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The only thing keeping the pants on his body was the monstrous erection straining against the fabric, trying to break free.
His eyes were low and focused on mine. They were the most striking golden color I’d ever seen, each with only the faintest pinprick of a pupil in the center. He lifted an enormous, clawed hand and reached for me, grabbing one of my messy braids and running it through his velvety fingers. He was so gentle, so covetous, as he fondled the golden strands.
He dropped the braid, then raised that same hand toward his face. I thought he meant to inhale my scent from his fingers, but I was wrong. He lifted his hand to his mouth, placing the sharp, black nails of his two middle fingers between his vicious teeth. He bit clean through the nails, dulling their sharpness to two flat ends. He turned his head to the side, spitting the brutal points out of his mouth before giving me a wide, hungry grin.
I ran.
Running was a strong word. It was more like I tumbled down the hill, then across the shallow part of the river. He followed unhurriedly, like he was playing with his food. His feet sloshed in the water as he pursued me, bare and as brutal as his hand, stretched and elongated like a dog’s.
A sound of distress croaked out of my throat. I was already so winded, my muscles screaming at me. But I forced myself to move, to power through the chase.
Behind me, Cole’s growl sounded like a sadistic laugh. It could have been a delusion from my half-exhausted haze, but I didn’t think about it too much. He let me keep running and put distance between us. Eventually, I lost sight of him.
Even though a small voice in my brain told me it was useless to keep running because Cole had a good track on my scent, I still felt the urge to flee, the need to get as far away as possible, the drive to escape my pursuer. Eventually, I found a hollow opening near a tree, a sort of ditch near the root network of a massive old pine. I hid there, curling up in it like it was the embrace of a loving parent. I hugged my legs close to me and tried to make myself as small and quiet as I could. I shivered but willed myself to still, to control my shaking, panting breaths. I was so tired, I thought I might fall asleep right there.
While sitting there, I felt a cold weight against my chest and leaned back to see what it was. The whistle. I had the strange sense that I was remembering something I hadn’t actually forgotten. What had Cole told me? That he may have the power, but I was the one in control? Or was it the other way around? Whatever it had been, I still had the comforting knowledge that I could stop this whenever I wanted.
But the strangest thing of all? Despite the fact that I could stop it, despite the fact that I was cold and exhausted and scared, I didn’t want to stop it. Cole had been right. This was like going through the horrors I’d been through before, but with all of the horror removed. I could do this. I knew that I was safe, that Cole would never hurt me in any way I didn’t allow. This game of pursuit was not only erotic, but it might help me avoid a real attack from a real predator in the future.
Cole didn’t take me down, not because he wanted to play games with me but because he wanted an honest win. He wanted a struggle, not just because he liked when I fought or was kinky as all get out, but because he wanted to see me try.
So, I would fucking try. I’d been training and had picked up a thing or two. Even if I didn’t win, I could put up a damn good fight.
I got back on my aching feet and inched around the tree, peeking out from behind it.
Ten feet away, Cole was kneeling just past another tree.
I looked him right in the eye, and his grin showed every pointed, dangerous tooth in his mouth. I clenched the whistle tight and pressed it against my chest.
I had the control. I was in control. “I’m in control,” I said to myself.
He heard me, though, because his grin grew even wider.
I looked around, judging the best spot for me to go. I weighed my choices, considered the possibilities and contingencies. Then I gathered what little energy and will I had left.
Gritting my teeth, I sprinted straight at him.
He clearly hadn’t expected that move, which I was counting on because it was the only way I could get out of this. He skidded back onto his haunches, trying to redirect energy he’d already accounted for using in his hind legs. Cole tried to correct, but his large size made his movements slow and clumsy.
He lunged at me, trying to grab me right out of the air, but I leaped past his arms and crashed into the ground behind him before sliding down a steep hillside carpeted with silky, slippery pine needles.
I picked up speed, wailing as I careened down what felt like a slip-and-slide in complete darkness. With my forward momentum, I narrowly avoided several trees that would have killed me at this velocity. Ahead, maybe only thirty feet away, I saw the approaching drop off a massive cliffside. The pine trees below looked like something from a Hollywood miniature.
“Cole!” I screamed. “Cole, Cole, Cole!!”
I heard a vicious snarl just behind me and craned my head back just long enough to see him bounding on his hands and legs, building speed and force, catching up with me. The slippery pine needles seemed to be giving him trouble, and I was worried he wouldn’t be able to get to me before I careened to my death. I threw out my hands and dug in my heels, trying my best to slow my descent.
The next thing I knew, Cole was at my side. He snarled and growled before pulling slightly ahead. I lost sight of him for a moment, then heard the deafening crack of wood breaking off to my right. I turned my head to the sound just in time to see him bounding off the trunk of a massive pine tree, putting all of his force into his legs before pushing off the trunk and slamming into me. He clutched me to his chest, and the two of us went rolling off the hazardous bed of pine needles and onto solid ground.
We panted, tangled up in each other, our gazes focused on the pine tree. The cracking sound had been the snapping of the trunk, and now we watched as it slowly creaked away from us, smashing into the ground with a thunderous thud before it tumbled off the side of the cliff.
More noise followed, and I flinched and twitched until it fully settled. In the silence that followed, I dragged in a shaky breath. My heart was threatening to break free of my ribcage, and my muscles burned with the readied tension that had coiled inside me as my body tried to leap into action during the fall.
I looked up and saw Cole still staring at the destruction he’d wrought. I remembered what we were doing, that I was still his prey. The game wasn’t finished yet. I could still win this.
Our legs were somewhat tangled, but my arms were mostly free. He was poised over me, his clawed hands on either side of my head, bracketing me in. I watched him briefly before looking down between us and getting a clearer idea of what I’d need to do to extricate myself. When I was fairly certain I could do it, I started sliding out from underneath him.
I’d almost gotten entirely away from him when my leg brushed his arm. He looked down at me and snarled, his teeth bared.
