodded. “I can do that.”
“How long does it take someone to shop for shit?” Drake couldn’t still the growl from his voice. He set the bottle of beer down on the table and stood up.
Tony chuckled, “You sent Nelly shopping. She’s going to be a while.”
“Better not be. Not sure how long before she wakes up.”
“I was only gone for less than an hour.” Nelly walked in from the 23
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back door with four large begs in her hands. “You sound like it’s been hours. Mind you, I think I could’ve stayed there and bought everything in the store. It was hard picking. Everything would look good on her.”
Drake shook his head and followed Nelly out the kitchen to the dining room where she stopped and turned on him. “You’re not going up with me.”
“Nelly…”
“Don’t Nelly me. If I’m going to change her then you don’t need to be up there watching. She’s a lady, not some hussy that you’ve been known to mess around with.”
“That’s my mate!” Drake knew he sounded like a small child right then, but didn’t give a shit.
“Not yet she isn’t. Now go eat a sandwich or fix her something. You can go up when I come back down.” She thumped him, turned, and walked away. “But don’t trash my kitchen!” she yelled.
“When did she take charge?” Drake frowned, watching her go up the stairs and disappear.
“When you gave her the run of the kitchen,” Tony answered, brushing past him.
Drake didn’t go back to the kitchen and fix something to eat.
Instead, he went up the stairs, to his room and paced back in forth in front of the doors.
The time it took Nelly to change Natasha and open the doors for him was a lifetime. It really did feel like it took forever. Nelly smiled at him and Drake quickly went into the bedroom closing and locking the doors behind him.
A short, soft pink nightie replaced her clothing. It was snug around her breasts, thin straps on the shoulders and a free flowing skirt. For one split second, he wondered if Nelly bothered with panties, but knew better. Natasha was a lady. Of course she would have matching panties on with the new outfit.
“Go take a shower Drake,” he said to himself.
Drake forced his feet to take him to the bathroom instead of over to that bed. He closed himself in, took several deep breaths, and willed the raging need to take his mate back.
* * * *
Natasha slowly came back to her senses. She felt different, drugged, tired and realized she was without clothes. Raising her hand to her face, she groaned. When she moved slighting in the bed the first thing she felt was silk under her bare legs. 24
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It took a lot of strength for her to open her eyes and when she did, she was shocked.
A room, not her own. Clothes, she knew without a doubt she didn’t own, and a bed she saw, that sure didn’t belong to her father or the boarding school where she lived.
Sitting up, which was a slight struggle, Natasha looked down at herself and gasped. She definitely wasn’t in her home, her bed, or in her clothes. Panic began to set in then at the sound of a shower running nearby.
Pushing her legs to the side, she squirmed to sit up fully and touched her forehead when the room began to spin. Water shut off, but she didn’t have the strength to get up off the bed and make a run for it. Whatever the drug was that they gave her seemed to
have zapped all of her energy leaving her weak and helpless.
“You’re awake.” Natasha turned and gasped again. Standing in the bathroom doorway in nothing but a towel was the man from the party who dared talk to her. “I was hoping we didn’t give you too much.” He rubbed another towel quickly into his hair before tossing it inside and heading for her.
The room spun around again when she tried to look for something to cover herself. She almost swayed her little butt right to the floor if it wasn’t for him rushing to her, steadying her.
“Easy now.” His hands were warm, hot on her bare legs, sending shivers down her spine from the contract. It was the first time anyone really ever touched her. “Don’t need you falling on the floor. That drug can sometimes be a bit much.”
The mention of the drug had her cringing away from him, but it wasn’t far. He knelt down at her feet, close—so close she could smell the male scent that belonged only to him.
“Why am I here?” Even her voice sound drugged.
He stood back up, went to the bathroom and soon she heard water running again. He returned with a glass of it in his hand and went right back down to her feet at the floor again. He handed the glass to her and she took it, sipping the liquid. Natasha almost sighed at the pleasure of the drink and the way it took care of her dry throat, but didn’t. Not with him touching her legs, rubbing up and down them.
“Please don’t.” Again she cringed away some, looking around the room, at anything but him.
“Don’t what?” His hands moved higher up her legs, causing Natasha to squirm. “Touch. Feel.”
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Again, she pressed her hand to her forehead and took a deep breath,
“Who are you and what do you want?”
Reaching up, he took the glass from her hand, and then heard it touch the nightstand next to the bed. She jumped when he took hold of her hand, pulling it away from her face. “Drake, remember? Drake Draeger.” She pulled her hand from his and once more, both of his hands went to her legs. “And I have what I want. You.”
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