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Chapter Twenty
“Istill think she’s wearing too many clothes,” Alani heard one of the rams say. A murmur of agreement ran through the group, and she hugged her knees tighter to her chest, hoping it was a comment that would go unnoticed.
Since taking her hostage on the side of the mountain, the rams—with the disgusting guy named Vince leading the charge—took her down in elevation and back into the forest. She had tried to slip away a number of times, wriggling free from whoever was holding her and tearing off into the trees, but they always managed to catch her.
Not that it surprised Alani. After all, these were their woods. She still didn’t know much about shifters, but each clan in Angel Fire seemed to have a territory that belonged to them. Alani had accidentally wandered into bighorn sheep territory and met their biggest rams as a consequence.
From what she gathered, the rams wanted to take bear territory from Ivo’s clan, which involved running them out of their home on the other end of the mountain range. With two smaller mountains separating them, a distance that would probably take an hour or so to cross on foot, she was surprised they hadn’t run into conflict with each other in the past.
But then again, the shifter community seemed to operate in secret—and she couldn’t blame them. Poor Ivo, she couldn’t imagine trying to deal with these sudden new and strange abilities as a child.
If one of her girls could turn into an animal, any kind of animal, Alani would, of course, be frightened at first, but she would love them all the same. She would help them however she could because that’s what parents are supposed to do. No wonder Ivo was so closed off and temperamental: he spent his whole life fighting for acceptance but expecting rejection. That was enough to make anyone a little guarded.
Oh, Ivo. Alani winced at her injuries, the tear in her jeans exposing a bloodied knee and the palms of her hands riddled with little cuts from trying to stop herself. Where was he? Had he answered her phone call? Did he hear her scream?
She swallowed hard and closed her eyes tight, ignoring the lecherous chatter of the rams seated nearby. At least she knew he wasn’t in harm’s way. If all the dangerous rams were here, then hopefully he was somewhere safe.
Yet Alani was here. Vince’s plan wasn’t all that original or genius—use a man’s loved one to lure him in, and then jump him. She had seen it played out in dozens of movies in her lifetime, and whenever she caught wind of it, she would roll her eyes and sigh. Didn’t the hero know this was a trap? Why not spring it another way? A way that was bound to work out for both parties, one that wouldn’t inadvertently drag the hero into the clutches of the villain.
Right here and now, however, she couldn’t think of any way she could escape these awful people without Ivo’s help. If he didn’t come for her, she might not ever leave this forest. She might not ever see her babies again. The thought turned her wounded, torn-up hands into fists. No. She would get back to Leila and Kai. She would fight because no one fought harder or for longer than a mom on a mission. If they thought they could break her, they had another think coming.
“C’mere, baby doll,” someone growled, but Alani stayed right where she was. If she didn’t look, didn’t interact, didn’t respond, maybe they would get bored of her.
Unfortunately, the sound of footsteps stomping across the clearing’s muddy forest floor told her that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She buckled down, holding herself tighter and gritting her teeth when a hand clamped down on her arm. No. No. No.
“Let go of me,” she hissed when he tried to pull her upright—not Vince, one of the other creeps this time. Alani kicked him hard in the shin, her boots one of the only bits of clothing not ripped from her fall. The shifter grunted on contact, but otherwise seemed unfazed by it; his hand moved from her arm to the back of her neck, and Alani whimpered when he used it to haul her to her feet.
He dragged her to where the other—still very naked—men lounged in the middle of the clearing. She scrambled as far from the nearest man as she could when her captor released her but soon found herself surrounded. They stood and crouched around her, each wearing a somewhat different level of interest in their eyes—but all with their lips peeled back into predatory grins.
“It’s just… We don’t mean to be rude, sweet cheeks,” Vince said, pushing off the rock he had been leaning against and sauntering toward her, “but you’re very overdressed for the occasion. Get my drift? We just want ya to feel comfortable.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Alani said, her voice stiff as her nails bit into her palm. The first guy to touch her again was getting clocked in the face—she was ready.
