by Helen Scott
“But what about the guy that got away?” I asked. Neither of them responded, and I chewed on my lower lip as I tried to figure out a way out of this mess. “Can we go and check on their car? See if it’s still parked there?”
“The guy is long gone. Unless his healing is faster than mine, I don’t know that he would make it to the car. As for us going to the car? It’s late. Micah is still recovering, so he’s not up for the trip or guarding the prisoner really.” Roman turned to Micah and said, “Sorry, I just know what silver poisoning is like, and I don’t want to leave you alone with the prisoner only for him to take advantage of your weakened state, let alone leave Nina alone with this guy. We need to stick together. Maybe we can go tomorrow and check on the car. It’s a long run though. I’m not sure that even with a full night’s rest, you’d be able to make it there and back.”
I huffed out a breath and crossed my arms over my chest. Every part of me was feeling like I needed to be back in the cabin, out of sight, so I wanted to wrap the conversation up. “Let’s take the night and think about it. I don’t want to leave the cabin if we don’t have to, but I don’t really see another way around this.”
“Agreed. Let’s see how things look in the morning,” Micah said.
“Hopefully, it’s better than they do right now,” I grumbled. This was the last place I wanted to leave, but with every moment that passed, I felt more and more sure that we would have to and more and more sure that we shouldn’t kill the man inside. So where did that leave us? Did we have anywhere else we could go?
9
Nina
Try as I might, I couldn’t sleep. Well, I couldn’t stay asleep. I had fitful dreams, even though I was wrapped in Roman’s arms. The warmth of his body, the security of his embrace, everything that usually put me at ease and made me feel safe was gone after yesterday’s attack. I knew it wasn’t Roman’s fault, or Micah’s for that matter, especially since it was my old pack that was coming after me, but I couldn’t find the peacefulness I needed for sleep.
My mind kept straying to the man we still had tied up downstairs. Part of me was surprised that he hadn’t tried to escape yet, but then, he didn’t exactly seem enthralled with Jax the way some of the other pack members were. He seemed smarter than the other pack members I had met, not to mention more attractive. I hated that I thought he was good looking. I mean, who the hell thinks someone who tried to kidnap her is sexy? There was a syndrome about that, but I didn’t think it counted if I kicked my captor’s ass before he had a chance to actually capture me. Stockholm syndrome wasn’t at play here, just me being twisted in the head.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been lying there, but I knew I couldn’t stand it anymore. Carefully, I eased myself out from under Roman’s arm and made my way down the ladder as silently as possible. We’d moved our prisoner for the night. He was still tied up, but he was stuck to the big dining room table that dominated most of the cabin. It allowed him to lie down and he couldn’t move it by himself since the thing weighed a ton. Not literally, but I swear it was close.
After grabbing some clothes from my pack, I slipped into the bathroom and changed, all while trying to be as stealthy as possible. Not that I thought anyone would hear me over Micah’s snores, but still. While I was dressing, an idea occurred to me, one that would piss Roman off, but I wasn’t sure if that was enough to stop me.
If I’d still had my cell phone, this would’ve been a lot easier, but alas, that was long gone. I honestly couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had it, and it wasn’t like I used it for anything. It had been the cheapest one I could find, and I only ever preloaded it with minutes. No data plan or any of that bullshit. I was too broke for all of that.
When I saw our prisoner’s phone on the ground next to him, I took a chance and snatched it up, darting away from him once it was in my hand. A quick tap told me he didn’t have a lock code on it, and I swiped across the screen. I was able to pull up his map application and find where we were, which was a first since I’d had no idea until that moment.
The forest we were in was actually a national park, and we were just off to one side with the mountains running along the top and dipping down into the center. From what I could tell, the westernmost entrance to the park that was on Randall Road wasn’t actually all that far away, but it looked like it could be challenging to get to since there were no trails that I could see.
I needed to burn off some of this energy, and a two-hour run there with another two-hour run back would definitely do that. I just hoped it wasn’t actually two hours. It was three in the morning, so depending on how early the guys woke up, they might find me missing, which I didn’t want to do to them.
Instead of just heading out like I’d originally planned, I dug around in the drawers of the kitchen until I found an old receipt and a pen. After I’d scribbled a note and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, I headed out. I walked for maybe ten minutes before I started to run, and I kept the phone in my hand so I could periodically check the distance between me and the car park area.
There was a cluster of stars that I was using as a general guide so I didn’t waste the phone’s battery. It was a dangerous game, considering none of them were the north star so I knew they were moving slightly, but it was a game I was willing to play. Plus, every time I did look at the phone, I adjusted course just to be on the safe side.
It didn’t escape my notice that I was not making the smartest decision. I was well aware that I was fucking up, but I also wanted to know where we stood so I could tell what the best decision was. I didn’t want to screw us over by deciding to do the wrong thing.
It also didn’t escape my notice that I was invading our prisoner’s privacy by taking his phone, especially when he kept getting emails from students. Apparently, he was an associate professor at the local university. Blackhaven, I thought it was called.
