He started dragging her toward Janine’s Jeep. She kicked and fought, but it was like a fly fighting a giant. Once they got to the Jeep, he opened the driver’s door and pushed her inside. He kept pushing her until she was sitting in the passenger seat, and got in beside her. She tried to jump out, but he grabbed her by the arm, his grip relentless and unbreakable.
She was terrified. Was he a rogue? Was he going to hurt her? He hadn’t hurt her yet, but who was to say what he’d do to her once they were alone?
She began praying that she’d get out of this alive and that she’d see her sister again.
They watched helplessly as the Jeep pulled away. Janine sobbed uncontrollably against Raze’s chest.
“We have to go after her. He’s going to hurt her,” Janine cried out through ragged breaths.
Her crying tore at his heart. He was going to make the bastard pay for upsetting his woman. “I don’t think he’ll hurt her.”
“How can you say that?” She gripped his shirt hard with both hands.
“I think she’s his mate.”
“Wh-what? No. No, it can’t be.”
“He could have hurt her very easily, but didn’t. Didn’t you see his eyes when she touched him?”
Janine shook her head.
“He looked like I felt when I first met you—a lost man who’d just been saved.” He stroked her back, trying to comfort her. “Trust me in this. I don’t believe he will hurt her.”
“We still have to figure out how to get her back. She’ll be terrified.”
Janine laid her cheek against his chest, and he hugged her tight.
“We’ll get her back, but if I’m right and she’s his mate, he won’t give her up easily.”
Fate was a bitch. When he’d gotten close to the deck of that cabin and caught her scent, the impact of her being there nearly dropped him to his knees. How hadn’t he known she was that close? He knew the answer to that. He’d been too focused on revenge—that mixed with her flowery scent had been enough to mask her closeness. Had she not had that damned perfume on, he’d have known of her presence last night. She was in the Jeep—the one he’d just stolen—when it had driven up yesterday. He could smell her scent, her sister’s scent, and Raze’s scent, who was obviously her sister’s mate.
He felt bad about upsetting her sister. Hell, he felt even worse about scaring Sherry, but he’d had no choice. They would have never let him near her again had he not taken her now.
He glanced at her, and his chest tightened when a tear escaped down her cheek. He gripped the steering wheel so hard it creaked under the pressure.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You kidnapped me, and I’m supposed to believe you aren’t going to hurt me?” She brushed the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand in a choppy motion as if she was angry that she’d let him see her cry.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t here for you.” Not yet anyway.
“We are almost to the highway. Can’t you let me go and just take the Jeep?” she pleaded with him.
“Sorry.” And he was. Not for taking her, but for scaring her, and for their first meeting taking place as a hostage situation. She deserved better, but it was too late now. He’d find a way to make it all up to her somehow.
A few silent hours later, she’d fallen asleep. Her head rested against the passenger window, and her coppery hair tangled over her face. She was so beautiful. His body was in a state of constant aching for her. He wanted to claim her, love her, show her how much he cherished her, but he knew he had to take it slow with her. She was flighty, and he couldn’t blame her for being wary of him.
He’d have to prove to her that she could trust him, that he’d keep her safe and never hurt her. Throwing her down and jumping her wouldn’t be the way to earn that trust. His cock hardened when she moaned in her sleep.
Since his place was still several hours away, he’d planned to stop at a motel for the night. There was one about twenty miles up the road, but the fuel light had been on for a few miles now, and he’d have to stop and fill up before they reached their destination.
He could already picture how she’d look lying naked on his bed. Her red hair flowing over the pillows, her gorgeous green eyes burning for him, her pink lips parted in invitation, and her thighs slightly parted in welcome. He growled in frustration. He needed a fucking cold shower to calm his dick down.
He took the next exit and pulled up to what looked like a deserted gas station—most things looked deserted in these parts. He parked next to the pump closest to the road, and slid a sideways look at her. The long lashes that rested against her skin and her even breaths told him she had not awakened. He gingerly stepped out, activated the pump with his credit card, and filled the tank. Within a couple minutes, he was back on the road. It was dark as pitch out now, and the ghost town he’d just gassed up in grew smaller in the mirror as he drove away along the road thickly lined with trees. He stopped at the stop sign at the end of the road that signaled he’d reach the on ramp for the highway shortly.
Just as he started to roll on, Sherry awoke with a startled gasp, jerked the door open, and ran through the edge of the tree line. He pulled to the side of the road and parked the Jeep. He wasn’t worried about finding her. He’d have no trouble. His main concern was for her safety. She wouldn’t be able to see in the thick woods, and she could fall and hurt herself.
He sprang from the car, locked the doors, and shoved the keys in his pocket. If she had any idea how his body came to life at the thought of chasing her, she’d be petrified—more so than she already was. Lycans loved a good chase, and chasing after his mate brought out primal demands that were close to impossible for him to control. He took a deep breath and went after her.
Chapter Seven
She ran through the dark forest until her lungs felt as if they would burst.
Branches and thorns caught her clothes and scratched her face and arms as she blindly fled through the thick woods. She was scared and confused.
When she realized the man who’d kidnapped her was the man from her dreams the night before, she’d nearly fainted. But how was that possible?
The memories of the way he’d touched her, kissed her, stoked her body to life had rushed back to her brain like a shock of cold water dumped on her.
He was huge and intimidating. His golden brown eyes were intense, predatory...beautiful. When he looked at her, she felt as if he were staking a claim, and his black hair framed a face that could tempt Aphrodite herself.
He was built like a Viking warrior—sleek, strong, hard, mouth watering, and the black T-shirt and jeans he wore hugged his perfectly sculpted body. But her attraction to him was what confused her most She wanted to run her hands along every hard contour of his body, outline every indentation of gorgeous muscle that shrouded him.
She’d never felt such an intense, sexual attraction to a man. And it had to be to a man that kidnapped you? She couldn’t go on much longer. Her legs shook with the exertion of running, and piercing pains shot through her heaving sides. She had to escape, but a sinking feeling in her stomach told her she’d never outrun him, and even if by some small miracle she did, she had no idea where she was. What was worse? Being caught by him again or being lost in the middle of the woods? She knew absolutely nothing about surviving outdoors.
Her paces slowed and she was about to surrender to exhaustion when she ran into a hard, male body. She didn’t have to see him to know exactly whom she’d run into. His clean, woodsy scent assailed her, and she was almost relieved when his arms came around her. He held her securely against his chest as she gasped for breath. She eyed him, a little peeved at the way his breathing came slow and even as she labored against him. He brought a hand up to her nape, tangled his long fingers in her hair, and tugged her head back.