“Go then,” the leader motioned the man to step toward us.
I braced myself for a brutal Claiming, but the man surprised me by stopping a step away. He tilted his neck to the side. I didn’t have time to wonder what it meant. The man holding me shoved my face forward into the man’s neck. I pulled my bruised lips back just before the second man holding me moved his hands on my jaw. Instead of forcing it open, he forced it closed so fast and hard that I bit the man’s neck. He howled in excitement. I pulled back, stunned and not understanding what had just happened. Both men let go of me and stepped back leaving me with the man I’d just bitten.
He pulled me to him and kissed my mouth passionately. He bruised my lips further. Still, I felt a stirring within me and tentatively responded. His hands tugged at my clothing.
“Stop. You can’t mate with her. Not yet.”
The man kissing me lifted his head with a feral growl.
The leader didn’t back down. Instead, he partially shifted. “She’s weak. She’s died on us twice already. You need to be in control, not newly Claimed. Wait.”
My hands, still bound behind my back, prevented me from catching myself when the man I’d bitten abruptly let go. I fell backward, landing hard on sharp rocks that bite into my thighs and buttock.
Dream and reality blended in that moment. Rocks still bit into my butt, but they bit through my jeans. I needed to wake up but couldn’t open my eyes. The dream still lingered. I hadn’t died yet. I always died...except for those dreams with the Taupe Lady. Why hadn’t I died?
Something settled over me gently. The physical contact gave me what I needed to pull myself from the dream world. My eyes popped open.
The bronze-haired, hazel-eyed man from the mall swam into focus. He hovered over me. His hands were on my hoodie. We stared at each other for a heartbeat then he moved, straightening the hoodie over my shoulder.
I scrambled to my feet. My eyes never left his as he slowly stood from where he’d been crouched on the balls of his feet next to me. How could something so cruel still make my stomach flip in such a toe-tingling way?
We stared at each other for several long moments. His eyes swept over me with a tender look. Concern clouded them when I involuntarily shivered.
He lifted the hoodie still held in his fingertips. “My name is...”
That’s as far as he got before I tried to deliver a swift kick to his balls. He dodged smoothly, but his easygoing expression changed to one of wary shock.
I didn’t wait for him to recover but turned and scrambled up the embankment to reach the road. It was pointless. I knew he was much faster. Still, I pushed on. Stones slid under my feet. He caught me from behind while I was still scrambling over the loose stones and pinned my arms to my side.
“Easy, luv. Unlike you, I mean no harm,” he spoke softly near my ear, sending tingles along my spine. His grip, though firm, wasn’t rough. He turned and walked back under the bridge, carrying me easily.
My heart freaked out, going into a very painful overdrive.
He surprised me by letting me go. I spun to face him again with my knees bent and weight on the balls of my feet, ready to move. His expression seemed more concerned than wary. Probably concerned that someone would hear. We were fairly close to town, no doubt the reason why he pulled me back under the bridge.
“As I was saying, my name is Luke Taylor. And you are?”
“Not yours,” I answered automatically. “Touch me again and I’ll sac tap you so hard you’ll be coughing semen for a week. And this time I won’t miss.”
I felt a moment of pride at my tough words, but that quickly passed as the details of the life I’d just dreamt continued to filter in. I’d survived the fight, but at only fourteen, I hadn’t survived long in the hands of my mate. He’d been rough and brutish but not completely uncaring. As his leader suggested, my fragility hadn’t withstood him.
I was older in this life and determined not to be as fragile. I wouldn’t be used that way again. They’d wanted to control me to influence a decision. I wasn’t sure what decision yet, but I knew it involved the others like me. The ones who had briefly shared the womb of the Taupe Lady with me, the ones I sometimes dreamed of.
In response to my eloquent threat, his lips twitched as if he wanted to smile.
That gave me pause. Something about this was wrong...
The wind rattled through the empty branches while I tried to pinpoint the problem. I risked looking away to scan the bank and trees behind him.
“What are you looking for?”
It wasn’t until I looked back at him that I realized what I’d looked for—what was wrong. “Your pack of murdering dogs.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes. “I’m alone.”