I couldn’t look at his notifications, no matter how much I wanted to. That would be too far. Seeing one or two when they popped up as I was looking at the map was something I couldn’t help, everything else would just be bad behavior on my part. Plus, I was getting closer to the parking lot, so I needed to be more on guard.
After struggling over boulders and being hit in the face with branches more times than I could count, I finally made it to the parking lot. The ground was flatter around it, the trees being kept back slightly so there were picnic areas and such, a wood farm fence encircled the lot, and the ground for the cars to park on was mostly gravel, though it did switch to cracked, broken concrete by the road.
The whole place was empty. At least that was what I thought at first, until I saw a dark Jeep sitting over in one corner next to where the tree line was encroaching on the parking lot. It was beat up and rusty and so inconspicuous that I almost missed it.
I went around the car, peering inside. The back was loaded up with what looked like camping gear, so I knew that whoever it was had been prepared to sleep in the woods. I snapped a photo of the license plate with our friend Associate Professor Humphries’ phone. He may know the license plate number. He may not. It may not even be the right car, but the only way I was going to find out was if I got back to the cabin. So I turned around and started heading back.
I wished the run back was just as uneventful as the run out there, except for the fact that I would’ve been exhausted by the time I got to the cabin.
Only it wasn’t.
I was a little ways into the forest when a large form lumbered into view just as I was starting to run. I knew in my gut it had to be Ray. The man was massive, just like he was in wolf form, with a shock of dark hair, also like his wolf.
“Well, well, well,” he said before breaking into a coughing fit. I tried to edge around him so I could make a run for it back to the cabin, but he dodged in front of me, surprisingly quick for a man of his size. “Jax is going to give a fucking great reward for bringing you in. He won’t even care that smarty pants didn’t make it back,” Ray gloat
ed.
I could tell that he was used to his size intimidating people enough so that they would just back down and do whatever he wanted, too afraid of the consequences otherwise. I was not most people. All the guys at my old gym were bigger than me, and I wasn’t about to let a few more pounds of muscle let me be captured and taken back to Jax. Not without putting up a fight.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Roman and Micah, I would’ve said that I’d fight to the death, but now all I could think of was the pain my death would cause them. I’d always wondered if wolves actually mated for life or if the mate bond was just so painful when it was broken by one’s death that it slowly killed the other.
When he charged at me, I waited until the last second to dodge to the side, only it was a little too last second and he was able to wrap his fingers into my shirt and pull me down with him when he lost his footing. I smacked onto the ground with a thump and sent dust and dirt flying around us.
As quickly as I could, I tried to extract myself from his hold, but he was having none of it. He yanked me closer and tried to get both of my wrists in one of his hands. I knew if he was able to control my arms, then I stood little to no chance of getting free.
Frantically, I scrabbled around, pulling myself this way and that, looking for anything I could use as a weapon, anything I could do to be unpredictable. When the rough edge of a rock scraped across my palm, I latched on to it and brought it as close as I could to my body.
Ray dragged me closer to him again, but this time, I didn’t fight, I let my body go limp. He chuckled a second before he said, “The dead weight trick only works when you weigh more than a hundred pounds.”
Of course I did weigh more than a hundred pounds, but I got his point. What he didn’t realize was that just going limp, or dead weight, wasn’t my goal. My arm was stretched wide, the rock as far away from me as it could get with me still hanging on to it. When he moved over me to reach for that hand, I began tugging on the one he was already holding, distracting him enough so that when the hand holding the rock came down on his head, it wasn’t something he noticed coming.
I used every ounce of my strength to smash it against his thick skull. He was condemning me to a life that was just an existence, to be a broodmare, all so he could get a reward. Well, I had a reward for him.
It was my righteous fury.
He roared and pulled away from me just like I’d wanted, and while I scrambled to my feet and out of his grasp, I was careful not to take my eyes off him. Blood already gushed down the side of his face from the wound, and when he went to push to his feet, he stumbled though he still lunged for me, even as he went down.
I circled him, moving faster than he was able to in his current state. Whenever he thought I was close though, he would grab at me, like if he could just get his fingers around me once more, then he’d win.
Maybe he would.
I’d already seen him fight my two mates and he’d clearly waited around for one of us to show up, and I’d walked right into his trap. The generous part of me thought maybe he’d been waiting for the professor, but the practical side of me knew better. He was injured from that fight, which was probably the only reason I’d been able to struggle against him in the first place, beast of a man that he was.
“You think you’ll ever be safe? You think we’ll ever stop coming? Run as fast and as far as you can, bitch, but we’ll track you down.” His words sounded like they were being pulled from his very soul. Which might explain why I seemed to lose myself to my rage a moment later.
I moved to his side and brought the rock against his head as hard and fast as I could over and over again. The crack of bone sounded, and still, I didn’t stop, not until he was a lump at my feet.
When I realized what I’d done, I quickly turned around and vomited up the little water I’d had in my belly.
I was a murderer.
I’d killed someone.
