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Go!
She chose two of the men at random and darted in between them. She barely made it a yard, before someone yanked her back—hard—by a fistful of hair.
“Aww, boys!” They chuckled, shoving her to the center of their circle. “This one’s shy.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” a man with blond hair crooned with false sweetness. “It won’t hurt for very long. I promise, you might even like it…”
He reached for her, and Loren’s entire body vibrated with adrenaline.
Fight!
She didn’t think—only reacted. Her hand swung out, catching the bastard on his jaw. Instantly, she knew she’d drawn blood.
She could smell it, coppery and fresh. Inside her, something rumbled, like hunger—but different. A need.
“Bitch!”
Another man swung at her, striking her mouth. Stars exploded across her vision—but rather than fall back in the face of the pain, Loren lunged into the blow, opening and closing her mouth on the thickness of a finger.
Howling, the man tried to pull back, but she only bit down harder, feeling flesh and muscle give beneath her teeth.
“Shit!”
An oppressive flavor exploded on her tongue—blood,that inner voice smugly supplied. She could see the dark liquid dripping from his fingers. There wasn’t time to be horrified. She had already pivoted—before her mind comprehended the motion—evading the remaining two men.
Had they been like her father and numbed by alcohol, she might have had a shot. As it was, the first of the two caught her easily, hooking his arm around her waist like a crowbar.
“The little bitch wants to play,” he grumbled, the words vibrating down her spine. A cruel hand ruffled through her hair, snagging at her scalp, and forcing her chin into the air. “Let’s teach her a little lesson about proper manners on the playground—”
Just what those “lessons” were? They never elaborated.
The next thing she knew, she was being shoved face down into the moist earth, with someone’s unforgiving hand clenched around the back of her neck.
No!That shadowy part of her howled, filling her body with rage.Fight! You need to fight!
She kicked her legs. Lashed out with her hands, snagging skin and clothes beneath her nails. When struggling didn’t loosen the restraining grip, she screamed. Piercing, long and sharp, the sound rang out through the clearing, droning on until a firm knee rammed into the small of her back.
She went silent with a moan, gritting her teeth and digging her hands into the mud, as a lazy hand wrenched up the skirt of her dress.
She wouldn’t scream again, she told herself—she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. She clenched her jaw so tightly she thought she heard the bones crack. Her heart raced with panic.
She wouldn’t scream...
The resolve lasted until she felt a clumsy hand rub her inner thigh. Then, she broke, mouth opening for a cry that instantly became swallowed up by the sound of something else.
Loud, it rumbled out over the weeds like thunder—but it wasn’t. No. It was agrowl—that was her only thought before something heavy slammed into her from behind, knocking the breath from her chest.
Wham!
She winced at the sound of crunching bone—only to realize that it hadn’t come from her body. From above her came a harsh shout, cut short.
Oh, God.That growl came again. Deeper this time—triumphant. With her face against the ground, Loren couldn’t breathe—couldn’t see. Her lungs screamed for air. Until, all at once, the pressure holding her down eased, and she could finally lift her head.
“Oh, shit! It’s a rogue!”
The shout was the last coherent statement she heard. The men scattered, darting in various directions, fleeing a presence that Loren could sense was directly behind her.
Before she could turn, the entire world shifted. A shadow seemed to fly across the earth, as dark and huge as if a cloud had drifted over the moon overhead.
