Page 68 of Purrfectly Trapped

Was she a bloodthirsty Shifter now? Maybe. But she was running this show whether her she-Cat liked it or not and Gretchen put her foot down when it came to eating cute, cotton-tailed bunnies.

Grrr.

Ew. No.

The woods stretched for miles and miles over Burlington County, and she was anxious to get some of that open space under her claws. She’d already explored some of it with Reg by her side.

Christ, she missed him! Wished he was there, even though she’d been the one who’d ordered him to stay away. The man had always been so sweet with her and patient.

Truthfully, staying away from him hurt her more than he ever had. Gretchen wanted to be with him all the time. He was constantly on her mind, in her heart, stamped on her skin, like her tattooed Tiger. She chuffed and ran harder.

That is because he is our mate,her Tiger voiced her opinion in her mind, but it did not fill her with any kind of ease.

Yes, he was her mate. But what did that mean to him? She felt foolish and a little needy, but fucking hell, what did a girl have to do to get a man to declare his feelings and intentions already?

The time she’d asked him for was not for her. It was for him. So, he could figure out how he felt. She knew how she felt already.

Gretchen was in love with him. She’d already admitted it,well, to herself anyway. Not a half-assed love either. This was the once in a lifetime, shooting star, all-encompassing tsunami kind of love that made her heart pound and her pulse race. She’d never felt it before, but she felt it now. For Reg.

She stopped running as she came upon a group of rocks and what looked like the mouth of a cave. There was a small stream nearby and,sniff, was that urine?

Gretchen hissed and swatted her nose. It was as if someone had marked the territory in the most animalistic way. By letting loose with his groove thing and spraying the fuck out of the wooded area with his strong pneumonia-like urine.

Ew. So fucking gross.

Gretchen heard someone coming. Her Tiger crouched, unable to determine the scents she was getting through all that stinky piss smell. She growled when two figures emerged.

“What have we here?” the male said.

Gretchen hissed and spat at him, turning to the female who was familiar. Fuck. Was that Pamela?

“You should have gone after I warned you about what the males here were like. I tried to give you a heads up,” Pamela said in a small voice.

She looked so skinny and fragile, bruised too, and Gretchen turned to the male and hissed at him. Those marks on her were fresh, and the fear in her eyes had been placed there by him, she was sure.

“Well, well, looks like we have another Pride bitch who needs to get mounted to learn her place,” the unfamiliar male growled.

“Leave her alone, Carl,” Pamela said, moving in front of her.

The male growled, his blood stained his lips turning down as he raised an arm and struck Pamela viciously with his fist right in her stomach. She buckled over, and Gretchen snarled, standing in front of the woman. Pamela was gasping in pain. She might not have been the friendliest person to Gretchen, but she did not deserve this treatment.

No one did.

“Come on, whore. I’ll show you what you’re good for,” the angry male said, a strange, high-pitched laughing escaping his lips.

Gretchen backed up, using her furry butt to try to push Pamela back into the tree line. The woman was still struggling to breathe, but she understood, and she was crawling on her hands and knees.

Gretchen spared her a glance, angry at the dozen or more bite marks and scratches she saw marring her skin. Some were old, others new. This was systematic abuse, she thought angrily.

The male approached, and she recognized something off about his smell. She didn’t understand it, but she knew he wasn’t a Tiger. It was something else. He threw his head back and cackled again. That was when it hit her. His scent was different because he was not a Tiger or Bear, like the Shifters she had encountered. He was something else. Something she recognized from countless hours watching the animal channel.

Hyena, her Tiger spat the word.

“No,” Pamela stood up, turning to Gretchen, and mouthing the word run, before she ran at the male.

He turned on her, smacking the skinny woman down with a hard fist. Pamela crumbled to the floor unconscious before Gretchen could even react. The bastard had struck the woman without any warning.

“Come on, bitch, I’ll show you what a real man does to a pussy,” he snarled, and began to stalk her.

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