It wasn’t even that fair to say it was self-defense. Sure, he’d attacked me, but I could have run after that initial hit. I’d probably have been faster than he was in an all-out run, but no, I’d chosen to stay and confront him further.
I stumbled backward away from his body and began running toward the cabin. My legs slowly became steadier and my body was reacting on instinct to whatever was in my path until my mind finally seemed to reboot. I used most of the water from the bottle to wash the blood from my hand before downing the very last gulp. It wouldn’t be enough to stop the guys from scenting Ray on me, but it was something.
By the time I got back to the cabin, I was ready to drink from a hose, I was so thirsty. It was still early though. I’d made good time, even though I was running in human form, so I eased the cabin door open and slipped inside. If I hadn’t had to…deal with Ray, then I would’ve been back early enough that I wouldn’t have worried about anyone else being awake. As it was, the second I opened the door to the cabin, I knew that Micah and Roman were still asleep. Gentle snores filled the small space, and something in my chest seemed to give way, now that I was somewhere I felt safe again.
Immediately, I placed the phone back down by Professor Humphries, only to find his hand locking around my wrist. I had to squash the squeal of surprise that wanted to fly from my mouth so that I didn’t wake Micah or Roman.
“Where did you go? And why did you need my phone?” he demanded.
“Listen, Professor, I went to see if the car was still there, nothing untoward. I just needed a map, that’s all,” I said with a huff as I looked over his injuries. The swelling around his eyes had gone down, and I knew I’d have to be careful not to make eye contact from here on, or at least until we decided what to do with him.
“And yet you snooped anyway?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked at his phone. I knew the notifications would still be there, I’d been careful not to tap on any of them.
“I can’t help what popped up on the screen while I was trying to figure out where I was going,” I hissed at him.
He was quiet a moment before he asked, “Was the car still there?”
“I took a photo of it. A dark colored Jeep with a license plate that I think began with VB something. Is that your car?”
“Mine? No. Ray’s? Yes.”
“So Ray must not have made it out of the forest then,” I said, trying for thoughtful and feeling like I failed. Ray could rot in the woods, and I had no doubt that the animals that lived in these parts would help dispose of the remains before anyone came looking for him. Unless I counted the professor, but I doubted he would look that hard if we did decide to let him go.
“You stink of blood and death, so I guess you’re right.” He watched me with those jade eyes of his, while I kept my gaze trained on the top of his head. Even though I wasn’t looking directly in his eyes, I saw a kind of understanding and compassion flickered over his face.
I didn’t know how I responded, captivated as I was by the green orbs of his eyes that were so tempting to look at, and yet I kept my gaze away, observing through my peripheral vision. Whatever he saw on my face made him release my wrist. I hurried into the bathroom and began washing up, scrubbing my hands raw as I tried to get all the blood out from every nook and cranny. Lady Macbeth’s famous line popped into my head, and I had a moment where I regretted ever reading the play as “Out, damn’d spot! Out, I say!” played over and over again in my mind.
I stripped down and decided a shower would be better.
Less chance of missing something.
A second part of Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking speech resurfaced years after I ever read the damn thing. “Who would have thought the old man would have had so much blood in him?” Ray hadn’t looked particularly old, but I had never seen so much blood before in my life, especially coming from just one person.
Voices sounded outside the bathroom door, and I hurried to finish my shower before quickly toweling off. I stepped out of the door and found Micah and Roman both looking expectantly at me. For a moment, I ignored them so I could
get dressed, since there wasn’t even enough room to do that in the bathroom unless you straddled the toilet. It didn’t bother me in the slightest with just the two of them, but now I could feel the professor’s eyes on my form, like he was peeling back the towel and could see what was underneath, even though I was covering it as quickly as possible.
“Breakfast?” Roman asked.
I nodded my head.
“Then you can tell us all about your morning run, right, beautiful?”
My gaze shot first to Micah, who looked altogether too pleased with surprising me with that tidbit, then to the professor, whose name I should really learn, and wondered exactly how much he’d told them.
10
Nina
“He didn’t have to tell us anything,” Micah said, gesturing to the professor with annoyance. “I heard you leave while it was still dark out. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I would’ve got up and stopped you. As it was, I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or not. Do you know how dangerous that could have been?”
“Yes. I am aware that what I did was risky, but I also can’t sit around and do nothing. I can’t just wait for Jax to find us! If he finds me, then he’ll turn me into a damned Stepford Wife, a broodmare, who’s only good for the hole between her legs and what it can give him.” I raised my hand and checked the two things off as I spoke. “Orgasms and an heir. He doesn’t give a shit about me as a person. If we’re going to outrun him, then we need to know what we’re working with. In this case, the car that the professor used was still in the parking lot. So unless they missed a check-in of some kind, no one knows that they found us.”
“It was, huh?” Micah asked, suspicion clouding his eyes.
“The professor?” Roman asked at the same time.
I sighed and said, “I used his phone for a map. He got some notifications while I was out. Some from students. Homework excuses, I’m sure. What actually is your name?” I turned to the professor, directing the question to him but keeping my gaze on his cheek bones. “I can’t keep calling you the professor.”