“Oh, and who’s going to stop me?” Vince sneered. He grabbed at the jacket tied around her hips and yanked hard, flipping Alani onto her stomach as the looped sleeves fell apart. The laughter around her made her cheeks flame, and before she could roll over again, she felt two large hands grab her by the hips and hoist her up.
Vince positioned her ass to his crotch, grinding against her as her heart hammered in her ears, and the laughter turned into an uproar. Unwilling to be cowed, she threw both of her elbows back, hard, nailing him in the ribs each time. The blows managed to loosen his grip, giving her the chance to wriggle free and stumble forward onto her knees.
“You fucking bitch!”
Her attack on Vince only seemed to spur the laughter on, which she knew would only make him angrier. Alani scrambled away with some difficulty, hands and feet slipping on the muddy forest floor. Apparently, nothing was going her way today.
She shrieked when Vince grabbed her again, this time tearing her shirt straight down the back. The cool morning air washed over her bare back as his hands slipped under the back of her pants, using the tight jeans as an anchor to drag her over to him.
Alani went kicking and screaming, rolling over and swiping at his face with her bloodied hands like a cornered cat fighting for its last breath. He had no idea the kind of woman he’d kidnapped; Alani might have been soft-spoken most days, quiet and contemplative in the studio, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Unfortunately, he was just so much stronger than her. An ordinary man of his size probably would have been able to pin her to the ground, but shifters seemed to be blessed with extra strength and speed, and as he forced her wrists down beside her head and fought to squirm between her thighs, she felt like he was pressing her into the earth, not just on it.
“Now you make sure you keep screaming,” Vince hissed as his fellow rams cheered him on. Alani felt bile rise up her windpipe as he ground his very naked self against her, his intentions plain as day. “We want your bear lover to hear you and come running to save the day—”
His voice was drowned out by a roar that seemed to shake the ground and rattle the trees. Alani turned in the direction of the sound, wide-eyed, and gave a relieved sob at the sight of Ivo’s black bear figure charging into the clearing. She had never considered a bear’s speed before, but Alani always figured they sort of just lumbered along—yet Ivo was like a race car that met a bulldozer. He slammed into the awaiting shifters, barreling through and tackling Vince off of her.
As the other shifters went after him, some turning into rams again, others just lunging for him, Alani crawled to safety on the outskirts of the fight. While tears rolled down her cheeks, spurred by a combination of fear, relief, and revulsion coursing through her system, she watched as the bear tossed around some rams while simultaneously getting knocked into by others.
Ivo was such a huge guy, and yet the rams were just hammering him. Each hit Alani felt. While he might have healed on the outside, she knew Ivo was still recovering from the recent bout with the rams on the inside. There was no telling how much damage he had sustained, and this was only making it worse.
She knew she had to help.
Scanning the clearing for a weapon, she stumbled over to a cluster of rocks. Most fit neatly in her palm, but there were a few that would do some serious damage if she got a good shot. Alani grabbed as many as she could carry and moved in toward the scuffle, careful not to draw any attention to herself.
While she wasn’t sure who was who now that the men had turned back to rams, Ivo seemed to be going after one in particular that she knew had to be Vince.
They clearly had some kind of a personal relationship. What the gross shifter had done was a betrayal of Ivo’s trust—just one in a line of many in his life who had tossed his trust and companionship aside like it was nothing. Alani’s gaze hardened. It wouldn’t happen again. Not if she could help it.
The first rock she threw missed. The second bounced off Ivo, causing the bear to snarl and swipe hard at the nearest ram. His claws tore the animal’s side open, forcing it to limp off into the forest. The third hit her intended target—Vince—and the ones that followed now that she got the hang of throwing were just as on-point.
After one final swipe of Ivo’s huge bear paw, the ram went down, shifting from animal to man as he fell. Sure enough, Vince lay at Ivo’s black bear feet. But the victory was short-lived because as soon as Alani yipped at her success, the remaining rams rounded on the spot and charged.
Ivo was faster. He barreled through with a roar, and Alani started running for the forest, using the momentum to swing herself onto his back as he passed. She held his fur tighter than she had ever held anything in her life, closed her eyes, and prayed Ivo could outrun the herd.
