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“What do we get if we catch the little slut?” He crows amidst the blanket of darkness. Raven has remained silent, worryingly so, and that flips my already heightened emotions into something more panicky. All in the space of a few heartbeats, the energy has morphed.
Now it feels as though they really are on the hunt out here.
Do I want to know what happens if they catch me?
“Run all you like. You can’t escape, not from us.” The threat rings out across the shadowy pathways and neatly ordered hedgerows. It’s almost pitch black, and the only reason I know where to go is from years of memory coming back in a flood. At this point, it’s more instinct and a desperate sense of self-preservation than anything spurring me on.
My heel catches on a stone on the paved footpath, and I lurch sideways, but instead of falling to my hands and knees, I crash into the firm row of foliage. It rakes across my skin as if I’ve been scraped by hundreds of fine teeth, leaving a bitch of a sting radiating down the length of my arm.
A gasp rushes out of me, and I slap my hand over my mouth. The noise would have sounded like a firecracker going off in this enclosed space.
There’s no time for me to stop and think. Instead, I rub my scraped shoulder to ease the burn and carry on.
Reaching the end of the long hedge that I’m following, I round the corner, preparing to bolt deeper into the walled garden. That’s when rough hands grab me from behind, covering my face and my torso. My heart is about to leap out of my throat, and I make a noise like a feral tomcat, struggling against the fingers digging into my cheeks and the curve of my stomach.
It’s Ky. There’s no mistaking his body and scent and the heat radiating off him against my back and shoulders. Even as I writhe to fight against his grip, a shudder passes over my bare skin pressed along the length of his torso.
“I’ve always wanted to chase a pretty little slut through these gardens and fuck her.” His mouth is right at my ear, and his breathing is heavy—not with exertion, but with anticipation.
Holy shit. My brain and my body are at war over how to react. His words ooze with twisted fascination that feels like a drug. Adrenaline floods my veins to form a potent concoction of liquid gasoline merged with white-hot sparks. Each attempt at a further struggle only cinches my body tighter inside his clutches.
Once again, I’m reminded of exactly how pathetic I am when it comes to defending myself. My futile attempts at learning have gotten me nowhere if this is how easily a man like Ky can overpower me.
That thought draws a snarl out of me. Fuck this. I refuse to go down without a fight, and he hasn’t pinned my arms or legs. So I kick out at the inside of his foot with my heel. I don’t connect properly, but I’m pretty sure I connect with something solid and manage to bash his ankle bone. Following that, I thrash backward with my elbow, aiming for his groin or his stomach or anywhere really that might do some damage.
His hold on me loosens, not by much, but just enough that it incites me to keep resisting, and I bite down on his fingers covering my mouth. There’s wetness over my lips instantly, and a coppery taste springs onto my tongue. But I don’t linger to contemplate the fact I just drew blood; instead, I make a run for it. There’s a menacing hiss that surges behind me as I sprint toward the deeper, darker heart of the garden. A place where the hedges tower higher and the faint moonlight barely reaches the footpath in front of me.
Only, in my haste and panic, I’ve forgotten a vital detail. Ky isn’t hunting out here alone.
I barely make it a further ten feet before a figure looms up ahead. The wolf himself materializes out of thin air like an apparition. His silver chain glints at me, while the rest of Raven blends into the night like he’s composed of shadow and malice rather than flesh and bone.
He doesn’t reach out and grab me, but his presence causes me to falter. As my brain and body collide, understanding dawns upon me in a chilling sweep along my exposed skin, I draw up short and stumble.
That’s all it takes.
A hand roughly fists my hair and yanks my head backward this time. Ky’s short beard grazes the side of my jaw while his other hand is hungry and demanding, grabbing at the material of my dress covering my stomach. The action digs into the softness of my flesh at the same time.
Behind me, I’m surrounded by the solid wall of him.
He’s pinned me in place, facing the shadowy figure of Raven, who stands before me like a nemesis from the dark.
“Get your filthy fucking hands off me.” My growl is punctuated by a wince as he tightens his grip on my hair. The sting radiates across my scalp like a thousand pinpricks.
“Such a desperate slut. Don’t you think she makes a good prize for us, baby?” Ky ignores my protests and speaks to the man standing in front of me. Oh, god. The way he’s talking so casually, like I’m not even here…there’s no reason why that should send a flood of arousal through me.
“Thorne doesn’t even want her, but she’s begging to be stuffed with cock.” He carries on. Tugging my head against his chest, forcing my back to bow as a result of his brutal hold.
He doesn’t want me.
Ky’s words remind me of exactly how and why I’ve ended up here like this, and I’m pulsing with a special kind of fury. One fed by the cocktail of every emotion I’ve been through in the past weeks since they came after me.
I’m a tempest ready to take down the entirety of Port Macabre.
“You’re pathetic.” Spit flecks my mouth, and Ky chuckles darkly against my ear.
The proximity of him and heat from his mouth sends sparks of goosebumps erupting across my skin.
“What do you say, baby? I think it’s about time we taught the slut a lesson for trying to run from us.” Raven still isn’t replying, but I sense him shifting in the lengthy shadows. His presence draws closer, and tension winds tighter in my stomach.
