Page 21 of The Hunt: Emerald

My heart jolts in my chest as I search for the events that led to this, when the gentle rustling of the massive tree before us catches my attention. I notice a huge burn mark charred and in its trunk, but what’s even more shocking is that there is a green, blood-like sap pouring from it.

Murdoch.

Fire… burning… biting…licking… begging! By the Source, what have I done?!Everything comes rushing back. The Hunt. The fight. The surrender.Themarking.Please tell me I didn’t!

My hand flies to the nape of my neck and I hiss at the raw, tender area where there is clearly a bite mark burned into my flesh.Marked.My stomach turns.I didn’t! I couldn’t! I wouldn’t!

“No,” I choke on my whisper, barely able to get the word out past the lump in my throat. “No, no, no…”

I was marked! How the fuck could I let this happen?!

The reality crashes against me like a wave of ice that leaves me hyperventilating.

What have I done?! Am I going to die?! I betrayed my oath to myself after I left that damn breeding camp… I swore on my mother’s grave I would never… that I would never fucking let an Alpha claim, mark or bind me!

I bite my bottom lip hard, shame washing over me, remembering how I begged to be taken… how I pleaded for the beast to rut me like the animal it is! I bite harder to keep the tears from spilling, so hard I taste blood. My limbs feel heavy, my muscles ache, my body betrays me even now, as I lay curled around him like I’m meant to be here.

I knew better! I fucking knew better, and I still allowed it to dictate my life. Even now I recall the sick, disturbing pleasure that coursed through my body as he fucked me. I didn’t want it… but my body desired him, and my heat made it easy to give in.And that’s what makes me want toscream.

“Stupid,” I mutter, eyes burning. “Stupid, weak little Omega. Emerald, how could you?”

I clench my jaw, tears slipping down my cheeks. I hadn’t just let him in. Iwelcomedhim. I begged, cried for him, let him knot me and bury his scent into my skin like a fucking idiot.

Yet, here I am. Lying in a pile of leaves that smell of sex, sweat… filled, locked andbranded.

I turn my head slowly, and there he is… Murdoch the beast, sleeping peacefully, his massive frame still pressed close, chest rising and falling slowly, calmly, contentedly. His wolfish arm rests over my torso, caging me in place, and no matter how I wiggle, I cannot move.Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Panic spikes in my chest as I rummage around in my brain to figure out what is there to do next. However, I scrap trying to make a plan because the ache in my body is too fucking intense.I doubt it’ll carry me anywhere.

I try to calm my breathing, but how can I when the soreness between my legs, the sticky heat on my thighs, the dull throb of my neck where he’d bitten me,marked me,is a fucking reminder of how I fumbled my winning ticket to freedom? My hands tremble as I press them to the bruises blooming across my hips, each one shaped like his grip.Likeownership.

Ughhhh!

His body is curled around mine, massive and warm, one arm draped across my torso as if I were something hecherishes. But I’m not fooled. Rage swells in my chest, hot and raw, swallowing any confusion and shame, and fist my hand, drawing blood, spilling it into the dirt. I use it to make clay until I make a small mushy spiky pike, and then I whisper a call to the earth.

The ground beneath us quivers, responding to the fury in my blood. Roots stir beneath the surface, my power stretching down into the earth,coiling, hardening my creation, leaving me with a needle-sharp spike in my hand.

I move slowly, carefully, quieting my breathing to make sure I don’t wake him then I turn fast, aiming straight for his chest, wanting to drive this son of a bitch straight into hisheart.

He doesn’t even flinch…his eyes open lazily, red and glowing, not with surprise, but withamusement. He smirks devilishly, chuckling bored before smacking the spike away effortlessly and spinning me onto my stomach, pinning my hand to my back with a fiery rope.Shit!

“Really?”Murdoch rumbles, voice hoarse and low.“Yu t’ought I’d sleep t’rough t’at?”

Before I can react, a paw presses against my throat.

“Let go of me!” I shout, pissed and kicking wildly.

“Yu say that, but this pussy is grippin’ me knot so tight, I’m unable tu,”he growls.

“You disgusting fucking pig!” I sneer.

“Yu might be ontu sumet’in’… I am quite gluttonous,”he chuckles before licking my mark, making me shudder. His growl vibrates through me, setting my body on fire at his pure Alpha dominance, leaving me trying to fight him off me.I know it’s useless, but no matter what, I won’t give up.

“The moment you let me up, I’m going to kill you and break this mark,” I seethe, and he huffs.

“Oh, yu want to fight?”he snarls, dragging my wrists above my head.“After yu begged me so prettily fer it?”

“I didn’t beg!” I lie, teeth bared. “That was myheat! That wasn’tme!”

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