The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,96

body. The trunk lid lifted, and the first thing that came into view was Crow with his arm raised and a tire iron in his hand.

“Come on, bitch,” he snarled.

In the time it took my wolf to stand, Crow had changed positions and was bracing for an attack. Oddly, he seemed to have been expecting it.

“Come on! Attack! I’ll show you why you should be afraid of me.”

And I did. With ferocity like I’d never known, my wolf lunged. Crow swung his arm and struck me on the back. I felt the pain rippling through me like a live wire. When I staggered to my feet and lumbered forward, Crow kicked me in the stomach and held the weapon high over his head.

“Aagh!” he shouted. “Run!”

Wait a second. He wants me to run.

I made my wolf step back and look around. Beyond the car was an old wooden house with a cheap light pole next to it. Why would he have driven me all this way just to let me go? Part of me actually wondered if it was some sick joke by a bored man with nothing better to do on a Friday night.

Crow advanced, and my wolf scampered back. I didn’t have much time. My awareness was dimming fast, and if I waited a minute longer, I wouldn’t be able to shift back. It took every ounce of effort to remain conscious. When I made a break for the road, he corralled me back and steered me toward the woods behind the house.

To hell with it. I sprinted into the woods, and as soon as the shadows swallowed me, I skidded to a stop. Crow was up to something, and the farther I ran, the less chance I would have of finding out what. My wolf burrowed beneath a dense bush and remained motionless, but I could sense her dominating presence taking control.

Crow tossed his weapon aside and then reached through the driver’s-side window. He pulled out a bag and set it on the hood of the car.

“Ready or not, here I come!” he shouted.

I watched in awe as Crow shifted into a great horned owl, his wingspan enormous. He landed on top of the car and wrapped his talons around the bag before flying off in the direction he thought my wolf had run.

Knowing that owls have incredible hearing, I stayed silent until I no longer heard the rustle of wings. On the brink of blacking out, I shifted back to human form and ran to the car.

“Dammit!” I hissed. The keys weren’t in the trunk lock.

After frantically searching the ground, I decided he must have put them back in the car. When I peered inside, it dawned on me that it hadn’t been a spontaneous kidnapping. No decision he’d made had been in haste. He’d placed the keys in the bag along with whatever else—probably weapons.

I jogged around to the trunk and snatched up my pants. There was no telling how much control he had in animal form, but if by chance he had none, then his owl was busy searching the woods for a wolf on the run, not a human. My worst fear was that Crow didn’t black out during his shifts. If he circled back and saw me running toward the road, I’d have no choice but to shift. He would bait my wolf, and she would instinctively fight him, facing off against a man who, based on the previous murders, likely had a knife.

It wasn’t uncommon for people in the sticks to leave their doors unlocked, so I dashed toward the small house and turned the knob. Once inside, I locked the door behind me and caught my breath.

The first thing I did was search for a phone. Enough light filtered through the front window to keep me from having to switch on a lamp. I saw no trace of a landline. Maybe he only carried a cell phone, but I doubted he would have been careless enough to leave it in his car knowing that I might return. I wasn’t willing to run outside just yet and take that chance.

Instead, I rummaged through kitchen drawers for a weapon. The first thing I found was a large butcher knife. I gripped the handle and scanned the small living quarters. The kitchen and living room didn’t have a divider wall between them, so it made the house feel like a cabin. When I tiptoed down the short hall in the back, it led