I shove the car into park and kill the engine. Silence descends. I get out, the packed earth smooth under my shoes. My nostrils flare as I take in the scent of pine, earth, and rodents scurrying in the trees.
The side view mirror reveals that my features are human again, but a glow lights my eyes.
The beast has awoken. He stirs within me, growing tired of the game I’m playing. He wants to eat her while savoring her flesh and crunching her bones.
“This one’s mine!” I remind him with a snarl.
Anticipation builds in me as I walk to the back of the trunk. We’re finally here, and she’s with me. I long to touch her hair, feel her skin, and smell her scent. I have no idea why I long for these things, but they pull at me like the moon calls the tides.
With a squeeze of the latch, the lid springs open. “We’re—”
I pivot out of the way just as she launches herself from the trunk, but with her arms and legs bound, all she does is land on the ground. Hard.
“Shit,” I mutter and kneel down.
But she doesn’t stop struggling, and a wild look fills her eyes. She thrashes and kicks more, screaming behind the duct tape as she does everything she can to knock me over.
“It’s okay,” I say quietly. “I won’t hurt you.”
I finger a lock of hair from her face, and she flinches back. Panic coats her expression like a terrified animal, but when our eyes lock, something changes in her. Her face pales.
With a start, I remember that she’s human and has never seen a supernatural’s eyes glow with the power of their wolf.
I straighten and rake a hand through my hair, turning so she won’t see when I wrestle the beast.
He lunges against my control, making me double over. Images of him eating her fill my mind.
Sweat pops on my brow, and my breathing turns so rapid that my lungs barely fill with shallow inhales.
No, I say internally through gritted teeth.
I double over, yanking him back. Submit, you fucker!
It takes minutes to fully subdue him, and I’m still panting when I turn back to the waitress.
She’s gone.
Thrashing in the trees and the flash of her bright white top twenty yards away catches my attention. Holy shit, she’s trying to get away.
But she’s hopping on restrained limbs. Nobody can hop down a mountain, then an additional fifty miles to safety. That twinge of guilt needles my heart again.
But a ripping sound comes next, and I gape like a fish when the tape around her ankles comes free. Before I can take another breath, she’s running, truly running away.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I exclaim, but the beast howls in delight.
He loves nothing more than a good hunt.
Chapter 4 – Brianna
The forest is dark. Trees and branches block my path, and cool air washes across my cheeks as my heart beats so hard I can hear it in my ears.
Go! Go! Go!
Dense brush sweeps against my calves, cutting my skin when I barrel through it. I know I’m not running straight. I know I’m making a racket, but that fucking psycho back there kidnapped me and had glowing eyes.
Glowing eyes! WTF!
Harsh breaths make my chest heave, and I’m so close to losing it that I can barely breathe. Another branch scratches my face, but I ignore the sting when I rip through the foliage.
“Shit!” The forest slopes abruptly downward and before I know what’s happening, I’m stumbling.
Somehow I manage to stay upright as I flee down the embankment. I gulp in another lungful of air and thank the stars that he hasn’t caught me. I don’t hear him either, which is weird, but maybe he’s become too consumed with his alternate personality to have realized that I escaped.
The downward slope evens out, and I momentarily stop and search frantically for any signs of human habitation.
Dammit! There’s nothing here except for dark trees and a moon barely penetrating the canopy above.
Which way? I’m still breathing heavily, and the adrenaline pounding through my veins makes it hard to think.
Come on, Bri. Think! Which way?
I need to find a road.
Yes. That makes sense. I debate how I’m going to find a road when—
His arms lock around me.
I scream. He came from behind me, like a ghost in the night. I shriek and thrash, but he pins me to him, his chest like a rock against my back.