She was sweating, her breathing laboring in her lungs by the time she reached the small clearing where her jeep was parked. It was still there. She was almost crying in relief as she stumbled against the vehicle, fighting the zipper to her shorts pocket and struggling to pull her keys out. She nearly dropped them twice before she managed to fit the key into the lock and twist it.
She scrambled into the interior, shuddering, her body weak, unsteady as she groped at the glove box to open it. The door finally fell open, revealing the spare cell phone that Kane insisted she keep up.
Flipping it open, she keyed the rapid dial and listened for the call to go through.
“Merinus!” His voice was a desperate yell across the line.
“Kane,” she gasped, lying across the seat now, clutching her stomach. “Oh, God. I’m in trouble, Kane.”
She could hear him cursing, raging. There was fear in his voice though, and worry.
“Dammit, Merinus, I told you this was fucking stupid,” he screamed again.
“Just shut up,” she tried to yell back, but her voice was weak. “Come get me, Kane. He’ll find me and I can’t drive. You have to come get me. This is big. God, bigger than we knew—” The soft growl at her back had her freezing in terror.
“Merinus?” Kane questioned into the sudden silence.
Merinus whimpered. She felt him behind her, big, hard, aroused. She knew he was aroused, knew he was furious.
“Hurry, Kane—” The phone was jerked out of her hand as she was lifted from the jeep seat.
She heard Kane screaming at her, watched as Callan closed the line, slowly, deliberately.
“That was a mistake,” she snarled in his face, her fist striking out at him, catching him off guard.
He released her long enough for her to scramble away from him then dash through the trees as she ran for the main road. If she could get close enough, maybe someone would hear her screams for help. Someone would know she was in trouble.
“Leave her,” he ordered Dayan and Taber as they started after her. “Pack this shit up and hide it. Jeep and all. I’ll meet you at the house in a few hours.”
Callan tossed the ringing cell phone into the jeep with a snarl.
“You just going to let her run?” Taber asked him curiously.
“She’s headed away from the road, not to it.” He shrugged, knowing how often greenhorns got lost in the area due to the paths that pretty much looked the same. “Do as I said. I’ll catch her.”
“Uhh, Callan, maybe you should let me go after her,” Taber suggested. “You’re not exactly calm right now.”
“She’s safe. For now,” Callan assured him. “Just do as I said, and I’ll meet you back at the house later.”
Callan was furious. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t managed to get to her before she made that damned phone call. The last thing he needed was the Tyler newspaper clan descending on the little town, looking for him. He should have taken care of the camp and her jeep sooner. That was a miscalculation on his part. And he would have never suspected she was carrying two cell phones. All he could seem to consider right now was the fact that she had run from him. Deliberately, had left the house and tried to escape him. She belonged to him, at least until whatever the hell it was that made his cock throb decided to stop. Until then, she was a necessity to him. Just as he knew he was to her.
He could smell her heat beckoning him. Fear and confusion and arousal. It was a heady scent that sent his own pulse pounding, his erection jerking in response. He didn’t run after her, he stalked her. Moving around her, behind her, choreographing his moves as he pushed her towards the area he wanted.
A clearing in the heavy growth of the forest, a secluded, private area sheltered on three sides by cliffs, with only a narrow entrance in or out. He wanted her there, in the privacy of the place he had chosen as his own.
It didn’t take him long before he was following her through the entrance, his steps light, silent. He could hear her breathing heavily, cursing. He smiled, her brothers must have taught her those curses, because no lady could have thought of them on her own.
She was sitting beside the stream, sweat dampened, her head lowered as she muttered weakly about “damned animals and superior men.”
“Oh, you’ve had it now.” She stared up at him, her eyes dark, glittering wildly with lust and defiance. “He’ll hunt you down like a dog.”
“Wrong species, darling.” He smiled slow and sure.
She narrowed her eyes on him as he stripped the shirt from his back.
“Asshole,” she muttered, her breathing becoming harsh, heavy as he kicked the leather moccasins from his feet.
“Mine.” He growled.
Her eyes widened as he stripped his pants from his body, his cock springing free, hard, jutting. He watched her nipples harden further beneath her shirt.
“I’m not yours,” she bit out, her protest weak.
“Take your clothes off, Merinus,” he told her softly. “If I attempt it, I’ll tear them from your body. You should have never run from me.”
“Should I just wait around—”
“Take the fucking clothes off before I rip them from you,” he threatened her again, his fists clenched as he fought the urge to do just that.
“I don’t want you.” But she did. He could smell her want, feel it in the heat radiating from her body.
“Now.” He made a move toward her, satisfaction filling every pore in his body as her shirt came off quickly, then her shorts.
She was naked. Gloriously, beautifully naked. She stared up at him, flushed and furious, her breathing harsh in the sudden silence of the glade.
“Kane will come for me,” she warned him darkly. “Him and the rest. He won’t let you keep me like this.”
“He’ll have to find you first,” he told her softly, smiling with his victory as he came toward her. “And I promise you, he won’t find—”
Stars exploded in front of his eyes as her foot connected with his balls. He blinked, fought the onrush of bile rising in his throat, and fought for breath as he fell to the ground.
Fuck. That hurt. He wheezed, fighting for breath, aware of the jerkiness of her movements as she pulled her clothes back on. She was weak, her body trembling, the need pouring through her making her clumsy. Son of a bitch, she was going to want for a while. Then she was off and running again.
Callan pulled himself weakly to his feet, fighting for breath and mentally cursing the little bitch for everything she was worth. Or wasn’t at that moment. Damn her. He was going to tan her hide.
He jerked his jeans from the ground, intent on stepping into them when he heard her scream. Terror filled the sound. He dropped his pants and with more than a little pain, sprinted after her, fury rising inside him once again. He’d kill whoever scared her. Then by God, she would pay for this little stunt.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dayan had her. He wasn’t touching her, but he didn’t have to. His face was a mask of fury, his lips pulled back in a snarl, his incisors showing as he growled out another warning at her. His eyes seemed to glow, his body tense and ready for attack. Merinus was on the ground again, scooting back desperately as he advanced on her.
“Callan,” her scream ricocheted around the clearing as Dayan reached for her.
Callan acted on instinct. He saw the intent in Dayan’s face, the twisted fury and hunger that raged in the other man. He launched himself at him, a savage snarl erupting from his throat as he tackled the other man.
Callan had known killing rage only one time before. The haze of blood before his eyes, the need for death in his tense muscles as he threw Dayan away from Merinus, the savage snarl of fury should have been enough to warn the other man. Instead, Dayan rolled to his feet, facing the proclaimed head of the pride, snarling in defiance.