Page 17 of Dark Wolf Soul
“Indigo Hills.”
“No shit. I mean, how is it so huge?”
He snorts, and my cheeks heat at the innuendo I’ve just uttered. My mind flashes with images I shouldn’t care about. Like how huge my tall, dark, and dickhead of a kidnapper is…in places.
Pretending I’m not picturing him naked, I stare up at the skyscrapers blotting out the early-morning sky. Around us, the city has already come to life. Or maybe it never slept. Traffic clogs the streets. Pedestrians dart between bumpers. Horns signal road rage. Instead of being the only car on the road, we’re one in a sea of hundreds, which makes me invisible in a completely different way than before.
On the sidewalk, cart owners peddle breakfast items or newspapers and magazines. I try to catch their eye, but the tinted windows make it impossible. No one knows I’m back here, and even if they did, all they’d see is a girl sitting still in the backseat of a sedan.
Damn this stupid duct tape.
Damn Grey to hell.
We drive past the taller buildings, turning right once and then left. The offices become condos and apartments. They look expensive with their perfect landscaping and concrete fountains. I try to track our route, but it’s impossible when the city is so huge and foreign to me.
We make a left into a parking lot with valet parking attendants, and my heart leaps with hope. But he only waves at them through his closed window and rolls right past them into an underground parking garage.
“Where the hell are we?” I ask.
“Home sweet home.”
I scowl. He might have spoken, but his answer tells me nothing.
We cruise to the far end of the garage, and Grey parks the car in a spot marked Reserved. On either side of us, several other Reserved spaces are filled with cars whose retail prices are higher than I know I’ll see in my lifetime.
He cuts the engine and climbs out. The moment he does, I glance around for some sign of another person who can help me, but we’re utterly alone. A second later, he’s pulling my door open and crouching in the opening to look at me.
“I’m going to untape you,” he says warily. “And we’re going to go upstairs together. Okay?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
His eyes narrow. “I wasn’t lying earlier. I’m the friendliest option for you now. If you try to run—and if, by some miracle, you get away from me—whoever finds you will do worse things to you than I have planned.”
I shudder, despite the bullshit he’s trying to feed me.
“And what exactly do you have planned?” I ask.
He flashes me a smile that’s probably meant to scare the shit out of me. “Guess you’re about to find out.”
The duct tape hurts like hell as he rips it off my skin.
“Son of a bitch,” I hiss and attempt to swing on him.
Unfortunately, my arms are still useless. Not quite as limp as before but definitely not packing any punches.
My captor gives me a wry look.
“You’ll live,” he says simply and then pulls me from the car.
His arm slides around my waist, and he supports me against him as we make our way to an elevator nearby. Walking on my bare feet hurts like hell, thanks to the gravel I sprinted over during my escape attempt earlier. But I’m too stubborn to tell him I can’t do it.
Besides, up close, his scent hits me, and I feel the stirring of attraction. It’s stupid because, after chasing me through the woods, he should smell like sweat or at least stale cologne. Instead, he smells like sex on legs, and my core heats with an ache of desire.
Refusing to give in to it, I shove my body sideways and bring my foot down on his as hard as I can.
“Dammit,” he growls, but his grip on my waist only tightens, which is for the best because throwing myself off balance would have sent me sprawling anyway.
We reach the elevator, and he hits the call button. My heart races as I realize I have seconds left before I’m dragged somewhere no one will ever find me. Sucking in a breath to scream for help one last time, my attempt is thwarted when the elevator door slides open.
