Page 13 of The Warrior's Captive

He had no bleach, but even if he did, it wouldn’t be enough to hide the scent of them in that house, especially not since he’d bled all over it. If he burned it to the ground, it wouldn’t have been enough. He’d left a trail simply walking there. This wasn’t his property. It wasn’t his right. He felt a stab of sentimentality for this old house, crooked and alone, abandoned and unloved. Plus setting a fire could draw more attention, better just leave it, and take his chances.

He hit the ground outside at a dead run. He could run for miles in any form without tiring. Briar May thought she could escape him? She was dead fucking wrong.

He’d track her to the ends of the earth.

He needed to keep her safe. Everything was complicated now, and he needed her in his possession to uncomplicate it. To complete his mission. To prove he hadn’t gone rogue and turned traitor. It was all business. Only that.

He didn’t feel any tenderness for her, and the raging need to protect her and eliminate all threats was just because without her, he had nothing to bargain with. Without her, he was a dead man. Without her he was the thing he’d always known. The one thing he’d feared, if he had any fear left in him.

That traitorous part of him that actually fucking called to her like she belonged to him, was pushed back down, along with his other emotions. It was strictly business.

He turned his face to the slight breeze and arced north. It was the most predictable direction.

***

Almost an hour later, still running at top speed, he caught the delicate scent of flowers and fresh fruit in the wind and knew he was close. He doubled his efforts and ignored the way it made his side throb. The rest of his body was fully on board. The sleep recharged him. He wasn’t letting Briar May go.

She’s mine. Mine, mine, mine.

The soul of him screamed something that his brain did not disagree with.

Mine to ransom, mine to protect until the time comes to give her back or hand her over, mine to exchange for my own life, mine to demand repayment for my brother.

Mine.

His heart rate was even, until he spotted a dark shape in the distance. She was running along the side of the gravel road. Her dress billowed out behind her, her hair like a cape on top of that. She’d either given herself a break, or she had incredible stamina.

Never mind that it must have taken her most of the night to reach the same spot he’d arrived at in just over an hour. He was a seasoned veteran, and she was a tiny woman who had all the appearance of a spoiled little princess, well-kept as the alpha’s daughter. She was used to being loved and pampered and doted on. Rough and wild living was probably saved for her wolf on a half-hour run with her pack whenever the full moon came out.

She didn’t turn around until he was almost on top of her. When she finally realized he was there, her sense of danger so off that it infuriated him because he could have been anyone intent on harming her, she stopped. That threw him off. She snarled like she had in the woods and charged straight at him. He met her headlong, half expecting her wolf. He could handle the animal, even in his current form.

Their bodies collided, but he had his arms out, already cushioning the blow. Even as he took her down to the ground, wrestling her into a grassy ditch, he made sure that his arms were behind her to keep her from being hurt. She thrashed against him, screaming and growling, trying to tear at him with her nails. He kept her arms locked and pinned her down. He straddled her with a broad thigh at either side of her slight legs. He tried to wrest her arms over her head to subdue her, but she managed to get one free.

One swipe and she’d left bloody claw marks on his cheek. He was stunned for a quarter second, and then he let out a growl of his own and grabbed both wrists in one hand to stretch them above her face. Her eyes shone the color of whiskey, bright with anger and shock.

“Why?” he snapped near her ear. She shivered at the warmth of his breath.

Oddly, he shivered too. The position he’d put them in, he could feel the shape of her body. She might be slight, but she had curves that had been hidden by that dress. He noticed her now in a way he’d refused to before, when he had her in his arms. He was no longer a robot. He was firmly a man, slammed back into a man’s body with a man’s hunger, and he wantedher so fiercely that his cock was instantly so hard it hurt, punching at the fly of his fatigues.

“Why do you think?” she spat in his face.

The wetness spraying over his cheeks only turned him on more. He was so close that he could take those full lips under his and brutalize them until she was moaning and screaming. Her nostrils flared as she tried to rear up, bucking straight into his hard cock. Her eyes went wide with shock. She froze and stared up at him, so surprised that she forgot to guard herself. It was clear that she found him attractive. He’d seen the way her eyes swept over him and lingered in that farmhouse, and he could scent her arousal yesterday when he’d kissed her. And now, he could feel her heart racing, it wasn’t fear driving it, but desire. She’d been disgusted with herself for the attraction. He wasn’t supposed to desire her either. She was a means to an end, now more than ever.

“If you wanted to kill me, you should have done it while I slept.”

She blinked. “What? I don’t want to kill you. I could have, and I didn’t. I could have injected you with anything or everything from that kit.”

“That’s not who you are, little wolf. You’re not a killer. You don’t want to be one, but you left me back there and you took off out into the unknown. That was very foolish. Either you do want me to die, and you have a death wish for yourself, or you’re just plain stupid.”

The anger rose up in her again, refreshed by his taunts. She wriggled, trying to get a knee between them so she could do his balls in. “Go to hell, you asshole!”

“It should be quite apparent, darling, that I’m already there. Been there for a while. It’s not so bad, really. But then, we’re all used to it by now. We’ve all been born there if we’re living on this planet.”

The blasé words had more of an affect than he thought. She stilled and blinked up at him, her eyes a soft honey now through that thick dusting of fine pale lashes. She made a strangled sound, but otherwise remained still.

He wasn’t used to reading people wrong, and he’d clearly been way off with her. When she’d helped him rather than run off while she had a chance, he’d thought it meant that she’d wanted to stay. But clearly, she’d just wanted to make sure he was okay before leaving. He should have taken some comfort in the fact that she cared enough to wait, but he shook that thought away. He’d given her too many hours alone. Too much time to think and panic, “I thought you’d accepted your fate.”

“I thought I had too.” It looked like she was trying hard not to breathe, not to touch him more than she had to. “We need to go back to my pack. I need to go back. I can’t be kept in a cage.”

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