Page 2 of Primal Bonds 1

I nodded, but little do we know that nothing was ever going to be all right. It never was for us. Life had been fun and wonderful living with the other foxkin in this district, hidden away from the world for a short while. That night, however, our lives changed. That night, our nightmares began.

Eight Years Later

Ihad always hated running. For me, running wasn’t a pleasurable pursuit, a fitness routine for keeping fit or training to compete for a marathon. I wasn’t born that lucky. For us beastkin, we were never that lucky. For me and my kind, running was invariably tied closely with life. Running, in my life, meant that I was being hunted and I had to escape at all costs.

The only thing I hated more than running itself was when I had to run when I was this feeble. I hadn’t eaten for days and there was no way I could last much longer.Fuck, my legs were ready to give out, and my heart and lungs, not to mention sides, were aching.

Shit! How long had I been running? When would those bastards have enough and stop chasing me? In reality, I knew they would never stop until they got what they wanted.

Me.

They wanted me. They wanted to beat me up and…

A shudder of fear passed down my spine.

There was no way I’d let them catch me. Not this time.

The sound of their footsteps on the concrete was loud in my ears, and it only caused my stomach to knot in dread even more.

Shit! Shit! Shit! They were getting closer.

“Don’t think you can escape, little fox,” Tony’s voice came at me loudly and merrily from the distance. “Oh, beautiful little foxkin, you know you can’t hide. You know you can’t outrun us,” he continued. This was followed by band of laughter from his lackeys.

I wasn’t listening to them. I refused to listen to them. Their banter wasn’t going to frighten me out of my wits and make me lose my senses again. No, my mind was focused on only one thing. Escape!

I sprinted faster, but fuck, my heart and lungs were getting even more painful now. It was getting difficult to breathe properly, too. My chest was hurting like crazy.

I rounded a corner, thinking that this was it, my way out of this shit mess. My hope, however, was unmercifully dashed and I widened my eyes in horror.

“Fuck!” I cursed, staring at the wall looming over meas I slowed down. “Fuck!” I swore again, panic seizing me.

I had reached a dead end.

I turned around to retrace my steps in hope of finding another route, but I was too late. Tony and his bastard underlings had already caught up to me, blocking my exit.

I fisted my hands, my body tense as my mind raced.

Fuck! What do I do? What do I do?

“Well, well, well,” Tony said. “I can’t believe you led us in a merry chase again.” He sighed. “It’s exhausting, you know.”

“Fuck off, Tony,” I said, my voice shaking. “You know I didn’t do anything. I didn’t steal anything from you or your gang. Not this time.”

After that terrible lesson I’d learned from him and his gang when I had first arrived here, I’d rather starve than steal from them, or anyone else for that matter. I scavenged now; I did not steal.

Tony smacked his fist against his palm as he walked toward me in that threatening manner, a sign I knew well. He was restless and looking for a release, for a fight. And more.

The fight. Yeah, I could handle that. I had gotten used to being beaten up, with ribs and limbs broken, face and other body parts covered in bruises. But the more,thatI could never get used to, even after years of being submitted to it night after night with different men.

Again, I felt that dread in the pit of my stomach.

Shit. Shit. Shit. I had to figure a way out of this. I just had to.

Tony was only inches from me now, and I stepped back, keeping a distance between us, my heart racing.

“You know it’s not about that,” he said, a dark grin on his face, his eyes narrowing.

Before he could get any closer, I sidestepped him and hit the ground running, hoping against hope I’d be able to slip through the three gang members behind him.

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