AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Until they chuckled, as if they knew damn well she was there.
And that she was alone.
“Hey, little girl,” one called, his voice a husky rasp that seeped into the truck. “You lost?”
“All alone out here, cutie?” the other one wondered though Loren could tell that he didn’t seem very concerned. “Don’t worry, weliketo make friends.”
Her first thought was to lock the doors and barricade herself in—but something held her back. That inner voice.No. You’ll just make yourself an easy target. Run!Without questioning the impulse, she bolted from the driver’s side and took off in the direction Micha had.
Kyle had told him to run north—there had to be something close by.
“Aw, baby!” one of the men called out. “Don’t run away!”
Another joined in, “We don’t have to do this the hard way!”
Run, run, run!Loren allowed the frantic thoughts to drown out the sounds of anything else.
She could see headlights, spilling through the trees—but the two men were in between her and the road. She could sense them behind her, picking their way lazily through the gnarled branches.
Laughing.
22
Loren forced herself to keep moving, sucking in painful breaths with every step. But while Micha and Kyle had speed on their side, she didn’t.
Her foot caught on the edge of a root a few paces in, and she tripped, tumbling down into the mud near the base of a small field. Tall grasses cast wavering shadows, shrouding the two other figures already in the center. Waiting for her.
She had walked right into a trap. The fact was all but proven as mocking laughter reached her ears. Heart heavy, she turned as the other men approached from the direction of the road.
“We brought some friends, honey,” one of them crooned. “We’ll be real nice. Don’t be afraid.”
Run!Loren lurched to her feet, wincing as pain shot through her ankle. Ignoring it, she stumbled in a random direction. Almost instantly, someone was there to block her path.
“Easy, baby,” the man purred as she stumbled back, the heel of her boot catching over the grass. “Don’t hurt yourself, now. We don’t bite—”
“Hard,” another man finished for him, chuckling. “For you, I think we’ll make an exception, though. That pretty milk-white skin looks so soft.”
There were rumbles of agreement. A few even whispered suggestions as to just how her “milky” skin would feel—sick, twisted things, that would haunt her nightmares.
If she lived long enough to sleep another night.
Heart racing, she turned on her heel—only to have someone block her path again. And the next direction she tried.
And the next...
They were too fast, treating her like a living volleyball in some sick four-person game. Smirking, they surrounded her from all sides, closing in with the eerie grace of a pack of hunting wolves.
“So pretty,” one of them murmured. “Such a shame.”
“I don’t think this little baby’sallinnocent, though,” pitched in the man nearest to her, his bright eyes haunting in the darkness. “I can smell a man on her. Her mate, maybe?”
There was a chorus of“oh nos”and several mocking chuckles.
“I guess he’ll just have to share,” another figure suggested.
All at once, they moved closer, forcing her into the center of a makeshift ring.
No.That shadowy, calm voice was back—but different. Louder. Intense. There was an edge to it that Loren knew hers never had.Don’t let them get close.
